Friday weigh in

Well, I lost some weight compared to last week, but I'm still up compared to 2 weeks ago.  Today's weight is 163.4.  I would like to have been down to at least 162, but I'll take 163, it's better than 164.  Those first few sentences just sounds wrong . . .  Anyway, the point is, I weighed 163.4 today. 

I started to go for a run today with Damian.  He wanted to only go 1 mile, but I told him that he could easily go 2 miles.  He was going to just go home after 2 miles and I was going to continue with 3 or 4, however, I just wasn't feeling it today.  I normally take 2 days off of running (one of them is a Zumba day) however, I didn't this week (Zumba was on Chris's birthday and he would have been unhappy with me if I left him to do Zumba). So I decided that I would just do the 2 miles with Damian and go home. 

I am going to visit my sister tomorrow in Lynnwood.  We're going to go swimming and shoe shopping.  I'm really looking forward to it.  :-) 

I need to quit worrying about my weight.

Why do I run?

The other day our neighbor was at our house and he commented on seeing me running all the time.  He asked me why I ran, and I looked at him like he was crazy.  I said "I run because I like to."  I didn't know I had to have a reason, and really, who runs if they don't like it?  Especially for months at a time.  I have been running 5-6 times a week (mostly 5 times, sometimes 4 times) since Feb. 25th (wow 4 months!  remember this post where I said "I will see a difference after 4 weeks, family and friends see a difference after 8 weeks and everyone else sees a difference after 16 weeks," I can't believe I am still running).  If I didn't like to run, I would have stopped a long time ago.

I can feel it in my body, and it's not always a "good" ache.  No one, ever, is allowed to touch my shins.  I am just fine unless my shins get bumped or touched in anyway.  I get a weird twinge in my feet sometimes. It's very uncomfortable and makes me feel like I won't be able to walk, but as soon as it starts it's gone.  I don't even know how to describe it.  My knees ache some, especially at night.

But the good changes are also evident.  I have lost (about) 15 lbs since I started running.  In high school I had killer legs, guys always talked about my "sexy" calves, I have those "sexy" calves again.  My clothes are literally falling off my body.  I can run 4 miles (plus) without stopping.  I haven't had a serious acne breakout since I started running. (I don't know if it's related, but I'm going to say it is.)  I am a happier, calmer, better person after I have run.  I love being able to outrun my 13 year old son.  I love that I am losing weight, maybe not a lot, maybe not fast, but it's falling . . . steadily.

So . . . while my old body sometimes feels like I'm falling apart, there are so many more benefits.  I enjoy running.  I really, really do.  There are definitely weeks days when I don't want to go running.  There are times I have to just put my running clothes and shoes on and just step out the door without thinking about it because if I dwell on it too much I will veg on the couch and not go anywhere.  I get so frustrated at the scale sometimes, but really all my ups are my fault . . .and my downs. 
                                                                                  

Speaking of my neighbor.  I really don't like the guy.  He is ALWAYS coming on to me.  Chris talked about some of our past problems when he first moved in next door and thought they would end up being friends.  Anyway, that means that my neighbor knows some of the stuff that has happened in Chris's and my relationship and he thinks that means that he has free rein to hit on me.  He is married, they got married about 10 months ago or so in their house and they asked Chris and I to witness their marriage.  I am very happily committed to Chris, I just had a baby, for Heaven's sake.  What happened in Chris's and my past is just that, the past.  We have moved on but this guy just seems to think that I would willingly jeopardize my relationship with Chris to have a no-strings attached affair with him.

If he's not hitting on me, he's talking about some other girl that he saw recently that is "hot" and these girls always tell him how "hot" he is.  Or he says they tell his wife, who is an extremely jealous person.  If I can believe what my neighbor says (which I don't believe half of it) his wife accused him of having an affair with me while I was pregnant. (YUCK!)  I did think he was cute, in that bad boy kind of way, but after getting to know him, he's NOT cute at all.  He tells us things about his financial problems, but then talks about the $250 shoes he just bought.

He's very careful to not say anything around Chris to me.  He keeps his distance and talks only to Chris when Chris is around.  However, if he happens to come over while Chris is working I am ALWAYS glad Damian is there.  He even told me once how he was annoyed that Damian is always hanging on his every word when he comes over.  I don't care, whatever will keep him from being too forward with me.  Of course I can't tell Chris that he hits on me all the time.  Chris would just be angry and I don't really want that.

Triathalon anyone?

Yesterday was Chris's birthday.  Which made for a busy day for me.  After work I had just enough time to go for a short run before taking Damian to baseball practice.  Then Chris wanted to go metal detecting so I had to watch Maddox while cooking dinner and Maddox was extremely grumpy. 

Chris and I have a great schedule worked out in regards to cooking.  Neither one of us like to cook after we get home from work. So, since Chris has Tues-Thurs off and I have Sat and Sun off, we've arranged it so that we each cook on our days off and then we have a couple "fend for yourself" nights.  Chris doesn't always cook all three days, which is okay with me, so we usually have 3 fend for yourself nights. 

We were making Damian cook once a week, but he got so busy with school and sports that we stopped that.  I'm thinking we need to start that up again.  He's doing absolutely nothing right now . . . well, except baseball all-stars practice and gymnastics 2x a week.  ;-)

Anyway, back to yesterday, even though it was Chris's day off, I had to cook because it was his birthday.  And of course he likes my more involved dishes, so I couldn't even make something quick and easy. 

I was in a kinda bad mood all day yesterday.  I don't understand how a grown man that is turning 35 has the attitude of  "it's my birthday so I don't have any responsibilities for a day."  Just because you have a birthday doesn't mean that you get to completely forget your parental roles.  It seems so silly for me to complain about it today, but I was really annoyed with him yesterday.

After reading about a small triathalon at Sexy Mother Runner yesterday I have decided I completely want to do a triathalon.  It would have to be a small one and I don't have a good enough bike for doing it and it's been forever since I swam and I don't know how far I could ride a bike, so I would completely have to train for it.  But it sounds sooooo fun.  I discovered that I am not interested in running races but I think a triathalon sound really, really fun.  I had already been thinking about it before reading Sexy Mother Runner's report, but after reading it I really want to do one now.  I just need to find a small one so I don't die and I have to figure out how to get a bike good enough . . . and where I'm going to go swimming so I can train for it. 

Perspective

I forgot to weigh myself this morning.  When I finally remembered I had already drank a cup of coffee.  I normally weigh myself right after waking up and using the bathroom.  So this morning, I had been up a little while and had a full cup of coffee in my belly when I weighed myself.  Happily, the number I saw was 163.8.  I realize it was only 0.2 lb less than the 164 I saw on Friday morning, but all weekend my numbers were closer to 165, I even saw one 167, so that 3 at the end was a VERY, very welcome sight. 

I have been doing the Meet My Goals Challenge as you know if you've been reading my blog for the last few weeks.  Daria has not posted the current week's results so I haven't had to think about my goals.  However, I figure I better if I'm going to meet my goals for this week.  I did terrible on my goals from last week.  I didn't meet even one of them.  I did no extra exercises, I didn't take my vitamins and I didn't do even 1 sit-up, much less 100 a day.

I have kinda lost my confidence in meeting my goals.  I thought I had picked fairly easy goals, but last week I couldn't even do the simplest one, which was take my vitamins.  How hard is it to remember vitamins.  Obviously, for me, pretty hard.

So this week . . . I am not sure what I want to do as my goals.  I guess I will keep them mostly the same.
exercise 3x other than running (I am going to include some sort of strength training in this)
vitamins (seriously, third week's a charm, right??)
100 situps and as many pushups as I can (which is sadly only about 15) . . . since I know I can do 100 situps a day at least 4 times this week

Going back to my weight, I found an old post from April where I was excited to see 167 on the scale.  I even took a picture of the scale to prove I was that low.  And yesterday (and today) I was complaining that I saw 164.  Perspective, perspective. 

This morning I got up for a minute to get more coffee, when I got up Maddox had stolen my spot.  He's so cute.  :-)

Dreams

I had the best dream last night. I dreamed I could see my *defined* abs and I could touch my fingers together in the front and the back.  Having my waist be that small would not actually be that attractive as my hands are not gigantic, but you know in old movies where the guy can wrap his fingers around the lady's waist, I always thought that was cool.  I realize that was possible because the lady was wearing a corset.  Anyway, I woke up feeling so skinny . . . until I stepped on the scale.

Gone With the Wind

Not attractive at all - source

I don't know if anyone noticed, but I kinda skipped the whole Friday weigh-in post this week.  I've been really hesitant to post my weight this week.  I'm embarrassed about it.  Unfortunately, Friday I weighed 164.0.  Sadly, that has been my lowest number all weekend.  I thought last week's number was unusually low, but 164 is even higher than the week before where I was at 163. 

I didn't fall off the wagon, as the saying goes, last week.  I ran 5 out of 7 days and I ate like I have been for weeks.  But I didn't do Zumba at all last week, and I didn't do any sit-ups, in fact, I did nothing other than run.  The only difference, well other than not doing "extra" cardio work, is that I was on my period for most of the week.  I haven't used my period as an excuse for weight gain in the past.  I haven't really noticed a gain on my period weeks.  But a gain of 2.6 lbs is kinda crazy, and really disappointing. 

I really hope that the gain is because of my period and I will go back down next week.  I will get back on track with Zumba this week and doing something other than running.  I also need to start doing sit-ups and push-ups again.

I have noticed that I've been slightly depressed this last week and I have been really unmotivated to do much of anything, even run.  I had to force myself to go running almost every day.  Yesterday and today however, I've had really good runs.  I will do better this week.  I will do Zumba on Tuesday and I will do situps and pushups.

Vacation count down

I had a really good run today.  I have not been feeling the exercising this week.  I haven't really felt like running, and I definitely haven't felt like doing anything else.  Today I did a little under 4 1/2 miles and it felt really, really good.

I need new shoes already.  I just got shoes at the beginning of April so I'm surprised I need them already.  The "experts" say that you should buy new shoes after 300-500 miles.  I have only ran about 200 miles in my shoes.  However, they are completely worn on the bottom and something I read said that the bottom of your shoes should look new, and I have been getting shins splints much more lately.  I don't really have the money for new shoes right now.  I guess I will have to suffer through the shin splints for a while.  I know that stretching helps them a lot, so I have to be extra good at stretching, and I need to make sure I have some ice packs in the freezer.
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Just when I thought we were done running around everywhere, Damian signed up for All-Stars Baseball.  He wasn't going to do it, because we are going camping when the state tournament is, but they only had 8 players try-out, so the coach called and asked Damian to play. 

Speaking of camping, I am so excited for a vacation.  I am taking almost a week off in about 3 weeks, we are going camping on San Juan Island.  It is extremely beautiful there.  The campground is right on the water and if you get the right campsite, you can walk out of your tent and watch the whales swim by. 

We were first there 3 years ago with a friend of Chris's who scuba dives.  He rented some kayaks for us and while we were out in them once, we got caught in a superpod of whales.  A superpod is when the pods (there are currently 3 pods consisting of about 10-15 whales in each) get together all at one time to mate.  We were in small kayaks in the middle of 30 or so whales.  It was amazing, and kinda scary.

We haven't rented kayaks since that first time, but it was a blast.  We won't have the money to do it this year, but maybe next year.  It was a completely amazing experience.

I will have to map some running routes while we are camping.  I can't go a full week without running.  It will be the first vacation I've ever had where I made exercising a priority.

SAD

I'm sorry I haven't been writing a lot lately.  I am just . . . I have no excuse . . . lazy.  :-) 

Nothing is going on here right now.  I'm running everyday, in fact Tuesday I ran 4.88 miles, which is the farthest I've ever ran.  Yesterday I ran just under 3 miles.  I did skip Zumba though, but that was more because I didn't have the $3 required to get in.

I think I have SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).  I know it's normally in the winter months but I am just so depressed about the weather here.  It's the end of June and it's constantly cloudy and rainy.  I'm sick of it.  Chris and I have been seriously talking about moving back to eastern WA to get out of this dreary weather.

In reality, there are two big things holding me here.  Damian's school and friends and activities (that is a huge thing) and my sister, who is my best friend.  As it is, I only see her about once a month, and if I were to move farther away I would never see her.  But seriously, I am depressed lately and I think it's because of the weather.  How silly is it to be depressed in June because it's 60 degrees and not 70+.  I look at the heat wave the rest of the US is having and I am insanely jealous.  Send some of it my way!!


Picture from Seattle, not from me.


This is all I see lately.  We'll have one glorious day of sun, and then the very next day it looks like this.  Why can't we have a summer of sun with one day of rain and then back to sun like all normal places in the world?  Ugh!

Ugh!

I really hate running with the jogging stroller. 

Today when I got home from work I asked Chris if he wanted to go for a bike ride.  I completely expected him to say no because we biked/ran yesterday for almost 5 miles.  ~Chris probably rode more than 5 miles because he rides back and forth a lot.~  Anyway, to my surprise, he said yes.  Unfortunately, Damian was at gymnastics so that meant I got to push the jogging stroller.  yay.

We only ran 2.7 miles, but I was beat.  I kept thinking "running is mostly mental, running is mostly mental."  Unfortunately, I also kept thinking, "this is hard, I can't do this, my body is giving out."  It wasn't, but I sure talked myself into it several times.  I stopped and walked 3 or 4 times and then instead of going on, I told Chris we needed to head home. 

The weather here was beautiful today.  70 degrees, and tomorrow it's supposed to be even nicer.  I so wish I didn't have to work. :-(

Damian got a new rubik's cube.  It's pretty cool.  It has no colors, its all silver, but the blocks are different shapes.  It's very awesome, and he figured it out in less than a day.  My kid is amazing.  (If you'd like to read more about him, you can do so here.)

Where have I been?

Wow, I feel likeI have not written much of anything lately.  It's amazing how quickly you can get out of your routine.  Saturday, as I posted yesterday, was pretty busy and I didn't get in a run.  Sunday I did run, but it was only 4 miles (I usually do more than that on Sundays) and I went a new route and it had a really steep hill, which I had to walk up.  It was the first walking I've done in a very long time during my runs and I totally felt like a failure.  However, my time was still decent, 9:55 min/mile average.

Father's Day was okay.  I felt like I stood the entire day. I posted yesterday about it a little, so I won't go into any detail, but I was exhausted.  We sat and watched a movie after dinner, Demolition Man, which I had never seen, but was pretty good.  I fell asleep in the last 10 min and totally missed the end.  Oh well, I'm sure that Chris will insist we watch it again another time.  Actually, Chris had already seen it and he went to bed about half way through the movie.  So Damian and I watched the rest.  Damian had to wake me up off the couch to go to bed.  :-)  Good boy, he easily could have stayed up and watched tv or played xbox, but he went to bed. 

Yesterday was Maddox's first birthday.  However, Damian has his end of year show at gymnastics this week, so he went to that and Maddox didn't get to open his presents till late (7:30).  Of course, he didn't know any different, he just knew he was super tired.  :-)  We tried to give him a cupcake, but he wasn't too interested, he just wanted "Mommy time" (nursing) and bed.  We decided not to have any sort of party for him, he's only 1 and he won't remember it at all.  Plus, all of our family is at least an hour away, most being over 4 hours away, so there was no point in it.

I totally meant to go for a run yesterday.  I usually take Mondays off because I do a long run on Sunday, but since I didn't do a long run Sunday and I skipped Saturday, I was going to run yesterday.  However, I didn't run.  We ended up going to Costco after dropping Damian off at gymnastics and then I fed Maddox dinner when we got home.  Then back to get Damian from gymnastics and then Maddox's birthday stuff.  I also was going to write a second time on here yesterday because the first one was so short, but time just got away from me and I went to bed instead of write anything.



The card was a pop-up card, which he loved




He was way more interested in the ribbon than what was inside.



Damian's last day of school is today.  I remember being out of school the first week of June, so this middle of June thing is very weird to me.  Not just the middle, but the end of the middle of June.  It doesn't help that the schools here close down if there's a hint of snow, they had 5 snow days this year, and I think that only 1 or 2 was warranted, and even that, if it was anywhere else in the US, wouldn't have been any snow days.  We never get more than 6 inches at a time of snow, and even that is not very often.  I remember getting tons of snow in eastern WA and going to school.  I guess that's what happens when I move to western WA and they are scared of snow.  In fact, if it is sunny for a week or more people completely forget how to drive, and that's in a part of the state that rains 90% of the time.

Meet my goals

I'm still working on the Meet My Goals Challenge.  I met all my goals for this last week.  They were: exercise 3x other than run, 100 situps, and to take my vitamins everyday. For some reason taking my vitamins everyday is a challenge for me.  I don't know why, but I seem to have a mental block.  I used to take thme daily and rarely forgot, now . . . well, there were two days that I didn't take them until afternoon.  The situps are getting easier, but there have been a couple times that I've done them at 11pm because I forgot to do them.  Yesterday I was able to do 70 situps at once . . . it was hard, but I did it.  I am keeping the same goals for this week.  I really need to get on track with my vitamins.

My weekend was not nice and quiet.  Saturday I did a lot of running around and attended an acquaintances babyshower.  And yesterday I spent the entire day in the kitchen cooking.  I made homemade cupcakes for Maddox's birthday, which is today, and then I made dinner for Chris.  The cupcakes are fabulous!  They have a lemon pie filling, and I swear it tastes just like lemon meringue pie (without the meringue because I don't like it).

Friday weigh in

You'll never guess the number I saw on the scale today . . . okay, you might if you've already looked at my Scale Obsession page. . .  drum roll, please . . . 161.4.  I saw that number yesterday but I honestly didn't think I'd see it again, at least not yet.  It's a little scary to put that number as my "official" weight.  I have noticed a trend, I'll lose a couple pounds over a few weeks, and then I'll gain a pound or so.  So now I'm scared I'll be up next week.  I guess I'll have to be extra careful.

I did a 3 mile run today.  I have a babyshower in the morning to go to and Father's Day is Sunday and I don't have a gift yet, so I have to go shopping. 

I am seriously falling asleep while typing this, so sorry, this is going to be a short post.  I didn't think I was that tired, but I guess I am. 

Jiggly sport

This morning I weighed in at 163.something, this afternoon before my run I weighed in at 166.something and after my run . . . 161.4!  I can't believe I actually saw that number.  Not for one minute do I believe I weigh that much little, but it sure is nice seeing it on the scale.  My official weigh in is tomorrow.  I'd like to see something in the 162 range.  It is amazing to me that my "heavy" weight now is 166. 

My oldest pair of yoga pants that I have (without holes in the crotch because my thighs rub together - they always have, even when I weighed 130 in high school) are too big.  I wore them today to go running, and seriously, I had to pull them up every 30 seconds, until I started sweating and the sweat made them stick to my body. 

Speaking of sweat, I have noticed that I am sweating a lot more lately.  I didn't think about it until I read this article yesterday.  The article says that when you become more fit, you sweat more, you condition your body to be better prepared, so it becomes a sweat factory. 

TMI Funny story about how I found this article. . . during my run yesterday I was having problems with my stomach.  I seriously thought there was something wrong.  I honestly didn't recognize it as the need to poop until I got home.  Well, I was in the bathroom reading my book on my Kindle app on my smartphone (don't judge!) and I decided to google the question "does running make you poop?"  (I've had this issue before.)  And it does.  The article (same as above) says that "Running is one of the more jiggly sports" so it causes your gastrointestinal system to "wake up."  (When I told Chris that, he said "jiggly sports? is that a technical runners term?"  I, of course, said yes.)  Funny thing about this is Katie had a guest post today and he touched on this very thing. 

I realized something yesterday.  I am the most physically fit I have ever been in my adult life.  I was very active and played a lot of sports in high school, but since I graduated I have not exercised much for a long period of time.  I have been skinnier than I am right now, but I have not been fitter.  :-)  What a good feeling.

$4 margaritas

I had a pretty uneventful day.  Work, run, tequila bar, fabulous fattening dinner.  A coworker, who started running around the time I did, got a new job and had a goodbye party at a tequila bar in town.  I love tequila, and Wednesday is $4 margarita night . . . so I HAD to go!  :-)  However, I hadn't been for a run since Sunday, so I had to go today.  I only ran 3.1 miles, but I tried to make it fast so I could get home and take a shower.  Luckily, it started at 5 and I get off at 4.  It was fun, I'm glad I went, although I was surprised at who was there and who wasn't. 

When I got home, Chris cooked chicken fried steak, which I have never had (although it's one of his favorites).  It was really good, but I have to say, I think I would like it better with chicken (does that make it chicken fried . . . chicken?). 

This whole 100 situps thing for my Meet My Goals Challenge goals is going to be a challenge.  I completely forgot to do them today until I started typing. I stopped for a minute and did 50 which was hard but I still have to do 50 more.  *SIGH*

Well, this post is going to be short . . . I have 50 situps to do.  And possibly some pushups.  ugh

Easily offended?

The other day I was getting dressed and looking for a shirt to wear.  I was wandering around between the bedroom and the laundry area (which is right outside our bedroom) with just pants and my bra on and Chris said (it felt like out of the blue) that it will take me a long time to loss my belly after 12+ years of fast food and no exercise.  For some reason I just took offense to the comment.  I know he wasn't being mean, but I just felt like all the hard work I had done for the last 3 months meant nothing.  I kinda snapped at him, and he apologized and said he didn't mean it badly, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. 

The more I think about it, the more I realize what he was meaning to say.  He wasn't saying I look bad, just that it's going to take a while to get to where I want to be.  Which is interesting, because I say that all the time.  I am consistently losing weight. I may gain a little here and there, but for the most part I am averaging 0.8 lbs a week.  And that is okay with me.  If I continue at that rate, next year at this time I will be at 140 (or below, but I'm happy with 140).

I meant to put pictures up of when I was at my most recent heaviest and now, but I kept forgetting to take a picture.  (I say "most recent" because after Damian was born I weighed in at 180 which I kept on for 2 years.)  I wish I had worn a different shirt, one that wasn't so baggy around the middle in my "after" picture, but that's what I have for now.  Maybe I'll take another later.

I've been doing my Meet My Goals Challenge goals for this week.  The third goal is Sexy Mother Runner's 100 situp challenge.  100 situps is a lot.  I have split them up so I'm not doing them all at once, but they are hard.  Maybe by day 10 I'll be able to do 100 in a row, but we'll see. . . I need to work on pushups as well.  My arms are so weak, I have to do girl pushups and only about 15 at a time for those.

Does anyone else get offended when other's say something even you say the same thing?

Meet My Goals Challenge

It's week 4 of the Meet My Goals Challenge. I did great with all my goals last week, even limiting myself to one drink when a friend came over for his birthday . . . until Friday.  I forgot to take my vitamins in the morning and remembered them (of course) whenever I wasn't home.  So then I figured if I am not going to meet my goals for my vitamins, I might as well have a couple drinks . . . uh, yeah.  I drank both Friday and Saturday night, several glasses.  I am not a heavy drinker, but sometimes it just tastes good.  I went without for over a year, so now that I am not nursing Maddox very much anymore I tend to drink more because I "can."  Not a great way to look at it, I know. 

So my goals for this week . . .
continue some sort of "extra" exercise 3x a week
vitamins everyday!
100 situps challenge at Sexy Mother Runner

That last one may be my downfall this week!  I don't know if I can do 100 situps, I will have to space them out throughout the day!

No run today.  I did 4.77 miles yesterday with Chris.  He rode the bike and I ran.  I didn't have to push Maddox because Damian was home and was able to watch him.  Damian's bike died a few weeks ago, giving him a horrible road rash when the chain popped off.  He has outgrown his bike anyway, but now he doesn't even have a too small bike to ride.  We are planning on getting him a new bike for an early birthday present, but we have to get the money first. 

The run yesterday was really nice.  Chris decided to stay with me for most of the run, which means he didn't get much of a workout on his bike, but we talked a lot.  He mentioned that he saw an old couple walking, holding hands while he was at work and thought he'd like to be that couple.  However, he can't keep up with me running so he decided to ride with me.  I think I prefer him to ride for exercise and then we could go for a walk later or on the days that he doesn't bike.  He isn't biking everyday, so we could walk 2 or 3 times a week and he could ride as an exercise 2 or 3 times a week and that would still give him several days off. 

This weekend Damian did the Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society.  I don't know how much he walked, but he said he had fun.  He joined a team from his school and the teacher that was the leader said he was quite popular with the girls, especially the girls from the other middle school in the area that was right next to his team.  :-) 

Friday weigh-in

163.0!  For whatever reason, that number has me super excited.  Maybe because that is 10lbs lower than when I actually started weighing in every week.  Maybe because it's the lowest number I've seen in years (although I did see 162.8 after my run today).  Maybe it's because I noticed I was (unconsciously) tightening my belt to another hole (that's two holes tighter than my "normal" spot).  Maybe it was because I've been seeing a lot of 165's and 166's, no 164's at all and then I was all the way down to 163.0!  Maybe because that's 14 lbs under my highest weight after having Maddox.  (I was down to 167 a few months after he was born and then gained 10 lbs back in a couple months.)  Maybe it's because I'm 10 lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight.  Whatever it may be . . . it had me feeling very good all day.

Chris and I went for a run/bike ride (he rides bike, I run) after he got off work.  I am not really crazy about doing it because I have to push the jogging stroller.  (I hate the jogging stroller.)  But I want Chris to exercise and biking is something he likes, so I guess I will sacrifice and push the stupid stroller.  I guess it makes me stronger.

Yesterday Chris and I went for a walk but before we started we went to a friend's house to wish him happy birthday.  While we were there I talked to his wife who had made homemade chicken soup.  It made me want to try it.  Tonight I made it and seriously, it is so good, every time I go in the kitchen I have a bite.  Chris was doing the same thing.  It was sooo good.  And so easy.

All it is, is boiled chicken breast, 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks, a small amount of onion, about 4 garlic cloves (minced) and egg noodles . . . well don't forget the spices.  I dumped (literally) salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning into the water . . . oh, about 14 cups water with 12 chicken bouillon cubes and 2 tsp of corn starch.  It could use less noodles and more celery, but it was good!

Tomorrow is Zumba at 9 am (I am not too sure I want to go that early!), a run, and then Damian is doing the Relay for Life fundraiser benefiting the American Cancer Society tomorrow night (all night).  I am super impressed with him, but he may have just signed up because he gets to stay up all night.  :-)

Super sore today

I did it. If you remember from this post here, I set my third goal for the Meet My Goals Challenge as decrease my alcohol intake, no more than 1 glass 3x this week.  Last night we had a friend over for his birthday.  Whenever this particular friend comes over there's always a lot of drinking, however, I drank 1 glass of Malibu and Diet Pepsi and then went to bed.  :-)  I am very proud of myself.  However, it did help that I had to work this morning and knew I couldn't go wild.  haha :-)

Today I decided to go for an "easy" 3 mile run.  I decided to go to my old trail, forgetting that it is not an easy run.  It has a steep up hill.  Plus, it's a little stormy today, no rain during my run, but the trail was wet and slippery and my old nemesis, wind.  *sigh!*

I asked Chris, before my run, if he wanted to bike while I was running and he said he was going to go metal detecting.  (Metal detecting is one of his new hobbies.)  So I went for my grueling easy run and was relaxing, eating ice cream when he came home.  Practically as soon as he gets home he asked if I wanted to go for a bike ride.  Unfortunately, we only have one working adult bike, so I have to run while he bikes.  I wasn't very interested in it but told him I would if he really wanted to.  *sigh* He wanted to.  However, he decided a walk would be okay too.  So we went for a walk, and actually it was quite a long walk, which is unusual for him.  Damian watched Maddox so we were able to have some alone time.  It was nice, but I am sore!

Yesterday Maddox was walking around (yes, he is walking!) and he found a newborn pacifier.  He has rejected pacifiers for 11 months, and then he suddenly decides sucking on one is a good idea.  :-)  Well, it made a for a cute picture. 

Happy National Running Day

It was (I have to say was because it's now 11pm here) National Running Day today.  I was determined to run and to run the farthest I have run so far.  I was hoping to get almost 5 miles, but I only made 4.65.  I realize that's close, but not as close as I was hoping.  However, it is still the farthest I've ever run.  I didn't have a problem with it at all.  I am sore now, and my knee aches a little, but overall, not too bad.  :-)

my sticker for N. Running day

Damian had what was supposed to be his last baseball game tonight (he has a make-up game Saturday).  And a friend's birthday is tomorrow.  He asked if he could have a fire and a bbq in our backyard, so we said yes.  We didn't get home till almost 9 from the baseball game and he came over and Chris bbqed steak.  This is why I am so late getting to writing this.  I am laying in bed typing this, wishing I was asleep.  :-)

I'm going to try to leave work early tomorrow so that I can go to zumba at 3.  If Damian has a game Saturday, that means I can't do it then. 

Good night.  Sorry it's so short tonight but it's past my bedtime!

More about Zumba

Well, I didn't get a run in today, but I did do Zumba.  I really love Zumba, I just wish it was a smaller class.  It's so crowded at the place I go to.  A lady right behind me moved and then left because it was too crowded.  It didn't help that I was right behind several people that acted as if they were the only one's in the room.  They seriously acted as if there was no one behind them, they almost mowed me down I kept having to back up and I'm sure the person right behind me got upset because of that.

I weighed myself right after getting home after Zumba and I saw the smallest number I've seen in years.  163.2.  How awesome is that?  I hope I can keep it down for Friday's weigh in. 

Missing my run today wasn't a terrible thing.  I worked until 4 and then had Zumba at 5:30.  I take at least 30 min to run, plus my warm up and stretch afterwards, which leaves very little time inbetween.  And who like to work out back to back like that?  So I skipped the run.  I'll run tomorrow, no big deal.  :-)

This was me today, I'm tired!

Mute button

Yesterday was crazy.  At work my "program coordinator" (which is the less formal version of supervisor, and more formal version of close coworker) came back from a week long work conference in Nashville (I was extremely disappointed that I was not allowed to go as it was directly about what I -and her- do everyday).  So we had to catch up, plus her getting caught up with last week's work.  Plus, it was a court Monday (I work in Mental Health Court where every other week we have to go to court with our clients to review their cases), so it was crazy busy at work.  Then as soon as I got home I had to get Maddox ready to go to Damian's baseball game 45 min away.  We were at the baseball game until 8:45pm.  After getting home I had to nurse Maddox and put him to bed and then I was FINALLY able to chill for a small amount of time with Chris before I went to bed.  Needless to say, I didn't get a post in last night. 

I also didn't get a run in.  But that is okay.  I learned last week that I really do need to have a rest day after my longer runs.  Although, last week I did 4.5 miles on Sunday, then 4 miles on Monday (yay for holiday weekends), then zumba on Tuesday and a run on Wednesday, which just completely wore me out.  So this week I did about 4.5 miles Sunday and rested yesterday.  Today I am hoping to go for a run before zumba and then zumba this evening.

For Father's Day I am writing Chris a letter.  I am trying very hard to make it a very positive letter and encourage him without all the negativity that I can spout on a regular basis.  I didn't realize how hard it would be to just be positive.  That says a lot about me, how I am so incredibly ungrateful and unloving towards him.  There are so many things in our life that I don't like, or want to change and many of those things I can't do on my own.  I have to have him on board with them.  And lately that is what I nag him about, to the point that I am sure he wishes I had a mute button.

Meet My Goals Challenge-week 2

Well, it's week 2 for me, but I started the challenge a week late, so it's actually week 3.  I met my goals for the Meet My Goals Challenge, just barely.   My goals last week were add another cardio exercise 3x a week. run 16 miles, and drink green drink every day. 

My goals for this week are
1. another exercise 3x a week other than running
2. take my vitamins everyday (I've gotten very bad at that)
3. decrease my alcohol intake.  I have gotten pretty bad at drinking 1-2 glasses of wine (or Malibu and diet Pepsi) much more than three or four times a week, so I'd like to decrease it again to no more than 1 glass 3x a week. 

Yesterday I went to a friend's wedding.  It was very short and made me wish I could get married again.  When I got married I was ultra-conservative and we didn't have much of a reception.  No dancing, and no alcohol.  I would do it completely different now, with lots of dancing. 

I haven't seen my friend since before I got pregnant.  I was a little sad to see her.  She has gained a lot of weight in the 2 or so years since we've seen each other.  Since I have been running I want everyone I care about me to be healthy as well.  It saddens me to see my friends and family gain weight. 

Chris especially frustrates me because he is completely oblivious to the dangers of his weight gain.  He sees himself in the same way as he was 10 years ago.  He gets upset when he changes a small thing, like taking a sandwich for lunch everyday instead of fast food, and he doesn't see any changes. 

Anyway, tomorrow is a new work week and I'm not too thrilled about having to work a full 5 days.  Short weeks are nice, but often more work than a regular week.

Friday weigh-in

Well, I'm not down to my weight from 2 weeks ago, but I am down from last week, so that is good.  I am down to 164.6, which is only 0.6 lb, but it is in the right direction.  I didn't think I did terribly with my food, but I don't keep track of it like "experts" say is the right thing, so I can't say for sure how good or bad I did.  I have increased my cardio the last few weeks.  I did Zumba on Tuesday and am going to do it again tomorrow and I found some home exercises on Pinterest that I did tonight, so that is 3 extra workouts a week.  Hopefullyit will increase my weight loss.  :-)

Tomorrow I am going to a friend's wedding.  It is about 2 hours away down toward Seattle.  My sister lives along the way, so she is going to watch Maddox for me.  I am excited to go to her wedding, I don't see her very often since I moved to Mount Vernon.  We used to work together in Seattle and I think she will have a couple of other my ex-coworkers there, so that should be fun.

I ran 3 miles today.  It was so much nicer than the 2.5 miles I ran on Wednesday.  I really needed the rest day yesterday.  My runs went downhill after my Sunday run.  I ran 4.5 miles on Sunday and normally I rest on Monday, this week I did not and I think if I am going to do a longer run on Sunday I really need to take a rest day the next day.  Wednesday was just hard and I didn't feel it at all. 

Just a cute pic of Maddox loving his blueberries.