Racing with Myself

Was it just me or did this week really go by quickly? I'm not complaining because everyone knows that my favorite 2 days are Saturday and Sunday! Granted I think most people would say the same thing, the weekend is just so nice - 48 hours to do whatever you want at any point of the day.

This weekend I have a busy Saturday and one that I am really looking forward to, even though I do have butterflies in my stomach. Tomorrow is my 5 mile race. I kinda laugh when I say race because I am not trying to place or anything like that, however, when I think about it, it's like swimming and that it's a race for yourself. I really like that since I have really missed that mental game with yourself since I stopped swimming competitively almost 5 years ago. My goal is to run faster than 49:00 minutes. It can be 48.99 and I will be thrilled, as that is all it takes to be seated at the Gate River Run in March. The run is called "Run 5 to Keep Kids Alive", it's a 5 mile race to hep benefits kids at a local children's hospital. There is also an Ultra Marathon, 55 miles the same day earlier that really is rasing money for these 55 children in need. The course is 5 miles with 2 bridges and they are doing that loop 11 times - that's 22 total bridges! Holy Cow!

I am sticking with the 5 mile race at 2pm. This will be the longest I have ever run at one time ever in my whole life. Those that know me know that I am not a runner and especially after I hurt my knee my freshman year at Texas A&M. I am looking forward to this step 1 in my personal challenge to run a 15K. I will be using my Nike+ app like I normally do when I run so between 2-2:49pm EST if you are freiends with me on Facebook please cheer for me! I really can hear it when I am running and I know I can use all the support tomorrow. Oh did I mention my boyfriend's mom is going to run with me? She is an amazing runner, has done many marathons, in fact she did the NYC Marathon back in November and did another one in September too last year. I am excited she wants to do it with me and looking forward to running with her tomorrow.

I also schedued a hair appointment at 11am. I figured it would be a good way to get me up and going on Saturday morning because I will need to eat a good breakfast before then so I am wake and ready to go at 2pm. I really can't wait to challenge myself tomorrow! Today's objectives are to drink lots of water to get myself to optimal hydration, carbo load, and to make a perfect running playlist for tomorrow. I have random running mixes, but I want to make a mix that is exactly waht I want to listen to when I know I will. I also need to do some laundry tonight so I can get the running gear I feel the most comfortable wearing clean and ready for tomorrow. I am excited because I am doing this tomorrow for me, proving to myself that I still can challenge myself and step up to the plate and do this. My boyfriend said that he has no doubt I can go under 49 minutes because he knows me and knows that I can do anything I set my mind to. He has to work all weekend, but said he will be thinking happy thoughts my way when I am running and cheering me on.

I promise I will get on either Saturday afte the race or on Sunday and let everyone know how I did! Until then have a great Friday and Saturday! :)

Snacking is my PROBLEM

Last night I got to thinking and realized that one of the reasons I have been eating out a lot is because when I am at home I over eat and snack ALL THE TIME! I am aware of this and so just have been taking myself away from the issue and not dealing with it, which doesn't do me any good. When I get home and make dinner, whether it is directly after work, after I work out, after something I had planned after work, I just snack and snack until dinner is ready. It doesn't matter what it is, pickles, chips & salsa, salad dressing, cheese, really anything at all; if I can eat it I snack on it. I have gotten really bad about it too!

I planned to have the dinner I was going to have Tuesday night, a slice of pizza and a salad. Well here is what I actually ate: as soon as I got home I opened the fridge and brought out the spicy pickle chip jar and the box of pizza and the plate of mini sandwiches I brought home from work Tuesday. I first opened the pickles and ate probably 4 or 5 chips. Next I popped 1 piece of the 2 I had into the toaster oven and opened the sandwiches and took one out. I snacked on some more pickles and then the pizza was ready. I ate the piece of pizza and the mini sandwich by the TV with a glass of wine. I finished the food on my plate and got up and popped a few more pickles. I also did drag the salad bag out with carrots and mini sweet peppers. In stead I grabbed 2 mini peppers and went and sat back down. I finished those and sat for a while. After 8 I decided I wanted the other slice of pizza and heated that up and ate that too. After I finished the slice of pizza I realized what I was doing, threw everything back into the fridge and went back to my room away from the kitchen.

You see at a restaurant I can be "good" I can order better options, have them bring a box right away or right when I get full. I only get what I order, I can't keep going back to the fridge and get more. I am not going to order more in front of people I am just not going to do that. At home I can "order" more all I want by just heading back to the fridge and taking out what looks good. I have got to get that under control! Does anyone have any good ideas on how to kick this one in the butt? It's definitely a habit which means I have to do the opposite for a bit to change it for good, its just that step in the middle that I need help with please.

Looking towards Saturday

Yesterday was a rough day let me tell you. Work was busy and crazy and then 4pm rolled around, which I was thankful but at the same time kinda nervous about it, 4 miles ouch. I had planned out a new route and thought it would be great but I was wrong. There is a lot to say about feeling comfortable on the road while running relating to how you run. I am use to running on a road by my work that has big shoulders so you feel safe running. Majority of the route yesterday didn't have that. In fact there was no shoulder so I did a lot running along the line and then into the grass/sand/rocks back onto the road, back onto the grass/sand/rocks which was just not fun. I was more worried about the cars and trucks around me that how I was running went out the window. My breathing was crap, my calves were absolute rocks and on fire, and I am sure my posture was horrid. Basically that was a cocktail for the run just not going well. I stopped just short of 2.5 miles and had to stretch my calves out again a pole they hurt soo bad. That helped for sure but they were still on fire. I also had to stop a bit further down and walk a bit because I was just struggling. I probably only walked for a minute at absolute most, but whatever. I was a bit bummed because at 4.25 (4 mile run and 0.25 warm-up) took me 45 minutes and on Sunday with the 4 bridges I did it in 44 minutes.

I thought about it all the way home and decided that the comfort awareness was different, I had to stop completely once and walked for a minute too which I didn't have any 3 of these elements on Sunday with the bridge runs. I am just going to shake it off and move on. Tomorrow I run 2 miles to taper into my run on Saturday.  know I will be fine on Saturday, it's a mental game and it starts now with not getting chopped down by yesterday's run. My calves still hurt today but the heating pad came with me to work again and is tied around my leg and I will be working on them all day! Back on track Meghan, back on Track!

Today I swim after work. The goal is to just take it easy, keep it long and just get in the distance. No fast stuff, just long and aerobic. Plus I am hoping that that will help loosen up and shake out some of the aches in my body like my legs. On top of that I am exhausted! This increase in exercise volume is starting to catch up to me. I am going to keep going but there is nothing wrong with taking it down a notch intensity and leaving the distance or time aspects in place.

Well that means today 35-40 minutes aerobic swimming, tomorrow 2 mile run, day of rest and then race on Saturday at 2pm. I am probably going to stretch like crazy on Friday, well okay not crazy but you know what I mean. I am nervous but really looking forward to this run on Saturday and that is what I am focusing on from this point forward.

New Route

Yesterday was a crazy day at work let me tell you! I was running all over the place, but the best part of my day was 11:30-12:30, well really 11:40-12:15 when I worked out! Monday's have really become my favorite day of my training program - just stretching and strength work. It's even better than the day off. It's 30-40 minutes of just quiet time to myself (a little music too) and just listening to my body. I did 20 minutes of stretching and some yoga to get into areas that were sore and tad bothersome. It really was great! I then did 15 minutes of some calf raises, squats, abs, let raises and then stretched out my calves at the end. When I left the work-out room after 35 minutes I really just felt great! It was a re-energizing session, time to reconnect with my body and just overall great ME time!

Today is a 4 miles run. I am doing it around my office like normal for a Tuesday but I am doing a different route since I have never run this far before around here. I am a bit nervous to run in a area that I am not use to. I used www.mapmyrun.com to find it and I driven all through that area before so I know I will be okay, I just have never run it, so hopefully all will go A-Okay! By the way, if you have never used MapMyRun.com I highly recommend it! It's a great tool to view ahead of time routes when you know the distance you need to run. It's also a great tool to see how far you ran if you didn't know previous to your run. I strap my iPhone to my arm and use the Nike+GPS app (AMAZING App that is worth the $1.99 hands down!!!) which tells me how far I have run, however, I am a visual person and a planner and like to know where I am going before I do it, especially if it is something new and I can control it. Definitely check out both, the website above and the Nike App if you are looking for new tools to aid in your running! :)

Happy Tuesday ALL! :)

Great Weekend - Great Momentum Forward

I have so much to tell you after this weekend that I just couldn't wait to get to my desk this morning and write up my blog today!

Friday after work was interesting how things played out but I was really proud of myself for a couple of reasons. #1 - I talked to my best friend on my way home and then more when I got home. I plopped my butt down on the couch and by the time I finished taking to her it was  6pm. I got a call from my sister who said she was out of work early and that she wanted to go to dinner with me at Maggiano's. After sitting there for a while the last thing I wanted to do was go run, but I switched with Thursday so I knew I had to. I told my sister to make an 8pm reservation because I had to run, which #1 i was proud of - I didn't let something I would rather do get in the way. #2 - I actually went for a run! haha! I know that sounds funny since I asked my sister to postpone dinner a little bit but I have done that before and just farted around doing nothing to "fill up the time" and pretend that I actually did it. I changed and out the door I went, even though it was getting dark. I had to run 2.5 miles and I hit my first wall while training. At 2 miles I had an internal battle about stopping at 2.25 miles since really according to the schedule I was only suppose to run 2 miles, but since on Tuesday I was suppose to run 3 and only did 2.5 because of my back I compromised to make up the difference on Thursday/Friday. I fought like a married couple all the way to 2.25 miles and ultimately the athlete came through again and I actually "sprinted" the last 0.25 miles (I say sprinted but really it was still slow running, it was just everything I had left). I ended up doing a bit longer warm-down to make it to 3.12 miles at 34:56 minutes. Not fast but a job well done! Definitely glad I did it after I finished that is for sure! #3 thing I was proud of myself is before I went to Maggiano's I logged exactly what I was going to eat and I stuck to it!!! I didn't stray and order something else, I didn't eat it all and say screw it, nope I stayed true to exactly what I logged so I would stay under my count! Yay me!

Saturday I got up around 10:45 or so and cuddled with Wrigley my Gold Retriever for a bit and then headed to the YMCA. I hit the water by 11:25 AM on a Saturday! I was soo proud of myself. I know that doesn't seem that early but the weekends but I typically don't start my day before noon I kid you not, and working out especially is not even crossed my mind until mid-afternoon. I got in and did 2,000 yards like I have been doing but did it in 35 minutes. It's been taking me 37-38 minutes lately so I was really proud of myself. My "main set" was 5x100s - 1: 25 hard, 75 easy; 2: 50 H. 50 E; 3: 75 H, 25 E; 4: easy; 5: fast then followed by a 50 very easy and a 50 fast. The fast 100 I did it in 1:09 and the 50 was 33 seconds. Years ago my coach would have yelled at me for going soo slow, but today I was proud of myself! I could feel myself breaking down and I just kept pushing through it. The 50 I concentrated on my breathing and streamlining (I noticed when I got tired it was a sad excuse of a streamline and I know that any coach I have ever had would have yelled at me up and down that pool for that poor attempt at a streamline) and that really helped! I left the YMCA feeling like I my day had to be great because it started off in good fashion!

Sunday I did something I have never done before, in fact I did 2 things I have never done before in my whole life! I ran 4 miles without stopping, which I have never run that far ever! Plus I did it while running over a bridge, which I have never run over a bridge before and I did 4 of them in 4 miles!!!! 1 of the 2 bridges was quite steep and I struggled getting up them, but I never once stopped and walked! I might have been going slow but I kept putting one foot in front of the other and made it all the way up twice! You see we did 2 bridges twice each. One was steep and the other not too bad. I ran with my sister and I was soo thankful she was there with me! it was a first for her too on running bridges and she definitely kicked my butt, but she is in better shape than me and has always been a better runner too. She would jog back to me or jog in place waiting for me at the ends of the bridges so we could stay together and I honestly couldn't thank her enough for that! Having something there to push me and keep me motivated was a blessing. I have a race this Saturday that includes each of those bridges that I ran but only one each and a total of 5 miles. I am trying to break 49 minutes so I can get seated in the 15K and I know now I can do it! We did 4.25 miles (included the 0.25 warm-up) in 44 minutes with 4 bridges. I tad off pace, but the going u pteh birdges is much slower than anything else and I was barely off pace so I know on Saturday my goal is achieviable! We then went to Mellow Mushroom and I did good because again I stuck to my plan again! Shared a greek salad with my sister and only ate 1.5 pieces of pizza! Oh ya and that 1 beer, but I wanted it and I deserved it in my book! :)

All in all I was soo happy with this weekend! I made good decisions and had great work outs. Plus I spent some time with a good friend one afternoon and had a blast, even bought a chair for my bedroom at marshall's which I have been looking for for like a year and half so that was exciting! Sunday was chores day and I got them all done which was fantastic! I am looking forward to this week with the momentum from this weekend! I hope everyone else has a great week! :)


Oh by the way I got on the scale this morning for the first time since December 18th and I was 163.8lbs!!!!! I haven't been down there since October and couldn't be happier with that news too! :) Check out my scale page to see my progress!

Bridges

TGIF!!! I am so looking forward to not having to get up early tomorrow! Sleeping in and enjoying my weekend is what I have in mind. I am going  to try and run over the bridges in downtown this weekend. There are railed off sidewalks that i am going to practice running over on Sunday. Maybe I will drag my sister with me and we can go get lunch or brunch afterwards. :) You are probably asking why am I running Sunday instead of Saturday like my training schedule says. Well you see yesterday I was supposed to run 2.5 miles and do some strength work, however I was unable to get it in and instead of today being my rest day I am switching the days. If I am going to run today instead I don't want to run 2 days back to back, so I am switching Saturday to cross training which was on Sunday and the run to Sunday that was on Saturday. I still get everything in!

I know I know why didn't I get in my run yesterday. Well I had a meeting at 11am that was only suppose to go until 11:30 but instead it went to 12:30. Normally no biggie I would run then, however yesterday I had to be downtown at 2pm so I needed to leave at 1:30 so trying to run and get lunch in and answer some emails was out of the question. I had to push it back to after work. Well after work I had something that truly was more important that working out. Unfortunately I can't talk about it yet, but I promise as soon as I can I will! I promise though it was more important that going for a run. I also had plans to meet up with an old high school friend that evening and by the time I finished around 6:45 with my important something, there just wasn't time to get in a run and be at her place between 7-7:30pm.

Life happens and when it does you just have to adjust. What I am proud of is that I just went with the flow, didn't beat myself up and adjusted things to keep myself going. Okay today is my day off and tomorrow won't be - done! Today I am not able to run during lunch, just entirely too much to finish up by today. I plan on running after work and damn it I will! haha!

Well I can't wait to tell you how the bridge runs go this weekend. Hopefully all good! :) Have a great weekend everyone.

The Good and the Ugly

Yesterday was an interesting day to say the very least. I had 2 doctor appointments, the 2nd was the Chiropractor and he fixed me. The X-rays showed that my left hip and shifted forward causing the bottom of my spine to curve right and twist so it wouldn't break. That is what I was feeling and where the pain came from. You see I have "funny hips", in fact the chiropractor said he had never seen hips like mine where I had complete control over subluxing them in and out. That just shouldn't happen he said. he said that is probably why i had no pain in my hip when it shifted. Anyway, he reset my hip which OMG OUCH but amazing relief immediately afterwards. He also popped my spine back into place and popped my neck too. I felt great when I left.

Next stop was the YMCA for a 35-40 minute swim. Typically I get there at 5:30 and there is masters that starts at 6 so I am just overlapping with them barely. It's a joke of a masters team in my book and they take up 4-5 of the 6 lanes. So yesterday when I got there at 6 I had to wait a bit for an open space. The "coach" (she gets quotes because she is probably 24 and just stands there, writes the practice on the board and doesn't do anything except socialize with the boys on the team) finally let me split a lane that only 1 of the master swimmers were in since she knew I knew what I was doing in the pool and wouldn't disturb the other swimmer. As I was swimming I thought to myself that maybe I would flirt with the idea that on Wednesdays ONLY I would get up early and swim before work. We will see though, you know I don't do mornings! Otherwise the swim went well and in fact I got 2,000 in again in 38 minutes and did a tad bit more kick so getting better in the water! :) YAY!

Then the bad part of yesterday that I am paying for now. I got home around 7:15 or so and was starving! I took my dog out to the bathroom, fed both my animals, tinkered with the Internet since it wasn't working and my recipe for the Pad Thai I was making was online, finally got it up and running and started to prep dinner, cooked and next thing I knew it was 8:45pm. The problem I had snacked on sooooo much that I wasn't even hungry for dinner! I separated the Pad Thai in 4 containers like the recipe stated and cleaned up. this morning I am paying for my snacking decision. Lots of chips and salsa, 5 pepperoncinis, a handful of salted peanuts, handful or so of the overcooked noodles (followed the package and they got over cooked, thankfully I only did half the package) and some carrots. This morning my stomach is hating me and doing flip turns and yelling back at me. It's been a regular breakfast day with a side of pepto and a straw! haha!

Oh well you live and learn I guess. Today is another day and running is in store today with a little bit of strength work. Today's goal - drink at least 8 glasses of water and stay under my calorie count!

Inner Athlete - Nice to see her again!

Yesterday I went to see a Chiropractor for the first time in probably 5 years. My back has been killing me and there is a spot that is not straight and needs to be realigned. Thankfully my insurance covers 100% after my co-pay and I don't need a referral. Thank Goodness! I made an appointment yesterday as fast as I could when I found that out.

I was supposed to work out at 4pm yesterday and run 3 miles. As the day went by and my back was still hurting I decided that running before I went to the doctor probably wasn't the smartest idea and that I would do it afterwards, plus I wanted to talk to him to make sure that I wasn't hurting myself by running. By the time I got there it felt better to stand than sit. He did an exam and decided because there was one soft spot that unbelievably painful for him to touch that he wouldn't align me that evening but instead take an X-ray, get the results this morning and have me come back tonight to get realigned if everything checks out okay. He also discovered that I have what I call "funny hips". They completely sublux (pop basically completely out and in) so since the X-ray was my lower back he got my hips too in the picture to make sure there was nothing connected between the hips and lower back pain.

Then I felt like I was back in the training room at Texas A&M before practice doing stem and message and stretches to help out with the pain and tension in my back. It was great because I felt so much better when I left. I discussed with him that I am training for a 15K and have a 5 mile run on the 28th too. I was supposed to run that evening 3 miles and wondered if I could still do that or if I should take a break day. He told me that I should be okay to run just to take it easy. If I felt any pain to stop immediately (walk back home if I was running or if on a treadmill drop to running to cool down and get off).

I got into my car and drove towards the YMCA which I had to pass to get home from where I was. The probably 5 minutes in my car to the YMCA I had a whole conversation with myself trying to convince myself that I should take the evening off. I then argued back that no I would be fine; you would have thought it was an old married couple fighting. Ultimately my inner athlete won and I pulled into the YMCA. I changed and hopped on the treadmill. I was suppose to run 3 miles yesterday and then on Thursday I drop to 2 miles with strength work. Well I decided that I would "take it easy" and only run 2.5 miles and do a 0.25 warm-up and down totaling 3 miles and in return I would up Thursday to 2.5 miles so I still get the total miles needed this week in. Compromise! I make a good married couple! hehe! It was difficult and hot in there, but I powered through and got in my miles. Afterwards I felt great and even treated myself to Chipotle for dinner. YUMM-O!

I really was proud that my inner athlete came out and my motivation prevailed. I have been struggling with that lately and it was nice to see that I made the decision that I knew I should make without anyone's help. I know that if I would have gone home I would have regretted that decision and probably beaten myself up a little bit for it. It was definitely great to see that athlete side of me take control once again. I have miss her!

Back Hurts

Well it's Tuesday and that means 4pm workout. Today according to my training schedule I am suppose to run 3 miles. I did that on Saturday and the previous Tuesday so it should be no problem. Well that's just the thing, it should be but I did something to my back on Friday. That evening it started hurting and has gotten worse since. It did settle down a bit yesterday but I think I need to see a chiropractor to get realigned. I think I have a vertebrae that needs to be popped back into place and what is causing all the pain. Everything is trying to compensate for the wacked out alignment and it just doesn't feel very good. I am going to go run today, but definitely take it easy. I have been trying to hold my average running pace to under 9:45 per mile, and actually more like 9:15 since on the 28th I am running a 5 mile race and need to go under 49 minutes, which is just under 10 minutes a mile, however, there are 2 bridges so to compensate I have been trying to hold a tad faster pace. Today though I am going to just jog easily, get the distance in, but not push myself. At the same time if I need to stop and turn around, even if it isn't "half way" I am going to do that too! It is important to me to not hurt myself so I can accomplish my goal. I have my heating pad with me at work and plan on having it on all day to keep myself lose and feeling better. I used it a lot this weekend and it really helped a lot. Plus a couple of times while it is warm today I am going to go and stretch it out because that too has helped when I did it this past weekend.

On a good note I have to say I am proud of myself for running on Saturday even though my boyfriend was in town. I got out there around 4:30pm and ran 3 miles outside; 3.55 total with warm-up/down. Sunday though I was suppose to do 30 minutes of cross training, however, my back was hurting and I decided to rest it in the hopes that I would be able to run this week. All in all I was very impressed with myself for running on Saturday.

Need to Eat IN

Looking back over this week on MyFitnessPal.com I have realized that even though I have made good choices while eating out, I have been over on calories a lot and I have even worked out! Eating out really kills you, it's amazing! Next week I am definitely going to be eating in more, I have to. The goal is on Monday to have the week planned out. I need to stick with a plan and get back on track with eating. I know that I will eat out Thursday night with a friend and maybe another night with another friend, but the other times I need to be good and make good food at home!

the funny thing is that I really enjoy cooking. I just lately have been lazy I guess. Hopefully by recognizing this, by bringing it to my attention and calling awareness to it I will get my butt back into gear and be better.

Today is my day off from working out! YAY! haha. I really have been tired this week and I think it is because I have really stepped it up in the amount of exercise I have been doing and on top of that I haven't gotten the sleep I really need for varies reasons. Next week I will be paying attention more to sleeping, that is the goal. However, this week isn't quite over on working out. I have to run 3 miles on Saturday and do 30 minutes of cross training on Sunday. Even though my boyfriend is coming into town (YIPPIE) I still HAVE to be good and get it done. I already told him he has to help me make sure that I get it done. I will get it done! haha!

Well I hope everyone has a great weekend. :) Maybe since I only got 3 blogs in this week I'll blog once this weekend?! Who knows just keep checking back!

Holding Strong

I know I have been quiet for the past 2 days but this time it doesn't mean I was "bad"! It was because the last 2 days have been CRAZY BUSY at work! Yesterday Marketing gave an ALL DAY training/ informational session to a group of internal employees that came in for training. Then of course Tuesday was last minutes prep all day. I am glad it is over because it took a lot of time and energy to get it all done.

I have however had 2 really good days regardless of the craziness. On Tuesday I went for a run and ran 3 miles straight! I don't know if I have ever run that far before without stopping. Maybe once before. I did a 0.25 warm-up before the run and so when I got to a 5K total (0.25 warm-up + 2.87 run) I was at 29:26 minutes! The fastest I have ever done in a race was 33.18! Yay Me! I finished out the whole thing and did 3.55 miles in 35 minutes. I was really happy with that! I felt good while I was running and had a good hurt so I am chalking it up as a "win"! Then yesterday I went and swam and did 2,000 yards in 37 minutes. It was hard both in the physical aspect, but also the mental aspect too because I knew what I was suppose to do, but I couldn't make my body do it. I have been out of the water again for a while and yes I swam Sunday too but that feel of the water is gone. It made me chuckle a bit when this girl I was sharing a lane with asked me how I go so fast?! I didn't even know how to reply to her because I felt soooo slow! haha!

The other reason I was proud of those 2 work outs was because we have this group of people in for work. On Tuesday night Marketing took them out to dinner at 6:30 and last night I got invited to go to dinner again at 6:30. Both evenings I made the time and worked in the work out! I didn't let myself "get out of it" because of dinner with colleagues. Then at dinner both nights I choose good options. The first night was Carne Asada with Chimichurri sauce and grilled onions and I substituted the rice for grilled veggies instead. I also got the skinny margarita and it was delicious. Last night I ordered off the "Healthy Menu" where everything was 575 calories or less. I got a side salad and didn't eat too much of the appetizer that was mostly fried food. I had to have a couple of things - I was starving because I swam and it looked too good! :)

Today is another run but only 2 miles and then some strength. I am dead tired today so I am hoping somehow that will wake me up. We'll see but I am holding strong this week. Well have a good Thursday and talk to you tomorrow.

GREAT weekend!

It's Monday and I am doing well - I know it's amazing I am not dragging or dread this Monday morning. I don't remember the last time that happened! haha! This weekend was great. I got a lot of cleaning and organizing done and that made me feel soo much better. I still have a little bit left to do, but the huge chunk of it is done which is fantastic! It's amazing how purging stuff you don't need and organizing the stuff you do can just calm and de-stresses you. I also got all my laundry done which was amazing, 5 loads later! 3 loads of clothes, one of misc stuff, and one with sheets and some of my sister's stuff. All of it is put away and I started the week off on a fresh start. It really is amazing how that works, starting off of the right foot.
Other than organizing and cleaning this weekend I got in some great relaxing time on Sunday. I sat in bed with my cat curled between my legs on top of the blankets, my dog snuggled up next to me, cooking channel on tv and my laptop in my lap just messing around. It was fantastically relaxing! I think this part along was one of the reasons I feel great today. Giving yourself some time to yourself, some time to just relax, not worry about anything and just kick back really helps to recharge the batteries and put you in a good mood. Being in a good mood can change everything in your life!

The other great note from this weekend is that I worked out twice this weekend! I mean my training schedule calls for it so I glad I followed it. I was suppose to run on Saturday and swim on Sunday, but since I missed Thursday's run and did it instead on Friday, I switched Saturday and Sunday to space everything out. Saturday I was suppose to do cross training for 30 minutes. I of course am choosing swimming for my cross training. I got int the water for the first time in months and did 2,000 yards. It took me about 37 minutes and I was really happy with the end results. It was hard but I pushed through and even challenged myself. I originally was going to do 8x50s free on 45 seconds (okay that is hard now people leave me alone! haha!) and instead I got to 6 and thought to myself lets do 12 instead and I pushed through. I was holding 38-39 seconds and my heart was pounding. It was a good work out. Then on Sunday it took me until 5pm to get out and run but once I got out there I felt great. I was suppose to run 2 miles but instead I ran 2.45 miles and with the warm-up of 0.25 miles and warm-down of 0.4ish I ended up doing a 5K - 3.12 miles! I did it too in 33:58 minutes and my best time ever is 33:18 minutes! I was really proud of myself for doing so well. All in all a good weekend for working out!

This week's work out schedule:
Monday - Stretching and Strengthening
Tuesday - 3 mile run
Wednesday - 30 minutes swim
Thursday - 2 mile run and strengthening
Friday - rest
Saturday - 3 mile run
Sunday - 30 minute swim
***My boyfriend will be in town this weekend so it will b hard to get want to get this in but I will be determined!!!

Have a  great week everyone!

 

Looking Forward

It's Friday Thank Goodness!!! I am definitely looking forward to this weekend. i don't have any big plans, just get myself back into order at my house. I got back Monday night from vacation and my bathroom was a disaster! The complex was suppose to tear apart my shower and find the leak and replace the carpet in my bathroom (I know right who puts carpet in a bathroom!) with tile or whatever, just not carpet. I ended up taking 1 sleeping pill because I started getting anxiety and knew I wouldn't sleep otherwise. They said it would be a 3 days job max. Well last night I get home and it appears my shower is done but there is still carpet. This is driving me nuts because I can't really unpack because my closet is in my bathroom and i just don't even want to go in there right now. Hopefully this weekend it will all be done and I can put myself back into order. This week has been crazy a bit and my room not being in order just stresses me out more.

I am also looking forward to getting on track again. Today is suppose to be my "rest" day on my training schedule. I didn't work out the past 2 days so today I am going to run like I was suppose to yesterday. I am suppose to run tomorrow and cross training on Sunday, but I think I am going to switch the 2 so I don't have to run 2 days back to back. No more playing around! I am signed up and running 5 miles on January 28th, 3 weeks from tomorrow so I need to get my ass into gear and start moving. I am also going to be planning out my meals better like I use to. This weekend I already have some ideas in mind and am excited about organizing my life again. I know that is a bid weird, to be excited about organization but that is just me. It keeps me less stressed and in a happy mood.

This week was bumpy I know, but I am getting there slowly. I know I can't be perfect right away so as long as I just don't dwell on the downs and keep looking forward I know everything will be great for 2012 and this point forward!

Disgusted

I have been dreading writing this blog all morning, okay that's a lie, I have been dreading it since last night. You see I was bad yesterday and well flat out lazy which I am disappointed in myself about. You see I was suppose to swim yesterday after work. I can at least say I made the effort to do that. I left work 30 minutes late and still went straight to the YMCA, however, when I get there I find that there is no power at all so the YMCA is closed! So I decided to head home and get on the stationary bike or elliptical at my apartment little gym. Well the 15-20 minutes it took to get home because the lights weren't working and it was crazy traffic I decided I was really hungry and the pizza in my backseat (yes I will get to that in a minute) smelt really good. By the time I got home I decided to heat up dinner right away and then in 2 hours after it's settled a bit I would go work out. I bet you can guess how that story ended - yup my lazy butt sat right on that couch all night watching TV and looking stuff up on my laptop. Not once did I get up and even attempt to try to make it out. I told myself it was too cold outside and I didn't want to get cold walking to and from my car, I also told myself that I wouldn't sleep because I would get my endorphins up and have a hard time falling asleep, finally I would have to take a shower afterwards and since mine it under construction and I would have to use my sister's (which I might point out I have been doing anyway in the mornings) it was too much of a hassle. I used every possible way to convenience myself that sitting on the couch was a much better option. I even told my boyfriend that I was going to work out later and would call him then after we spoke around 6. I actually didn't want to call him because I didn't want to tell him I didn't work out. I wasn't going to lie either, so I put that phone call off till like 11pm, so not I am tired too. BLAH! Then this morning I realized I can't work out during lunch and run because I have a doctor appointment at 3:30pm and am leaving work for the day at 3 so I don't want to take advantage of the fact that I am not "losing hours" for the time I won't be at work. I work through lunch so I only miss 1 hour instead of 2. damn it!

So the pizza. yesterday at work the Marketing Department, along with some other people cleaned out and organized the back isle of the warehouse which is the marketing materials, engineered products, and accounting (left their stuff alone). We knew it would take a while so we ordered pizza for everyone as a thank you. I placed the order with Papa Johns online which was so fantastically easy and simple and it was delivered when we needed it. Well there was almost a whole pie left and I took it home with me. Did I mention I had 4, yes 4 slices of pizza at lunch?! Then for dinner I heated up 3. I got through the 1st 2 and took at bite of the 3rd and was like no my eyes were bigger than my stomach I am full. I sat there for a bit and didn't move the piece of pizza so about 15 minutes later I ate it! Did I mention I had a small thing of Ranch (at least it was Light Ranch) to dip the pizza in?! It's a Texas thing I pickedup while there if it sounds weird to you. I was really disguested with myself that I did that and finished the 3rd piece when I said out loud that I was full and didn't need that 3rd piece after I took 1 bite of it. I woke up this morning sluggish and upset with myself.

I also haven't been good about tracking. I am going to go in today and take care of everything from this week! Even yesterday with the very bad eating of pizza. Oh well there is nothing I can do I guess now except make better decisions today. I am going to go see Wicked tonight with some girlfriends from work (SOOOO EXCITED!) but we are going to Hooter's first. I am going to get online and find out what I am going to eat before hand and log it in so I can't change my order when I get there. Hopefully today will be better and the rest of the week.

Hope you day is much much much better than my yesterday!

Moving Along

So yesterday was Day #1 of my training program. I ran my 2 miles on the treadmill at a 5.7 pace. I did some warm-up/down too so overall it was around 2.4 miles. Nothing big but what i was proud of was I was hurting around 1 mile but the 2nd mile didn't seem nearly as bad. I found something inside myself and just bit down and kept going. I really wanted to run outside yesterday but being that it was 40 degrees I decided not to get sick and stayed indoors.

Today is Cross-Training. Basically that means I can do whatever I want such as cycling, swimming, walking, even running again if I want. Obviously I am going to swim. It's only suppose to be for 30 minutes according to the training program but I am going to see how I feel and go from there. What I am excited about is to use my new heart rate monitor while swimming. My boyfriend got me this heart rate monitor stuff for Christmas that I wanted and it will be my first time using it while swimming. Granted this is the first time I am going to go swim in quite some time. I will let you know tomorrow how it goes.

By the way I am signing up today for a 5 mile race on January 28th. It falls within my training schedule so it works out great. I am nervous but since it has 2 bridges in the run, 1 of which is 1 of the 2 bridges in the 15K later in March I thought it would be a good idea. I went by the running store last night to sign up and pay for it, but since all the money goes to charity you have to sign up online only. Mark your calendars because that will be the longest run of my life thus far!

One last shout out - yesterday a friend of mine "cheered" for me while I was running and it was AMAZING! What this means is I have Nike +GPS and it posts to Facebook. It shows when I start running and that I am running. You can "cheer" for me and write me comments that I get while I am running. She did both and they couldn't have come at a better time. It was right at the beginning which is perfect because I wasn't to thrilled about running inside and she made me smile and put me in a good mood - THANK YOU!!!!

Have a great hump day everyone!!!

Determination

Everyone always sets these ridiculous New Year's Resolutions, stick with them for maybe a month, 2 at best and then they fall by the way side. I talked about mine in my blog on December 30th (New Year Resolution), which basically I am going to control what I can control and no worry about those things I can not control. This applies to all aspects of my life, not just exercising and eating right, but making the time to spend more time with friends and family, being a better person in every way I know how basically. Back in August/September of 2011 something happened that was out of my control and I did a decent job of not letting what I couldn't control get to me, however, I could have done a better job. This is just an example of what I am talking about.
Today marks the 1st day of running on my new program. If you are interested here is the link to what I am doing - Hal Higdon's 15-K Training Guide. It is a novice program for someone training for their 1st 15-K. today is a 2 mile run which is good because that is what I have been doing so I know I can do it!

Today is the start of my re-motivation even if I have to "trick" myself into doing it. The goal is by the end of the end of the month to have a positive attitude about exercising and tracking. It takes 30 days to change a habit so here we go!!!

Happy 2012!

New Year Resolution

It's almost the end of 2011, can you believe it?! This year has been probably the best year I have ever had. It has had it's ups and downs, but the ups far out weighed the downs. I have lost 30lbs in a year! I have found the most amazing man I could ever dream of! I am happier than I have ever been in my life for soo many reasons! What is there to complain about?

Lately I have been a bit down on myself though I will admit. I have fallin off the horse in terms of exercising, tracking what I eat, and just making healthy choices all around. It all started back in October when I hit a slump and couldn't pull myself out of it before November came around and I was gone the entire month. Then there is the holidays and the temptation of all the goodies and treats sometimes (okay was basically all of the time) won and I enjoyed them. There were more sweets and treats at work, it was ridiculous! But it was more than just that, it was that I wasn't exercising and when I was wishing I was sitting my butt down doing nothing. I just haven't been able to get my head back into the game for whatever reason. I know this is going to be a long battle my whole life and I need to get back into the lifestyle so it becomes a habit again. That is the easiest way. However, they say it takes 30 days of doing something the "right" way for it to be come a habit (or something like that). If that is the truth than hopefully by the end of January I will be back at it with a positive attitude. Fake it until you make it right?! haha!

This morning I received an email from a great friend that really inspired me. I've talked about her many times in my blog, and I know that without her this journey would be that much harder! Anyway, she reminded me to look at the small victories even if they typically wouldn't be "normal" victories. She told me to look at how much I was gone in November and I didn't gain that much at all! My routine has been completely upside down since October and it hasn't effected my overall number that much. If this was last year or the year before it would have been much much worse. I should be proud of that. I look at it and I do smile, but it may take a couple of days of telling myself that it's a victory to truly believe it. However, her telling me this, her words of encouragement that it's not as bad as I make it out in my head is amazing! It's funny how someone else can pull you out of your own head and take a step back and look at it differently, yet you try to do that a million times and just can't.

I am looking forward to 2012! I am going to start a new training program on Monday, January 2nd that gets me ready to run a 15K. I have never run that far in my entire life! It's a challenge and one that I am ready for and excited about. However, I would be lying to say I wasn't nervous and a bit scared about it. My life will also slow down a bit, I think, come the beginning of the year. There will be some big changes later on in the year I am sure of it, however, for now it's just going to be calm and quiet and I am going to live in that moment for now. Come the start of the New Year it is back to one day at a time and getting back on track. I know everyone has New Year's resolutions about exercising more, or losing weight, however the part they are missing is something they can measure, something tangible they can hold onto and that is what I am setting today. My New Year's Resolution is to take getting back on track seriously, Track at least Monday-Friday when I am at work and it is the easiest. Upkeep my blog more regularly and set aside time to write it at least 4 times a week. I am not going to be focused on the scale and the number for a while, I am going to focus one something I can control and that is sticking to my training schedule for my 15K everyday just like it is written, tracking my food, and making healthy choices in my life. These are things I can control and measure that those are my New Year's Resolutions!

BTW - I am in Charlotte and my boyfriend is at work so I am off to work out! Go me! :)

I'm in a funk...

Yesterday I was really really bad at lunch! I actually felt a bit sick afterwards which hasn't happened in a long time. You see we had a Company Holiday Pot-Luck. The Execs bought the meats, and everyone else brought something else in. I brought in cookies, Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies which were delicious! There was a million things to try and I think I tried them all. In fact i even went back for seconds. Yes I was only taking little bits of each but with that many it was a ton of food. I can't believe I ate as much as I did. I mean I can't even log it all it was just a hodge-podge of food. I think I am just going to put some ridiculous # and call it a day. The worst part is I ate dinner and God knows I didn't need to, but I was hungry some how!?!?!?!!
Today I am suppose to go run at 4pm. I really don't want to but I know I NEED TO! It's definitely going to be one of those days I literally drag my ass out there and make myself work out. We'll see how it goes. I'm not expecting much.

Okay so if you can't tell I am definitely struggling right now. I don't know why but I just can't find the motivation to get my butt back into gear. I don't know what is wrong with me. I would rather sit on my but and just do nothing which isn't really like me. Maybe after these holidays I can get out of my funk. We'll see....

Just Stay Positive...

Well this morning I couldn't help but feel disappointed when I step on the scale and it read 168.0lbs! SERIOUSLY?!! I actually got off and got back on to just make sure it read it correctly. I am hoping that I ate too much salt or something yesterday and it is all water weight. How did I gain 3.2lbs?!!?
Well I started to think about what I ate this weekend. I wasn't the best I have to admit, but I wasn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination. Granted I didn't track yesterday, and the worst part is I thought about it, I just never acted upon the thought. Here's what happened:

Friday night I had pizza and beer. I knew I was going to and so I accounted for it and stayed within my calorie count! Yay me! Planning is always a great thing! :) I was relaxing with my sister, watched 2 movies and around 11pm was getting ready for bed when I had a knock on my door - My Boyfriend Surprised Me!!! It was a FABULOUS surprise and I had a great weekend! It completely changed any plans I had, but I had no problem with that. Saturday morning we met a friend for brunch at a local place that serves Mexican Brunch. I had 3 bloody Marias and split this egg, black bean, potato, chorizo, and pico de gallo all on a tortilla. It comes with 2 but I split it with my sister. Of course I had chips and salsa too because there is NO part of me not eating chips and salsa if it is there to enjoy. I did however shortly after this take a 2 hour walk on the beach which was fabulous! I felt sooo much better afterwards. that evening I had a garden side salad and 1/2 a cheeseburger with some fries. Of Course my plate they doubled the fries for whatever reason. haha - oh lord! I was good I didn't eat any more than a serving. I just left them all there. I had a beer with dinner and another one later on that evening too. Okay I did intake a lot of calories Saturday but oh well.

Sunday we met his parent's for brunch at 10am. I ate an omelet with mostly veggies, no cheese and just a little bit of sausage. I also had a tiny waffle, some grits, 1 piece of bacon, 1 sausage link, and some breakfast hash with a bloody mary. That filled me p for quite a long time. Dinner around 7 was 2 slices of the White Pizza from Friday night. I made Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies (found the recipe from a blog I follow - Macaroni and Cheesecake) for a work Holiday Pot Luck Party today. I only ate 1 cookie, but I did eat a lot of dough. I couldn't hep myself but now I am kinda pissed. I had about an ounce or 2 of red wine too. I also snacked on banana peppers and pickles that I had just bought. I have a weakness for those, so I am not sure why I buy them.

I also made a 12lb turkey. I planned on making it on Saturday but with my boyfriend being in town that went out the window. However, since I forgot I had to make the cookies, and I didn't want to rick the cookies having a turkey taste, I did them first so the turkey was cooked late last night. It will be for dinner tonight. Hopefully tonight, turkey, green beans, and potatoes will be a good one for the books today. The problem is the pot luck today at work. It is going to be a TON of food. Well here goes nothing today. BLAH!

Today's goal is to stay positive and just be happy about how wonderful last weekend was with my boyfriend! What a great unexpected surprise!!! :)

Cheating?

I was thinking last night that I really need to jump 2 feet into this! I am sorta "cheating" through making it look like I am. I am running again, tracking, but not putting my best effort forward.I am faking my way through my motivation right now and just making myself do it. I am hoping that it will eventually become natural again and be genuine.
This thinking process all started with I submitted my diary for the day on MFP and I was under my calorie count, however, I made 3 batches of fudge last nigh and boy did I do some finger licking good cheating. Licked the spatula, bowl, mixer, etc! None of which was tracked. I wouldn't even know where to begin to track that, but still, I felt like I cheated when my tracker said I was under.

I was proud of myself for finishing the diary on the day it was for, instead of finishing it the morning after. Little steps I guess to get myself back on track. Today I am having pizza and beer for dinner with a movie, so I need to make sure my lunch is low to accommodate for that. Also I need  to work out to also give me a few extra calories, however, my foot hurts today. I think we I fell on Tuesday I did something to it, but I am just not feeling it until today. I'm not sure. It's back on my heel. I am having an internal battle on whether I should give it rest or not, and the struggle is me wondering if I am using it as an excuse not to work out. Am I just looking for a way out? It does really hurt though today just walking. I don't know I have 2 hours to figure it out.

Well it's almost the weekend and I CAN NOT WAIT! I haven't had a weekend "off" since October and I can't wait to do nothing!! I haven't had a weekend to myself in so long that I am truly looking forward to it. I'll let you know how it goes and if I get my lazy butt off that couch and do something.

PS - yesterday when I started running the first song that played was Monkey Wrench - thought that was hysterical given yesterday's blog - Holidays are the Monkey Wrench. IRONIC!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Talk to you next week. :)

Holidays are the Monkey Wrench

Let me tell you holidays just throw a monkey wrench into everything! At work everyone is getting gifts from vendors and there is more food and sweets than anyone needs. Every corner you turn there is something yummy to eat. I have been pretty good, but yesterday there were these chocolate chunk brownies and I just couldn't stay away. They were organic and somehow I convinced myself that that made them "okay" and "healthy" for me to eat! hahaha! There are also LOTS of parties and they all have yummy foods and drinks. 2 nights in a row this week I have had something to go to. Each had little apps and drinks and that is what set me over! Last night I knew I had right at 600 calories left but I went over by 200 still. I didn't get to work out yesterday which definitely hurt because I would have been under if I had. Oh well nothing I can do about it now. The only thing I can do is today I WILL work out during my lunch hour, and do everything in my power to stay under.

These holidays need to just get over so I can get back to my normal routine. I love them don't get me wrong but they really monkey wrench things and when you are trying to get back on the horse, it is definitely a hard time to do so. My strong will is just going to really have to take over and quickly!!!

Enjoy your Thursday!

When you Fall just get up!

Well I tracked EVERYTHING yesterday and was over by a 300+. However, I am proud of myself for tracking. Granted I didn't finish entering everything until this morning, including dinner which I am pretty sure is why I didn't stay within my number. I should have done dinner before I went to this Clothing Swap party that way I knew how many calories I had left and could spare, but that's not what I did. Oh well. The part that was good is that I did keep track of exactly what I ate. I didn't just put stuff in my mouth and forget about it. I was proud of myself for that. :)  At least I did run yesterday so I got a few calories that added on so it wasn't nearly as big of a over as it could have been. The funny part was that the number that showed up as to how much I could weight if I had exact same days for a month was lower than I am now, therefore it was still a plus in my book! haha!

So funny story yesterday I went outside to run by myself and just had started to run after my 5 minute warm-up and about 10 steps in I ate it and fell down completely! I am going to have a fantastic strawberry on my leg. The funny part, I have a new iPhone and it went flying out of hand and fell to the ground. I was more worries about my phone than I was myself! haha! Good news is that my case worked and kept it safe, no damage - YAY! As for myself, as you can see from the picture nothing terrible, just some scrapes and definitely an incoming strawberry. One small NSV was that I could have just turned around and said screw this after my fall since I seriously was at the beginning, but instead I got up, brushed myself off and kept going. I ran the longest I have in a really long time. Total distance with the 5 minute warm-up and down was 35 minutes for 2.9 miles. I finished and as dorky as this may sound I was proud of myself because it was a good analogy for the way I have been lately - I fell (got off track) and now I have just gotten back up and kept running!

Today I won't be getting in a work out, as there was no part of me getting up early before work (in fact I didn't roll out of bed until 7:10 and I leave at 7:35), I have a lunch meeting, and then I have a social tonight directly after work for a group I am part of. The only thing is maybe I could go for a swim after that, but I don't know, we will see how I feel at like 7-7:30 when I leave tonight.

Well here's to a good Wednesday and hoping the 2nd half of this week goes by A LOT faster than the first!

Going for 2 for 2

Well it's day #2 this week and day #1 was successful so yay 1 for 1! Goal for today is to make it 2 for 2! Yesterday I tracked all my food and I exercised, it was a good day! Even better was the small victories I had that I want to share. While running yesterday I was only going to do 30 minutes total, 5 minutes warm-up, 20 minutes slogg, 5 minutes warm-down. I got through half of the slog and I decided to finish it through to 25 minutes. I was on the treadmill and had it on 5.0 and was just going. The last 5 minutes I upped it to 5.1 an the last minute 5.4. I really wanted to stop around 6 minutes left total, but I pushed myself and I was glad afterwards. I really surprised myself in running that long. It wasn't very fast but I just kept on going. Today I am running outside so I am curious on how well I can do.

The other small victory was yesterday after work I came home and ate dinner. I was done by 6pm. Around 6:45 I left my house to run errands and finish up my Christmas shopping. First temptation was at Walmart, all the candies and things I wanted to buy to munch on but knew better. Then I was at the mall from about 7:45 to 9:30. There was the Auntie Anne's Pretzels, the food court with pizza and other goodies that smell good, and then ice cream too. I wanted sooo bad to get something as it had been about 3 hours at this point since I ate so I was starting to get a tad hungry again, but I didn't buy anything I could eat. I walked out of there and even turned down a free sample at one of the oriental places. I know it's not huge but I was really proud of myself!

Today I am working out at 4pm and then going to a clothing swap party tonight at 6:30. I am actually really excited about it as it is a great way to "go shopping" and not spend anything! :) I went through my closet last night and just about everything that doesn't fit anymore because it is too big, or things I haven't really worm in forever, plus a couple of pairs of shoes were all taken out of closet. tonight whatever doesn't get taken is getting donated! NOTHING is going back in my closet. I don't want to let myself think it will be okay to gain weight again because I have the clothes to fit into so no biggie! NO I am purging myself of the larger sizes! It was a great feeling to see that the pile was quite large! Hopefully I will get something cute tonight!! :)

Here's to a great Tuesday!

Stepping Stones

Okay not off to the greatest start in December I have to admit. The first goal I set for myself last week, logging the rest of the month failed after Thursday last week. Friday my sister graduated from college and I had family that came into town Thursday evening so that just threw off my whole weekend completely. I need to be better though about tracking regardless. I use to be and I need to get back in the habit. I am not going to beat myself up for it, but instead do something in the positive today like track and exercise.

Oh ya that's another area that I screwed up last week - exercise! My fat ass completely forgot about working out once I saw food and I didn't even realize it until about half way through my lunch. Here's what happened. I brought my workout bag intending to workout. Then our department decided to order in lunch because of a long meeting in the afternoon. I went to go get it and brought it back. My initial thoughts were bring it back, go work out and then eat my salad. Ya I got back handing out the food and then sat down and opened up my salad and dug right in. It wasn't until I was about half way through my salad that I realized I had completely forgotten about my workout. Oh well! I needed to do it but whatever.

Today I am planning on working out. It's raining so it will be inside which is a bit on a bummer but that's okay. I also brought a great salad with leftover grilled shrimp on top. Definitely looking forward to it! :) The goal today is to work out and stay under my calorie count. I am going to take it 1 day at a time and do stepping stones back to where I need to be!

Happy Monday!

Good things on its way!

So HOLY SORENESS! From my run on Tuesday my legs are burning on fire, but it's a good burn so it makes me happy. I knew it would be bad when just a few hours, like 2 or something like that I was already starting to feel it. It makes you be mad at yourself for ever stopping because you wouldn't be feeling this way if you hadn't stopped. Oh well, it is what it is! Today I am going to run again and am excited about it. I bet it won't be as good as last time since I am sore, but I am going for it. It is chilly today so that might help. It was so nice to run outside on Tuesday. It was the first time I have run outside since Spring. It is sooo much better running outside than on that stupid treadmill. I am running towards something and have a physical goal to reach, the wind, the smells of outdoors, it's all wonderful and makes running that much better. Hopefully today I will say the same thing after wards. :)

So switching subjects completely I did something last week that I am going to make a staple in my life from this point forward. It's a great idea and I hope if you read this you will to. Thursday night last week we went to this amazing restaurant in New Orleans, OMG it was fabulous! Well it was too much food in the end and I had plenty left on my plate. Typically if I am at home that baby is boxed up and I enjoy it again for lunch the next day, however, being that it was a business trip and I wasn't at home I didn't ask for a box right away like I normally do. One of my fellow colleagues asked for a box and I looked at him funny and asked him where he intended on keeping it and eating it? He said he wasn't, he was going to give it to a homeless person to enjoy. I instantly thought that was a fabulous idea and asked to have mine boxed up as well. On the way back to the hotel I gave it to someone and he started eating it immediately. I wasn't going to eat it and it was just going to go in the trash so why not let someone else that is less fortunately enjoy a meal?! From now on when I am not at home or a place where I can save the meal for another use, I am still going to box it and give it to someone else to enjoy!

It also makes me think that I really should start doing that trick that when you order your food, ask for a box with it and immediately box half of it so it is off your plate and you can't eat it! Most restaurants serve you double at least of the serving sizes recommended. Plus not only do you eat less, but you are getting 2 meals for the price of 1! hahaha! :)

PS - Today is my "Friday" as my sister graduates from college tomorrow and I will be attending that, therefore I won't have time to post. Have a great weekend!

December WILL BE MY MONTH!!

WOW it has been quite some time since I wrote a blog. I have actually really missed it and glad that my life is slowing back down a bit where writing these will again become feasible.

My last month or so has been insane! Since November 10th through December 3rd I was only at my house for a total of like 3.5 days! I went to Texas for my best friend's wedding, which I have to say was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The amazing part is she did everything herself! The vision she had came through flawlessly that you would have thought a professional did it. It was quaint and cute and so her and he now husband. I met some great people and saw others I adore and haven't seen in a while. However, you know how weddings go when you come from out of town and are in the wedding, it's a whirlwind of a weekend! I spent more time traveling I think than I did with her but it was soooooo worth it! Next home for a day and half and then off to Seattle for 6 days with travel. That is a gorgeous part of the country! It was a lot of work since I went to set up a tradeshow booth and tear it down. I got to meet a lot of people I have been working with for over a year now, but have never actually met. I took a little bit of time for myself on Friday while I was there and saw the city. Took an underground tour (a must if you go), took myself to lunch on the water, walked around Pike's Place Market, and then watched the sun set from the Space Needle with a glass of wine in my hand, it was the perfect Date with Seattle! Got back home and had 2 days before I drive to VA with my sister to my parent's house for Thanksgiving where 13 people were staying including us. It was crazy but such great fun and joyful to see my family. I flew from VA to New Orleans for 6 days for another tradeshow, the largest one we do each year. That was the most stressful week ever! Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong, but I made it work in the long run, however, lost a lot of sleep while doing it. Finally Saturday on my way home I got to have a layover in Charlotte! I had asked for the longest layover possible when making the reservation, which was 3 hours, but when I got there I found a squirrely little USAir rep and got him to put me on the 8:10pm flight for free and that got me 7 hours with my boyfriend! It was a great afternoon and a great way to end this insane travel time!

The problem with all of this is that about 3 weeks prior to this things started to get crazy too and I haven't worked out at least since then, eating habits kinda got thrown out the window, and there was no tracking of food either with MFP. Looking back though I am happy to say that my choices weren't terrible or as bad as they use to be before I started this journey. I only gained 3 lbs during this whole time - well let's put it this way, it was 3 lbs on Monday, during the time it probably fluctuate, but that's what is said at the end and what I am going with! I was pleasantly surprised to see the small increase and that made things definitely easier to wrap my mind around getting back on track!

Yesterday I tracked my entire day for the 1st time in a long long time and I also exercised! I went for a "slog" as I call it - my version of running, a slow job hence "slog". I just recently got the new iPhone and download the Nike + app, fantastic $1.99 spent! I really enjoyed the app and excited to continue to use it. I would really recommend it if you have a phone that can support it. It keeps track of your total time, your time for the last mile you ran, and the avg speed you ran it at, how far you have run, everything! There is a voice that speaks to your too while you are running to keep you updated with all that info. You can also connect it with facebook and it will post that you are currently running and people can cheer for you while you are running or make comments and then it will let you know by making cheering noises or reading the comment to you. I think that is really neat. Plus it posts your progress, which some people may not like but that is a option you can turn off. I like it because is follows my Public Honesty kick that I am on. Unfortunately I can't run during my lunch hour today, I have an errand I have to run instead. Oh well, there is always tomorrow!

Well I set a goal for myself this month - track EVERY DAY! I need to get back on track and that is a goal I know I can achieve. I also have to start running again. I am going to participate in my 1st 15K in March, which is the longest run I have ever done before, and I start a training program Jan. 1st. It starts with 2 miles and I want to start off right. I did 2.15 miles yesterday total. I walked at the beginning to warm up and then the end, and ran without stopping in the middle. I probably did around 1.75-8 miles running which just was a prove to myself moment I can do the 2 miles and get on track this month!

Here's to December as MY month!!!!

Seattle

Hello ALL! I know it has been a wild month for me, and posting just hasn't been something I have had time for unfortunately. I get to work and typically can take a few minutes to type this out first thing, but that time hasn't existed lately. I have had 5 tradeshows (I am in charge of them at my company) this month and October and November have just been insane. Especially since we just redesigned our booths and everything in them. Well I am in Seattle right now for one of them that starts tomorrow. I have to set-up the booth later today. PS - It's FREEZING here! haha! I am such a Florida girl. :)

Anyway, my body is all kinds of screwed up time wise, it has no idea which way is up! 2 weekends ago was the time change, last weekend I went to Central time, then back to Eastern for a day and half and now I am on Pacific time. I woke up this morning at 5:30am, 8:30am my time and couldn't fall back asleep. I layed there and I think drifted a bit but at 6:10am when my alarm was set to go work out, yes I know I am soo proud, I got right up, changed and went downstairs to the fitness center at my hotel. 1st day and I have started this trip off right! YAY ME! I got onto the ellipitcal for 30 minutes. Nothing fancy or crazy, jsut solid for 30 minutes. I went 2.6 miles and burned 215 calories. Nothing really too be all proud of, but the act alone is what I am proud of personally! I haven't worked out in sooo long and I come all the way to Seattle and I make myself. I brought enough workout clothes to work out every morning (except the one that I leave), so that is 4 work outs. I am not looking for anything crazy, just get up and move before the day starts. Later today will also be a work out, as I will be setting up a booth and working hard. Not to mention I will be walking a lot I am sure. Hopefully this trip will spring me back into getting in the mood and motivation to get going again.

The other thing I am looking foward to is eating fabulous seafood while I am here. Fish is soo good for you so that is a plus too. I haven't been bad lately, but I know I sure could be A LOT better than I have been. Witrh the holidays around the corner I HAVE to get back to being good again!!!

Well, as you can see this is coming late, I am 3 hours behind from where I am use to. Plus this week/month is crazy! I will post as much as I can but I can't promise every day. It is just not feasible right now.

Have a great day!!!

Life needs to SLOW DOWN!

It seems like my life lately has just been going crazy fast and been crazy busy! Yesterday was another no go on working out. It was Tuesday so I typically work out 4-5pm. Ya 4pm came and I knew there was no way that I could make that happen. In fact I was at work until 6:30pm. At that point too there were things I HAD to get done and didn't have a choice to work out.

This morning I thought I would get up early and go for a walk. Ya I have just been too tired and decided to sleep the extra hour and not make myelf sick because I am soo tired! With the next weeks I have coming up I can't afford to get sick. Today it won't happen as I have lunch with my Mentor and then I am going to dinner with a great friend I haven't seen in a bit. Maybe tomorrow?!

At least I am eating well right now!!! :) Gotta love the small victories!

Well off to the warehouse to pack for a tradeshow. I will be walking and on my feet all day so that's WAY more than normal so that's a plus for me. YAY! :) haha!

BTW I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS WEEKEND - BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING TO THE MAN SHE HAS LOVED FOR 10 YEARS!!!

Have a great Hump Day!

Redirecting Motivation

Well I didn't start the week off well again. Seems to be a pattern lately. I didn't work out. Lunch came and I had a lot to do. 11:30 went by, then noon, and by 12:20 my stomach was yelling at me to feed it. I chose not to work out and told myself I would go to the YMCA after work since I am paying for it and not using it. Ya that didn't happen either. I had 2 errands to run after work and decided to add a third once I was out. By the time I was done it was 6:45pm and again my stomach was yelling at me. I at least did something good, I had dinner ready at home to be cooked and kept to that instead of stopping somewhere to pick something up, which I highly considered. It was a healthy meal too; grilled chicken breast, steamed broccoli and 1/2 a sweet potato. The other reason I couldn't go to the YMCA is that I left my gym bag at work. Okay that is another excuse, those are the running shoes I prefer but I have a back-up older pair at home I could have used. The problem is coming home and then going back out. Anyone who has tried that knows that that is almost an impossible task.

I have to stop convincing myself that it is okay to not work out. I'm not saying that I HAVE to work out, but it's also not okay to not work out. I need a happy medium and that is where I am struggling. I need to find a place where I am happy working out. Honestly it is the hurdle of getting back into it that I need to overcome. That is one of the hardest things to do, start up again. Once I get back into it I am confident I will get going again, I did it once before. The problem is getting there again. I need to just decide to do it and do it. BLAH! I also need to find the mind set again because I have lost it. :(  I will find it again, I know I will because I do want it. I just need to focus on that and feed off of it. Easier said than done is the problem.

After talking with my boyfriend last night, nothing special just our daily chat at night, I  realized that I let it get to me a bit too much Sunday night, being sad he left. I know everything will be fine, it's just that I wish I didn't have to miss him, that's really about it. I also know that I have let this take over other parts of my life lately too. I realized that yesterday and I really need to stop that. I have decided to take this as a challenge! I will see him in a month and then another 3 weeks after that - Can I get him to ask "How much have you lost? You look great!" haha! My goal is 155 lbs by the end of the year, it's definitely possible I just need the motivation so I am hoping that if I redirect my wallows into something positive it can work in advantage. Worth a try right?!!!

I'm Still Here...

Hello! I wanted to let you all know I am still here! Last week was hands down one of the craziest weeks of my work life. I somehow managed to get everything done but I am not sure how. I would get to the office and by 8am hit the ground running full speed. I really missed writing my blogs but there were more important things to get done. As you can imagine I didn't have time to work out a lick last week, and I was also bad about my eating. I really need to get back onto MFP. I have been slacking big time and I know it helps because it has been for a while now. BLAH!

This weekend though is what got me through last week. My boyfriend came up for the weekend and we got to spend it together. We went to a wedding for an old friend of his that was great. I have never seen him all dressed up like that before and he looked so handsome. I got to get all pretty and dressed up too which is fun! :) I wore this black lacey dress that I have had for a long time, and it was a tad big but still looked great. The way is falls on you I could get away with it a tad big. I couldn't believe it because it has never fit like that before and I seriously bought it like 3 years ago, maybe more! :) YAY!!

However, as slow as the weekend took to get here, it FLEW BY once it did come. Yesterday afternoon he had to leave to head back to Charlotte and I really got upset. Definitely more than I ever had. I won't see him until Dec. 3rd and it is only for an hour, hour and half at the Charlotte Airport. I happen to have a layover there and he is going to come see me. Unfortunately we have to go a month without seeing each other in person for only a hour, hour and half time frame to look forward to. Hey it's better than nothing! I am traveling literally all of November so seeing each other literally isn't an option. Then after that I won't see him till Christmas, as he is coming to my parent's house to spend Christmas with us. That's 7 weeks away!! Then I will go to his place in Charlotte for New Year’s so it is 8 weeks until we get to have just "us time"! :( Realizing all of this really upset me and made me sad. Just typing it makes my eyes swell again. I kinda let myself just wallow in my sadness a tad too much. I decided that I wanted comfort food and heated up a pizza in the oven and poured myself a tall frosty beer. I love pepperoni DiGiornos and heated it up, however I ate 5 of the 8 pieces! I started off with 3 but kept going back for another slice 2 separate times. I actually got up for a 6th piece but instead wrapped the 3 remaining pieces in threw them in the fridge. This morning I hopped on the scale and surprise surprise I gained weight! BLAH!

I hate that I did that! I haven't let myself eat myself to feeling better in a long time and I just let it get to me too much. This morning I woke up and told myself that wasn't acceptable and as much as I don't feel like working out at lunch I am going to make myself today! I can't let myself think that is okay. Everyone makes slips and that was my first big one in a long time. I mean we aren't all perfect, it just realizing and acknowledging that we made a mistake, a slip up and moving forwad from it. That's what I have to do and am going to do.

PS - Sister if you read this, those 3 pieces of pizza are all yours! :)