End Of June

Let me fill you in on my weekend.  Saturday I went with my friend Amanda for her birthday.  We went to go see Maleficent and let me tell you…it was aaaahhhh-mazing!  I will definitely be buying that movie when it comes out on DVD.  After that, we went to do a little shopping.  We went to HomeGoods first where I bought a board with a bunch of hooks on it that mounts to the wall.  I’m going to mount that behind the door in my bathroom.  Next stop was Joann’s Fabric where I bought some red, white and blue over-the-knee socks and a couple cheap scrapbook albums.  Then we went to Marshall’s where I picked up 2 tank tops for running, some wrapping paper, and a really pretty notepad (for my lists of bills for every paycheck).  Then we went back to my apartment where I gave her her birthday gifts.  I got her a comforter set, a bunch of fun knee-high socks, a picture frame and a peacock statue.  She loved all the gifts!  YAY!  Then, she headed home and I went to Burlington Coat Factory to see about some flag leggings that I had seen there when I was in Oregon that I wanted to wear for the Freedom 5000 5K I’m running on the 4^th.  I bought the leggings and a 9-opening frame to put some family photos in.  Later that night for whatever reason I decided to try on the leggings and they did NOT fit…not even close.  They wouldn’t even go over my calves.  Ugh.  So, yesterday, I went back to Burlington and returned them, then I went and grabbed the next size up along with some other leggings that were 4^th of July themed and headed to the dressing room.  Those flag leggings were just not destined to be worn by me.  When I went into the dressing room, I also grabbed a shirt that I figured if the leggings didn’t work, it would and it did.  It’s a flag shirt with fringe around the bottom…you know the style…it’s popular right now.  So, I’ll just wear that shirt with my black tights that have a red patch on the outer side of each knee.  I will probably also wear the over-the-knee red, white and blue socks I got at Joann’s too. 

I was thinking I would workout Saturday evening, but it didn’t happen.  Not entirely sure why as now I can’t remember what I was doing, but it didn’t happen.  I know part of the reason was I had to go to bed early so I could wake up at 4:30 in the morning yesterday to work the morning shift at work (overtime).  So, I worked the morning shift yesterday.  I was so tired all day long.  I got home and headed to the bank to get my money order for rent then I went to Burlington to return the leggings and such.  After that, I went to the grocery store and bought my groceries for the week, then back home.  I put away the groceries and then hit the couch for a nap.  I slept hard.  I was going to sleep for about 2-2.5 hours then get up and go for a run.  However…when the alarm went off, I felt like crap, so I just slept a little longer, got up, had some dinner, paid my bills online.  I did forget to make my oil change appointment for this coming Saturday.  Oops. 

I totaled up my mileage for June and I ran 43.6 miles.

Not as many miles as I was wanting to log, but, considering I completely missed 4 planned runs, that’s not too bad.  If I had run those planned runs, I would have logged about 15 more miles for the month of June.  My goal for July is to run at least 50 miles.  That’s a totally achievable goal.  Well, that’s not my ONLY goal for July.  My other goal is to try to do at least one session at the gym each week, along with some swimming or cycling once a week.  Plus, I want to get the Fast Metabolism Diet started in July also.  I won’t set any weight loss goal to start off; I just want to get to the point where my clothes aren’t tight and uncomfortable anymore.

I had my annual physical today.  My blood pressure was 120/62…excellent.  My pulse was 76…very nice.  All my labs were within normal ranges.  My weight…well…I knew I had regained a good portion of the weight I lost last year.  I thought it was a 25 pound gain…nope…I gained back the ENTIRE 33 pounds I lost.  Great.  But, I’m not devastated…just disappointed.  But, I’m also relieved.  A weight (yuck yuck) has been lifted off of me.  I’m not longer in the dark about how much I weigh and how much I gained back.  Now I know and I know where I have to go from here.  So, it’s freeing, even though I’m sad to know I regained every single pound I worked so hard to lose.  But, it is what it is and I just have to move forward and restart my journey.  I’ve lost the weight before, I know I can do it again.  I just hope I can make it last this time.  So, my new starting point is 205.  I have to own to own it and accept it if I’m going to move forward.  I have 35 pounds to lose to get to 170…so that’s my end goal.

Friend Making Monday...on Saturday...hahaha!

I got an email last week promoting a new race Austin, TX the first weekend of September.  It’s called the Frozen Hot Chocolate 5K/10K.  The 10K comes with a finisher’s medal!  The medal looks like a partially unwrapped chocolate bar with a bite taken out of it.  Cute!  My only issue with this race is that it costs $64 to register.  Eek!  Not cheap.  That’s getting up there with half marathon registration fees!  I’ve never paid more than $40 for a 10K, so if I do this (and I most likely will), it’ll be the most expensive 10K I’ve ever done.  But, I would really like the bling.  Haha!

Speaking of race bling…last week I received my medal for the Boston Wicked Strong virtual race I did.

I had originally planned to do it as a half marathon, a long run, but wanted to hurry up and do it, so I just did it as a 5K.  I’m really happy about this medal because I am super supportive of things that support the Boston survivors and, like any runner, I just love Boston.  Boston just proves that we, as runners, are so resilient and are such a close-knit community and that we are also one big family.  You can’t keep us down! 

I really am getting sick of being “fluffier” than I’m comfortable with.  I follow all these blogs and people on Facebook and Instagram who are on weight loss and fitness journeys.  A LOT of these people are full time mothers who also work, part time or even full time and yet…and YET they’re still able to not only lose some weight but to lose some drastic amounts of weight and have epic success!  I have no children.  I work full time and then some…I work anywhere from 40-64 hours a week.  Why exactly has that translated into lack of motivation and lack of effort?  Why have I allowed myself to feel defeated and that I have no choice and that I have no time for workouts other than running?  No time for eating other than just stuffing my face with whatever is convenient?  Lies.  All lies.  I have more than enough time.  Sure there are going to be up to 2 days a week where I literally cannot workout because I’ll have less than 8 hours from when I get off work until the time I have to be back at work, but that leaves FIVE DAYS that I do have time to workout.  I can run on 3 days and on the other 2 days I can do a mix of gym workouts, cycling and swimming.  There are really no good excuses here…just cop outs and, frankly, I’m so tired of my played out cop outs.  So tired.  

One more thing, I signed up for a 4th of July 5K that happens next Friday on the 4th call the Freedom 5000.  I've already bought the leggings I want to wear to run in.  So excited for you guys to see the pics when I get them.  I waited until the last minute to sign up for this race because I wasn't sure about the packet pickup.  Thankfully packet pickup the day before starts 45 minutes before I have to be at work, so I'll have time to pick it up then...if not, they also offer race morning pickup.


And now, time for Friend Makin’ Monday…in the middle of the week!  Hahaha!  I rare get these done on time due to my work schedule.  So, only 6 questions this week, each of them you need to answer using lyrics from a song, feel free to post the you tube link to the song also.  Since I frequently bust out song lyrics at work in response to what other people say, I figured this one would be a breeze for me…however, not so.  I had to resort to googling things like “songs about dessert” and “songs about life goals,” etc.

1. What's your life goal?

♪♫Around the world around the world♫♪  …I want to travel, travel, travel!!!

2. What's your favorite food?

There’s so many foods that I love that I really can’t pick a favorite…so therefore I can’t pick a song for my favorite food :/  sorry

3. What do you like to do on weekends?

♪♫I keep burnin’ and doin’ the neutron dance♫♪ …I really just like to have fun on the weekends, whether it be running, working out, doing crafts, going out with friends, or doing a little dance in my living room

4. What do you want to do today?

♪♫on the road again, just can’t wait to get on the road again♫♪ …even though I JUST drove over 5000 miles in a 2 week time frame, I’m itching to go on another road trip

5. What would you say to the man/woman of your dreams?

♪♫get out of my dreams and into my car♫♪  …we can take a road trip together and if I don’t want to kill him by the time we’re done, then we’re a match!

6. What's your favorite dessert?

♪♫It might rain tomorrow, better get some before I die, rhubarb pie, rhubarb pie♫♪  Frankly, I’m amazed there is a song about rhubarb pie, which is truly my absolute favorite dessert I the world

Stop, Continue & Start

I recently read a blog post by Diane Carbonell on her blog Fit to the Finish where she discussed hearing something that had nothing to do with weight loss in the context it was being talked about, but making a connection to weight loss with what was said regardless.  She was specifically referring to something she heard on a radio talk show.  What she heard was the concept of Stop, Continue and Start.  She explained it like this:

STOP represents those behaviors we need to stop doing because they are detrimental to our health and weight loss.

CONTINUE represents those behaviors we have that are good for our weight loss efforts.

START represents the behaviors we need to start doing to make ourselves healthier and lose weight.

I really like this concept a LOT.  I think it’s a very useful and helpful tool for weight loss.  She went on in her post to list out the things she needed to stop, continue and start (at her starting point of over 300 pounds, that is).  I then was inspired to make my own lists for these 3 actions…here they are:

I need to STOP:

• eating when I’m not hungry

• eating so many processed foods

• eating large amounts of food

• eating fast food

I need to CONTINUE:

• running

I need to START:

• eating more whole foods

• exercise more/more consistently

• cooking more often

• being accountable

This really lays it out for me.  It’s pretty sad that running is the only thing I see that I’m doing that is something I need to continue.  Really?  That’s the only thing I’m doing right?  And even then, really, I’m not doing it the way I should be.  I should be doing a of speed-work/hills run, a tempo run, and then the third run should be my long run.  However, I’m lacking the motivation to put forth the effort to do these things that would improve my running so very much.  And then, right now in Texas, the humidity makes being outside so oppressive and barely tolerable to be in.  And I hate running on the treadmill.  But, maybe, despite hating the treadmill, maybe I should do speed-work on the treadmill.  It would be really easy, I can just up the speed and go in ¼ mile splits…1/4 mile normal speed, ¼ mile fast and back and forth for 2-3 miles.  I absolutely cannot mentally handle being on the treadmill for much more than 3 miles, so doing more than just speed-work (I can do hill work with the incline on a treadmill too) on the treadmill is pretty much a no-go.  I do have a 10-inch tablet now, though, so maybe if there’s a wifi connection in my gym I can watch some of my DVR’ed programs while I run for 45 minutes to an hour for a tempo run and then just do my long run outside.  If I can make that work, that would make these next few months of running a little better for me. 

I do fully intend and plan to start eating better, hopefully the beginning of July.  Hold on, before you balk at me for waiting to start eating better and why don’t I just do it now?  Well, let me explain.  I’m going to do a published diet (this diet has worked extremely well for a friend, so I know it works), however I’m not done reading the book yet and hope to be done with it by the end of this week so I can then go grocery shopping and do food prep both on Sunday so that Monday I can start it.  It’s called the Fast Metabolism Diet and it cycles through 3 phases in order to boost your metabolism and up your fat burning power.  I’m hoping that during the month that I do this diet that I can get together a healthy eating plan so when the 4 weeks of the diet is done and over I can not gain the weight back and can stay on track with my weight loss.  I’m thinking of giving paleo a try at the end of the diet.  Not sure yet.  I’ll buy a book on it and do my research and see if it would be a good lifestyle for me.  If nothing else, I’d like to at least just give it a fair shake and see what happens.

How many awesome things can happen in one day?

First off, I would like to say I actually followed through with plans to go to the gym this morning!  Yesterday, I made the plan to go to the gym and do my jump box workout (in a somewhat diminished capacity…instead of 3-4 sets of 15 reps of all but box jumps where I would only do 10, I did 3 sets of 10 reps of all but box jumps…those I did 10, 8 and 6 reps) and then swim as many laps as I could in the lap pool.  I did a total of 5 laps (5 down-and-backs) in the pool.  I didn’t do it anywhere near fast.  In fact, it took me 10 minutes to do those 5 laps.  The first lap I did without stopping, but after that, when I made it to each end of the pool, I had to stop and catch my breath.  But I did it and that’s the important part!  I even stopped on the way to the gym to buy a new swim cap since the one I bought last year tore.

When I was going from my gym workout and getting ready to hit the pool, I discovered that it is really hard to slip on a really tight swimsuit over super sweaty legs.  Almost didn’t happen.  Maybe I should go to the store this weekend and buy a better fitting swimsuit?  Ha!  Yea, I’ll do that this weekend.  I mean, the suit I have right now fits fine if I’m putting it on when I’m dry.  But then, sort of not because there’s a fastener between the shoulder blades and I had one heck of a time fastening it this morning.  There was all sorts of contorting going on in the locker room.

When I got to work this afternoon I had 2 emails waiting for me.  One was from a supervisor that edits and publishes the quarterly “Fit For Duty” newsletter that I have been featured in 2 times and will be featured in for a 3^rd time when the summer edition comes out.  Well, she knows I’ve been super active and working on bettering myself and wants me to share my story!!!  I’m super excited about this, but a little nervous because I have gained back some of the weight I lost.  I wish she had asked me like 2 months from now.  Or that she wasn’t going to need the information for another 2 months.  Why?  Because then I could kick myself in the pants and lose about 15 or so pounds.  Oh well.  I mean, I don’t look bad right now, but I definitely don’t look as great as I did last year.  Sigh.  It’ll work out though.  This is something I’ve wanted for a long time.  For someone to take interest in my journey and want to share it with others to inspire them!  This is definitely an opportunity I do not plan to pass up.  I’ve still be hugely successful.  I’m still about 70 pounds down from where I started and that’s a really awesome accomplishment.  I should in no way put down what I’ve done just because I’ve gained back some of the weight.

The second email was from one of the counselors inviting me to be on her team for the Austin NAMI 5K walk in September.  Registration is free, but if you want a shirt beyond your team shirt, you have to raise a minimum of $100 in donations (I’ve already had 3 people tell me they would donate something and one more tell me maybe!).  Plus, that minimum of $100 in donations also gains you access to the post walk BBQ party.  I’m totally going to reach that $100 goal…hopefully I’ll surpass it.  NAMI stands for National Alliance on Mental Illness.  They are a grassroots organization that advocates for mental health reform and offers help to mental health consumers and their families.

So, that’s 3 awesome things that happened in one day!

Come Back?

I’ve been seriously slacking with my posts on here and I am so sorry for that.  Part of the reason was because I just took a huge vacation to go see my family and do some sightseeing I’ve been wanting to see…Crater Lake and the Grand Canyon.  The trip was ahhhhh-mazing!  It was long overdue for starters.  I haven’t been home to see my family in 5.5 years!!!  I had a niece and a nephew that I had NEVER met!  I had some awesome time with my family and some really great times with the friends I was able to catch up with while I was there.  One of my favorite times on this trip was the day I spent with my brother, David.  We went hiking and rafting.  First we went up a hill that I swear was at a 45° angle that was covered in bushes and ferns that were almost as tall as us.  Mix in some blackberry vines and stinging nettles and it was an adventure!  Anyway, it probably took us about half an hour to get up a hill that was only about a half mile up to the top.  He, of course, laughed at me the entire way through the bushes because I was saying “ow” like every 5 seconds.  Haha!  Then, we had a nice leisurely walk through the woods once we made it to the of the hill.  But, before we got to the wooded area, there was an open kind of meadow area at the top of the hill and there were this big round depressions in the grass where elk had laid down!!!  And there was a hold bunch of them.  It was sooooo cool.  After we made it back to the truck, we drove to this little area and he aired up the raft and we set out to paddle across a river to a little beachy island.  We stashed the raft so it would blow away and then set about walking around the island.  It was gorgeous.  We got to this one area of the beach and there were two family groups of seals!!!  They were ADORABLE!  One group was less skiddish than the other and we were able to get close enough so I could get decent pictures of them.  I found an intact mussel shell, which I snapped the hinge on when we were deflating the raft.  However, once I got home, I was able to gorilla glue it back together…good as new!  David collected at least 10 intact sand dollars. 

On the drive home, I stopped at Crater Lake.  As I was driving up to the top where the gift shop and café is at, I came around this corner and looked to my left and there it was, in all its glory.  It literally took my breath away.  I have to say, it was a spiritual experience for me.  I teared up a little.  It was beyond amazing.  I found a really nice shirt and some awesome postcards in the gift shop, then headed back onto the road.  Next stop, Grand Canyon.  I get there and go to the gift shop first.  I was NOT impressed with their official Grand Canyon shirts.  For starters, they had no women’s style shirts.  I got a BUNCH of awesome post cards.  The expensive national parks ones, the WPA (I have no clue what that stands for) poster post cards.  I deposited my souvenirs in the car and then made my way to Mather Point to actually see the Grand Canyon.  It was pretty awesome.  But, I have to say, it did not wow me like Crater Lake wowed me.  The Grand Canyon was an emotional experience for me…mainly because of the animals.  The squirrels were SUPER friendly and then, on my way out of the park a female elk crossed the road a couple cars in front of me and then stopped on the side of the road to munch on some vegetation, so I got some great pictures of her.  This was the first time I’ve ever seen an elk in person.  Of course, I would have preferred the awesome majesty of a male elk with a full rack, but the female was still pretty awesome.  On my way back to the interstate, I stopped at some gift shops in the town just south of the canyon and they had some pretty nice shirts, so I ended up with 2 from there.

The rest of the drive was pretty much just driving, no more sightseeing.  But I did stop at the Continental Divide to take a picture of the sign and to visit their gift shops.  I was hoping for a new Continental Divide shirt, which I found a really nice one.  My mom would have (and does) really like it and I should have gotten her one, but for whatever reason, didn’t do it.  Next time I will.  Anyway, I got myself a sun-face kachina statue.  I love it.  It wasn’t cheap either, but I think it was worth it.  I know if I hadn’t gotten it, I would have regretted it.

Also, while I was in Oregon, I visited my best friend and we went shopping in downtown Seaside, OR and in one of the gift shops I found a mermaid statue that I just had to have.  So, when I got home, I added the mermaid and the kachina to my statue shelf above my tv.

While I was on vacation, I kept up with my running and only opted out of one scheduled run.  The run I would have done in Flagstaff, AZ, but when I woke up that morning the high desert had kicked my allergies into overdrive and I did not feel up to running.  I ran the Helvetia Half Marathon while I was there and it was pretty awesome.  The weather while I was in Oregon was amazing and pretty much perfect.  When I was running, it was in the 50’s maaaaaybe the 60’s, so nice and cool.  When I got back to Texas and I tried to run, omg.  Weather shock to say the least.  It was so hot and humid that my heart rate kept going up and I had to stop and rest for a minute.  My total time running was an hour and 7 minutes, however, my total time out and about was around an hour and a half.  Wow.  That’s just horrible.  So, when I go to run, I need to try my best to get up at like 6 so I can be out the door by 6:30-ish.  That means that most mornings when I run, I will be going back to bed to sleep for another hour or two, but that’s okay.  I’ll be running when it’s not ridiculous outside.

I really need to get back on the weight loss bandwagon.  My work uniform pretty much does not fit me.  I manage to get it all buttoned and zipped, but it is barely holding me in right now.  And it’s so tight my acid reflux is horrible.  So, right now, I’m trying to downsize my portions and just start adding more healthy foods and trying to steer clear of junk food.  I’m still reading the Fast Metabolism Diet book, so I’m not ready to start it just yet as I need to make sure I read the whole book and understand exactly what I’ll be doing on it before I jump into it.  Also, not only do I need to keep up my 3 runs a week, but I need to make sure I hit the gym at least once a week and also do a second form of cardio (cycling or swimming) once a week as well.  That can happen when I do the gym day.  For instance, my gym is about 8 miles away, so I can ride the 16 mile round trip to the gym to do my workout and get in a gym session and some cross training cardio.  Or, I can drive to the gym, do my gym session and then hit the lap pool and do as many laps as I can manage, then do one more for good measure.  Haha.  This plan is totally doable.  Also, on other days that I’m not working overtime and have time to do a workout DVD or a 45 minute Zumba Core workout with my Xbox Kinect I need to totally do that too. 

While I was visiting my paternal grandma, she said to me “I can’t believe you’re carrying as much weight as you are with all that running that you’re doing.”  Kinda stung a little, but I know she meant it completely innocently, so I didn’t get all bent out of shape over it.  But, she doesn’t know that I could run every day all day but if I’m still eating all the crap I’ve been eating over the past few months, I’m not going to lose an ounce…let alone the 25 or whatever pounds it is I need to lose to be back to where I am happy at.  I’m hoping to be done reading the FMD book by the end of the month and starting the actual diet first of July.

I’m sure you’re tired of hearing me talk about recommitting and restarting.  I’m sorry for that.  I really am.  But, I’m human and I make mistakes…lots of them.  And I don’t want you thinking I think I’m perfect, because I’m far from it, so I want you to see my struggles and my slipups and my stumbles.  I want you to know that I know what you’re going through too and that you’re not alone and that if you have any questions, comments or concerns you can reach out to me and I will be your friend in your journey.

Friend Making Monday - Let's Get Sporty!

1. Are you following the World Cup? If so which team are cheering on?

nope.

2. What is your favorite sport to watch either on TV or in person?

football and hockey

3. Which local team (regardless of sport) do you support?

the dallas stars (if you mean local to me…if you mean local as in the country I live in, then I also support), the green bay packers, the Oregon university ducks and the oakland athletics

4. What is your favorite sport to play?

RUNNING!!!  Second favorite is cycling.  Of course, those are more of the participating type sports and not ones that you “play” because you can do them by yourself and other people are not required

5. Were you ever in a sports team?

yes, I played softball off and on between little league and high school.  Also, I was on my company’s swim team in the Army

6. Have you ever traveled a long distance to see your team play?

nope

7. Do you have a favorite stadium/sports venue you have been to?

again, nope

8. What is your favorite food you associate with sporting events?

bbq, nachos, pizza

9. Do you have a favorite sporting song?

“we will rock you”???  I’m not sure I understand this question.  haha

10. Is there a sporting event you would like to go to in another country?

nope…well…actually, if I go visit another country, I would like to participate in a half marathon while I’m there for my visit if there is one happening

Friend Making Monday

Random Questions

1. What is your favorite way to waste time at work without getting caught?

Type up blog posts to email to myself and then post when I get home, type up letters to my grandma to email to myself to set in a pretty font then add pictures and print out to snail mail to her, read blogs I subscribe to via email, and email coworkers like I’m on an instant messenger.

2. What would be the title of your autobiography?
cat lady, unplugged

3. When you were at school, what did you want to be when you grew up?
when I was in 3^rd grade, I wanted to be a veterinarian until I found out it dealt with blood.  When I was in 4^th grade I wanted to be a lawyer.  Later on, I went through phases of wanting to be a high school English teacher, a police officer, and a writer.  I’m sure there were other things, but I don’t remember them.

4. If you could invent a gadget, what would it be and why?

I always have these wonderful ideas for gadgets, but now I have been asked the question I can't think of anything :(

5. What is your favorite quote?

“we do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard” (slightly paraphrased)

6. What is the best meal you have every had?
hmm…probably this chicken cacciatore that a guy I dated years ago made…I ate until I literally couldn’t move because it hurt so much.

7. If you could choose your age forever, what age would you choose and why?
the age I am now.  Because I’m still young enough to do pretty much everything I want to do, but old enough to not be completely stupid about everything anymore.

8. What TV game show would you like to go on?

Wheel of fortune or jeopardy

9. If you had one day to live over again, what day would it be?
nothing really stands out.  I’ve never been married.  I have no children.  So, no life altering events that I would like to relive.

10. You are planning the most awesome dinner party of your life. Which 3 celebrities/historical figures (past or present) would you add to you guest list?

Edgar Allen Poe
Tilsa Swinton
Morgan Freeman