Sleep-deprived running and sugar-free challenge* update - Day 5 of Streak

Hi everyone!

Did a little sleep-deprived running this morning.

First of all, I don't recommend it.  You should get the right amount of sleep for you every night, and that's different for everyone.  But one of the great things about doing this blog is that it makes me cut out almost every excuse NOT to run, and get out there and do it.  So thank you.  Even those of you who haven't stopped by yet, I'm running and writing at least partially because you expect it.

All in all, it wasn't a bad run.  I actually did more distance in better time than any of my previous recent runs.  But it was the getting going, the starting off, that was hard.

That's always the hardest part for me; that first half-mile or so, when you're telling yourself to go back to bed, or your legs hurt, or it's okay not to go because you can double up tomorrow.  Once I get past that, I'm good to go.

Do you have that problem as well?  Because I bet more of us would run more if we could get past the negative psychology of the beginning of our runs,  Or maybe it's just me.  I'd like to know.

Now, the sugar-free challenge:  are any of you doing it?  I see how many people are reading but I didn't get ONE person to say okay, I'll do this too.  That's okay; try not to feel bad.   I read a lot of stuff without participating as well.

I had a great first sugar-free day yesterday.  Only one tiny slip:  I took a tiny sip of my wife's sweet tea yesterday after lunch because I was carrying it for her.  As soon as I realized it, I said "darn it!" (or something like that) and handed her the tea.  Other than that small slip-up, I was sugar-free* all day, again not counting foods that already had sugar in them (peanut butter, for example) or fruit.

This morning, I had two cups of coffee with Splenda.  I try not to use that either, because I've heard some vague reports that it's bad for you, but I'm not really sure why.  If anyone has anything SOLID on this (not "I heard that it's really formandehyde" or the like) I would appreciate it.

Two apples and two bananas and a cheese stick for lunch.

So that you're not confused, the number in the heading is how many consecutive days I've gone running since I started this blog.  It's actually more than that, but the blog makes it official!  The sugar-free streak I'll mention separately or something.

Have a great day!  Exercise and don't eat sugar!*

Today's run:  1.77 miles, verified by Nike + running app.