Monday, May 28, 2012

Weigh In and Get Your Rear In Gear 5k Race Report

ONEderland!
Down 4.4lbs this week! Holy Moley! Finally! I made it to ONEderland! I didn't think this day would ever come! I guess working out 5 out of 7 days really paid off!

Stephanie and I went to the Y on Monday night to lift weights and we did some elliptical also. Tuesday night me and Steph did a Turbokick class at the Y. I ran walked 3 miles on Wednesday with Kim at group run. Thursday night Steph and I did Zumba. Last night Kim and I did a 5k. And then this morning I weighed less than 200lbs for the first time in 2 years!

Kim and I pre race

Our race last night sucked so bad. It was SO hot. When I had signed up I thought that since it was going to start at 730p that it would be cooler! Boy was I wrong. The race was in downtown Wichita and part of the race went on this stupid brick road that was so hard to run on! When we we coming off the first mile, we could see a further part of the course and we saw the race leaders and it was really cool! We had never ran a race and been able to see the leaders ahead before. Thomas (one of our...mentors, coaches...I don't know) was one of the leaders, which he always is. I knew that he was going to be overall winner as soon as I saw him before the race started. He always is! The course was 2 loops and when we were about 2.5 miles in, Thomas lapped us. He was going so fast and it all just seemed effortless for him. I hope to be there someday.

This is what my 100% looks like! Final Stretch
My brother and his girlfriend, Mary, came out to cheer us on with Paul and Elliott. When we looped back around and saw them, I wanted to stop so bad! It really was a tough race! We kept going. When we finally looped around to the final stretch, Kim sounded like she was having trouble breathing. She said that she was trying not to cry. See the race was for colon cancer and her grandpa has been in the hospital this past week and they found a tumor in his colon, so it meant so much more for her.

My finishing time was 43:06, so no PR. I didn't have a PR in mind, I just wanted to finish. I felt completely unprepared for the race! Kim did text me later and tell me that her mapmyrun showed a long course at 3.24 miles...
Me and Kim post race

After the race, Paul, Elliott, and I walked and had Gelato with my brother and Mary. I'd never had Gelato before. I first chose Blood Orange flavor, but decided on Mint. It was really good!

5 days until the 10k. I'm super nervous!



Stephanie at her bachlorette party




We played LIFE at the Bridal Shower
Today Paul , Elle, and I went to the zoo with my mother-in-law and niece and nephews. It was fun. We were there for about 5 hours! It has been a busy weekend! I had Stephanie's bacherloette party on Friday night, Elliott had pictures on Saturday morning, Sunday was Stephanies Bridal Shower which I had completely forgotten about, so I was super late, and today we went to the zoo. Next weekend is the RiverRun 10k on Saturday and Stepahnie's wedding on Sunday.
Elliott is normally TERRIFIED of these statues, but she has started to warm up to them!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Weigh In



Uh, I keep losing and gaining the same five pounds over and over again! But today, that stops! I bought a new cup yesterday. A 24 oz water cup! And today I drank 7 24oz cups of water!

I didn't have a run scheduled for tonight, so I asked Stephanie if she wanted to go to they Y. We went and lifted weights and did some elliptical. And I wore a tank top! It was the first time I have ever worn a tank top in public in my life!

While we were there, there was a Zumba class going on and we watched a little. It looked really fun! Stephanie said that we should join in, but I was already in a tank top, and I can't do a Zumba class AND wear a tank top at the same time! That is way too far out of my comfort zone. We decided that we are going to do Turbokick class tomorrow and Zumba on Thursday. It should be fun!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Long Runs

In our running group, we always do our long runs on Saturday mornings. I've attended every single one up until last weekend. I had the GOTR race last Saturday. I was going to do both when I thought the race started at 9am, but it started at 830a and I wouldn't have had time to make it their in time. Then I also missed yesterday.

Kate, Kara, and I at the concert
Kate's AWESOME photo of Mr. Church
Friday night we (Kara, Kate, and Kate's husband) went to Topeka to see Eric Church in concert. It was originally going to be Kim and her boyfriend Kevin instead of Kara and I, but Kevin couldn't go, so Kim invited me to go, then Kim got sick and we asked Kara to go. It was kind of a big fiasco because we all work together and we were needing to leave work early and then Stephanie called in sick. But we ended up making it work. Well, we didn't get home until about 2am and I didn't get to bed until even later. So, waking up to be running at 7am then working after wasn't going to happen.

On a side note, the expo center the concert was in had a bunch of stairs that we had to go up. In my old life, I would've looked at those stairs with dread, but now, I looked at them with excitement! I ran up those stairs and I wasn't even out of breath when I got to the top!

Anyway... When Kim got to work on Saturday, I asked her if she had run with the group and she said that she hadn't, so I asked her if she wanted to run tomorrow (which is now, today) and she said she did. So we made plans to meet Sunday at 7am. We met up for our 60 minute run and we ran the outside perimeter of the park, which we never do. I really liked it! We started our run next to the zoo and you could hear the animals in there going crazy! It must have been breakfast time! When we got about half way, I needed to walk for about 10 seconds, and then we were back to running.

At one point in the middle of the path we saw a turtle! It was so cute! Kim said "There, now it feels like we're going fast!" We also saw a beautiful butterfly fluttering around! I love seeing stuff like that while running! We got back around and crossed the wooden bridge to get back to the park and we realized we were not at 60 minutes yet, so we did the small loop and ended at 62:35 and we did 4.49 miles! It felt great! It really gave me confidence in our 10k that is now less than 2 weeks away!

It was also my first run with my Garmin and I loooove it!

Paul is changing the brakes on my car right now and afterwards I think I'm going to take Elliott to the zoo! It's so nice out and we need to renew our membership anyway. She is finally at an age where she will really enjoy it! She loves looking at her animal flash cards and making all the animal sounds!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

A shout out to Karen who ran her first 5k yesterday, Jen who is also doing a 5k today, and Katie who is running her first marathon today! You ladies are great!


Thursday, May 17, 2012

Running Purchases!

I got a phone call from my babysitter at work yesterday afternoon saying that Elliott had a 101 degree temperature. She asked if she could give her some ibuprofen and I said that was fine and asked if I needed to come get her. She told me that she would give her the medicine and see how she did. She called back and hour later and said that her fever hadn't gone down at all. I called Paul and told him to go pick her up. I stayed home from work today and took her to the doctor and she has a double ear infection. We got some amoxi (and a new doll) and she seems to be feeling better.  

Kim and I went to the group run last night. It was horrible! I started out with my legs feeling like lead and ended with me trying not to vomit! And it was super hot! We decided to start running in the mornings since it has gotten so hot! We also decided yesterday that we are going to run TWO half marathons this fall! We were already going to do Prairie Fire, but I heard about one called See Jane Run. It's a woman's' half and it supports breast cancer. There is champagne and chocolate at the finish line! Prairie Fire is October 14 and See Jane Run is September 15. We think we are crazy, but I think it's going to be fun!

Also, I'm finally getting a GARMIN! I'm so excited! That had been my reward for my 50lb weight loss, which I achieved a while ago, but I was slow to pull the trigger on buying one since they are pretty expensive. It dawned on me one day to look on Ebay. I had been trying to get one, but kept getting outbid, and then I won one this week! I hope to get it early next week! I think it will help my training a lot! I also bought some CEP compression calf sleeves and a Nathan hand held water bottle from amazon! I'm so excited!
Compression Sleeves

Hand Held Water Bottle
Kim had a bigger hand held water bottle, but it was kind of weird to carry (she let me try it out) and then she got this one yesterday and it is so much better! So I bought one too! Since it is getting hotter, we are going to need more water!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Difference!

Kim and I were going to run 4 miles last night, but we were not feeling it, so we walked. We are going to run tonight. We have great conversation though :)

I was happy to have a big loss on the scale this week, especially since I had a GAIN last week!

I have to post a couple of pictures. I was looking back at my first 5k that I walked in November and then compared it to GOTR from last Saturday, and the difference is defiantly noticeable!

235#


203#
Tess over at Becasuse I want to... is having a giveaway! You should go check it out!

And Disney Mommi is also having a giveaway for a Spibelt!

Saturday, May 12, 2012

GOTR

Jennifer, Sarah, and Me Pre Race
Girls on the Run 5k race was today! My 10-year-old niece is in the GOTR program, so she and my SIL, Jennifer, were doing the race! I was so excited to run this with them. Jennifer doesn't run, so I had decided before hand that I wasn't going to try to PR, and I would run with her and walk when she needed to walk.

Before we started it was raining a little bit, but it stopped pretty much, as soon as the race started. Jennifer was asking when there would be water and I told her that there is usually water around Mile 1. We passed the 1 Mile marker and there was no water. She said "You said there would be water!" I told her "There will be! It probably right up here!" It wasn't much further up. We got water and started running again.

The Keeper of the Plains with Exploration Place (pointy building) the background Source
I REALLY liked the course! It ran right by the river and past one of our museums, Exploration Place, that has some really pretty water and bridges. Then it crossed the river at the Keeper of the Plains.

We crossed the bridge at Keep of the Plains and it had the 2 Mile marker on the bridge! There was another water station at about 2.5 miles and there were some people with some inspirational signs! One of my favorites was the one about courage. "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." I think of that quote often. I feel like it describes me perfectly! I pointed it out to Jennifer!

After we passed the signs, I looked at my phone and saw that, even with the walking we were doing, I was on time to PR. So I started pushing Jen more! The last time she stopped to walk was at about 2.9 miles in, so I didn't stop, I continued running.

I've said it before, but there is really nothing like the finish line! There are lots of people cheering you on, telling you "You're almost there! You're doing great!" Then to see the finish and just to push so hard and give it everything you have, and then you cross the finish and you feel so proud!

Me, Jen, and Sarah Post Race
When I saw the finish line, I saw that the clock said 42 something and I just started gunning it! I crossed the finish and there are boy scouts and firemen there giving out pins and carnations. Then they had water and bananas and apples and the best freaking salted caramel biscotti that I've ever had!

Jennifer 2 and I
After the race I saw a girl I know from running and Facebook. Her name is Jennifer too and we chatted a bit. She told me that she did this race last year as her very first race and she took 10 minutes off her time! That is awesome! We got a post race photo, also!

I was so bummed about not being able to wear the race shirt. Oh well, I'll wear it next year!

All in all, this was a great race! I'm glad I got to run with my family and I'm glad I PR'd!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

GFC2C Weigh In



I'd like to say that I don't know what happened, but that is not the case. I know exactly what happened and I'm so disappointed with myself :( I was down to 202.8 on Thursday. We went to Sonic on Thursday night and I had planned out my order and then they didn't have it! So I ate onion rings and a strawberry limeade and a hamburger. Then a similar thing happened Friday morning. We stopped at McDonalds and I was going to get my 150 calorie caramel latte, but the  machine was broken, so they said I could get a caramel frappe, which ended up being 550 calories (which I finally looked up on Sunday). We had an office meeting on Friday too, so I just decided that I was going to "take Friday off" of counting. Which turned into taking Saturday and Sunday off too. What's even worse, is that I even worked out 6 days this week!

I went grocery shopping Sunday and yesterday was a new day, so I'm back on track.

I have a race on Saturday. Girls on The Run with my niece and sister-in-law. When I went to register, I was registering for 2 races and they asked me what size shirts I wanted and I said Large. When I got home, I didn't realize that the GOTR shirt was a women's cut shirt and it is way too small :( Oh well, I will fit into it someday soon!

Friday, May 4, 2012

Wesley 5k Race Report



So, I ran the Wesley 5k with Paul on Wednesday. We both left work early to get to the expo by 5pm. We had Elliott with us. Kim said that she didn't have class that night, so she offered to watch Elliott and cheer us on while we ran! She even made a sign!

Paul and I. This is the M shirt!
We were on a "team" with some other people from sister companys of his company. They had made t-shirts for the event and I had told Paul to get me a size M when we registered. I had been wishing I had gotten a L. I was right! The shirt was pretty snug!

Elliott and Kim
After we took a group picture, I took the company shirt off and wore the race shirt, which I really liked! I saw that Elliott was getting along well with Kim, so we didn't go back over to her. I had told Kim to bring M&M's with her, and they worked like a charm!

We got up to the starting line, and there was a news anchor from the morning show that I watch not to far ahead of us!

The gun went off and Paul and I ran together for approximately 90 seconds before he started going way too fast for me to keep up! I saw him realize I was gone, and he was looking back for me, but I kind of wanted to run it by myself! Plus I didn't want him badgering me the whole time to run faster than I was comfortable!

The race started and immediately went up a hill to go over a bridge! Ah! I ran the first mile dying of thirst! It was SUPER hot and humid! When I finally saw the water station about 1.5 miles in I was so excited! Except for the water was warm! Ew! I walked through the water station. Then I walked a LOT the next 1.6 miles. I was running at about 2 miles in, and I saw some girls with a cooler holding out a bottle of water! Once I realized it was water they were waving at me, my face lit up and I ran fast over to them and thanked them profusely! I downed 1/2 the bottle immediately, and then felt like I was going to vomit! Then I wished I hadn't taken it, because I hated running with it! I finally saw a trash can at about 2.5 miles and threw it away!

Getting close to the finish!
I pretty much felt miserable the whole time because it was so hot! At one point while I was walking I had resolved that I wasn't going to PR. When I was close to the 3 mile marker, I could hear a crowd cheering and I got really excited and picked up my pace! I passed the 3 mile mark and I knew I was almost there! There were a bunch of high school kids cheering as we ran passed and then I saw my stroller, then Kim and Elliott, then I saw the finish line! I was close to the finish line and I heard Paul cheering "Come on Carrie!" and I started running HARD for the finish line! I crossed the finish line with a time of 43:07! I was completely shocked that I PR'd! My time 6 weeks ago was 44:54 and I ran the whole time!

Me and Paul post race
Paul and I went and got a banana and some water and went to find Kim and Elliott. We talked about the race and Paul told me that he wanted to stop right after the bridge, less than 1/2 a mile in! He did really well though! 37:19 was his time. We wore each others numbers on accident! Oops!

I'm really glad that Paul ran this with me! I feel like it's brought us closer in a new way! He has been hurting bad the past two days since though! He asked me if I hurt at all, and I do not!

I realized at this race how much I love crossing that finish line! There is nothing like being so close to the finish line and just giving it your all! Leaving it all on the course and then you are done!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Blah!

I've had an upset stomach all last night and all day today. I really hope this is just a 24 hour thing, because I have a 5k race tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed.

When Paul came home from work today, he said "I was thinking about it today, and I'm not going to be able to run 3 miles after working all day!" He's just trying to make excuses for when I do better than him ;)

I watched The Biggest Loser Finale tonight and it helped me put my weight loss in perspective. Since October, I have lost 27.33% of my body weight. That is not far off from what the contestants have done in about a month more while being on the Biggest Loser Ranch! I feel like they all look so much farther along than me though...

I just feel discouraged sometimes. I don't know why, because I'm losing weight, but I've lost 55lbs and I still feel enormous! I'm just having a hard time seeing the big picture right now.

I'm also having a hard time with my running journey as well. I still feel so slow! I feel like I'm nowhere near prepared to run a 10k in 5 weeks! I just try to believe that I'll get there, but it's hard.