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Quick recap of some pluses and minuses:

Plus: I made my first batch of almond butter this weekend! Vanilla-Honey flavored. I must say, I'm hooked. The process was so simple. Just roasted the almonds in the oven for about 10 minutes and threw them in the food processor for about another 10-12 minutes, adding a little bit of oil, vanilla extract and honey. Now I'm excited to mix up different flavors of peanut, pecan and walnut butters. After trying some of the almond butter, our housemate said he wanted his own jar for Christmas, so now I have a great gift idea!

Minus: I really, really don't like running right now. I know I bitched about it in my last post, but this morning's run didn't change my attitude. It just sucks because if I stop and take a break for a while, my performance won't improve, so when I am in the mood to run in the future, it'll just feel like a struggle all over again. Buh. I'm torn. I miss hitting the Runner's High every week, but I can't seem don't want to focus and push myself to get there. I dunno. Maybe I just need to get the bitching out of my system and move on. Two miles on Wednesday, four-miler on Saturday. It always sounds good in my head, but then I actually do it and everything (my attitude, mostly) goes to crap. Maybe I just need to start watching "the wall" scene from Run Fat Boy, Run every night before a morning run, for motivation.

Plus: BodyPump is being offered on the weekends now! Wheeeee! Saturdays at 8 am and Sundays at 9 am. Perfect. I'm so excited. I haven't been since that first preview class back in June because the schedule sucked. But now, I can get back in the game!

Plus: My new Jari Love Ripped to the Core DVD is a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Seriously, this woman can do no wrong in my eyes. I was worried this workout would be similar to some of the other ones I've done, but I was wrong. The theme of this DVD is compound exercises, so you're working multiple muscle groups simultaneously (i.e., side squats with lateral raises, wide squats with upright rows, bent-leg deadlifts with bicep curls, etc.). Each interval is about 5 minutes and the entire workout is just over an hour, so I got worked over pretty damn hard. New move that killed me? Superman Planks. This was during the ab section toward the end. I've done plank and I've done supermans on my stomach, but combining the two? Tough stuff. You get into plank and lift opposing legs and arms at the same time. Maybe I'm a wuss, but I found it to be a challenge. And as a "hardcore" option, the dude in the back was doing the move while elevating his feet on the aerobic step, so he was at an angle, challenging his upper body strength even more. Crazy.

I may be in a running funk, but I'm definitely not in a strength training funk, thanks to Jari. Between my collection of Jari DVDs (I'm up to 6 now!) and the upcoming BodyPump classes, I just can't seem to stop being stoked about lifting. It's hands-down the hardest training I've ever done, but I love it and look forward to it just about every day. Coming from the same gal who used to avoid strength training like the plague, I think that's quite an accomplishment, heh.

Luckily, I can't think of any more minuses, so I suppose that's all for today. Later, kids!