Its Official....

I can actually run a half marathon. No, I havent run in my race just yet....2 1/2 more weeks for that. However.....Sunday morning I successfully ran 13.1 miles for my long run! It was painful and difficult considering I have a bad case of brochitis and I didnt plan my route very well and ended up with A LOT of hills. But, I still did it. Big Sur Half Marathon, here I come!!!

Where Have I Been....?

This seems to be the question of the moment for my blogging. Well, August just was a busy mess. What can I say! We had lots of out of town guests, a trip to Arizona, 2 kids starting school and I also started school. Anyway...blogging hasnt been a priority. Unfortunately due to some of the houseguests, I didnt do very well this month with my eating plan. Luckily the damage was minimal and fixable so I am trying not to get too upset about it but it has been very difficult getting back in the game with my food. I also let my running slip and fell behind on my half marathon training program by 3 weeks! Ugh....its OK though. Instead of increasing my mileage by a mile each week I am increasing it by 1.5 miles and this way I will be able to get a 14 mile run in 2 weeks before the big race. This makes me feel great! In fact tonight I completed a 7 miler! Im so excited that I am searching for a local 10k to enter....I need some racing experience under my belt before November and now that I know I can run a 10k....I may as well do it!

So, thats the update....making progress even though sometimes it is slow, at least it is progress and that is what counts!

YES!!!

Well, I have to say since the last time I posted (8 days ago) that I havent been really motivated. I've stuck with the program but only barely. Everyday I have struggled with giving up and shoving platefuls of mexican food, smothered in sour cream, into my mouth and then finishing it up with a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts..... but, I didnt do it. I went the gym....ate my protein and veggies and kept those hideous thoughts to myself. I wonder sometimes if I am the only person who struggles this way. You here all kinds of success stories from various women...and I only include women because men seem to have it easy when it comes to weight loss... but, I think sometimes that I am the only one out there that struggles with these thoughts of eating myself to death. I know that isnt true of course

So anyway.....I decided this past Saturday, after staying the same weight for over a week, that I was going to continue doing the protein/veggie thing for one more week. If by this Saturday I hadnt lost anymore, then I was going to go back to previous eating plan. Yesterday I was so un-motivated that during my workout, I decided I wouldnt workout another day this week. I was just going to quit until next Monday... When I woke up this morning I decided I would weight myself just to see if anything had changed, even though I wasnt going to weigh until Saturday. Im so glad I did because I have lost 3 more pounds since last Saturday!!! What a relief and it has given me renewed motivation to continue....its amazing what a little weight loss can do for your psyche! This puts me at 228....I havent been below 230 for 5 years. Im so excited!

A Month Later.....

It has been a month since I last posted. Things have continued to go well. My knees have been killing me and so I made an appointment with an Orthopedic Doctor. He took xrays and everything looks fine! Thanks heavens...knee problems are the last thing I need. Basically I need to strengthen my ham strings and core and also stretch the ham strings really well...this will help alleviate the knee pain. I have a bone scan scheduled for the 27th to check out the possible stress fracture however, I feel good about it as it has not bothered me much lately.

Weight loss has been slower than desired...what else is new. It is going down though...slowly, but surely. That is all I can ask for I guess. Im almost into my 220's (that still sounds awful) and I havent been there since after Ian was born. He's 9 now if that gives you an idea of how long I have been struggling with my weight. I ran 3 miles the other night and am now getting into a structured half marathon training program. Its only 4 months away!! Im so nervous.

My self observation this week is that my boobs now stick out farther than my stomache! I know, TMI right? But, seriously. I looked down this morning and only saw chest...YAY. Very exciting stuff....This has been such hard work, if I ever gain it back then I give you permission to kick me. Hard.

An Update...

Well, things are going well I suppose. Ive had some trouble with my scale lately and kept getting odd readings. I changed the battery but that didnt help and then tried one more time with a Lithium battery (since thats what is supposed to be in it apparently) and when that didnt work I gave up and bought a new scale. I dont know how accurate my numbers have been in the past 2 weeks due to the sketchy scale but according to last weeks weight on the bad scale and what I weighed Saturday on the new scale, I have lost another 5 pounds! I'll take it. Any movement of the scale in a downward motion is a good thing for me.

As far as running goes, I have taken a hiatus for the past couple of weeks. There has been some concern that I may possibly have a stress fracture on my shin. Obviously I dont want to make it worse and I am praying that it isnt the problem. But, the best thing to do was to give it a rest. I am going to be resuming my running tonight though so we shall see if the problem is still here. In the meantime I have been working out with Surba, my personal trainer 6 days a week for the past 3 weeks. It has been tiring but worth it. I can see my arms toning up and I feel great. Im hoping the scale will continue reflecting my hard work! I will keep you posted.

Dusting Off the Cobwebs.....

Okay...so here it is, months and months later with no updates. I guess you can say I pretty much lost my focus. I have struggled since January to get back onto my goals. After the injury period of December, I entered the depressive period in January. I went through the weirdest "funk".....some say it might be that SAD condition where the weather makes people depressed. I really dont know what it was but January was a total fog. I made it through however, and in February I was determined to get back in focus. Would you believe I gained 10 pounds in 3 weeks! Im not kidding. I dont feel like I overate necessarily but I definitely didnt exercise and I think that was the key thing. So in February, I was going to buy a treadmill and run at least twice a day on it plus go to the gym for weight training. Then my father-in-law died and those plans were put on hold. I think sometime in March my brother invited me to join him on Saturday mornings working out with his personal trainer. I would pay for half the session....sounded reasonable. It was the best thing I have ever done.....

I decided, at the urging of an old friend, to sign up for a half marathon. No, your eyes arent playing tricks on you, I said a HALF MARATHON! It isnt until the middle of November and it is in beautiful Monterey California....Im so excited for it. I figured if I paid for it then I will make sure I can at least finish it. So, this personal trainer then went the extra mile and had me start logging my food each day. He also drew up a nutrition plan of sorts for me to follow. It took all of April to really get into some consistency with it but Im getting it done now. Also, I have increased my workouts with him to 4 or 5 days a week instead of just on Saturday and finally....after almost 5 months of miserable failure....I lost 5 pounds this week!!! I feel so great. Its only 5 pounds but it is a step in the right direction. I am so determined to do this...it is going to happen. I am deleting all of my stats from the sidebar since they are from last year and really dont apply anymore. I will be entering new stats soon and hopefully some new pictures too! So, here I go again...I have goals and I have a way to attain them. After watching the Biggest Loser these past couple of months, I know I can do it. These were really heavy people and they worked hard and look great! They also ran a full marathon so there is NO WAY I cant do a Half Marathon! Im so excited.....

An Update....

Ok. I havent been doing too well with keeping this blog updated. Sorry. The holidays really took over this year as far as my time was concerned. Anyway, after I ran that 5k in November I was extremely motivated and itching to really start running seriously. It took me a week or 2 to actually recover from that race because I really pushed myself. During that time I agreed to join a team running a relay race in June of this year. Its called the Wasatch Back.....it sounded like so much fun and a real challenge. At the time, there was no question I would be able to run it. I was taking someones place on the team who had become pregnant and couldnt run it. I found out after signing on that her particular legs (its a relay race) were the hardest ones to run. That was discouraging for me but I was still determined. Then early in December I woke up with severe sciatic nerve pain in my lower back. I could barely stand and it lasted pretty much all of December. I hardly ran at all during that month....and when it wasnt my back it was my knee or my shoulder. I was a mess physically. So, toward the end of the month I decided not to worry about it until the first of January and just start over. That still gave me 6 months to train for this big race. I went to the gym Monday and tried to run.....it was as if I had never run a step. I could barely last a half of a mile! I went home very upset and discouraged. Ive had butterflies in my stomache ever since and as a result (because my back is already acting up again) I have chosen to pull out of the relay race in June. I am still going to train as if I am running in it, but Im not about to push myself to the point of injury again. It just isnt worth it. Also, if I am going to be so stressed out about it, I wont enjoy it and I want to enjoy running..... Im struggling with feeling like a whimp but I know I did the right thing. The moment I sent the email exlpaining the situation it was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

In the meantime, Im still running and now I am aiming to run the Deseret News 10k in July. I think that is a more reasonable goal for me. There is always next year for the Wasatch Back. I will do it one day......