Your guilty pleasure?

Everyone has one... that one thing you do to make yourself feel better, when no one else is around, that you refuse to actually feel guilty for, even though you call it your guilty pleasure...

Mine, like so many of us out there, used to be some sort of scrumptious snack. Likely chocolate and ice cream based. Those days are behind me.

In return, I've switched to going into stores where once I couldn't fit into the clothes and trying on gorgeous stuff I have no intention of buying, just to see how it looks. And sometimes, just to hear the compliments. It works as an amazing balm for my ego. That is, of course, until something hits so hard I'm just dying to actually buy it.

After bidding farewell to my best friend who is off on a "business" trip to Brazil for three weeks (lucky &%$@), I decided to stop at a nearby mall which happens to have one of our only Running Room stores in the province and pick up my coveted running belt. It's pink. I'll have to get a picture. With my new belt in hand, I wandered down the mall to one of the fun, chic, "girly" stores, which had their spring stock of dresses on display.

I couldn't help it. I had to indulge my inner diva, just for a bit.

So many gorgeous dresses. They didn't all look gorgeous, but most looked great. And then I put on this one, and WOW. And it was nothing like the dresses I once would have worn. It was fitted. It hugged every curve. It wasn't meant to hide and conceal and drape. It was meant to show off and attract attention. I walked out of the dressing room to check it out and both salesgirl and another customer gasped. Oh my God, I wanted to buy that dress.

It's $170. For a dress for which I have no real use.

It hurt to put it back. But maybe I'll get invited to something that will need me to go get it, and it will still be there. And maybe it'll even be on sale. Hey, I can dream right? And in the mean time, I can use the memory of me in that dress as motivation to keep going.

In other news, I ran for a full twenty minutes on the treadmill last night, even increasing my pace slightly. Oh my goodness I was proud of myself. I even had to stop to brag to Shawn. He was proud of me too, and pointed out, rightfully, how much I've improved since his decision to take me out for a run - all it took was getting me past that mental barrier. And I know he's right, because even as I work out myself, I fight with that mental barrier telling me I can't. External motivation is a good thing, and knowing someone else think you're capable is a pretty big boost to getting to the point where you think you're capable. One of the biggest motivators I had last night was being able to constantly think how awesome it would be to tell Shawn I had, and knowing he would be proud of me.

I'm struggling again with the whole diet thing though. I'm finding in the evenings I'm either ravenous or exhausted. Hmm. This is confusing me. I'm going to have to sit down and really figure out what I'm doing wrong here.

Training session and step class both tomorrow - yay! If I don't update by Monday, it's because I might be dead.