A new comparison photo

As much as I really wanted to have a very lazy morning today, I knew that I would probably be eating some candy later, so I'd better get in a run. My mom took the kids to my brother's house to help him work (Brian and Becky bought a foreclosed house in Michigan, and they are renovating it in order to move in!). He "hired" the kids to pull staples out of boards ;)

After the kids left this morning, I decided to dress for Halloween for my run. I have orange and black striped socks and a couple of Halloween shirts that only get used once a year, so I figured I might as well get a little use out of them. I used the timer on my camera to try to get a picture, and Joey was just dying to get in the photo ;)

Anyway, I ran the three mile route I used to do all the time when I first started to run. I wasn't aiming for a particular pace, and didn't look at my Garmin at all. I hardly EVER come across people when I'm running, but I saw several people out for a walk this morning. I actually came up behind a couple of women who were walking, and they were dressed for Halloween as well. One woman had the same socks I did (only they were tights as opposed to my knee highs), and the other woman was wearing a Halloween shirt from a local race. We exchanged a few words about dressing for Halloween, and then I kept on my way.

Today was a great morning for a run--kind of cold, but no wind. Maybe I should have pushed the pace, but I really didn't want to.

Later, when I was looking at pictures on my phone, I came across one from May that took me by surprise. I didn't realize just how noticeable the extra weight I'd put on was until I did a side-by-side comparison with one of today's pictures!

May 2015 vs. October 2015

On the left was from Memorial Day, when I volunteered at the Wins for Warriors 9K race; and on the right was from this morning. What a big difference!

Something I've noticed the past couple of days is that I have to sleep with a pillow between my knees again, because my knee bones are pressing together. I remember when this happened for the first time a few years ago, and I actually had bruises on the inside of each knee. I discovered it was from sleeping on my side, allowing my knees to press together. It's just one of the odd things that happens when I get close to my goal weight, I guess!

I'm looking forward to passing out candy tonight. I think if we were going to my parents' house to continue our usual routine (but without Mark), I would be sad and not able to really enjoy it. But since we've changed up our Halloween routine, I'm excited about it. The kids are going trick-or-treating with Jerry's mom, and Jerry and I are going to pass out candy at home. Since we have a garage now, we're going to sit on the couch in there and have a glass of wine while we wait for trick-or-treaters. As long as it doesn't rain, it should be a nice night!