Monday, April 30, 2012

Weigh In

A quick weigh in:




204.2lbs, which is down 1.4lbs! I wish I was losing faster, but I'll get there!

I ran 2.1 miles on the treadmill tonight at the Y with Stephanie. She is in PT and can't run right now, so she walked on the treadmill next to me while I ran. We talked about her upcoming wedding! She and her boyfriend are engaged, but didn't have a date set, then last week they set the date for June 3rd of this year! 6 weeks away! He is going to go into the army, and they wanted to get married before he joined. I went with her to try on dresses on Saturday and it was fun! She looked so beautiful!

I have a 5k with Paul on Wednesday! I'm excited! Then I hope I run 4 miles on Saturday!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Longer, Farther

I ran the farthest I've ever run yesterday! I ran 3.8 miles! I ran slower than usual, but I had a horrible week of running and didn't even run 1.5  miles my other two runs of the week. I realize that I do much better on group runs than running by myself. Yesterday our run was supposed to be 45 minute, but I ran until I was done and run for 54 minutes. I had to take about 4 30 second walk breaks, but at least I was out there doing it. I don't know what happened, but all of my slower cohorts were no where to be found about a mile in, so I ran most of the run by myself bring up the rear of all the other faster runners in the group ahead of us.

I also realized that I feel a lot better after a run if I push myself. The other two runs I had this week I barely ran over a mile and I, pretty much, just quit in the middle. Yesterday I ran longer and father than I ever have and had to push myself and my body felt great afterward!

I signed up for The River Run 10k this week! I saw that they have a Tot Trot for ages 2-7! It's a 40 yard run and the kids get a medal too! I'm going to sign Elliott up for it!

My eating this week has been less than stellar. I went for Chinese with a friend on Wednesday and I think I did pretty well. I realized when I had eaten enough. More than enough actually. Then we took Elliott out for pizza Friday night.

Speaking of all this, I quit that stupid Fat Smash Diet. I caved on Tuesday and ate some cereal and realized that I don't need the diet. When I told Paul he said "I don't know why you're so worried about that diet, you are doing just fine on your own!" and I realized that he was right.

My oldest friend was in town from Colorado this weekend and I went to see her yesterday. She was telling me that her boyfriend used to be really overweight and then he started eating right and running too. She said at first he sucked, but then he got better and has run several marathons. It gave me hope that I'll get there too. I just need to keep at it!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Holy Hooker Heels!

As I mentioned in my last post, my mom and youngest brother came in from out of state this weekend. They got here Saturday afternoon and spent the night, and went home Sunday afternoon.

Saturday we went shopping! I have learned that I still don't like shopping. I tried on a lot of stuff in the "regular sizes" and all the XL was slightly too small, but all of the 1X in plus sizes was too big...

One of my 30 x 30 goals is to buy a pair of HIGH heels! Kim has a pair that she wore to our company xmas party and they are cute and look so fun. While we were shopping, I saw a pair of HIGH heels and I told my mom I wanted to try them on for fun. I tried them on and they are really fun! My mom said "Why don't you get them?" and I said "No, they're not practical and I have nothing to wear them with yet" She ended up making me get them and I think I'm glad I did!

Elliott thinks they are fun too!


We were walking by this dress and I looked at it and said to my mom "One day, I'll wear cute stuff like this!" and she said "Why don't you try it on?" It was a regular size and I tried on an XL and it fit, and I liked it, so I got it. I'm not comfortable wearing it in public yet, but I'll get there!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Week 2 Weigh In

I weighed in at 205.6! That is down 3.4lbs for this week! I'll take it! So close to ONEderland!

I almost gave up on TFSD twice yesterday. Once at lunch time when I wanted to eat something quick and easy, but I had egg whites and northern beans instead. Then I was REALLY close to giving up yesterday evening. We were at our nephews birthday party and they had chips, hot dogs, beans, and cake. I was talking to Jennifer (my SIL) and she was telling me that it was okay to induldge a little sometimes, and I had decided to give up the diet. Then I talked to Paul and told him that I was going to give up the diet and asked him if he thought I was weak and he said "Sometimes." and I decided not to give up. I ate beans and drank a bottle of water. I'm glad I did not give up!

I had my 2 mile race yesterday! I finished in 24:07 which is the fastest I've ever run! Kim finished in 21:35, I think! My mom and youngest brother came into town from out of state and watched me run! Paul and Elliott were there also! Before the race I saw a girl I know from facebook, a girl I went to high school with, a few people from S2F, and Kevin, a coach from S2F.

While I was running, there was a guy who was probably around 80 years old who was walking and he passed me running! He was ridiculous! Go him!

They had the race started by a bunch of motorcycles revving up their engines! It was pretty cool! It gave me goosebumps!

It was a fun race, but my legs were dead afterward!

Kim and I pre race

Kim coming in to finish

Kim crossing the finish line


I'm so happy to see the finish line!

I'm coming in to finish

Me crossing the finish line


Elliott and I after I finished

Me and Kim post race

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Day 4

I'm half way through Day 4 of Phase 1 of TFSD. I'm still going strong. I a little worried about tonight and tomorrow, because my mom is coming into town and we usually go out to eat when she is here. I'm determined to stay strong though. My favorite meal on this "diet" (I HATE the D word!) has been a meal of mushrooms, green bell peppers, fresh green beans, and onions sauteed in olive oil with a little bit of garlic powder!

I did my run this morning! It was a 40 minute run, but I did 42. I looked and I was really close to 5k, so I just finished it out. I did 5k in 42:44, which is over 2 minutes faster than I did at the Run2Believe 5k last month! I was so happy with that! I started to get a little cough-y around 2.5 miles, but I did well overall.

After the run, Kevin, one of our "coaches" pulled me over as a testimonial on the program. A girl was running in the park and I guess she was asking him about it. He pulled me aside and told the girl that I started out as a brand new runner and then asked me how far I had just run. I was very proud to say I'd just finished over 3 miles!

My new running friend, Lori, was talking about how she did not feel prepared for the 10k. I said that I didn't really feel ready either, but I had faith that I would be there 6 weeks from now. Last time we talked, I told her that she should consider doing the half marathon, instead of just the 5k. Today she said that she would rather do the 5k, that she was confident she could do, and do it faster, than do the half marathon, that she wasn't sure she could finish. The whole conversation kind of made me think twice about doing the half marathon, but I have thought about it all day, and I AM going for the half. I will get there!

And now I leave you with a picture of my adorable daughter, Elliott!



So what do you think? Would you rather run a 5k that you know you can finish and run it fast, or run the half marathon that your not as confident about?

Friday, April 20, 2012

Day 3

I'm on Day 3 of The Fat Smash Diet. This evening has been sort of hard. I have wanted to eat cookies and macaroni and cheese. I haven't though. In the book, it says that cheating is a choice and if you make that choice the only thing you are doing is cheating yourself. I think about that at moments of weakness and it helps.

We have a group run in the morning. 40 minute. I'm nervous. Then our 2-miler is on Sunday. I hope I am not feeling sick at all tomorrow. This is really getting ridiculous!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Fat Smash Diet

I've been inspired by The Pink Elephant to try out the Fat Smash Diet. I checked out the book from the library on Tuesday and I'm on Day 2 of the diet. It's not something I would normally try. Pretty much because it has the words diet and detox in it. I think that those are both buzz words that are over used. What I was drawn to was the no counting aspect of it. I've been counting and counting for 6 months! It says to let your hunger guide you, and I really like that. It also focuses on exercise a lot too, which I also like.

Phase 1 of the diet (Detox) is pretty restrictive and lasts 9 days. I've done really well the last two days and hope I can continue the momentum.

I tried to run yesterday with Kim. We ended up walking mostly. My chest is just too congested right now. At least we were out the walking and having great conversation!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

The Story of the Vanilla Ice Cream Cone

Before I started losing weight, I ate ice cream often. However, I never ate plain vanilla ice cream. Why? Because I was super obese and a sugar addict. It's like an alcoholic only having one drink. Vanilla ice cream didn't satisfy me. I had to have chocolate syrup, M & M's, cookies, etc smashed up into it. I didn't even like the ice cream of a Blizzard to be vanilla, I preferred chocolate.

The other day, Paul, Elliott, and I were at a local restaurant and I had a coupon for a free vanilla ice cream cone. I thought I would get one and share it with Elliott. And let me tell you. It was the BEST ice cream cone I'd ever had! Now that I'm not constantly eating to maintain an average blood sugar of 800, I can enjoy a "plain" vanilla ice cream cone. It really opened my eyes that I am really changing.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Get Fit Week 1 Weigh In

Weigh in for week 1 for the Get Fit Challenge
Wow! A 6.6lb loss! I have this horrible cold to thank for it! I can't smell or taste anything, so I have a diminished appetite. Also, no holidays to put loads of food in front of me!

This also means that I am officially down 50lbs! In fact, 51lbs! I am so happy to have finally hit that milestone! 9lbs until ONEderland!

I have a very ambitious goal of getting to ONEderland by May 2nd. We will see...

Hope everyone else did well this week as well!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Tornado Alley

OMG! What an exhausting 24 hours! I woke up Saturday feeling horrible so I decided not to run. Then I also decided not to go to yoga, or the birthday party because Elliott seemed sick too.

We had been having a forecast with some bad, possibly tornado producing, storms. I wasn't sure about the concert. I asked Paul what he thought. He looked at the radar and said to go, it looked like the storm was going to go north of us.

So, against my better judgment, I left at 6pm to go to the concert. The sky did not look good. I got inside and I was the first to arrive. Kara, Michele, and Tim got there about 7pm. Kim and Kevin got there as the first act got on at 730ish, but still no Kate and Byron. They arrived at about 830pm. They said that there were 2 tornadoes in their town so it wasn't safe to risk leaving. We enjoyed the second act, then Miranda Lambert came on. I did not have any cell service in the arena, so I was unable to contact Paul. Kara had service, and her boyfriend was texting her that it was getting pretty bad. He then told us that we were officially in a tornado warning and we were told to take shelter.
I was going to go to up to the top to see if I could get reception to call Paul out there, but as soon as I got out on the concourse, I was rushed by security and told to get back in. Then they had the act get off the stage and told everyone to remain in their seats and calm. When I got back to my seat, I sat down and started to cry. I was so upset, I had the sound knocked out of my cry. I almost, couldn't breath! I tried to use Kara's phone to call Paul, and he answered, but couldn't hear me due to my sick voice, the loud arena, bad reception. I had been trying to text to ask if they were safe. I got a delayed text from him that said a huge tornado was supposed to hit at 10:20pm. All the while, these two stupid drunk girls behind us we saying "I don't know why everyone is freaking out! We are probably in the safest place in town!" I wasn't worried about my safety. It was my family that I was worried about. At around 10:45pm the arena said that the storm had passed and Miranda was going to come back out. I myself, got out of there. I got a hold of Paul and he and Elliott were safe, but we had lost power. A tornado destroyed an area about a mile away from us. When I got home, we went over to Paul's brother's house with our dogs and slept with them in the basement. There apparently was 97 tornadoes spotted last night. Our average per year is 57! Luckily, we had no loss of life in the state!

I slept like crap. I slept on the floor, with 5 less pillows than I'm used to, and Elliott would not go to sleep. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep.

This morning my niece made us breakfast. She is working on a girl scout patch and one of the requirements is to make a big weekend breakfast. I had some potatoes, eggs, a small piece of sausage, and 1 piece of bacon. We had a small disaster while cooking. Jennifer started heating up a sauce pan to cook sausage in because she only had one skillet. I guess she has never cooked sausage before and she put oil in the hot pan and it immediately caught fire! Flames shot up into the air and she was going to pour water on it! I said "NO! Cover it!" and we smothered it.

We got home today about 3pm and we had power! We all took a long nap! Now I'm nursing this cold and hoping to feel better tomorrow.

Kim and I at the concert before the craziness

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Sick

I'm supposed to have a really busy day today. Running, yoga, birthday party, and concert. But. I'm super sick! I hate this. No running or yoga for me today :( and most likely no birthday party :(. I am, however, going to the concert because I paid $50 for the ticket and I'm not letting that go to waste!

Like everyone does, I hate to be sick! It has, however, made eating the right things much easier!

I'm expecting a great loss this week! I'm pretty sure I will be at 50lbs lost! I'm so freaking excited for that milestone!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Getting Faster

Today was a running day. I ran with Kim and Stephanie at the park. A girl from the S2F program was going to come run with us too, but her husband was working late so she could not.

I felt like today's run was hard and easy. It was hard to keep going (I had to stop for water 2x and take a couple of walking breaks), but I was able to hold conversation with Kim much better than I usually am. And I was very surprised to see that my pace was 13:16. I'm getting faster and able to maintain conversation! That is a step in the right direction!

We have another 30 minute run tomorrow, then 45 minutes on Saturday. Then next week is a step back week. Then we have our 2 miler next Sunday.

Doing well with food today, even though I had a little bit of candy. Oatmeal for breakfast and dinner! I might be on another oatmeal kick!

That's all for now!

Oh, The Horror!

I woke up this morning and was laying in bed savoring the morning before I had to get up! I have Tuesdays off, but I have had to work the last 2, due to someone being on vacation. That resulted in me working about 50 hours a week, for the last two and being extremely tired! So I have been looking forward to today for some time.

I heard Elliott talking on the baby monitor so I got up to go get her. I got to her room and looked in in horror. She had taken off her diaper and peed and pooped (loose stools! Blah!) on the floor! I could not believe this was happening! I took her to the bathroom and cleaned her up and then went to re-access the damage in her room. I cleaned up the poop first and then the pee. Then I could still smell poop, so I turned and looked at her bed and there was poop all over the bed! So I stripped off her sheets and started the laundry right away! There was a tiny bit of poop on her froggy, so I cleaned her up too. Then I went and told Paul about the horror! When he got to the living room, he saw her potty chair sitting there and he took it into her room. "Maybe she will use this next time!" Lol! I have to laugh in order not to cry!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Get Fit Challenge Week 1

The Get Fit Challenge starts today! Here is my weigh in picture:



 I'm not happy at all with this, but it's nobodies fault but mine. I ate with reckless abandon all weekend long.



Challenge Goals:
  • I'd like to lose, at least,16 pounds so I can finish the challenge and start the summer under 200lbs
  • To keep running on schedule as I have been since January. I have a 2 mile race, 2 5ks and a 10k. I'd like to finish the 2 miler sub-30, and the 5ks sub-44. I haven't set a time goal for the 10k yet, but I'll post it as soon as I do.
  • To go yoga, at least, twice a month
  • Track more diligently with WW they way I did in the beginning.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Do Not Mess With The Running Gods

Well, the running gods decided to punish me. Yesterday we were had a 40 minute run on the schedule. However, since there was a race in the park, we didn't have the group run. After yoga yesterday, I decided that I was going to wait until today to run.

I decided that I was going to run The Big Ditch Run. I got there at about 8:20. I use my phone for music and my smartrunner app. I put my phone in my armband holder and I took my key off of my key ring and put it in the pocket on the holder. I started my music, but the volume wouldn't work. It's been acting funky since it was in my pocket in the down pour on Wednesday. So I took off my headphones and put them in the armband pocket. It didn't take long to realize that running on a gravel trail is more challenging than the flat ground. I thought to myself "This is going to be a long run!"

When I reached my turnaround point I looked and I had run 0.7 miles. Then and there I decided that I wasn't going to do 40 minutes and I would be done when I got back to my car. Since I had my phone out I thought that I might try to see if the volume would work and it did! In a fit of excitement I grabbed out my headphones as fast as I could, plugged them in, and the they wouldn't play. So I put them back in the pocket and continued to run. I was so happy when I got back to my car! I stopped my smartrunner app. I had run 1.5 miles in about 25 minutes. I got into the pocket to get my key, and to my absolute horror, it wasn't there! Shit! It must've fallen out when I got my headphones out.

So I started walking back scanning the ground as I went. I got to where I thought it must've fallen out, and couldn't find it. I walked all the way to where I turned around and started back.

My heart was filled with despair and I was nearly in tears! We do not have a spare key. Not only that, but Paul's car is dead and we have yet to get a new one. I had no idea what we were going to do, but I knew it would be expensive. To have someone come out and make a new key on freaking Easter?! I was almost back at my car and I looked down and I saw this:
My heart jumped with joy! Thank you running gods! I promise to never disobey you again!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Non-Weigh In

I tried to go weigh in at WW this morning, but they wouldn't let me since it hasn't been a full week since I weighed in. Boo! I guess I'll have to use my home scale for the Get Fit Coast 2 Coast Challenge. That is fine I guess. I count my WW weight as my "official weight" because it weighs me less it's usually the same scale at the same time every week. Oh well, my home scale will do the job!

Since they wouldn't let me weigh in and it was the same meeting I attended on Sunday, I didn't stay. I went to Walgreens and got stuff for Elliott's Easter basket.

We had a run scheduled this morning, but we were instructed to do it on our own since they were having the Easter Sun Run 10k in the park today. I didn't end up running, so I'll run tomorrow.

Stephanie and I went to yoga today after work. It was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. There were some poses that were completely out of the question. I don't think I've ever felt fatter or more out of shape! After the class, an older lady in the class asked if it was our first time and asked how we liked it. She told us she had been doing it for 2 months and she had gone from having 2 rolls to 1! :) It surprised me that she had only been going 2 months, because in the class she seemed like a pro. I did like the yoga though. I will go again. My favorite pose was the corpse pose! I felt really great afterward. The staff at the studio was really nice too!

After yoga, Elliott and I went to my SIL house to dye eggs with her and my niece. My niece hid plastic eggs filled with candy for Elliott to find! This is our second year of doing this and I really like it!

Tomorrow we go back to Jennifer's (my SIL) for our family get together.

That's all for now! Hope everyone has a happy Easter!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Challenge

I just got back from running at the Y with Stephanie. I hadn't run on a treadmill in weeks and I was kind of nervous about it. I have definitely gotten faster! I used to be happy to run at a 4.0 for the duration, but today I maintained a 4.2 to 4.6 for the duration. We weren't scheduled to run today, but we got rained out yesterday. At about a mile in it started to downpour! I was going to finish our loop, but a girl behind me started yelling for me. She said that she was asthmatic and that she was having a hard time breathing and it was scaring her, so I walked back with her. Stephanie was close behind her and walked with us too. It stated to hail when we were about half way back! It was crazy!

The Mizuno rep was at GoRun. I tried out so shoes on my run. They were a little small, but seemed okay. It was hard to concentrate on how they felt with the rain and hail and all that. At least my shoes didn't get soaked? ;) They had a giveaway too. Winning something is on Stephanie's Bucket List, so I told her on the way there that she was going to win something and she did! She won a pair of Mizuno shoes! How awesome is that!?

Get Fit: Coast 2 Coast Challenge starts Monday!!! I'm so excited! If you haven't checked this challenge out yet, you should. There is a chance to win some moolah! I'm going to push really hard for the duration of the challenge! Hopefully I can win! Regardless, I'm going to try to lose 15lbs during the challenge. It will end the Monday after our 10k, so another goal of mine is going to be to finish the 10k in a certain amount of time. I'm not sure what yet. I want to get a couple more 5k's under my belt before I decide.

I am so ready for this week to be over! Today feels like it should be Friday! Gaahhh! I was thinking about taking tomorrow off, but I could really use the overtime!

That's all for now!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

1/2 and 1/2

So it's official. Half marathon training starts in June! We got an email from one of our running coaches saying that they were going to do another Start2Finish group in June for the Prairie Fire 5k, Half Marathon, and Full Marathon! Kim and I immediately signed up! I feel like I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but I'm excited anyway!

Kim and I ran at the park yesterday and it was a good run! I ran 2.6 miles at a 13:35 pace. It's not my best, but it's better than my average!

I've been doing really well with limiting my snacking during the day. Yesterday at work, I didn't snack at all, and today I had 6 whole wheat crackers.

Kim added some pictures to facebook of the race and stuff so I'll add them here...
Kim and I the night it was raining really hard on our group run! We are soaked!

Crossing the Finish Line! That is Stephanie with her arms up in celebration!
Kim and I around 1k
Me, Kim, Stephanie pre race

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Progress

I just got home from WW and I lost 2.0 this week! That takes me to a total loss of 49.2lbs. I'm so close to 50lbs! I really wanted 50lbs this week, but I will be there!

OMG! At the WW meeting, I felt something on my neck and I grabbed it off, and it was a tick! I freaked out and threw it on the carpet and tried to step on it, but of course that didn't work. I didn't see it after that, so I tried to put it out of my mind. Then a few minutes later, it was crawling on my foot! I kicked it off and then was really looking for it. When there was a break in the meeting I said "There is a tick down here that keeps crawling on me and it is really freaking me out!" The WW leader, killed it and took it outside. It was kind of funny, but it really did freak me out! How did I get a tick on me? And how long had it been on me?

I had a group run with S2F yesterday. I ran a 13:35 minute mile. 2.6 miles. It's not as good as Wednesday, but it's much better than usual. There was a girl in front of me and I told myself I was going to keep pace with her. I did really well the first loop, but the second, she got ahead of me pretty far. I pushed harder than usual, but i felt really good afterward!

Kara, Stephanie, and I
We went to the drive in movies last night to see The Hunger Games. Before we went, we stopped at Sonic and I got a Route 44 Diet Cherry Limeade and a small sweet potato tots. Kara brought some snacks and stuff, and Bekki and Stephanie stopped at Quik Trip to get some candy. I had my drink and tots. Then at the movie I had a Fruit by the Foot, a Gatorade, 5 Reeses Pieces, 1 Milk Dud, and then a cup of popcorn. I had to say out loud to myself "Okay, Carrie, don't blow it tonight!" I had to go pee right before the movie started, then I had to go pee again about 3/4 of the way through the movie. I really liked the movie! It was, of course, different from the book, but still good! I can't wait to see the next two!



Today they are having an Easter egg hunt at the YMCA, and I'm taking Elliott. My MIL and I think my SIL's are going with their children also. Then my MIL is having a BBQ at her house. I will have to stay focused!