And that was it. I'm cutting short my Friday night -- it with one of my best friends, sushi, mani/pedis and lychee nut martinis -- so I can be up and ready and raring to go for the 8 a.m. start of the Chinatown 5K.

In the interest of finding the Bright Side Of Life, I suppose it's a positive that I'm still in good enough shape that a last-minute decision to run a 5K is an option for me. Right? I mean, I'm bound to get out there and resemble a turtle with my race pace -- I've slipped to about 11:15 per mile -- but by God, my ass will be out there.

Something to note is that this will be the first time in a looong time that I will be running in a race by myself. For the past few years I've taken to running with my girlfriends and I don't know -- for some reason I want to do this on my own. In fact, Erik will be gone for the weekend so I won't even have anyone in the crowd cheering me on.

I sort of like that. I like the idea that I'll be out there on my own. It feels strangely hard core. Like I've gone from Stay Puft Marshmallow Girl to Oxygen Cover Girl in one feld swoop. Or something.

In other news, the lovely Casey of shut up and MOVE has reached out to me and revealed the identity and location of her Weight Watchers meeting and the week after this shall find me there. Apparently the meeting is on Saturday morning and with me doing the 5K, I won't make it. Which is just as well since Casey will be on vacation herself and won't be there.

I really have no idea if going back to WW meetings is the answer but I'm willing to try. Casey raves about her leader and perhaps if I had a WW leader who conducted meetings I liked, rather than ones that centered on the inane bullshit so prevalent in my past experiences, I'll be more inclined to ... I don't know. Stick it out. At least stick it out in terms of dropping the rest of this weight.

I'm reaching a total Zen place about the weight gain. Getting back on track, feeling healthy and whole again, all of it serves as a reminder that it's all temporary. In a few weeks or so, I'll have dropped the extra weight and then some and it'll all be a memory. I'm working towards losing it, so what's there to get all worked up over?

Then again, talk to me this weekend when I still can't find anything to wear to the party I'm going to on Saturday night ...

I want to thank all of you for your sweet emails and comments. I can't tell you how much it means to me. You rock. I'll be posting an updated list -- a Blogroll, if you will -- of sites I've been reading. Any new ones out there you think I should check out? Let me know!