She's Getting There

My Spark Blog

2009-06-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

So, now that I'm tracking both my fitness & writing goals on sparkpeople.com it's much easier just to use the blog there to make entries throughout the day. I have blogged about 5 times in the last 3 days as a result. I'm pasting today's latest blog below, but if you want to see the rest, please visit my Spark Blog. If you do, you'll see a link that says "Subscribe to this blog" which you can do... but only if you first register for Spark People. Registering is free, only takes a minute, and you can set your options so they don't send you any newsletters or anything else but my blog. I have never received any spam as a result of signing up for Spark People. If you want to really stay up to date with what I'm doing, I suggest you take a minute to register & subscribe. Otherwise, I'll probably try to post on this blog about once a week or so.
That said, here is today's latest blog:

"Ugh."

I so seriously want to be asleep right now! Not because I'd normally be sleeping at this time, but because I went to bed half an hour late and got woken up 45 minutes early. The second I opened my eyes I felt a headache and as soon as I got out of bed my lower back informed me that it was either not happy with the position in which I slept, or the exercises I put it through yesterday, or both. Whatever the reason, it had decided to punish me by being extremely stiff and painful.

I do NOT want to be up, but since I have no choice in the matter, I think I'll try some stretches to try and make my back a little happier and maybe pop a couple tylenol for the headache.

On today's exercise schedule.... well stretching, like I said, and then some elliptical later this evening. I don't particularly like to use the machines, but when I do the elliptical is my favorite. I still don't have a IRL workout buddy (thought I did, but they never got back to me about a set date & time) so going for an early morning jog or hike was out - I just won't get up that early unless someone is meeting me. And today the only half interesting classes started about an hour ago and I just couldn't bring myself to "get up and go" this morning. So I'm going to pray for something interesting to be on the tv's at the gym for a change and try to bang out at least a level 8 intensity for at least 30 min tonight. I'm kinda dreading it cuz machines are SO boring for me now, but .... not much other choice and I do NOT want to skip a day when I am doing so well.

I love ZUMBA!

2009-06-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

I actually got up early this morning just to go to Zumba!

Luke came in at 8:30 to ask when I wanted him to set my alarm for. I told him 8:30. He said "It is 8:30." I said "8:45". So he set it and went out to finish getting ready for work. Then 5 minutes later we got a wrong number (and I swear the guy sounded TOTALLY wasted!) which I answered since the phone was right next to my head. After I hung up I started to try to go back to sleep, but then from the foggy recesses of my mind surfaced the thought that today was Tuesday, which triggered the reminder that I would get to go to Zumba tonight. I started to drift off again when another thought surfaced: "Oh wait, they have 10am class. I wanted to go to that." And then something miraculous happened.

I got up.

I didn't lay there deliberating and vacillating like I do most mornings I have to get up "early" for something (even something that cannot be cancelled). I just...got up! And I was ....gasp....happy.

Okay, so you're probably thinking 8:40am is NOT early. Well, for me it is. Especially after the sleep deprived extended weekend I just endured. (For details visit my newest blog at http://justanotherdayinparadise.webs.com/)

So anyway, I totally enjoyed the class even though I had to rush so much to get there on time that I only managed to get down one bite of a PB sandwich and one gulp of milk before dashing out the door and leaving my breakfast on the counter. (Meanwhile the kids, of course, had full bellies.) Still, when I left, I felt totally motivated. I am determined to start living my life differently. I am going to stop avoiding the stuff I hate and JUST DO IT. Because I will be happier and everyone around me will be happier if I do. To that end, I am finally going to just freaking CHOOSE an exercise support group and stop vacillating about which one and worrying over whether the group will be a good fit. If it's not I'll just join a different one- it's not the end of the world.

Sometimes my own fear of failure and embarrassment really annoys the crap out of me.

So anyway. That is what I am doing.

Right now I'm focusing on a few small but firm decisions.

I am going to divide my day by hour long sections and if something takes more or less time, whatever. It will work itself out. No more microscheduling- I can't stick to it.

The things I am most focused on accomplishing are these:

1 hour devoted to exercise each day + 1 hour prep & travel time
1 hour devoted to working on my novel each day
2 hours devoted to Ethan's school time each day
and a minimum of 1 hour devoted to cleaning/picking up the house each day

The Complete Truth

2009-05-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, here I am in May, almost June and I have yet to establish a regular exercise routine. Have I been busy? Yes. Could I have found the time to exercise anyway? Yes. I recently realized the truth is I just have a bad attitude about it. Deep down I felt like, well we're hoping I get pregnant again in the relatively near future, anyway, and then I'll gain back anything I've lost, so what's the point? Also, many things have seemed out of my control lately and I've been self medicating with food again. I've been eating when I want, what I want, and how much I want.

And I am sick of myself.

I finally reached the "Enough!" moment yesterday. I was watching a show about losing weight and I just decided I was tired of being so over weight and I was tired of being so glutenous with my food and feeling like crap as a result. I know I can change these things and that's what I'm going to do.

So, the fire, at long last has finally been lit under my butt. However, I know myself well enough to know that without something fanning it, it will quickly fade and go out. So.... I'm looking for a support system. The first thing I've found that should help is a class at my gym that I absolutely love! It's called Zumba and it's like combining all my favorite home exercise videos with the extra fun of other real people. On top of that, the style of the class is such that if I'm totally beat one day, I can still show up and just do a half-crap job. No one will say a thing and I'll be happy just to have done *something* that day.

As great as the class is, it only meets once a week and eventually I'm going to need to more. Also, I know me, and if I'm going to be successful, I'll need more personal support. Therefore, I have placed an ad on craigslist looking for someone to meet me at my gym 1-3 times a week. I'm not sure if this will work out or not, but I figured it couldn't hurt. I am also looking at the different online exercise message boards and online "teams" to see which will work best for me and might help keep me motivated. Last time I was successful it had a lot to do with a great online support group, so I'm really hoping that will be the case this time, too.

I'm also toying with the idea of doing an online photo diary of my success....not yet sure if I'm brave enough. We'll see.

Just in general lately I've been feeling overwhelmed by the list of things I want to accomplish every day. I've been resorting to my worst defense mechanism. I'm a lot like an ostrich. When I sense imminent danger (a.k.a. failure), I stick my head in the "sand" and pretend I can't see it (a.k.a. don't even try). This of course does nothing but make things worse. Rationally I know this, but even after all these years, I still find myself resorting to this behavior now and then. Good thing I've got a great husband who calls me on it and encourages me to get my head out of the sand and just take one step at a time.

A journey on hold

2009-02-17T17:08:00.001-08:00

First, our family got sick. Nothing major. Just colds that took turns moving from one family member to another. Of course I didn't go to the gym when I was sick, but then I couldn't go when the boys were sick because they wouldn't be accepted at Child Watch & because I wouldn't feel right dropping them off with strangers when they were so miserable. But eventually they got better.

Since then it has been one thing after another that has so completely monopolized my time that I have yet to return to exercising.

I have also fallen way off the track with my food choices and portion control.

I think, however, that I tried to take on too much too soon. I started about 5 major commitments around the same time and realized that it was just too much to keep up with. I am therefore going to take a step back and try to do things one at a time. As I have successfully integrated one new commitment into my life, then I will move on to the next.

With this in mind, I hope to return to exercise soon, but do not plan to immediately begin tracking my food again. I will wait until I have been successfully exercising for about a month. Then I will try integrating food tracking once more. It may take longer this way, but I feel more assured of success.

Poor Choices

2009-01-23T10:45:00.000-08:00

Well, this time around it looks like I am just too busy trying to accomplish too many things to post as regularly as I would like to. However, I am going to make it my goal to post at least once a week from now on. That said...

Last weekend I weighed myself to see how my first week of the new diet & exercise had effected my weight and.... I LOST 5 lbs IN THE FIRST WEEK! Woohoo! The first week went very well. I stuck to my diet, felt my stomach shrink so that I didn't feel hungry after a few days, and got in all the cardio & strength exercise prescribed by SparkPeople. :-D

However....

This past week has not gone nearly as well. I started off pretty good, sticking to my diet pretty good & even impressing myself with my exercise accomplishments on Monday. But then... my oldest child suddenly realized he hadn't truly lived up to the legendary "terrible twos" and decided he could make up for it with the "terrible threes". At least that's the only explanation I can think of. He has been a total terror for the majority of this week and has really pushed my stress level to the brink and beyond.

So, being an emotional eater... I then caved and in 3 days I ate a very large slice of cheese pizza from Costco, 3/4 slice of totally fattening Carrot Cake, 14-16oz of full blown Coke, 1/2 a whole beef hot dog (it didn't sit well), and I ate far larger portions of the healthy stuff than I should have.

In addition the stress, I also caught a cold that has given me an insatiable appetite while keeping anything from being truly satisfying. Thus rendering me unable to exercise & too tired/ambivalent to think clearly enough to even measure my portions let alone write them down or enter them on SparkPeople.

My husband had this cold first and if his experience is anything to go by, I am still just on the front end of this cold. :-( Never the less, I am determined to stop eating the junky comfort foods and start trying to measure at least half of my portions and write them down. If I can't exercise I can't afford to eat crappy or else I'll just gain back whatever I've lost.

That said, I did weigh myself this morning and.... I actually managed to still LOSE another 2lbs this week! I would have been satisfied with not having gained anything after the crappy choices I've been making. Losing 2lbs? I WILL TAKE IT! YEAH!

Now, back to my sick bed... but with a glass of juice instead of the bag of veggie chips keeping me company yesterday (90% of which is now gone anyway). I'd take water but this cold makes it taste awful.

Listen to the Experts

2009-01-05T01:11:00.000-08:00

Since my youngest is sick and has decided to keep me up late, I figured I'd get a little research in so my lost sleep would count for something. (He refuses to be put down & I can't let him cry or he'll keep up the rest of the house.) So I went ahead and researched the number of calories I should be eating each day. After checking with 3 or 4 different sites and calculating at least as many formulas, I then compared those results to what SparkPeople had already suggested for me on their site. Wondering how they came up with their numbers, I read their article explaining this and was impressed enough to just chuck my numbers in the trash. Seems those people actually know what they're doing (go figure ;-D ). So I'll just be using their recommended calorie range after all............ so much for doing something productive with my time. LOL Now if only there were a formula for convincing a sick child to go back to sleep!

Starting Measurements

2009-01-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

Okay so the measurements are in and here's where I'm starting from:

Today's wait at about 5pm = 204lbs.

Waist 43"
Hips 45.5"
Neck 13.5"
Thigh 28.5"
Calf 16.5"
Wrist 6.75"

Now, using those measurements and a handy little online calculator I discovered that I have approximately 28.4% body fat. Which means I am carrying around about 57.9lbs of fat. According to the website the calculator was on, this calculation should be accurate within 2% meaning my possible range is 26.4% - 30.4%. However, according to yet another calculator claiming to use formulas developed by the U.S. Navy & the YMCA, my body fat percentage is 42.32% or 41.65% respectively. So what should I believe? Well...I guess I believe that since I can't get an accurate water displacement measurement... I won't be worrying too much about that body fat percentage and focusing on the other more reliable numbers.

I've also chosen a new calorie counting website: www.sparkpeople.com And I've set up accounts for me and my husband there. I'm excited that we'll be doing this together this time. I think it will really help to keep the motivation going. I've already entered today's food entries and I did better than I thought for a first day (just 8 calories over), but not nearly as well as I should (need to make healthier choices). In addition to which, I need to evaluate whether the website's recommended calorie and other nutritional goals are ones I want to stick with or if I need to adjust them. For now, though, I'm heading in the right direction.

Here We Go....Again!

2009-01-04T01:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is it. Commitment time. New year. New start. Time to make goals, take steps, and get moving.

So, here I am announcing my new goals for this year:

Weigh 165lbs by my birthday (July 12) - this year!
Lower my BMI to under 25.
Lose enough inches off my waist that I measure no more than a 35" circumference.
Lower my Body Fat Percentage to 20% or lower.

Be able to walk 1 mile in under 13min 30sec. (endurance)
Be able to run a mile in under 12min. (endurance)
Be able to drag 200lbs of dead weight for 50 feet. (strength)
Be able to do 34 women's push-ups in under 1 minute. (strength)
Be able to carry 55lbs for 1 mile. (strength & endurance)
Be able to stand on one foot for 20 seconds on each side with eyes closed & hands overhead. (balance)
Hop on one foot for 20 feet without losing balance - on each leg. (balance & strength)
Increase overall flexibility.

My hope is to accomplish all of this by the end of 2009. Time will tell if this is realistic or not. However I look at this as simply a "to-do" list and each item will be crossed off as I come to it, without any worry over getting it done within a certain time frame. The exception to this is the first part of the list concerning specific health issues. Those I am aiming to achieve by my birthday. When I told my husband this, he promised me a "big reward" if I am successful. :0)

Well, now we know where I am going, but where am I starting from?

Well, my current weight is 203lbs. (203.5 if you want to get nit-picky)
My BMI 29.1 (just .9 shy of obese!).
My waist... to be measured tomorrow.
My Body Fat Percentage... to be determined soon.

I will also be posting my nutritional and exercise goals here soon.

At the moment, it is very late (or early depending on how you look at it) and I have sleeping to do if I want to accomplish anything tomorrow.

Weight & See

2008-06-25T03:36:00.000-07:00

Well, what happened?.... I got pregnant! We found out in June 2007 that I was pregnant again. Nine miserable months, 64hrs of active labor, and a horrifying cesarean later, we had another beautiful boy to raise (whom I love dearly, of course). And I have another ton of weight to lose. (However, I did NOT have P.I.H. with this pregnancy! YEAH! Goal accomplished!)

I'm not sure what my current weight is. I refuse to step on a scale at the moment. Last time I weighed myself a few weeks ago it was about 203lbs. I am currently doing absolutely nothing about it. I am eating as I please and getting no other exercise beyond the riggers of daily motherhood to two little boys.

We have recently moved, my recovery following delivery has been rocky to say the least, I'm currently wearing 5 very painful temporary crowns, and I'm just plain tired all the time! So, no. I will not be getting on here next week to tell you about the lovely 4 mile walk I just did. I will, however, come back eventually and begin another journey into weight loss and healthy living.

Just not yet. Wait until I can get a few consistent nights of at least 6+ hrs of straight-through-the-night sleep. Then talk to me. Until then.... See ya!

Long Overdue Update

2007-04-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

On March 24, I reached my goal weight and goal waist measurement. Actually, I surpassed it! On that day I weighed 171.5lbs and my waist measured 34.5". Since then I have continued to eek away the lbs and as of last Friday I weighed 170.5lbs!!! I haven't weighed that little since high school! In addition to this amazing accomplishment, last weekend my mother took me shopping and I bought two new dresses....in size 10!!! I can't remember EVER wearing a size 10!!! I mean, I'm sure at some point during puberty I wore a size 10, but I remember wearing size 12 in high school! I can't believe I can fit and look GREAT in a size 10!!! It was awesome! I picked up size 12s and 14s at the store, tried them on, and realized I needed something even smaller!!! So cool! Unfortunately some recent events have sent me off my path and I haven't been exercising or eating like I should. This morning I weighed myself (earlier than usual) and I appear to have gained 2-3lbs, but it's hard to tell how much is actual gain vs daily fluctuation. Either way, I'm taking it as a wake up call to stop indulging and cut out the sweets and sodas, as well as to get back on the exercising road. My goal is to exercise at least 2 times between today (Wednesday) and Sunday. We'll see how that goes.

Headed up hill

2007-01-29T16:01:00.000-08:00

I took yesterday off because it was Sunday and I was tired, dang it! ;-D However, I used that "extra" time to reevaluate my exercising habits. Up to this point I have simply been picking any one of my many videos at random each day depending on what I felt like doing. I've recently had the desire to return to running at least once a week, but wasn't sure when I'd find the time. I also noticed that I was doing more and more of the easy to moderate videos and that the difficult ones were beginning to gather dust. So... last night I sat down and did some research on intensity levels and whatnot and came up with an actual exercise schedule to follow. Novel concept. ;-P Actually, the idea of a schedule would have put me off the idea of exercising in the beginning (having to do what I didn't want to just because it was on the schedule). However, my motivation has been seriously waning of late, and I knew I needed some additional structure to keep me going. It took me a while to figure out what might work to keep me accountable, and finally I came up with making a schedule. I've also made myself a count-down calendar. I've extended my "ending" date until April 30th, as well. Why April 30th? Why not. Actually, I have no idea what I'm going to do after April. My original goal was to get fit so that we could try for another kid again with me at a healthy weight from the start. However, those plans have been pushed back 6mths in favor of buying a house. So, now I have a TON of extra time to meet my goal and I'm kinda wondering what I'm going to do with it all. I guess I'll just get as fit as I can and enjoy the results for a longer period of time, as opposed to getting fit and immediately forfeiting my body to pregnancy again. Ooooh imagine if I actually looked GOOD in a bathing suit this summer?! Wouldn't that be amazing! Hmmm something to think about.
Anyway, I digress. :-)

Not only have I made myself a schedule. My schedule ups the ante. On Mondays, Tuesday, & Saturdays I will be doing a minimum of 60 minutes exercise. On Wednesday I'll be doing 65 minutes minimum. Thursday will be my day to get out and run or hike, so my exercise time will vary between 90 and 150 minutes. Sundays I'll be doing 80min but some of that is including the relaxation poses of my yoga video, so that will be my "easy" day. Also, included in each of the above mentioned times is a minimum of 15minutes of ab work EVERY DAY.

I've included abs every day because I've realized that that is my biggest hurdle to jump right now. According to most charts I'll reach a healthy body fat % when I'm 174lbs or lower and I'll lower my risk of disease when my waist is 35inches or smaller. Right now I'm at 179lbs and 36.5inches. It may not sound like a long way to go, but I've already lost more than I ever have with a deliberate diet (as opposed to being deathly ill) and I can sense my body wanting to plateau. Also, I'd like to go a little farther and get down to at least 170 if I can. Once I'm there, we'll see what I think about getting down to 165 (my dream weight).

Measurements Update!

2007-01-22T15:58:00.000-08:00

WOW! Seeing the difference in where I was in November compared to where I am now is SO awesome! I am so proud of myself and SO grateful for the wonderful support I've been getting on the forums at MCC! Just to give you an idea: My waist was 38in but now it's 36.5 (I lost an inch and a half!). My body fat percentage was 30 but now I'm down to 25.9!! That means I'm only 0.9 away from my ideal percentage!! Yipee!

According to the gov't website I was at today I need to be no heavier than 174lbs and have a waist of 35" or smaller to lower my risk of disease and to be healthy at my height. Well, just 6 more pounds and 1.5" to go! Woohoo!

I can't imagine how awesome I am going to look and feel when I meet those goals! :-D

A very bad day

2007-01-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday I found out that Discovery Health has this thing called New Body Challenge 2007 or something like that. Anyway, part of it is that they offer a free 8week pass to any Bally's location good from now until March 10 to anyone who registers. So, no brainer, I registered.

I was going to try the yoga class at Bally's tonight. It would have been my first time doing anything there besides the tour that I did last night. Well, during my tour I had made sure to get all the details on the child care: costs, screening procedures, safety and germ factors, etc. (I've never left him with a virtual stranger before.) At that time the employee told me that child care would only be $10 per month, unlimited time. Great! I could actually afford that! I went home that night, talked it over with my DH and we decided that I would sit in the kid area with my son for half an hour the first time we went so that he could be acclimated and I could get a better sense of things, yata yata yata... all these plans on how to make it work and make sure my son was safe and happy. Well, I get there tonight, son on my hip and the employee says, "So you'll need to pay for tonight." I'm like, "Yeah, I need to pay the $10 for the month." And he says, "Oh, it's $10 per month with a paid membership. With a free pass it's $5 per visit." WHAT?! Ummm that's quite a difference! He apologizes for "not being clear" (more like blantantly misinforming me!) and says that I can "just go ahead and exercise for tonight", obviously not planning to charge me for the care, but at this point I no longer feel the least bit comfortable about leaving my son there and frankly, the whole cost difference (which immediately dashes all my hopes of using the gym several times a week) has me so upset that I just leave before I start crying. I'd already had a bad day and I'd gotten myself so excited about finally being able to go to the gym for the first time in over 6yrs and actually having someone to watch my son.... I just broke down in the car and had to sit there for a few minutes to collect myself. (Probably doesn't help that I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night.)

So I ended up taking my son to McDonald's to play on the playground since I'd promised him he was "going out to play" and what happens? On his second turn down the slide with me just in front of him, he somehow flips from his butt to his face in the blink of an eye and ends up with an egg bump on his left eyebrow, a large bruise higher up on his forehead, a cut in the crease of his left eye, and a red mark streaked across his upper lip and nose where he obviously skidded across the surface of the slide! Feeling like a horrible mom for letting him go down the slide without being actually in my lap (despite it being something he's done without problems dozens of times) I give him his first taste of chocolate in the form of a chocalate chip cookie and down my own sugar cookie while I'm at it, saving the last of the 3 for dada. He's only ever had 2 other tiny desserts (one for his birthday and one for Christmas) so I rationalize that he's not going to suffer from one guilt motivated cookie and anyway, I wanted one dang it!

When we get home later I'm terrified to try the muffins I'd just made from a new recipe and pulled from the oven before heading for the gym, because with the way my day had gone I'm certain they'll be just awful. I try one anyway and I'm shocked! They taste like carrot cake even though they are actually Zucchini Yogurt Multigrain Muffins and not too bad in calories or fat! Great! I can't wait to have my son try some.... nope. Nothing doing. He won't even TRY one tiny crumb! He turns his face away and hides in the corner of his high chair when I try to feed him a piece even though he's said he was hungry. So I put it on his tray figuring he wants to feed himself. Instead he rips the half muffin I give him into pieces and tosses the pieces onto the floor! Nice.

So, no. I'm sorry. But after a day like this I did not have even the slightest, teeniest, itsy-bitsiest, ounce of desire to exercise. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Oh yah

2007-01-06T13:28:00.000-08:00

In my remorse over yesterday's dinner choice I completely forgot to mention yesterday's GOOD news. When I weighed myself at the appropriate time & place yesterday (and I did it several times over an hour and a half, just to confirm) I had the wonderful shock of discovering that I was actually 1.5lbs LIGHTER than I was before Christmas!!! I couldn't believe it! Yeah me! ....
or at least that's how I felt at the time. After last night's dinner it's a little more difficult to feel really excited. Still, that does mean that I have officially reached the 10lbs mark! That's a good reason to be positive, don't ya think?

What I did last night

2007-01-06T12:47:00.000-08:00

OH MY GOSH!!! Last night I commited diet suicide!

Someone hit a fire hydrant near our apartment building yesterday afternoon so we didn't have any water last night until about 10:30pm. And since our pantry was really still very bare due to our vacation absence, Ethan and I went out for dinner while Dada went to a church meeting. Well...

We'd gotten these gift certificates for Carl's Jr. in our Christmas Stockings this year, so I decided to go ahead and eat there even though I had been boycotting them since they started their "men are morons" commercial campaign. NOT a good decision! When I got there I quickly located their poster size nutrition menus on the wall (one for the original CJ and one for the Green Burrito which they now serve as well). I was completely floored by the grams of fat in EVERYTHING on the menu! The lowest thing I remember seeing on there was 32g of fat!

Ordinarily I probably could have navigated my way through the choices and by subtracting things like sauce and cheese, ended up with an acceptable meal option.

Ordinarily.

Last night, however, I was EXHAUSTED and STARVING and the guy at the counter was having a hard time understanding my English (when I said sauce, he thought I said salsa) and I wasn't doing so well figuring out his thick accent. So, just wanting to finish my order and be done with it, I picked something at random that SOUNDED like it would be reasonably healthy and ordered that and a kid's chicken meal for Ethan (I think it was his first real fast food meal).

What did I order? A "Grilled Chicken Burrito Plate" without the soda. GRILLED Chicken! Yes, it's a burrito, but how bad could it be??? Well folks... BAD!! REALLY BAD!!!

My only consolation is that due to the shockingly enormous size of the burrito, I only ate half of it, and then I spent nearly an hour crawling up and through and around and down inside the tunnels of one of those playground things with Ethan. That helps. A very little. *groan*

Just to give you an idea... we're talking 43g of fat and over 2000g of sodium in just the portion I ate! Ugh. I am sick just thinking about it!

Well, I suppose there's nothing that can be done for it now. What's done is done and there's no going back. I'll just have to be WAY more careful for the next week if I have any hope of making my goal. *sigh*

Post Holiday Report

2007-01-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

Well, the chaos of the holidays have finally come to an end, and although our apartment looks as though a tornado has struck, things otherwise are looking good.

For Christmas day and the week that followed I gave myself permission to pretty much eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted with one catch- I had to enjoy it. In other words, if I wanted chocolate, I could only eat it as long as I was consciously enjoying it- no mindless binging. Well.... let me tell you, I sure know how to enjoy my food! lol

Actually, by the end of the week I was craving healthy, fresh, nongreasy foods and drinking water by preference. As I mentioned before, I've become more conscious of the changes that poor food choices bring upon my body and my energy level. So, switching back to healthy foods wasn't nearly as difficult as I had anticipated. What is proving difficult is sizing down my portions to an appropriate size and fighting the strong desire for another Coke and some more chocolate. The desire for chocolate can be combatted with a piece of fruit, because what I really want is a sweet capper to the end of my meal. The portion thing... well that's just going to take time for my stomach to shrink itself back down to pre-vacation size. But the Coke.... oh the Coke! I want it! I want it! I want it now! lol Seriously, you know those people who drink like 4+ cups of coffee a day? That's how I could be with Coke. In fact, there was a time I drank up to 3 Cokes a day on a regular basis... and I know there were a few days when I had as many as 5 in a single day! Looking back, I can't imagine why I didn't gain even more weight! So.... unfortunately, for me, the desire for Coke is always there and the only way to combat it is plain old self-discipline. Something I am NOT good at. I am so grateful that I have a supportive husband who is also trying to limit his soda intake. This means that we just don't have soda in the house unless we are expecting company or if one of us is sick (and then it's a clear soda). If it's not here to drink, it's a lot easier to resist. ;-D

So, what are the results of all these Holiday & Vacation indulgences?
My scale is still debating itself.

Yesterday I weighed myself at the appropriate time of day, in the same state of dress, and on the same tile in the bathroom that I always weigh myself on, and........I weighed 185.5 .... then I tried again and weighed 187.5.......then 185.0.......then 186.5.......then 187.0.... then 185.5.....then 186.0......then 186.5..... I think you get the picture. So... I have decided that since the range is 0.5lb to 3.0lbs in weight gain, I'll choose the approximate middle ground of 1.5lbs and go with that.

Not too bad, I think, for a whole week of indulgence. Of course, it probably helped that I spent two days hauling Ethan around in a sled and "walking" in snow so soft I was often in it up to my knees. And it probably didn't hurt that another two of those days I spent attempting to kill myself (& a few innocent bystanders) by flinging myself down the side of a mountain on a couple of flattened out sticks. And on my one day spent entirely indoors, I still managed to do about 15min of Dance Baby Dance, as well as some yoga that left my muscles trembling for half an hour afterward. All of that probably had something to do with my lack of massive weight gain. ;-D

Pre-Christmas Update

2006-12-22T16:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I don't have much time, but I wanted to let you all know that my reason for not posting lately is that first I was out of town, then shopping like a maniac, and most recently Ethan has been sick. He's been fighting a high fever for the last 4 days, but as of the wee hours of this morning, the fever seems to be gone, so we will see. We're really hoping he's going to recover quickly, not only because it makes the poor little guy miserable to be so sick, but also because his being ill would basically mean NO Christmas celebrations with any extended family- something we were really looking forward to. It would also mean no ski vacation with my family- something we've been planning for over a year. It would also mean that our Christmas day at home would consist largely of my pulling down his diaper every half hour or so to check his temperature.... not exactly the Christmas I pictured for my 1 year old's first real experience of Christmas. (Last year he was too little to enjoy things like tearing Christmas wrapping to shreds.) So, like I said, we're really hoping this is the end of it and he'll just keep getting better from here on out. :-D

As for my diet & exercising. Last week I only managed to get in 4 exercises and had to REALLY squeeze them in (twice exercising after midnight), and this week I only managed 2 because of Ethan's illness. I have not entered food into my online food journal since last Wednesday, but I have been mentally keeping track of what I've been eating and trying to stay on track- with the exception of a very few tastes of the cookies and candies I'm making - just to make sure they are coming out right. However, I DID manage to make my goal of losing at least 8lbs by Christmas!! Yeah! As of today, I weigh 184.5lbs, but I didn't weigh myself at the correct time so it's possible I weigh up to 1lb even lighter! Either way, I met my goal and I'm thrillled!

Due to the holidays and a family skiing vacation (assuming health) I will not be posting between now and the new year. So, Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year!

(P.S. If you're wondering where your Christmas card is, it's filled and addressed and sitting on our kitchen table. -I finished them minutes before discovering Ethan's fever. Hopefully you'll get it before the New Year! lol)

Woops

2006-12-13T18:42:00.000-08:00

First of all I would like to report.... that I am a total idiot! In my post on the Monday I said that last Friday (the 8th) I had lost 2lbs but I told you the WRONG weight! (Picture me rolling my eyes at my own stupidity.) Last Friday, December 8th I weighed 186.5lbs! So for those of you confused by my math, now you know why. Ugh.

Triangles, spoons, and other thoughts on dieting

2006-12-13T17:11:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed that sandwiches taste better when they are cut into triagles? This is especially true with peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I also think that milk tastes better when you drink it from a glass rather than from a plastic cup.

Now that I'm keeping a close eye on portions my two new best friends are the tablespoon and the measuring cup. Yes. I actually pour my cereal into the measuring cup before I pour it into my cereal bowl. (Okay, so sometimes I eyeball it, but only with the cereals I've measured a dozen times.) And every now and then I'll still measuring out my peanut butter with the tablespoon to make sure I know what it looks like. In fact, that is what I was doing this evening when it occured to me. What about the peanut butter that is hopelessly stuck to the measuring spoon? Do they somehow measure the miniscule amount when they're calculating calories and whatnot to put on the nutrition label? How exact a science is it? And if they are including that miniscule amount, does that mean I should be adding just a touch extra to my serving to compensate for what's lost in the measuring process? You may be laughing, but when you repeatedly assemble a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that looks just like two pieces of bread stacked on top of each other, you'll begin to wonder too.

Another thing I'd like to know. If I measure myself 10 times and get 5 different results, which one is right? Should I go with the one that shows up the most times or with the one that is the lowest? And what about the difference between scales? Why is it that I can measure myself at home as 187 and go to the doctor's office and be told I'm 193? Which one is right? If I go by the doctor's scale does that mean I was actually 199 when I started my diet instead of 193 like I thought? I mean, 6lbs is a LOT!

While we're on the subject of doctor's offices, I would like to state for the record that it is my opinion that they are all haunted. That's right. Haunted. There is no other way of explaining that I can weigh myself on ANY other scale I like, at any time I like, and I it will ALWAYS be lighter than whatever the doctor's office scale tells me. The only explaination is that all medical offices are haunted by weight adding ghosts who love to get on the scale with you just to screw with your head.

Can someone please explain to me what the heck I was thinking starting a diet right BEFORE the holidays? All the signs point to this being a very bad idea. No, seriously. Have you been to a store lately? Let's start with the candy. Not only is there more candy on the shelves, they've all dressed up in the hopes of grabbing your attention and convincing you to take them home. It's not just that they're wrappers are now metallic, brightly colored things of wonder, but they've even changed who they are. Now they're holiday colored, special variety, gourmet versions of who they used to be, and all sitting right there on the end cap waiting for you to walk by and pick them up. But it's not just the candy. Just walking through the grocery store I'm assaulted with signs advertising every imaginable holiday treat. The bakery is in over-drive preparing special delights for all those holiday parties and until the hosts come and whisk them away, I have to resist the urge to indulge. Thank goodness Luke does most of the grocery shopping. Not that I'm not greatful for this lesson in self-discipline, but a girl can only stand so much!

Random thought: Isn't New Year's the holiday that's all about starting over with a clean slate? So, what does it matter if I do well or rotten from now until then? It'll all be forgot, right? Do you suppose my body knows the point of New Year's? Probably not. Bummer.

Well, that's probably enough ranting for now.
You'll probably want to know that I have done very well over the last 3 days. I've made healthy choices and gotten in at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. Yesterday I was so busy I started my exercise at midnight, but I hadn't gone to bed yet, so I figure it still counts for Tuesday. :-) I finished my exercise by doing the video I got for free from the arthritis foundation which has an excellent stretching focus to it that is almost like Yoga and is extremely relaxing.

Oh. Totally off subject note: Do you know what is NOT relaxing? Being notified by two ear-peircing bleeps at 2:22am that your smoke alarm needs it's battery changed! Only, we didn't know it had a battery since we were told that it was hard-wired. Just the same, when it went off again at 6:20am Luke unscrewed the thing but couldn't find a battery. That is, he did this after I jumped instinctively out of bed crying "Get Ethan!" So when I got up this morning I called the leasing office and this afternoon maintenance came and showed me the hidden compartment in the side that holds the battery which is supposed to be a back up in case of power outage. Would have been nice to know before Luke stuck his head out in the hall to check for flames, before I stood beside Ethan's crib sniffing the air for signs of smoke, before I lay awake at 3am wondering why in the world my smoke alarm had gone off in the wee hours of the morning with no smoke or flame within sight or smell! Well. At least it's fixed. And now I know.

Stumble & Recovery

2006-12-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

First of all, I want to report that not only did I get in all 5 of my 30min exercises, last Friday my weigh in was 189.5lbs!!! That's another 2lb loss for a total of 6.5lbs lost so far!!! Yeah! :-D

However, that was Friday....

I have to really kick my butt today (Monday). Not only do I have a TON of housework that piled up over last week's busy schedule, but I also ate like a pig this weekend. My husband and I had our first "date" in months Saturday night and we went to Olive Garden where I ate better then expected (just 2.5 breadsticks, salad, and one piece of chicken) but I did have 2 glasses of full blown coke (my greatest weakness) then I had about 1 cup of M&M minis when we went to the movies...definately not good. Then yesterday, my sister-in-law had her 19th bday party yesterday and they ordered chinese take out for lunch. I resiste having more soda, but then "dinner" was a slice of homemade apple pie and a scoop of icecream that I let them talk me into and immediately regretted eating. So when I got home I was still hungry and had the left over piece of chicken from Olive Garden and a HUGE plate of garlic green beans cooked in a little bit of margarine. Ugh. I could feel the effects of so much junk on my body before the weekend was over. So, like I said, back to the grind stone. I'm going to eat especially healthy and focus on fibers to clear my body of all that junk that's got me feeling yech, and I'm going to work my butt off exercising and cleaning. So... better get to work, huh? :-)

BTW does anyone else feel the effects of poor food choices the way I do? It's almost like feeling sick... it definately drains my energy. The soda is especially bad for my body, I've reluctantly noticed. (I used to say, "I don't drink coffee, I drink coke". There was a time I was drinking 3 cans of coke, or more, EVERY DAY starting before breakfast!! Now I try to only drink it on special occasions and limit it to one or two glasses.) If you drink a lot of soda but haven't noticed this, you might experiment with going without it for one week. I didn't have a clue how much it affected me until I went without it for a while and then had it again. I've noticed that, for me, colas effect me worse than clear sodas and it doesn't seem to matter whether it was diet or regular (in fact, diet is sometimes worse). Obviously some people will be more affected than others since we're all different, but I would try it, if you haven't.

My hope today, is to do by my 1hr Richard Simmons video AND my 30min Denise Austin Video- both of which can really kick my butt. Add to that, dishes, running & folding laundry, vacuuming, and picking up toys & other stuff, and I'm hoping to burn many, many calories today!

Doc Appt & Overzealousness

2006-12-05T13:23:00.000-08:00

Well, first of all I just want to announce that I worked my butt off yesterday! I did over 1-1/2hrs of exercise & over 3hrs of heavy (sweat-producing) housework, and burned a TON of calories! :-D Yeah me!

Okay, so this morning I had a doctor's appointment. There were several things discussed. Among them the fact that I seem to have given myself a repetative use injury in my right thumb and wrist. My thumb has been bothering me for a little over a month and then this past saturday on the drive home my whole hand just started twitching/jerking involuntarily in rythm with my heartbeat. Not good, right? So the doctor says I need to start taking Advil to reduce any swelling/inflamation and to get a finger brace and a wrist brace and..... wear them for 6-8 WEEKS!!! Good grief! That is going to SUCK! She says I need to try to wear the braces as much as possible during the day (taking it off to wash dishes or take a shower is fine) and especially to wear them at night. Ugh.
I also got the referral to a nutrionist that I had hoped for as well as a referral to a podiatrist to see if they prescribe orthodics. I have to wait 3-5days for the referrals to go through and then who knows how quickly I'll be able to get an appointment, but at least things are moving along nicely.
Anywho. That's the report on that.
Today I am suffering the ramifications of yesterday's overzealousness and last night's poor sleep due to overly-real-seeming dreams. Since my appointment was so early this morning I haven't exercised yet, I still have to go out and buy the braces, and all I want to do is take a nap. It's going to take an extra amount of determination to get my 30 min in today.
Well, I better get going to the store so that I can get back here and torture myself. ;-)

Weekend Review

2006-12-04T11:43:00.000-08:00

So the weekend wasn't fabulous, as diet and exercise go, but neither was it a total disaster. I allowed myself a "vacation" meal of IHOP pancakes Saturday night and didn't exercise at all Sunday, but otherwise made very healthy choices and did get in a couple hours of walking around carrying/chasing Ethan on Saturday. So, it was a weekend and I enjoyed it.

Now it is Monday and I'm already back on track. I started my day with 16oz of water, 16min of ab work courtesy Claudia Schiffer's Perfectly Fit Abs video, and a bowl of Total cereal. Once Ethan wakes up (which I expect any minute now) we will do the Dance Baby Dance cardio workout and then I will finish the rest of the CS Abs video. (My abs had reached failing point so I stopped in favor of better form later.)

I think that this week I will really focus on my abdominal and back muscles. I'd love to see my waist measurement drop even the slightest bit again on Friday, but either way I know that having a stronger core helps me in performing not only my daily tasks, but also improves my ability to properly execute other exercises.

Speaking of core... lately I've been noticing a lot of exercise videos which use the ball and really focus on "the core". They basically make sure that whatever other part of the body you're exercising, you're also working the core simultaneously. For example they've figured out how to do bicep curls AND work the core at the same time. Talk about bang for your buck! Sounds good to me! Only I don't really need to go out and blow a precious ten dollars (or more) on another exercise video- especially since our video & dvd cases are already overflowing- so I'm going to try to look these exercises up online and see if I can't incoorporate some of them in somehow.

Still learning

2006-11-30T22:31:00.000-08:00

Okay so I just spent like at least 20 minutes typing this big long entry with all the quotes and explainations and everything just to have it all go away due to a stupid computer error! ARGH! So, unfortunately, you will all just have to make do with the following short and sweet version:

Today I set out to figure out what my minimum fat intake should be each day. Turns out there is no minimum. There is only a maximum of 30%. However, in doing this research I also discovered that the minimum protein for a healthy adult is 0.8g per kg of desired body weight and that 10%-20% of your daily calories should come from protein. I also discovered how to figure out how much carbohydrates I need each day so here are the new numbers I have come to:

240 calories from protein =60g =16%
441 calories from fat =49g =30%
795 calories from carbohydrates =199g =54%
1476 total calories per day =100%

For more info on how I came to these numbers, please refer to the following websites:
http://espn.go.com/trainingroom/s/1999/1001/90270.html
http://diet.ivillage.com/plans/plowcal/0,,gdf,00.html

Thank you and have a nice day! :-)

The last 4 days

2006-11-30T22:29:00.000-08:00

When I made the decision to change my lifestyle to lose weight I never thought my problem would be not eating ENOUGH calories! Yet, looking back over the last four days I know that that has been a problem. The trick is meeting the higher calorie target without exceeding my other targets (such as carbs & sugars).

I've also been a little low on fats, but my history tells me that low fats is good for helping me losing weight so I'm not too worried about that.

Another problem I've noticed is my sodium level. However, I'm not too sure what to do about that, if anything. I need to look into how the standard "average" amount is decided and figure out how crucial it is to meet that. It seems nearly impossible to not exceed the level unless I completely cut out EVERYTHING commercially made. I mean, I'd have start baking my own bread.... and I don't know WHAT I would do about meats. Well, for now I'm not going to worry about it.

It's a beautiful day and I think I'll take Ethan out for a nice long walk. :-)

The amazing shrinking stomach!

2006-11-29T16:11:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how quickly my stomach seems to have shrunk. Having discovered that my daily total of calories was too low, I've made the appropriate adjustments. So, today I ate something for lunch I probably wouldn't have even thought of eating yesterday. I had a bagel, chicken, and tomatoe sandwich. This is something that MIGHT have filled me up just enough prior to beginning my diet, but probably would have required some pretzels to really top me off. Today, I am STUFFED! Ugh! The idea of eating one more bite is not even remotely appealing. I don't even want to drink any more water for a little while. Don't get me wrong... it tasted SOOOOOO good! But I am SOOOOO full now. :-)

It's kinda weird knowing that I am totally stuffed AND I haven't blown my diet. However, it does make me feel like I NEED to exercise to burn it off... but I guess that's a good thing, right?

It's strange the tricks your mind plays on you. Logically, I know that I made a good, healthy choice for lunch, but emotionally I ......have to resist the urge to over-exercise. I feel like if I'm stuffed than I should do at LEAST 1 1/2 hrs of exercise and probably another hour tomorrow just to "make up" for today's lunch. I wonder where this comes from? Isn't it odd that I think the more full I am the more I have to kill myself exercising? hmmm

You know, I think I believe that the only way to lose weight is to be just a little hungry all the time. Maybe that's not true. I'm going to try to stick to the numbers I've come to and really focus on moderate exercise every day. Then time will be the judge. If I haven't lost any weight in a month, I'll have to reevaluate. If it's working...yippee!

Re-evaluating

2006-11-28T19:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, so Luke just chewed me out for my calorie total. He pointed out that my new exercise schedule requires that I categorize myself in the "moderately active" category which, after rereading the descriptions I have to agree with. I was categorizing myself in the previous post based on what I had been doing up until now. But, he's right. Since I'm going to be exercising for 30 minutes, 5 days a week now, I need to change how I view my level of activity. So.....

For "moderately active" I require 2624 calories to maintain my weight.
For "lightly active" I require 2327 calories to maintain my weight.
Subtract 1000 calories from each and I get 1327 to 1624.
Subtract 1327 from 1624 and I'm left with 297.
Divide that in two and I get 148.5.
Add 149 to 1327 and I get 1476.

My new target calorie total is 1476.

Side Note:
I would like to point out that I could easily have hidden my mistake. I had only just published my previous post and it's doubtful anyone would have seen it yet. I could easily have edited that post to smooth over my faux-pas, but instead I decided to stick to my promise of honesty and make the correction public.

Upgrading to Premium

2006-11-28T18:41:00.000-08:00

Well, so far, so good. I did quite a bit of exercise yesterday and I think I ate well. Not perfect, but pretty good.

I've already had 32oz of water today and a healthy breakfast. Next up: exercise! :-D

I'm really excited about the two forum groups I'm a part of. I think they're really going to help keep me accountable for staying on track. It's good to commit myself while the motivation is still high. That way when it weakens I've got commitments to fulfill so I can't screw off or quit.

Because I have just upgraded to Premium membership at www.my-calorie-counter.com I am now able to add custom foods, custom menus, and custom activities to my journal. I am also able to customize my target levels and have made the decision to adjust my caloric target level to 1179calories per day.

I chose this number because according to an online calorie calculator my caloric needs are 2031 if I am mostly sedentary all day and 2327 if I am lightly active during the day. As a compromise I decided to pick the number right in between those two (2179). When losing weight you subtract 500cal from your daily total to lose about 1lb/wk. Since I want to lose 2lbs/wk right now I subtracted 1000cal from my daily total. And that is how I got to a target total of 1179calories per day.

Also, now that I've upgraded to Premium I can see the totals at the bottom of my journal and there's no guess work about how well I did.
It's a bit frustrating to see that I went over my caloric target yesterday by 84 calories. It doesn't seem like much, but if I had just resisted that bowl of cereal after dinner I would have stayed under my target. Knowing that I probably could have chosen something else to fill me up with less calories makes me want to kick myself. Oh well. Now I know and next time I'll choose better.
The great thing about the "diet" I'm following is that I'm not totally starving myself. When I'm hungry I eat. It's just that I don't get really full every time (just satisfied) and I make smarter choices (cereal excluded).
Having the MCC website makes it so much easier to have confidence in my choices because I can see everything at a glance. For example: If I see that I'm low on protein then for my next meal/snack I can choose something higher in protein than I might otherwise. If I see that I'm high in salt, than I can choose something with a lower sodium content.
I'm very happy with my early Christmas present. :-)

Progress

2006-11-27T18:13:00.000-08:00

Well, having now weighed myself at about 1:30pm (which is closer to the last time I weighed myself) I can now more accurately claim a lose of 1.5lbs for a current weight of 191lbs. Not as amazing, but still pretty good considering it was the week of Thanksgiving. I'm satisfied with it.

Well, in other news, I have found a really cool website called my-calorie-counter.com. I have signed myself up for a free account at this site and will be keeping my food and exercise details there instead of trying to keep them on this blog. The site has all kinds of really cool features that make it much easier to figure out how much of what (ie calories, fat, protein) you've eaten. It also helps you to track and compare exercise and diet details and progress which helps you figure out what is working, what isn't working, and what you might want to try for better results. It also has a forum where you can talk to other people who are trying to lose weight and get support and tips that way. Another of it's features is a blog, but I will continue to keep my thoughts and such on this blog (the one you're reading). Since I will be tracking my numbers on the other site, this will be my dieting diary of sorts... the emotional side of it more than the hard numbers. However I will post my number progress on this blog every now again.
To keep an eye on how I'm doing daily you can visit my MCC homepage at:
www.my-calorie-counter.com/kamariden

As for exercise today... I did 20min cardio dance by myself, then another 20min with Ethan, another 10min of cool down and stretching, and about 15min of the yoga exercises I did during my pregnancy which focus on flexibility, deep breathing, and conscious relaxation.

I have done really well diet wise today. My water intake has been stellar and I still have a good amount of calories and such left for dinner which Luke is making right now. He's making chicken and a mix of green veggies. I can't wait.

Today I am excited, pleased with my results, and motivated to keep it up.

Post-Thanksgiving Progress Report

2006-11-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

Already, I have found that the exercising is making a difference in my level of energy and that my son is benefiting from the results. So that's added motivation.

My usual form of exercise is to do a mom & baby dance video (by Infantastic) that he absolutely LOVES. So I get a double benefit of exercise and bonding with my son.

Thursday, Nov. 23rd, I celebrated Thanksgiving with my husband's family. Friday evening I drove out of town to go have a second celebration with my family. I did well at the first Thanksgiving with keeping my portions small and only having one piece of desert instead of the second servings I wanted.............................

As for my score in eating over the weekend... well, I didn't do as great as I had hoped, but I did do pretty well under the circumstances. I stuck to my small desert rule and didn't eat the huge amounts of foods that I wanted to. I tried to keep my portions reasonable and stopped eating when I became satisfyingly full rather than can't-eat-another-bite full. ;-)
And, on top of that, I actually exercised a little bit Saturday morning- something I hadn't planned on since I was out of town. It was a sort of 20min power walk video of my mom's. It certainly wasn't at the level of intensity I'm used to, but at least it was something. I owe my mom a thanks for suggesting it.
On Wednesday, Nov. 15th I weighed 192.5lbs. On Thursday I weighed 192.5lbs. Because I was out of town, I did not weigh myself Friday or Saturday. Just now I weighed myself again and to my utter shock I weigh 190.0lbs! Yippee! Of course the real test will come around noon tomorrow since that is the time of day I weighed myself at previously and I know people can fluctuate slightly throughout the day. Still, at least that means I definately didn't gain anything! Yeah!
So, overall I'm feeling pretty proud of my Thanksgiving celebration outcomes. Now comes the hardcore stuff. I've really got to make a point of drinking a ton of water so that I can keep my portions small and my meals spread farther apart. I also have to really commit to exercising at a calorie burning level and duration EVERY DAY.
The combination of these factors is what really seems to work for me: small portions, low fat intake, tons of water, and regular hardcore exercise.
Actually, my apparent success for these past few days has really got me excited.

I 've read that for many people, having a clearly defined goal (a reason beyond a simple number) is key to whether or not their attempt at weightloss is successful.
For me, my most motivating goal is to have a natural birth the next time around. To help better my chances of successfully acheiving this, I will need a high endurance (in case of long labor), excellent flexibility (especially in my lower body for birthing positions), leg & arm strength (also for birthing positions & for lifting Ethan), strong ab muscles (for carrying the baby in pregnancy & pushing), strong kegel muscles (to protect my pelvic floor during delivery), and an overall excellent health to lower my risk of any pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes or pregnancy induced hypertension. This list doesn't cover all the needs but you get the general idea.

Well, on to another very important need: sleep. :-)

It figures

2006-11-21T00:58:00.000-08:00

Oh sure, the day after I decide to get all healthy and commit to a regular exercise regime.....I get sick! Figures.

So, needless to say, my exercise results this past week have been less than stellar. :-( I've only danced 3 times for about 15min each time.... and promptly collapsed after each spurt of energy, begging Ethan to take a nap so that I could sleep too. No such luck.

The good news is that I haven't had the full range of symptoms that Luke has had with the cotton head, stuffy nose, and scratchy throat. Instead I've just felt completely drained of all energy for a good part of every day and I've had to battle an insatiable appetite to boot- something not uncommon for me when I'm fighting a virus.

I have, however, remained fairly faithful in my food choices and portions with only one weak moment where I had 2 squares of chocolate (I wanted to eat the whole king size bar as part of a s'mores binge, so I think that was an okay compromise). Other than that I've stuck to tons of veggies, appropriate portions of meat and low fat, low calorie carbs, plus lots of Total. Total, in the past, has proven to be a great tool for me in losing weight. It has TONS of vit's & min's and a whopping dose of fiber. Not to mention that one bowl w/nonfat milk will actually fill me up long enough to help me wait for the next meal with no more help than glasses of water to fill the gap. (BTW since, as many of you know, Luke prefers to cook dinner, he has very been supportive in serving up less meat/potatoes/rice and adding more veggies, and by preparing my food with as little fat as possible and still maintaining his usual level of deliciousness. )

That's another thing. I've been trying to focus on drinking tons of water, but I think I'm probably not doing nearly well enough. I think I'm averaging about 3-5 large glasses per day which probably hold about 12-16oz per glass. Okay, but not great. I'll have to work on that some more.

Of course, I WOULD be dumb enough to try and start something like this RIGHT before the holiday season, but what can I say? Motivation struck. I'll just have to watch my portions and be thankful that I can't stand gravy. ;-D The hardest part will be turning down the pies, cookies, and chocolates that I know are going to be a part of this season. I'm thinking my best bet will be to steal just one bite of whatever looks the most irresistable and be satisfied with that.
If I deny myself entirely, I'm bound to give in at some point and totally blow it by eating like 8 giant cookies or two huge slices of pie with half a gallon of ice cream or something like that.
That's my strategy going in, anyway. We'll see how things go.

My food journal is .... incomplete. I've been too tired to care about writing it all down and contented myself with simply making wise choices. I have the first day recorded in completion, then part of the second day until I got too sick and then nothing. So, I think that I will try again to record my food more faithfully starting tomorrow. Once I have an entire week's worth to show, I'll see about posting it here.

This kind of sick that I am is truly strange. The exhaustion comes in waves. I rest for about an hour, eat something, have a 15-30min spurt of energy and then collapse again. But the really odd thing is that during the day when I have to be awake because of Ethan my mind can't seem to even focus on a sitcom let alone anything productive and I find myself just staring at the ceiling, but when I finally get the chance to sleep, my mind won't let me. Like now. I finally got to bed at midnight and my mind just wouldn't shut up, so rather than keep poor Luke (who is still very sick) awake with my tossing, I decided to come out here and post on this blog. Well, maybe this did the trick and I got rid of whatever my mind was mulling over, because now my mind is slowing down and I can think of nothing else to write and I might even be beginning to feel sleepy. Think I'll go test out this theory in bed.
Night all!

Regarding Writing

2006-11-15T12:46:00.000-08:00

At the very start of this post I'd mentioned that one of my goals was to work more faithfully on my novel. The training for the marathon and related fundraising pushed that to the back burner. However I would like to now note that I have been working faithfully on my novel for at least 20 minutes (usually over an hour) almost every weekday for about a month now. I have also joined a writer's exercise message board which is helping me to fine tune my craft and inspiring me to keep writing. At present I have approx 30,000 words written.

My new goal

2006-11-15T11:36:00.000-08:00

Today I intend to resume posting on this blog.
Today I have a new goal for which I wish to begin recording my progress.

In the months since my marathon my exercising has been decidedly more off than on and my body reflects this neglect. However, I am getting ahead of myself.

Here's the thing: I want to have another child. Not right this minute, but eventually. I also want to have a healthy child, a healthy pregnancy, and a natural delivery. These are the things I want, but I realize that I cannot completely control whether or not these things will become reality. Some things are strictly in God's control and beyond my reach. However, there ARE some things that I can do to help make these things likely. Firstly, I can take better care of my body. That is what this blog will now be about.

I am going to blog my efforts toward becoming a healthier, more fit, me.

Some things you should know:

In the fall of 2000, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and placed on a medication to treat the symptoms. I continued to suffer regular, moderate to intense symptoms 24hrs a day until the spring of 2001. At that point the symptoms inexplicably tapered off to the point where I was able to stop taking the medication. I continued to have random episodes over the next year but the episodes grew farther and farther apart and lessened in intensity. Sometime around the end of 2002 or the beginning of 2003 my episodes stopped almost completely (thereafter I had maybe one minor episode per year- sometimes none). About one week ago I had one week of minor Fibromyalgia episodes which occured mostly at night interferring with my sleep, but which also happened during the day on a very low level which did not interfere with my daytime activities. Fybromyalgia is a "new" disease in that it has only been recognized within the last decade and the last I checked they were still floundering to find the cause for it. However, I know that studies have shown that for some people with fibromyalgia the symptoms can be managed and sometimes even eliminated by careful management of exercise, nutrition, and stress. In my case, I know that my symptoms are most likely to occur when I have a combination of four factors: high stress, poor eating habits, lack of sleep, and lack of exercise. (My most recent episodes are no exception.) This is another reason that I am determined to change my lifestyle for the better.

I have already made an appointment with my doctor to look into the possibility of seeing a nutritionist or a dietitian for some advice on what I need to eat and how much of it I need to eat and what, if any, supplements I should take. My doctor will need to deem it "medically necessary" for my insurance to cover a visit to either a nutritionist or a dietitian, but I'm not too worried about being denied given that my Fibromyalgia diagnosis, my recent symptoms, and the fact I am admittedly overweight. (All reasons for people to see one of these professionals.) Unfortunately the earliest appointment I could get was December 5th.

In the meantime I will attempt to self-educate myself in these areas as much as possible and I will begin journaling my food intake.

I also aim to dance with Ethan for at least 30min every weekday and will journal those efforts as well.

For now, below are some numbers to represent where I am starting from. These numbers are the results of the Healthy Body Calculator. I calculated my current Body fat percentage by using the Home Body Fat Test.

Measure:	US
Age:	26 years
Gender:	Female
Height:	5' 10"
Weight:	192 pounds

Body fat:Current 30 percent
Goal 22 percent

Elbow breadth:	2 5/8 inches
Waist circumference:	38 inches
Hip circumference:	43 inches

I selected the recommended distribution of calories:

Calorie distribution:	Fat 30 percent Protein 10 percent Carbohydrate 60 percent
Weight goal:	Lose 1 pound per week

According to every calculator and chart I've ever seen (including this one), my healthy body weight range is 135 -165lbs. I haven't been 165 since I hit full blown puberty. (FYI they figure this range based on my height, gender and pregnancy status- a.k.a. not.) Further more, the results of the Healthy Body Calculator say that I have a medium bone structure and should aim for the middle of the range - 150lbs. Don't think so. No way in hell I am ever getting down to 150lbs. Just reaching 165 will take the self control of a saint and a minor miracle.

Apparently my current BMI is 28. My healthy BMI range is 20 - 25. This puts me in the "Overfat" range. "Overfat means your amount of body fat is too high which puts you at risk for heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, gall bladder disease and some cancers. You should consider losing weight by eating less food and exercising to decrease your amount of body fat."

The Healthy Body Calculator also says that I have a waist to hip ratio of 0.88 and that that makes me an apple. This surprised me because I've always considered myself a pear. Here's what they say about it:

Explanation
This tells you where most of your body fat is located.

Apple shape (a ratio of .80 or greater) means your body fat is located above your waist which indicates a higher health risk for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and some cancers.
Pear shape (a ratio of less than .80) means your body fat is located below your waist which indicates a lower health risk, but fat located in the lower half of the body may be harder to lose during weight loss.

These are the recommendations the Healthy Body Calculator gave me:

Your Nutrition Facts
Calorie Daily Value 2,180	Calories from Fat 660
Total Fat 73 g
Saturated Fat 24 g
Cholesterol 300 mg
Sodium 2,400 mg
Potassium 3,500 mg
Total Carbohydrate 328 g
Dietary Fiber 25 g
Sugars 55 g
Protein 55 g

Vitamin A 5,000 IU	Vitamin C 60 mg
Calcium 1,000 mg	Iron 18 mg
Vitamin D 400 IU	Vitamin E 30 IU
Thiamin 1.5 mg	Riboflavin 1.7 mg
Niacin 20 mg	Vitamin B-6 2.0 mg
Folate 400 mcg	Vitamin B-12 6 mcg
Biotin 300 mcg	Pantothenic Acid 10 mg
Phosphorus 1,000 mg	Iodine 150 mcg
Magnesium 400 mg	Zinc 15 mg
Copper 2 mg

Explanation
The calories, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate and protein are customized to your calorie distribution and are adjusted according to your weight goal (gain or lose) as you indicated on page 2. Note, the lowest calorie recommendation is 1,200 calories per day.

Food labels contain the amount of calories and nutrients per serving of food. To achieve your weight goal, subtract the calories and grams of fat on the labels of food you eat from the calories and grams of fat in Your Nutrition Facts as a maximum recommended daily amount. For foods not labeled, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, the calories and grams of fat are low as long as you don�t add fat or deep fry these nutritious foods.

The remaining nutrients are the Daily Values on US food labels. With the exception of pregnant women who need 30 mg of iron per day. This level can best be reached with an iron supplement. Talk to your doctor about this.

Healthy Exercise Suggestions (I've deleted the inapplicable)
The Surgeon General has reported that moderate daily exercise could significantly reduce a number of diseases, including heart disease and cancer. Some activities that burn about 150 calories - the types of exercise defined as moderate - are noted below. Activities are ranked from 'less vigorous/more time' to 'more vigorous/less time'.

Washing windows or floors for 45 to 60 minutes
Playing volleyball for 45 minutes
Playing touch football for 30 to 45 minutes
Gardening for 30 to 45 minutes
Walking 1.5 miles in 35 minutes
Basketball (shooting baskets) for 30 minutes
Bicycling 3 miles in 30 minutes
Fast social dancing for 30 minutes
Pushing a stroller 1.5 miles in 30 minutes
Walking 2 miles in 30 minutes
Water aerobics for 30 minutes
Swimming laps for 20 minutes
Basketball (playing a game) for 15 to 20 minutes
Bicycling 4 miles in 15 minutes
Running 1.5 miles in 15 minutes
Climbing stairs for 15 minutes

5 months later....

2006-11-15T11:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been over 5 mths since I last posted here and I can see by looking at my last posts that I have a couple loose ends to tie up.

First of all, my toe healed just fine with nothing more than time needed.

As for my continued running.... didn't happen. Somewhere around the end of June I began to realize that it wasn't just my involvement with TNT that had taken over my life. Running distance in and of itself is very time consuming when I have Ethan to consider.

To demonstrate:
Before each run I would feed myself, feed him, change him, get dressed in my running gear complete with watch, apply sunscreen to both of us, pack his food, pack his water, pack my water, pack my running snacks, pack his wipees, his cream, his diapers, his jacket, and find his toy that attached to the stroller. I would also need to be sure my cell phone was charged and of course, take my house keys. If I ran anywhere away from the house, that would mean I'd also need to pack myself a meal (I'm always hungry after running) and I'd need to bring my purse. All of this would take anywhere from 45min to an hour and a half. And that's BEFORE I even leave the house. If I'm going somewhere other than around the neighborhood, I get to load the jogging stroller into the car, and take the regular stroller back up to the apartment before I leave (we keep it in the car because there is only room to store one stroller in the apartment at a time). When I get to wherever I'm running, I get to unload the stroller from the car and then load all the aforementioned stuff into the baskets at the back and bottom. Then my actual running would take .... let's estimate 15 min per mile based on my marathon pace..... if I run 2 miles that's 1/2 hr. Then I get to feed Ethan in the parking lot of wherever I am, change his diaper (usually), and feed myself while Ethan makes a general pest of himself trying to play with all the things in the car that are off limits instead of with the toys that I give him (strap him into the seat and I get constant fussing). Then I unload all the stuff from the baskets back into the car so that I can fold down the stroller and put it back into the car. Then I go home. I load all the stuff back into the jogger so that I can get it up to the apartment. Once in the apartment I unload all the stuff from the jogger baskets and then I exchange the two strollers again so that the jogger is in the apartment and the regular stroller is in the car. Back up in the apartment I give Ethan a bath to remove the sunscreen because he get baby acne if it is left on too long. Then I strap him into the 5 point harness on his high chair to watch BOZ while I take a shower. Then when I get out.... it's time to try and cram house work into the few remaining hours left before Luke gets home.

This whole tedious process takes up the ENTIRETY of my morning! We're talking up to 3hrs for just 30min of actual exercise! Not exactly the model of efficiency.
In evaluating my life and my priorities, I came to realize that, as much as I love running, I'm just not willing to continue commiting such a LARGE chunk of my time to it. If all I had to do was get myself ready, pack my snacks & water, and jump in the car, it would be a different story.

That said, I have also come to realize something else: I am a social exerciser. I dislike exercising by myself and do MUCH better when I make it a social event. So on top of the time consumption of having Ethan to take along, now that I am ALWAYS running alone, some of the enjoyment is gone for me.

So.... these are the reasons that I have not gone on to continue my running as I had originally expected that I would do.

How did I do?

2006-06-06T12:11:00.000-07:00

To see graphic displaying how I did in comparison to other runners, visit:
http://www.runpix1.com/san06/ge.php
Enter my bib # 18258.

FYI I averaged 14min 28sec per mile AKA 4.1miles per hour.
BTW I was somewhere around mile 7.5 when the overall winner crossed the finish line!
More info like that is available at the site above, along with graphic representations. It's really neat.

You can also see all the official numbers of my results by going to:
http://results.active.com/pages/searchform.jsp?rsID=7544

Again, Enter my bib # 18258.

Dislocated or Sprained???

2006-06-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday I realized that I could not bend the toe next to my big toe on my right foot and that it was swollen but it did not "hurt" per se. Today I can bend it with concentration but it's still swollen. Soooo I assume it's not broken or it would hurt a heck of a lot more, and that leaves me with either it was slightly dislocated and somehow popped back into place over night to bend this morning, OR it was just sprained and now that the swelling is down it bends more easily, though still slightly swollen. Time will tell I suppose.

The Route

2006-06-05T23:53:00.000-07:00

For a sattelite and map hybrid of the race route go to:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=209269.

I drew this map using Google's Gmap Pedometer and following the route map given to me by the Rock N Roll Marathon. Because the Gmap isn't precise the milage marked on the left is a little off, but the route is correct.

To see the official map you can visit the Rock N Roll website at:
http://www.rnrmarathon.com/course_info.html

Just click on the image of the map to see a larger image.
(Although they've already changed the date to reflect next year's event, the course map is still for 2006.)

26.2 Miles & Still Smiling!!!

2006-06-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

Wooooohooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.... okay, so I'm a little excited....

Wow. .........I don't even know where to begin!

First of all, I want to announce that thanks to everyone's amazing generosity,
$2,274.00
has been donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to support it's fight against blood cancers!!!!! So, thank you to EVERYONE who gave whatever they could- EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS!!! Together, I KNOW that we have made a difference!

I can't count the number of blood cancer patients and survivors who were either running or cheering for the runners of this marathon! It was so moving to see them standing on the sidelines screaming "Thank You Team In Training!" And to see the painted shirts in front of me telling how many years they've been in remission. And EVERYONE WHO DONATED can say that they were a part of this! So please remember that every time I talk about my own personal victory of completing this marathon, I'm also remembering OUR victory in contributing to this life changing cause!

Decades ago the diagnosis of a blood cancer equalled a death sentence, but thanks to wonderful people like YOU who decide to donate what they can toward finding a cure and supporting patients and their families, more and more people are SURVIVING!!!

PLEASE do not see my completion of this marathon as "The End"! Look at this as "Just the Beginning"!!! Continue to donate (if not through my website than to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society directly- there is a link in the right hand column). And just as/more importantly, PLEASE PRAY FOR THESE PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES!!! Their fight didn't end when I crossed that finish line.

While I was running I saw a shirt with a quote from a patient: "I won't quit, if you don't quit!"

DO NOT QUIT NOW!!!

Okay, now about me. ;-D
I opened my last blog entry with a somewhat graphic picture of my prediction for Sunday morning. Well, now I know: never challenge God by attempting to predict the future! :-D Instead of saving my nauseau for the few hours leading up to the start of the event as I have done in the past, I awoke SATURDAY morning feeling sick to my stomach! And must to my consternation I remained nauseous for the remainder of the whole day! - The only exception was a short repreive during the Pasta Dinner I attended that evening along with 6,499 other TNT participants and their friends & family in celebration of the upcoming event. (details to come)

Oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself as usual. Backing up to Friday.

Okay, so early Friday evening Luke & I made the trip downtown to the Convention Center for the Rock N Roll Marathon's Health & Fitness Expo where I had to pick up my race packet and "Goodie Bag".

The packet included my timing chip (to be strapped to my shoe with included plastic strips), my race number (to be pinned to my chest with supplied safety pins), and my gear check tag (to be attached to my goodie bag aka my gear check bag with another supplied plastic strip). It also contained my voucher for my official Rock N Roll Marathon Tshirt- which I also picked up at the expo.

The "Good Bag" was a thick, clear, plastic, drawstring bag filled with a bunch of flyers, a Rock N Roll Marathon temporary tattoo, and a small box of some kind of rice noodles that I will probably try, not like, and give to Luke to finish with glee.

The Tshirt... hmmm not too sure what all is on it. It's size large, mostly white, has a nice looking graphic of something or other, and says Rock N Roll Marathon on it somewhere- I assume. I know I looked at it when I got it- even held it up to make sure it would fit. I guess my memory banks decided it wasn't my top priority. hmmm I'll have to look at it again soon. :-)

After picking up those three things I wandered through a blur of booths with tons of things for sale and even a fair size amount of free stuff (the other reason we came, of course).
I also returned to the expo Saturday afternoon with my parents and grandparents so for the sake of brevity, I'll combine the two here:
Let's see, what can I remember? A huge RNR souvenier section, a great booth by "One More Mile"- a clothing place where I bought a sticker for my car and my mom bought me a shirt the next day. I remember trying on shoes at Reebok and getting a recommendation for which pair to try next time I need shoes (I also got free socks for trying the shoes on). Snickers (yes, Snickers) has a new line (or at least new to me) of energy bars that actually taste fantastic! GNC was giving away samples of their energy bars and an energy drink: bar=okay, drink=would rather drink mouthwash! Orowheat was spinning a wheel for free bread or other advertising merchandize- Luke won a grocery list notepad and pen. Road Runner gave away a bunch of hats at the end of the expo by throwing them into the crowd- I couldn't catch any. The Stick (an amazing massage tool for athletes!!) had two booths there- after trying one out I went home and Luke looked online to discover that Road Runner Sports sold it for at about $15 cheaper in their store (bought it there Saturday- Saved my life Sunday afternoon! If you exercise- get one!)There were many many booths about upcoming marathons and many booths with athletic gear (clothes, shoes, fuel belts, special sprays for sore muscles, etc.) Oh, there was a booth for a Garmin watch- that's a GPS system right there on your wrist! Didn't even ask how much that baby was! Entered a drawing for another dohicky (can't remember name) that is an audible GPS thingy which you can plug into your iPod and you can set it to tell you different things i.e. it will turn down your music and tell you how far you've run, what your average pace is, and what your current speed is, then turn your music back up. This is very helpful since you don't have to try to read a bouncing wrist and you can maintain stride. You can also hook it up to your computer to see a map of your route when you get home and other neat stuff. Holding my breath till they call and say that I won it! ;-D Ummm oh, there was a TNT booth there and I bought a temporary tattoo from it for a buck only to forget that one AND the Rock N Roll one at home on the morning of the race- but I figure it's better to forget that than anything else! Ummmm well there was a lot more, but nothing WOW and I want to get on to Saturday night.

So as I mentioned previously I went back to the Convention Center Saturday afternoon with my parents and grandparents to revisit the Expo (there was that much to see and do). When the Expo ended at 5pm we heard screaming, cheering, and thunderous noise coming from a crowd of TNT attired people down the hall. At first I assumed it was one of the out of town team getting pumped up for tomorrow. Then I noticed the longest line I have possibly EVER seen beginning to form along the sidewalk outside the glass wall. And suddenly I realized that was the line for the Pasta Party I was supposed to go to RIGHT THEN! So I quickly say goodbye to my family (who take Ethan with them) and get in line. Oh, by the way, Luke went to a concert that afternoon while I was at the Expo (he'd been trying to go to this concert for 5 years and just kept having bad timing so I just told him to go anyway). Sooooo Luke had planned to meet me there a little after the party started. Only, as I'm moving forward in that line I suddenly realize why the screaming hasn't ended and what it's for. .... It's a gauntlet of coaches and TNT staff screaming, yelling, ringing cow bells, blowing whistles, and smacking thunder sticks as the party goers (mostly TNT participants) pass between them on their way into the party! Oh boy! At least by the time it was my turn to walk through them I'd had plenty of time to brace myself for the unexpected attention! - I would NEVER make a good celebrity! My face was probably bright red and I couldn't get through them fast enough! It was totally sweet and totally embarrasing at the same time. Once inside I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the hall and number of tables. It took me forever to figure out where the heck I was supposed to sit and when one of the announcers later mentioned that there were 6,500 of us in that room I suddenly understood why. It's a good thing those tables were numbered AND color coded or I would never have found my way back after a bathroom trip! Anyway, the food was wonderful and the speakers were both humbling and adrenaline pumping and I am really glad we were able to go. At the end there was a team picture taken. I'll post it and many other pictures on my blog sometime this week so be sure to check back periodically.

Home by 8:30pm and in bed by 9pm. I was surprised at how quickly I fell asleep despite my nerves and nauseau (before 9:30). And, because my parents had Ethan in their trailer for the night, I was able to stay asleep until my alarm went off at 3:30am the next morning. I had slept half dressed, so I ate breakfast, finished dressing, gathered everything (except the tattoos I forgot) and was out the door by 4:10am. Luke drove me downtown to the drop off point with absolutely NO traffic, despite the warnings of DIRE traffic the night before! So I was early- but happy about it! If you know me, you know that being late to major events makes me NERVOUS as all get out. (the rest of the time.... well.... what can I say?) Anywho being early was VERY comforting to me.

However, once I arrived in the Start Line Village at Balboa Park at 6th Ave all I could see was a giant see of purple TNT shirts and suddenly I felt certain that I'd never find my friends in that throng of people! I was wrong. Within 5 minutes I stumbled across my first friendly face! I parted ways with her near the UPS Trucks where I had to find the truck for last names starting with "D" and check my gear to be transported to the start line. (I was too nervous to hold on to it any longer.) It took about another 10 minutes to figure out where the San Diego TNT Chapter was supposed to meet and then I found many more friends. YEAH! Better yet, I found my usual running mates who would be starting in the same corral as me! DOUBLE YEAH! SO I hung out, chatted, stretched, and generally kept an eye on the time and the goings on around me for the next several minutes.

With the gun set to go off at 6:30am, my friends and I got in line for the porto-potties at at 6am. By 6:10am the coach announced for everyone to go to our corrals (5 minutes earlier than he had told me he was going to make the announcement when I talked to him just 10 minutes before). We're still about 6 people back in line and now we're getting nervous! 6:15am and I still have 1 person in front of me. FINALLY! It's my turn. Thank you LORD that I have my own tissue because there is NO toilet paper!!! In and out as fast as humanly possible, I wait anxiously for my friends to finish. They do and we dash across the grass to our corrals. We get in through the gate and weave our way to the front right corner of the corral where we told others we would meet them. Turns out they're not there yet. They join us moments later. What seems like half a heartbeat later we hear the announcement that the race has begun! Everyone cheers. I wonder why I heard no gun or anything like it and how long it will be before WE get to move. About 4 minutes later our corral begins walking forward, close on the heels of the corral in front of us. (Oh, we're in corral 18.) We kind of look at each other in amusement, making jokes about this being a great pace and maybe we should just keep it up for the next 26.2miles. At one point someone points out that I'm the tallest of our group and "Can [I] see the start line balloons yet?" Yes. I can. They're about 600yds in front of us! Oh well. We wave to the people on their balconies who probably couldn't sleep through the noise and decided if you can't beat them, cheer them on! Keep walking. Still walking. I mention that I walk faster than this at the mall, and Susie agrees. Hey! We're getting close! I (being tall) notice that the man we've been listening to on speakers is standing on a platform right smack in the middle of the road and our group will have to decide whether to go right or left around him. At this point we've somehow landed ourselves right in the center of the road and we all vote for going left. Meanwhile we all wonder how long it will be after start running that we'll lose each other in the crowd.

At long last! We reach the start line and *gasp* we actually start our watches and start running! (very slowly, but running none the less) The first few miles we run around the downtown area which includes a loop around petco park and then back up to the 163fwy. Along the way there are many many people cheering us on and great bands pumping us up.

At mile two I notice that that throng of people cost us a ton of time- it's taken 37minutes from "gun" start to get there! Thank goodness for timing chips! (little things on our shoes that provide individual time results based on when YOU cross the start and finish lines - there are also several check points along the route.)

By mile 3 I'm already feeling more confident than I did after my training run Thursday. I feel like I have much more energy and I have my mental edge back. About mile 5, our group gets split in half at an aid station. But we're only about 50yds apart. At first I'm in the back group, but around mile 8 spot the group in front of us and catch up -keeping in mind that I'm going to have to stop soon because somewhere around mile 6 I realized that I have to go to the bathroom again and there have been long lines at EVERY porto stop. I begin to worry about losing my friends. However, it can't be helped and just before the 163 (about mile 8.5 - mile 9)I take a deep breath and seperate myself from my friends to stop at the porto line. (For those of you who don't run distance- friends are KEY to maintaining pace and morale. It's BRUTAL without them!)

Despite having run several yards ahead of even the front group of my friends, hoping to buy myself a little time, I sadly see the first pair pass me, and then the next three pass as well and I'm still behind 2 people in line. I'm mentally pleading with the people in the portos to hurry up, fully knowing they're as anxious as I am to be on their way. Finally, it's my turn. I'm in and out as fast as I can make myself decent, making the neccessary comfort adjustments to clothing as I run. I cannot see my friends at all in the masses of people pumping their way up the hill and I remind myself not to overdue it and take my time catching up. My hope it to find them before making the turn onto Friars Rd. God blesses me and by just skipping one walk time I'm able to catch up to them just before the top of the hill on the 163 (before the 10 mile mark)!

The 163 turned out to be the toughest part of the run because of the hill, the lack of a breeze, and the long distance between bands. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY because the road slopes PAINFULLY. What I mean by that is that the road slants sharply from the center of the road down to the side of the road or the other way around so that there is no level ground to run on and one foot is always higher than the other. (Imagine running 2 miles with one high heel on and one off.)

The band at the base of the 163 just before the 8Fwy is a HUGE disappointment. They looked like some kind of trashcan drum band but NO ONE IS PLAYING MUSIC!!! They are all sitting down eating lunch and haven't even bothered to put on a CD!! Needless to say we felt jipped. The music gave us a huge punch of energy and we really looked forward to each new band.

As I'm descending the 163 I'm wondering whether I've drank too much or too little because I'm beginning to feel nauseaus. As we cross the 8Fwy my friends start talking about food and I suddenly realize that none of the aid stations we've passed had any food, while the TNT training aid stations had always had snacks like pretzels. Epiphany! I'm hungry! It's lunch time! What's for lunch? CookiesNCream PowerBar coming up! (Well, hopefully staying down, but you know what I mean. ;-D )

By the time we reach Friars my nausea is gone! Yeah! And we're hearing the beat of the next band! Woohoo! Very excited to be nearing 11miles, we get into the music and actually dance/run as we pass the Friar's Road band. This area is also one of my favorites because the next aid station just past the band is the first one to have HOSES!! Woohoo! I forgot to mention, I've been dumping at least one cup of water on my head at each aid station starting around mile 4. At this aid station they also have hoses with special nosals that create something between a mist and a regular spray. I make sure to take full advantage along with my friends. WOW THAT FEELS GREAT! It's amazing how much energy the heat zaps from you! Thank you Lord for hearing our prayers: it's still overcast!

Somewhere between miles 10.5 and 12 I start to feel a small amount of pain where my pinched sciatic nerve had been bothering me two weeks ago. I pray that the Lord will keep the pain from fully developing and that He will give me the strength to continue through whatever comes.

I'm now running with Susie and Rebecca. Lisa, Pam, and Tracie are somewhere not too far behind us. As we pass the 12 mile mark we make a decision to unanimously cheer "Go Team!" as we pass the 13 mile marker. We do, and it feels great to know we've hit the halfway point (we're ignoring the 0.1 at this point!)! We're not as talkative now, and we're feeling our muscles really work, but we're still doing great!

Next up: 13.4 miles - WE'VE PASSED OUR FIRST PICK-UP POINT with time to spare!!!! What's a pick-up point? That's the ax hanging over our heads! There are two of them. IF we didn't reach the 13.4 point by 10:35am we would be picked up for being too slow (they have to open the roads on time). We still have to reach 19.2 miles by 12:15pm but we're not thinking about that right now. We're just celebrating passing the first one and thinking of some of our friends who are finishing their half marathon at 13.1miles while we continue running. (Only TNT members were permitted to choose to do a half marathon- everyone else had to do the full marathon.)

Next we here a man telling us "Margaritaville is just around the corner!" Sure enough the next aid station is Margaritaville themed and has signs promising real beer in 13 more miles! (I try to ignore the reminder of how much farther I have to run and just focus on absolutely drenching my head with water.)

Feeling great with a wet head I decide to give Luke a call on the cell while I jog slower than usually waiting for my friends to come through the aid station. I tell him that I've just passed the 15mile mark and then I hang up. I don't want a full conversation, I just want to brag! ;-D

Another right turn and here comes another great band. My friend points out that this is the 4th time we'd heard that same song, but I don't care- it's a great song! What song is it? Heck if I can remember now! All I know is we were dance/running again! Woohoo! Love that music!

The next street we come to is oddly covered in orange peels, but no one handing out oranges is in sight. Oh well. I've never run with orange juice in my belly and there is one golden rule about marathon day: NOTHING NEW. I just enjoy the smell.

Hey! We're crossing the 5 and heading toward Mission Bay! That means we're almost there! (by "almost" I mean less than 10miles to go.) One of my mental strategies at this point is now to think in terms of how far I still have to go rather than dwelling on how far I've already run. This is because dwelling on how far I've already run reminds me of how tired I am, while focusing on how little I have left to run makes me think, "I've done this before. I can go __ miles. No problem."

Also at 16 miles or so I realize that I have to stop at a porto again and this time my friends need to stop to, so just over the 5 and at the 17mile marker we stop at the same time. We watch Tracy run by but there's a band there and she can't hear us cheering from our place in line as she keeps running. Once we've all finished we start to walk again (Susie is feeling nauseaus) just as Lisa and Pam come by. We all run together for a while, but then Rebecca and I move ahead some hundred feet or so- mostly because it feels good to lengthen our stride and stretch different muscles. Eventually Susie, Lisa, and Pam are too far behind to see, but Rebecca and I keep on with our intervals.

Around mile 18 Rebecca and I start a leap frog pattern where she feels the need to run a little faster but I need to walk and vice versa. My sciatic pain has been gradually getting worse and I'm really working hard now to fight through all the aches. I mention to her that I need to take Tylenol at the next walk break, but I don't remember again until just after the 20mile mark.

I've just passed the 20mile mark and just swallowed my Tylenol when a coach spots me walking up a steep bridge. I must have had "PAIN" written on my face because she reverses direction, climbs over a low wall and comes up beside me to see how I'm doing. I explain that I've just taken Tylenol but that otherwise "I'm fine" (everything is relative when you're running). She asks me when was the last time I had something to drink and the last time I had salt (because you lose so much salt through sweat, long distance runners carry packets of salt that they swallow with water to replace it). I tell her I took one at the start and one at the 13mile mark. She says I'm just reaching the point where I should take another one. So I do. I ask her when the next aid station is (because I'd forgotten to refill my bottle at the last one and I only have about 1/4 of my powerade left). She gives me some extra water from her bottle and says that the next station is about a mile ahead. I say thanks and keep going while she turns back around and continues backward along the course. (I saw a lot of coaches going the "wrong" way throughout the course.)

Meanwhile Rebecca has gotten quite a ways ahead of me because I had to keep walking while I talked to the coach but she started running at the top of the bridge as we'd planned to. However, it doesn't not take me long to catch up to her and, in fact, by doing so I realize that the pain is significantly less if I stick to a faster stride (something I'd been resisting in order to preserve energy for the long hall). So giving in to what feels good I let her know I'm why I'm going to keep going and she totally understands. Another hundred yards and I pass the 21mile marker.

From here on out I run alone, but I don't much mind. I know that I have less than 5 miles to go (again, 0.2 is not something to think about at this point). Keeping this faster pace at this point in the marathon has me passing about 90% of the people around me, 75% of whom are walking. I fight off doubts that I'm going to burn out too soon and just follow my instincts. As I approach mile 22 it really hits me: I am going to finish this and I am doing GREAT!!!! I start to hear the band and all my inhibitions go to the wind as I dance/run my way through the marker and the next aid station. I scream "Thank You!" to the band as they finish the song while I pass by. They smile and shout "Thank You!" back.

Just passed the aid station near 22.5 miles Head Coach James and one of the other coaches approach me and run with me for a little ways. They comment on how "great" I look and that I'm "smiling". After about 100yds they stop and return to the point where they met me. I surmise they're there to give a boost to our team at this late stage in the marathon.

Almost immediatly I pass another band and as I approach Sea World drive I pull out my cell phone again to surprise Luke with another update. Unfortunately it's REALLY loud where he is and I have to yell so loudly into the phone that I have about 3 more miles to go that the people in front of me think I'm cheering about it and they cheer in return. I end up just hanging up in frustration, but Luke calls back right away and I'm finally able to communicate that I'm passing the 23 mile marker as I speak. He asks if I can call back at mile 25. Not believing that he is actually asking me to do that, I reply "NO!" while thinking: who knows how I'll be feeling in another 2 miles! He should just be greatful I'm calling now!!!

However, another 1.5 miles later I ask someone where I am (I'm notorious for being so focused on pace that I completely miss markers) and they say almost to the 25mile marker. I'm approaching a turn so I think it must be around the corner and decide to give him a call since I'm still feeling okay. This time I have no problem telling him that I'm at about the 25mile point and he tells me that they are on the right side of the course across from "the nike guy". I'm thinking: what nike guy??? Of course, right after I hang up I round the corner and spot the 25 mile marker... still half a mile ahead! Oh well. I tried.

Just passed the 25mile mark there is one final aid station and I once again get as drenched as I can but keep my powerade consumption to a minimum- again following instincts.

The 26 mile mark passes in a blur and soon I round a corner and recognize that I'm in the grounds surrounding the MCRD. I begin looking for the finish line. I see booths. I round another corner and then I see runners going through an arch in a large building and wonder if that's the finish line. As I get closer I remember to stay to the right side of the course, but there aren't that many people around me at this point and they would have seen me from either side of the course anyway. Once I'm in line with the the arch I can see through it to ......yes! THE FINISH LINE!!! It's several yards passed the arch but I can see it! AND I see a giant balloon on the left in the shape of the NIKE man logo (referee). I look to the right across from the balloon, trying to find Luke and my family in the crowds along the fence.

I see him! Luke is hanging over the fence, camera ready, and looking right at me! I pump my hands in the air in victory. He takes the picture and I mouth to him "Where is everyone?" Then I spot the rest of my family about 5 feet behind him and I see my mom holding Ethan on top of the fence so that he can see me. When I see Ethan and hear my mom say, "There's mama!" I just about start balling, but manage to keep it together and, satisfied that I've seen everyone, my eyes return to the Finish Line.

Suddenly, I don't know what comes over me but I just starting running faster, and faster and faster. Somewhere in my mind I'm thinking: "Where did I get this energy??!!" and "Am I going to be able to stop??!!" And before I know it, I've just run through the finish line as fast as I ever ran the 200meter races in high school!!! And, in fact, I could NOT stop and it took another 20 feet for me to sufficiently slow enough to stop and walk. And the first thing I did was head straight for the shower/misters they had set up just past the finish line. I resoaked myself and then moved out of the way to wait for my friends to finish.

It took a while and I had to keep moving because my sciatic pain became full blown when I stood still for 10 seconds, but I did get to hug everyone I'd started the race with before gathering my things (including MY MEDAL!!!) and leaving the finisher's area to go great my family and check out at the TNT tent. (No coaches and staff were allowed to go home until every TNT teammate had signed out.)

I spent the next 30 minutes walking around not because I wanted to but because I HAD to. I got some free food to eat while I walked and introduced my family (who followed me around everywhere like my entourage) ;-D to friends that I encountered. After a while I did sit and Luke used The Stick on my legs, then mom used it on my back.

In hind sight I believe that early use of The Stick is what released the muscles causing my sciatic pain, because today (Monday) my pain is completely gone! Yes, my muscles are still sore and stiffen painfully anytime I sit, but the sciatic pain is gone and whenever I use The Stick I'm able to move more easily.

So, that's it! That's my loooooooong story. If you have any questions email me! But first let me try to answer a few I think you may have:

I finished at 1:01pm, but my personal marathon time was 6hrs 19min 27sec.

Yes, I'm VERY glad I did it!

Yes, I would ABSOLUTELY DO IT AGAIN! (Just give me another 5yrs or so before you ask me to do the whole 26.2 again. For now I'll stick to the smaller 4-13mile runs.)

Yes, I will continue running regularly, but not at this intensity level.

No I do not plan to run for TNT again IMMEDIATELY. I plan to remain involved in the organization by volunteering both in the office and at the aid stations, but the intense training will have to take a back burner now while I return my focus to my new son before he gets too much bigger! Other than that, we'll see what God has for me in the future.

THANKS AGAIN to everyone who has prayed for me, expression your encouragement, and donated your hard earned money to this wonderful cause!!! You have made this endeavor a success!!!

If you have any questions about what I did or what you can do to help the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society fullfill its mission, don't hesitate to email me or leave a comment on this blog!

Remember, my marathon may be over, but Dylan is still fighting Leukemia along with many many others who still need your help! Don't stop now! Don't wait until it strikes someone you love to do something about it! Be proactive! Stay involved!

For more information on The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society or Team In Training, visit their website(s) by clicking on the links in the right column!

I can see the future!

2006-06-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

At precicely 3:30am this Sunday morning I will be trying NOT to heave my breakfast into the toilet!

Okay, sorry if that was a little graphic for you, but it's true. I get SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO nervous before big events like this (i.e. first day of middle school, first track meet of the season, first time at a party with new friends, etc). I am not counting on getting much sleep Saturday night, despite having every intention of trying to do so- including leaving Ethan with Nana & Grandpa for the night.

But, to back up and catch you up on what has happened since my last post:
I took a lot of time off my training to recover from my sciatic nerve pain. Although it worked (I'm now pain free in that regard), I am leery of the cost I may have paid in my overall condition.

I ran last Monday, this past Wednesday, and this morning. These runs have shown me that I've lost some of my mental edge. It seems more difficult than it was before to fight the mental "demons" (using term figuratively) of exhaustion and self doubt. I'm inclined to think it is as much the anxiety of anticipation as it is the lack of practice over the last week. It's not something I can't overcome, it just makes things more difficult. (and this thing is hard enough as it is!)

The extra heat of the last few days has certainly not helped matters, either, and I can only PRAY that we have cloud cover for as long as possible Sunday morning. In fact, if YOU could pray as well, I would be VERY GRATEFUL!!!

Despite my hours, days, weeks, and months of training, I know that is only with God's strength that I will complete this marathon. I pray several times a day that He will grant me a peace within my circumstances and that He will grant me the strength to fullfill that which I have comitted to do.

I take comfort in knowing that I have already completed- nay exceeded- the most important part of what I set out to do. Thanks to the amazing generosity of my friends, my family, and even complete strangers, over $2,200 has been donated toward the fullfillment of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's mission to fight blood cancers.

This will likely be my last blog until after the marathon. I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout my endeavors. Without you, none of this would have been possible!

THANK YOU!!!

P.S. If anyone would like to join my family in greeting me at the end of the marathon, we will be meeting in the Family Reunion section of the Finish Line Festival (Section D)- Look for a big sign with my name. The race starts at 6:30am. I hope to finish between noon and 1pm. Visit the Rock N Roll Marathon website for more details: www.rnrmarathon.com

More Train Run Photos

2006-05-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

These photos were recently posted on the TNT group website (members

only). I had completely forgotten that they even existed.

They are in reverse chronological order because it's too much of a pain to fix it. :-P

The picture above is of us within the last few yards of the finish line (aka 15.99 miles)!!!

This picture was taken without any of us knowing it (just moments before the picture above this one).

The only excuse for the level of dorkiness in this picture is the

unbelievable hour at which I got up that Saturday morning in order to

be sitting in that train seat! (No, I do not have a clue who I'm

sitting next to. I sat there because I needed to talk to the person

behind me whom you cannot see.)

Still Going!

2006-05-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who prayed for me! On Saturday I was able to complete much more than I thought I would. The route began at Hospitality Point and included two out and back courses. The first one I completed easily as it was just 2.7 miles out and 2.7 miles back. Then I went out another 4.9 miles to the 4th Aid Station at which point my leg was bothering me enough that I reluctantly turned back- still hoping to run the rest of the way back. Unfortunately I only made it about another mile before my leg just hurt too much to take another running step. Still, I was determined to complete the journey back even if I had to walk. Though several people noticed my limp and obvious pain and asked if I wanted the "SAG WAGON" to come pick me up, I declined and kept walking with intermittent stops to stretch. The pain would ebb and flow so whenever I could I would speed walk and even tried about 3 more times to run again, but each time didn't make it more than 4 steps before I had to stop again.
It was SO frustrating because I really felt like running emotionally and energy wise, but my leg just wasn't having it. So, I really tried to do the smart thing and not force it. I just kept reminding myself that this wasn't the marathon and therefore wasn't vital. Many coaches and mentors had reassured me before the start that since I already had so much training under my belt I would be just fine to do the marathon as long I was able to heal and to focus on that rather than completing the day's route.
All in all I was able to run about 11 miles and walk back another 4 so that's not too bad considering I wasn't sure what I would be able to complete that day.
The really awesome news is that after the run I was able to get a 15 minute massage from a masseuse who really new his way around athletic injuries and managed to find the exact knot that was pinching my nerve. By the time he was done there was so little tension in my left leg that it felt like a noodle! The pain is almost completely gone! I am SOOO excited!
However, it is still there as a tiny discomfort which means it still needs to heal. So now, what I have to focus on is following the head coaches advice of nonimpact aerobics- which for me means swimming, since I don't have access to any gym equiptment. Also, I'm looking into seeing a chiropractor this week (for the muscle work, not necessarily an adjustment) although I just discovered that that portion of my health insurance coverage was discontinued almost a year ago (never needed it before so didn't have a clue it was no longer covered). Sooooo now I have to try a few things to see what I can do to get the care I need. We'll see.
The good news is that I'll be able to get another 15 minute massage after next week's 8 mile Saturday Session. So I can safely assume I'll be in no more pain than I am now when I fly out of state the following evening.
Oh. For those of you who may not know, I'm flying to the east coast with family on the 21st and returning on the 28th, so don't expect any updates during that time.

As long as we're peering into the future, I should tell you that I will be starting in corral number 18 of the marathon because I guessed a finish time of 5h 30min based on something my coach said after our 16 mile run. My realistic hope is to finish in under 6hrs. If I can do that, I'll be thrilled. So, since the race starts at 6:30am, look for me to reach the finish line around 12-12:30pm .... hopefully. Truly, just finishing the run without being picked up will be good enough for me. It would just be extra nice to finish in under 6hrs. Of course, that's all dependant on a proper and complete recovery.

My friend Lisa (whom I've mentioned before) has seriously injured her t-band muscle and has been doing crosstraining for a while. I know she was unable to complete the 18 mile run and that she only managed the first 6.4 miles of this last Saturday Session but she then went home to complete her exercise with crosstraining. She's tough and I know that she'll do the best she can, so I was saddened to hear her mention that she may have to walk a good portion of the marathon. I know she's trained as hard as anyone else on the team and deserves to have the satisfaction of completing what she set out to do, so I really hope that God will help to heal her in time to run the complete marathon as I know she wants to do. If you could add her in your prayers for me, I would appreciate it.

Well, that's all for now. Now I need to see if our pool is finally open for use (they've been waiting for permit clearance from the city - new construction and all- and it's supposed to be available starting today.). Not sure what I'll do if it's not....

Trial Run A Success!

2006-05-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Lake Miramar for a long walk to test out how I felt sinc my doctor now said I should not run if I had any pain at all- otherwise risk not being able to run the marathon. So today I didn't feel any pain and decided to try a walk. After walking (pushing Ethan) at a brisk pace for a mile without pain (something that would have caused agony on Wednesday) I decided to try to jog. I jogged for only 1/2 a mile (didn't want to overdo it). Then I walked another 1/4-1/2 mile and stopped to stretch. Then I walked back the way I'd come. The whole time... no pain! Now I'm back home and still no pain! YEAH!
So, I'm going to just show up (on time) tomorrow morning and give it my best shot! Please pray that the pain will stay away and that I'll have the endurance to complete the run (I've missed an entire week of training).
Thanks!

Possibility of Failure?

2006-05-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

The morning of Saturday, May 6, 2006 I had a fun run with my mom (visiting from out of town) and Ethan. We covered 6 miles in my new neighborhood and it was really fun. My mom really impressed me with her ability to keep up! She walks every day on a treadmill and stays in pretty good shape that way. I'm really proud of her.

At first I felt "normal" after run aches and pains. But within minutes after my run one pain began to stand out more than any other. It was a strange pain at the top of my left hip bone. As time passed the pain moved down my leg and eventually stretched from the top of my hip bone all the way down to my left foot. It was a dull ache unless I tried to step forward more than 10 inches. Then it became a sharp, shooting pain. It became worse as the day grew dark and I could hardly walk. I took Ibuprofen and massaged and stretched the muscles as best I could. Since then I've taken hot baths, stretched, massaged, and generally relaxed. The pain lessened to a minor discomfort.
Today I saw my doctor who confirmed my suspicions: I had a pinched sciatic nerve. Gulp. I knew that wasn't good. Prescription: Easy walks, no jogging or running, more hot baths, more ibuprofen, and more stretching. I told her that I was scheduled to run 20 miles this Saturday. She cautiously said that I could try it, but that I needed to stop if my pain increased.
So tonight I went for a sort of "tester" walk, to see how I felt. I went at a very easy pace for most of a 3 mile walk- only accelerating for high traffic intersections. For the most part I felt only minor discomfort. It was in those moments when I tried to accelerate across a street that the pain threatened to return. By the time I reached my destination I could tell I'd reached the point when I should stop and did the smart thing: I called my husband to come pick us up. :-)
Now I am more sore and bordering on pain, but not anywhere as bad as Saturday, so that's good.
Time for another hot bath and some ibuprofen with dinner.
I'll keep you posted.

The Amazing Human Body!

2006-05-04T15:40:00.000-07:00

Well, this week's training is back on schedule for the most part. When I saw the 5 miles scheduled for Monday I wasn't sure my body had recovered enough to handle it, but I tried.... and succeeded. I pushed Ethan on a new route around my new neighborhood and made it the full 5 miles... then continued to be fully functional for the rest of the night! My body continues to surprise me with how much it can handle!

April 29th- Never Say "Can't"

2006-05-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

After a week of sporadic training (due to moving constraints)I was partly looking forward to the scheduled 18 mile run and partly dreading it. I was looking forward to it because I knew it would be an excellent way of unloading the stress that had built up over the last few weeks due to our move. I was dreading it because I was just physically whipped after moving all those boxes and furniture- and I knew I hadn't stuck to the training schedule very well at all.
So, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, brought on by stress and lack of sleep, I leave the house Saturday morning- already 5 minutes late. Unfortunately my mind went on autopilot once I hit the road, and thanks to innumerable trips to and from the old apartment, I got on the freeway in the wrong direction. Irritating, but not unfixable. I'd just get on the next freeway going in the right direction..... Nope, missed the exit. Okay fine. Got off on a side street I knew could take me back to the right freeway. Finally made it to the right freeway and managed to make it the rest of the way without incident.
As I'm arriving at the meeting place I'm noticing something is wrong... something is VERY WRONG! There are hundreds of cars parked nearby.... and only about 10 people gathered.
I check the car clock. 7:10am (I was supposed to be there @ 7:00am)
I check the cell phone clock. 7:11am
I deparately look for somewhere to park!
I check both clocks again! 7:15am
Finally I find a space about 300yds away and park.
Gathering my things with a lightening speed, I lock the car and literally dash back to the small group at the meeting place.
"Am I that late?"
"Yeah. 6:15"
"6:15!!"
"Yeah."
Oh crap!(in my head) Don't cry. Do not cry!

After that I don't remember exactly what was said, but basically I was told to stretch and get going. The "sweepers" hadn't left yet and would keep an eye on me. And yes, the aid stations would still be open. Thank you God!

In my head as I start my run: Don't cry! Don't cry! I can't do this! I'm going to end up walking the last 8 miles! I can't run 18 miles by myself! Don't cry! You're a grown up! Just run!

So, I did. With the map folded so that I could see the part I was on and pinched loosely in my left hand, and my timer counting down 10/1s on my wrist... I just ran.

By about the end of the 1st mile I had my emotions in check once more and was my normal self, just focused on running.

After a while I began to wonder if I was lost. I knew the first aid station was usually at 3-5 miles and I was fairly certain I had gone that far. Great. Either I was lost or the Aid Station had closed before I had gotten there. Just keep running.

Here come the sweepers. Great. I haven't even made it to where the second Aid Station should be (around 7 miles). The running sweepers say hi and keep on going. The sweeper on her bike hangs out with me for about a mile and a half before riding ahead with assurances that she'll be back to check on me. I see her at the next turn and (about 5 min later) then I won't see her again until long after the next aid station- yes I said AFTER the next aid station. It was there! The second aid station was still there when I got there! AND surprisingly offered the rare treat of a power gel in addition to the regular snacks, gatorade, and water. I greatfully accepted.

I meet up with the bicycle sweeper again at the bottom of the longest, steepest hill I have ever been on in my life! I don't know how cars go up and down that street, let alone how I made it up. I'll be honest- after about 100yds, I power walked to the top. I also met up with another runner at this point- to my complete surprise. Her name is Karen and she is coming back from a recent hamstring injury- she's going VERY slow. We stay fairly close until the top of the hill when I resume running and leave her behind.
The bicycle sweeper rides ahead.
I'm alone again.
I reach the bottom of a short gentle hill and meet up again with the bicycle sweeper just long enough to confirm my reading of the map, then continue on as she waits for Karen.
Alone again.
About 20 min later the bicycle sweeper passes me by with more assurances that she'll see me again farther down the path.
I finally make it to Aid Station 3 and they are in the process of tearing down. I call out that I'm coming over (they're across the street), then I grab a couple glasses of gatorade (no snacks or salt at this station). I've realized that I forgot to take my salt at the start of the run. I thank them and tell them that Karen is still coming, then resume my run.
As I run I remember that I might have salt in my pouch from a previous run. Then I realize that I forgot to refill my bottle at the Aid Station- I only have about 2oz left. Spanish Landing is coming up- the location of previous runs- I know there's a water fountain there as well as bathrooms.
When I make it there I use the bathroom, check my pouch YES I have salt!, and fill my bottle with water from the fountain before continuing on.
At Laurel St. I find Aid Sation #4. I finally remember to ask how far I've come. The answer: 10.7 miles! More than half way! Yippee! Even better, I suddenly see Lisa! My regular running mate! Awesome! I must be closer than I thought! .....
Yes, and no. I'm only 20 minutes behind (rather than the 50-60 I thought), but Lisa's been injured and is waiting for a ride. That sucks!
The bicycle sweeper was there as well. She asked if I'd seen Karen. When I said that I hadn't she turned back the way I'd come to go find Karen. That would be the last time I saw the bicycle sweeper.
I drink a couple glasses of lemonade and through down snacks I don't remember now (probably Cheeze-Its) then grab a licorice (something I'd normally pass up) and get on my way.
About a block away I suddenly realize that I forgot to fill up my bottle again and contemplate turning back. Glancing at my bottle I see that it is still 80% full and a look at the map shows the next Aid Station isn't too far away... I just hope it's still there when I get there. I decide to move on.
Half way up Laurel I use part of my precious gatorade/water bottle to get down the power gel- not a pleasant experience, but it makes a big difference in my energy stores.
Coming down 6th street along the edge of Balboa Park I finally spot another bathroom. (If you've ever run distance you know how physically painful it can be to wait for a bathroom!) I dash across the street and just as I'm about to enter the bathroom, I notice a man watching me with his periferal vision and standing near the bathrooms with no apparent purpose. I hesitate at the entrance, peer around the corner at the man who has not moved and reluctantly decide it's not worth the risk. I keep running.
Once again I spot the Aid Station just as it's being shut down. I call out again and dash across the street. They kindly refill my bottle for me while I down a cup of gatorade and grab a power bar. (bathroom needs or not, I can't run on empty!)
Praise the Lord! I soon see a Jack N The Box with a very visible bathroom! I have to wait for the current occupant to leave, but I'm in and out and back on the road in less than 5 minutes.
More little side streets through residential areas, and just when I think I've run past where Aid Station #6 should have been but wasn't... there it is! I shove down a few pretzels, down a couple glasses of Gatorade and keep going.
The next big hurdle is actually a down hill. I had NO IDEA going down hill could HURT SO BAD!!! Never before have I prayed for a hill to STOP going down!! I couldn't wait for it to flatten out but it seemed to take forever! Finally it did, however, and I found myself in Old Town. By this point, however, I could care less.
Suddenly it hits me. In my haste to get going I'd forgotten to stretch my Tband muscle- the one that always hurts the worst after these long runs. Great. Oh well. Better late than never. I stop and stretch for about a minute, then continue on.
There it is! The last Aid Station! I'm almost done! As I approach I see that one of the running sweepers is there waiting with me. After I drink a glass of gatorade and top off my bottle, she runs back the rest of the way with me.
By this point I'm really hurting. That downhill just did me in physically. EVERYTHING hurts and I'm not moving especially fast, but I'm not walking either. It's a good thing the sweeper waited for me or I promise you, I WOULD HAVE been walking at least 1 of those last 2 miles! I had to make a conscious effort not to vocalize my pain. I lived for the moment my watch said it was time for me to walk again! By the time I made it to the finish mark I could barely walk and had never wanted to sit down so bad in my life! Fortunately my high school track training held me strong and I stayed moving. I knew sitting was the absolutely wrong thing to do, so I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, but I could no longer keep from groaning with each movement. I kept reminding myself that labor had hurt more than what I was experiencing and that I'd made it through that. I could do this. I could make it the last 1/4 mile to the meeting place.
About half way there the running sweeper who'd waited for me went on ahead, but not before telling me that she'd expected me to ask for a ride back well before the end. She said that she would have done so herself- and I know this woman to push pretty hard. She also told me that that day's course had been chosen by the San Diego Track Club whom we'd joined with for the day and was more difficult than the marathon would be because of the hills which had been included.
I must have looked pretty pathetic because not just one mentor but also the head coach came out to me as I came nearer to the meeting place. I assured them that I was not injured, just VERY tight. The head coach reiterated that today's course was more difficult than the marathon would be and prescribed a cool shower/bath, a walk later that afternoon (like it or not), and a tennis ball for my foot.
Half an hour or so later, after lots of stretching and relaxing, I finally felt ready to drive home. Then I remembered. I'd driven the stick-shift car this morning!

April 16 - April 24

2006-05-04T12:59:00.000-07:00

Well, as I mentioned before, I've been busy packing and moving, so training has been more sporadic than I would like, but I kept up on it as best I could. Unfortunately, we did not finish moving our furniture until 12:30am Saturday morning (April 22) and I therefore did not attend the 6 mile backdown run at UCSD that morning- it would have been suicide. I did, however, do a make-up run Monday, April 24rd.

A lot to catch up on!

2006-05-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long break! As most of you know, we've recently moved and today is my first opportunity to get back online and update my blogs. Please forgive the hiatus.

Thanks!

Train Run Map

2006-04-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

Didn't realize this was so difficult to read, so here is the text:

Head out on TYSON

Turn LEFT on Pacific

Turn LEFT on CASSIDY (look for I-5 signs)

Turn RIGHT on BROADWAY

Turn LEFT on EATON

Turn RIGHT on HWY 101

AID at BEECH ST Magnee Park = 3miles

Continue straight down Carlsbad Blvd

AID at ISLAND WAY = 7miles

AFTER LA COSTA AVE....

Start looking for GRANDVIEW on RIGHT!!

Turn RIGHT on GRANDVIEW

Turn LEFT on NEPTUNE

AID at BEACONS BEACH = 10 miles

Turn LEFT on SILVIA

Turn Right on 3RD ST

Follow curve around onto K ST

Turn RIGHT on HWY 101

AID at SWAMI'S BEACH = 12.5 miles

AID at SEASIDE (CARDIFF STATE BEACH) = 15 miles

Cross Hwy 101 at Solana Vista and use foot path

Turn LEFT at LOMAS SANTA FE

Turn LEFT at TRAIN STATION and into LOT

16 miles = FRONT DOORS OF STATION!!!

Cool down by walking through parking lot

The Train Run

2006-04-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

WOW! I did it! If you've never done a marathon or run this distance, you can only IMAGINE how exhilirating it is to finish something like that! For the last 3 miles I was running off the sheer excitement of it! Despite how much body hurt and wanted to stop after 13 miles, I just couldn't- not after coming so far! So I kept going! And going! And going! And going! Suddenly I'd gone 14 miles! And then 15 miles! And then.... there it was! I could see the train station where we'd started! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I arrived at the train station in Solana Beach at 6:20am regretting my trust in the weather people who said it wasn't going to be raining that morning. I'd left my rain jacket at home and it was currently sprinkling. I had to park on the street since our team had already completelly filled the train station parking lot. Then I hot-footed it back to our meeting place at one end of the parking lot where I signed in. Then I made my way to the opposite end of the parking lot and got into line with the other hundreds of teammates waiting to have their tickets and id check before crossing the bridge to the boarding area.

I had to go to the bathroom, but decided to wait and go on the train since the line was so long and I didn't want to miss the train. As it was, I can't believe everyone made it onto the train- that train doesn't wait for ANYBODY! I didn't think it was possible, but I didn't hear about anyone missing the train. Once on board, I found myself a seat and headed for the restroom. With as long as it took to wait my turn and then return to my seat, that ride sped by in the blink of an eye. However, I still had time to note several differences between this train and a Chinese train (the only other one I've been on):

10. There were no graphic pictures warning against pushing in the boarding area.
9. There were two levels to the train
8. Train's structure and materials were modern.
7. The inside was mostly clean.
6. There were colors other than brown, black, & steel.
5. The seats were upholstered with fabric and larger than those found on airplanes; and had the same folding trays as airplanes (but larger).
4. No one stared at me because I was caucasian.
3. No one came down the isle shouting "chicken feet" in Chinese.
2. There was soap in the bathroom.
and most importantly of all....
1. you could not see the tracks passing below when looking into the "toilet"!

Once at the Oceanside train station, I was grateful that I had used the facilities on board as I watched the incredible race of nearly 100 ppl trying to get to the bathrooms first. Once most everyone had returned to our gathering area we placed our gear in a car that would drive it back to the Solana Beach Station for us and listened to the announcements. We did a warm up lap around the parking lot (taking up 1/2 the road with our larger than usual group) and returned to our gathering spot to stretch as a group.

After the stretch we split up into the usual groups A, B, & C, and then further into pace groups. I decided to stick with the Group A coack and do 9/1's (9min running/1 min walking sets).

It was still sprinkling as we started our run and the sprinkles continued (sometimes turning into actual rain at spots) until somewhere around the 7mile mark??? After a while I got so used to it, I didn't even notice when it stopped.

Our trail mostly followed Hwy 101 with some detours into little side streets.
We ran from Oceanside,
through Carlsbad,
through Leucadia,
through Encinitas,
through Cardiff by the Sea,
and into Solana Beach!!!
I'll be posting a copy of my map soon. There are even written directions and I'm fairly certain you could drive the entire route if you were REALLY curious! ;-D

As I mentioned in my previous post (with photos) I finished the run with Lisa & Susie, as well as Carmen, the Group A coach, and about 4 or 5 others who stayed fairly close to each other throughout the run. We completed the 16 mile run in 3hrs 27min (not including Aid Station stops- which range from 30sec - 2 minutes on threat of muscles seizing up). There were 5 aid stations on this run.

That's a running pace of 12min 30sec per mile! If I can maintain that pace for another 10.2 miles, I will complete the marathon in 5hrs 46min! And next weekend we're kicking it up to 10min running/ 1min walking sets!

8-O Oh my goodness!

.....you may be wondering how I felt after all that running... see picture in previous post! ;-D

Train Run Pictures (after 16 miles)!

2006-04-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

NOT fair! A fellow teammate snapped this pic without my knowledge just as I was coming in from the finish line. What a face!

Okay, now THIS shot I was ready for! We all finished together (along with a few others) so I had us take this pic after we'd all caught our breath! (Carmen, Me, Susie, Lisa, and in the background, Head Coach James)

Getting Better

2006-04-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

I took Sunday off due to chaffing issues - not to mention walking was still something of a challenge.

Monday morning I went for a brisk walk with a mommies group and surprisingly struggled to keep up. My left knee and right ankle were hurting and made it difficult to complete the 6 mile walk. The pain was more than an ache- it was indication of minor injuries. So I decided not to do the run I'd planned for after the walk.

Tuesday, I was still experiencing the pain, so I took the day off and focused on core strength training instead.

Wednesday, I did part of a dance video with Ethan- making a point to take it easy and watch my form. Afterward I did some yoga stretching.

Thursday, I got up after less than 5hrs of frequently interrupted sleep and made it to Lake Murray by 6am. (After leaving Ethan with Grandma Jill.) I stretched well, jogged 2 1/2 miles without walking, then sprinted 1/4 mile, ran another mile, sprinted 1/4 mile, ran another mile, and sprinted another 1/4 mile, covering a total of 5 1/4 miles. And NO pain! Sore? Absolutely! Pain? Nodda! AND I finished about 1/4 mile ahead of the sisters! I'm getting faster! Yipee!

Friday, I plan to take off in prep for Saturday's 16 mile run from Oceanside to Del Mar!

Please pray for my run Saturday, that God will give me added strength, the right mindset, and a good running partner to talk to and take my mind off how sore my body is! THANKS! :-D

New Friends

2006-04-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

These are my Thursday morning friends. Susie is on the left and Lisa is on the right.
They're sisters. If I finish anywhere near them, I know I'm doing WELL!

This is me on the left (black hat & blue pouch) at 12.99 miles.
I'm running with Tracy (all black).

This is Claire. She saved my hide on the Sea World run.
Wouldn't have made it without her!

All of the above pictures were taken during the Spanish Landing 13mi run 04/08/06.

13 miles Upside & Down

2006-04-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

Today I ran 13 miles beginning and ending at Spanish Landing.

The Upside:
I kept pace with the captain for the A group! He finished less than 45 sec in front of me!

The two people I usually judge my pace by (the ones I usually run behind) split up toward the end. One finished with the captain, just ahead of me, and the other finished about 3 minutes behind me.

I really did SO much better than I have in the past! I stuck to the 9 min run & 1 min walk sets the entire time! No extra walking!

It took me roughly 2hrs 40min to complete all 13 miles. That's a pace of 12min 13sec per mile! Woohoo!

Oh! And I finally remembered to put on my sunscreen! :-D No burning today!

The Downside:
Today I began chaffing- BAD. I am currently enjoying the pleasant sensation of cornstarch on my body in all the places where my skin has been rubbed raw- even bleeding in spots.

My knees are screaming in pain (IT band) so that I groan audibly whenever I get up or down.

My right ankle is very sore and barely supports me.

My toes (the ones I had podiatry work on) finally started hurting at about 8 miles after running on cobblestones for about 1/2 a mile.

The toe immediately to the right of one of my bandaged toes now has a painful blister as a result of rubbing repeatedly on the bandage.

To End On A Good Note:
This too shall pass! :-D

I DID IT!!!

April Fools Day

2006-04-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

April Fools Day was listed as a back down day on the training schedule. It said that we were only to run 6 miles. Turns out that was right. We did only run 6 miles. The April Fools part was that we were actually saying, "only 6 miles"!

I actually got 5+ hrs of sleep the night previous and ended up finishing the 6 miles with comparative ease. I finished about a 1/2 mile AHEAD of the people I normally finish BEHIND. I discovered once more that talking is VERY beneficial to my pace.

Afterward I was reasonably tired, but NOT exhausted and NOT walking around like an old lady!

I was very encouraged to do so well, especially after last week's Sea World run where I finished so close to last and could barely move for the rest of the day.

Physical Update

2006-03-30T08:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I now 183.5lbs (a long way from my goal of 175) but I can now tell you for certain that it is mostly muscle! All I have to do is glance in the mirror to see a very significant change from how my body looked in January. Rarely have I been this fit and never have I worked so hard to be that way. That said, I am still not completely satisfied. Yes, I'm looking good (if I do say so myself). But I know that I can do better. So, I am making a couple of adjustments.

First, I am cutting out the sweets I've gotten into the bad habit of eating. I've eaten way more chocolate and cookies over the last few months than my metabolism would ever have allowed me to get away with previously. However, the fact that it's not adding any weight is no excuse to pig out on junk. So that is history. No more cookies, candies, chocolates, cakes, or pies. The only sweet I'm allowing myself is icecream- and that in moderation.

Secondly, I am going to begin focusing more regularly on strength training key areas that I want to tighten up (such as my abs).

I know that if I set out to do too much at once, I'll fail. So these are the two small steps I've decided to take on for now. Once these become routine/easy, I'll look into doing more.

Measurements on January 31, 2006:

Weight: 192.5lbs

Waist: 40 1/2 in

Butt: 44 in

Right Thigh: 26 in

Upper Right Arm: 12 5/8 in

Today's Measurements:
Weight: 183.5lbs (lost 9 lbs!)
Waist: 37 in (lost 3 1/2 in!!)
Butt: 43 1/4 in (lost 3/4 in!)
Right Thigh: 26 in (same measurement, but more firm, less flab!)
Upper Right Arm: TBA- need Luke to measure this one and he's at work. :-)

YIPEE!!!!

Just keep going

2006-03-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

Sunday, March 26:
Jogged in 8/1 sets for 30 minutes at an easy pace on the treadmill. (recovery run)

Monday, March 27:
Ran 3 miles in 8/1 sets pushing Ethan in his jogger stroller around Lake Murray.

Tuesday, March 28:
Off day

Wednesday, March 29:
Strength training

Thursday, March 30:
Ran 4 miles in intervals of 1mile jog, 1/4 mile run, 1 mile jog, 1/4 mile run, etc. (Lake Murray)

Results: Sore & TIRED! But enjoying a strong feeling of accomplishment!

At the start of the Sea World run 3-25-06

2006-03-26T14:53:00.000-08:00

March 25, 2006 Saturday Session Map

2006-03-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

Sea World to La Jolla & Back!!!

2006-03-25T19:15:00.000-08:00

I did it!!!

I ran from Sea World to La Jolla and back!!!

I ran 12 miles!!!

So, yes. I am just a little excited here. I don't think what I have accomplished today has truly sunk in yet. The enormity of it just overwhelms me. Not only did I run from Sea World to La Jolla and back, but I did it in 8/1 sets!! (8min running /1 minute walking) I am soooo stoked!

I don't know why but last night the number 12 just suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. I had trouble sleeping because I was so nervous. (Ethan didn't help any either- as usual.) Then as I drove to the session today I was total bundle of tense nerves at the thought of what I was about to attempt. Never mind that this was less than half the length of the marathon. THIS WAS 12 MILES!!! How could I possibly run that far??? It just didn't seem possible.

Shortly after starting the run two things occured. First, I developed an immediate cramp in my right side. Great. Then, someone mentioned how much hotter it was than during previous sessions and I realized I'd forgotten to actually put on the sunscreen sitting in my car. Too late. Had to keep going.

I managed to stay with my regular group until just before the aid station at the turn around point and by then the cramp in my side had disappeared. But I swear someone replaced my legs with sandbags at that stop! Boy was it hard to get moving again after just a 1 minute break! It's amazing how quickly muscles can tighten up on you!

So at that point I did fall about 500yds behind the people I can usually keep up with. At first I was resigned to running alone, but then someone caught with me (or did I catch up with them??) and we ended up finishing the second half together. We got to talking and it really is true that when you're talking time goes faster! There were a couple of times when we actually ran 30seconds to a minute longer than we were supposed to.

So I was doing pretty good until I ran out of gatorade about 1 1/2miles away from the end. By about 3/4 miles from the end I started to feel nauseas. So at that point I did break the 8/1 set and take extra walking time. My partner was also feeling ill, however, so she stopped to walk with me. We walked for about two minutes, started to feel better, and got back into completing the 8/1 set.

The second we got back to the meeting point I made a beeline for the Large thermoses of gaterade and water. I also snagged myself a bagel. After some cool down walking, food, and drink, I really started to feel better, but WOW was I tired. So I did the smart thing and took time to relax and stretch fully before driving anywhere.

I had to feed Ethan when I got home, but then I took a nice long hot shower with our massaging shower head. I have never appreciated it so much! When I got out I got our electric handheld massager and ran it over my legs and back just to get most of the kinks out. By the time I was done, I felt MUCH better.

My only lingering aches are in my knees. Unfortunately it making it VERY difficult to walk, step over things, attempt stairs, even stand for any period of time. They are very stiff. It's as if they're informing me that I have exceeded my quota of movement for that 24hr period and they are now out of order. ;-D I'm hoping they'll be better after a good night's sleep. If not, does anyone know where I can rent a walker???

You have no idea how strange that run was for me. Aside from the length, the location made it that much more bizarre. As a nanny for the twins, I took Lindsey and Nicole to Sea World regularly. And when they were old enough, I took them to a school in La Jolla. Well, while running today I realized something. ..... I had run PAST where I used to drop them off for school!!! I couldn't believe I was recognizing the landmarks I'd used to DRIVE past so regularly! How in the world did I run that far???

This run has been so significant for me, I intend to post the map for it in my next post so that you can see for yourself how long it was.

Thursday, March 23

2006-03-24T15:15:00.000-08:00

So yesterday, Thursday, I ran/walked 6 miles! Still doing the 6min run/ 1min walk sets. I love my new watch that helps me time the intervals. The 6 miles actually weren't all that bad, especially the first 3 when I had a companion to talk to. Officially I only needed to run 3 to 4 miles that day, but since I'd missed last Saturday's 10mile run session (fundraiser remember?) I decided to do a little extra running. Not too much, however, for I have learned that I will be going............. TWELVE MILES!!!! on Saturday!
Lord please give me strength! I hope that everyone will be praying for me! I can't imagine that I am actually going to so this! How did I get myself into this??!! TWELVE MILES!!! That's FOREVER!

(P.S. DO NOT reply to me that it's less than half the marathon length- I will close my eyes and sing "I can't hear you!")

The Photo Contest

2006-03-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

My bad

2006-03-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

Wow! I really blew it for posting here lately. I've been busy as always, but that's no excuse. I should have made the time. For that I apologize.

As for my running, I've been unable to run for a while because of my infected toe. However I have been crosstraining with a stationary bike to try to compensate.

Last Friday, I finally got in to the doctor and received an antibiotic & referral to a podiatrist. The pain has already decreased thanks to the antibiotic, so I hope to start running again tomorrow.

The really awesome news is that despite the forecast, not one drop of rain fell on our photo contest fundraiser and we managed raise over $200! I am now more than $400 above my original goal! Praise the Lord! And thank you to everyone who continues to support me!

Infected toe & stomach bug :-(

2006-03-12T22:02:00.000-08:00

Just a note to let you know that I suffered some form of stomach ailment Friday night which prevented me from sleeping and left me weak the following day. Thus I was unable to run Saturday.

I also am battling a very painful toe infection. It makes walking quickly or running a painful activity. I'm having insurance & provider complications, but hope to see a doctor ASAP.

Training Pics

2006-03-08T18:32:00.000-08:00

Luke and Mom setting up for the Breakfast Fundraiser:

THANK YOU!!!!

Can you find me??? I'm sticking out from behind the guy wearing

a black hat, black shirt, & yellow pants. (See my tilted face?)

We're listening to Dr. Chad Wells talk about injury prevention

and chiropractics before our run at Lake Miramar.

Someone else's life

2006-03-07T19:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (Monday, March 6) I didn't end up getting to run. I spent all day working on various fundraising tasks and lost track of time until I had to run out of the house for another commitment. Sooooo rather than take today as an off day- that the schedule calls for- I went running with Ethan at Lake Murray. I did 4 miles run/walking in 6/1 sets.

Now, first of all, it is A LOT more difficult to run with a stroller than it is without one. This is not because of the weight, neccessarily. It's mainly because it interferes so greatly with your arm motion. For those of you who don't run, your upper body is a significant factor in your overall ability to keep moving and almost dictates what your lower half does.

Secondly, something astonishing happened toward the end of my run. I actually thought, "that wasn't so bad." !!! What? Who said that? I could not possibly have just run 4miles and thought "that wasn't so bad"!! Who's life am I thinking of because surely that's not me, voluntarily running 4miles in a row.... getting up at 4:45am to go run miles around a cold lake...sacrificing my Saturday morning sleep for an eight mile run!!! This is truly too surreal to be true!

Man it feels good!

Good News-Bad News

2006-03-06T14:44:00.000-08:00

The Good News:

Saturday, March 4th, I ran/walked 8 miles! I did it with the Team In Training Team. We started at Spanish Landing and ran along the docks and boardwalk down to Seaport Village then back again. I managed to stay with the group this time! Yeah! (I have no idea how long it took, but we did it in sets of 6 min running, 1 minute walking.)

Also my knees & ankles continue to be pain free! This is not to say that I feel "just dandy" after the runs. I am, in fact, VERY sore and walk like a crippled old woman for hours afterward. (Luke tries unsuccessfully not to laugh.) But no actual pain.

The Bad News:

Saturday morning, Luke, my mother, & I executed a long-planned breakfast fundraiser. Based on past similar fundraisers we should have raised a minimum of $250. However, due to an issue beyond our control, we raised only about $100. Not chump change by any means, but not nearly the $300-400 we'd believed probable. It was a lot of work and we are understandably disappointed. However, there are still other fundraising projects in the works and we remain hopeful that I will yet reach my fundraising goal. The continued support of friends and family has been invaluable! THANK YOU!

And a VERY BIG THANK YOU to my mom and Luke who both sacrificed their Saturdays, got up literally before the crack of dawn, and worked their tails off to help make this event happen! It would not have been possible without them!

Also a thanks to Sprouts of El Cajon, Sam's Club of Lemon Grove, Home Depot of El Cajon, & REI of San Diego for their generous and speedy donations!

Another small bit of bad news:

I awoke Sunday morning with a migraine and it took me so much of the day to shake it that I didn't get to run.

More good news:

Friday afternoon (March 3rd) I wore my pre-pregnancy pants out of the house for the first time! They truly fit! Woohoo!

When I weighed myself that day I weighed just 186.5 - 2.5lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight! However, weighing myself just now I got 190.5..... oh well. The point is to be more healthy, not just get a smaller number, & I am definately more skinny and more toned than before!

Well off to do today's 4 mile run!

WOW!

2006-03-02T09:50:00.000-08:00

I got up at 4:45am this morning after less than 4hrs of sleep. I dropped Ethan off with his Grandma Jill and made it to Lake Murray by 6:04am (just 4 minutes late). Then, I did something REALLY amazing!

I ran 4 whole miles without stopping! NO WALKING at all!! (okay, so I technically took about 10 walking steps when my water bottle wouldn't open, but come on! We're literally talking 10 steps here! That shouldn't count!)

I am feeling GREAT emotionally! Physically.... I think I'll go take a nap now! :-D

(BTW I did go to a chiropractor on Tuesday and he did some adjustments- so far the pain in my knee and ankles seems to have completely disappeared! My whole range of motion seems better and easier. I'm really glad I went. And the best part is that he donated his fee right back to my fundraising, so it was like getting a consult and adjustment in exchange for donating to my own fundraiser! -His name is Dr. Chad Wells and his office is in UTC if you're interested. It's called The League Chiropractic. He has a website.... I'll have to add the link later though. I don't have it right now and like I said... I'm going to take a nap now.)

Better

2006-02-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

As I am now officially over my cold, I got up am at 5:15am Saturday morning to run with the team. It was the first time I'd run in nearly two weeks (not counting my brief jog last Monday) and the distance set for that day was 3 MILES longer than ANYTHING I had EVER run before! Add to that the fact that Ethan decided less than 4 hours of sleep was a perfectly sufficient amount of sleep and.... I'm just happy I did it at all! Actually, it wasn't as bad as I feared it may be after such a long hiatus.

I deliberately joined the slowest group that morning and managed to keep up with them for the first 4miles or so. At that point my ankles starting hurting so I decided to stop and do some additional stretching which took about 1 minute, but set me behind the group. So, it's difficult to say how well I did on the last part of the journey. (The mentors usually call out the walk/run intervals... I still need to get my own watch.) I do know that I did not go as hard as I normally would, (the pace that morning was 6minutes running 1minute walking) partly because I was trying to protect my ankles, partly because I'd forgotten my hat and the sun was creating tension in my face (you'd be surprised how that effects your entire body), and partly because -let's face it- I'd missed two weeks of training. Soooo I did not do as well as I normally would have, but I didn't do as bad as I'd feared either. I think I'll be able to "catch up" to my normal speed again with good, consistent training over the next couple of weeks. I'm determined to run with the group next week.

I'm also going to have a chiropracter who specializes in sports injury check me out and see if there are any special exercises I can do to strengthen my weaker joints- such as my ankles. For those of you who don't know, I have flat arches and in 1999 I broke my right ankle and it's never fully returned to normal strength (easily injured) so I'm very consious of using proper running gear and proper running form to protect it. I think the weakness in that ankle may be effecting my right knee as well, so hopefully the doctor will have some good advice.

When I was running on Saturday, I kept thinking of all the people who have expressed their support and encouragement to me and it was a strong motivation to keep on, even when I knew I was nearly the last in the pack. So thanks to all of you! You know who you are!

I am also especially glad not to have missed that training run because it was little Dylan Fritzges' 3 year birthday! (He's one of my honored teammates for those of you who don't know- he has leukemia.) He and his dad were at the run that morning and the Society had made a giant cake and presented Dylan with an adorable magician's-style purple cape that had his name on the back in gold letters. He ran around with it on as if he were a super hero. Watching this kid is amazing because he is SO well behaved! There's sort of a feeling that he's matured beyond his age in some ways..... but like I said, he was also running around like a regular kid, and that was good to see. So remembering him when all I really wanted to do was walk was another good motivation.

Running these distances is showing me once again, just how amazing the human body really is. You really can do so much more than you would ever believe you could! The truth is, it's really more to do with your mind than it is your physical condition- though, that is a factor. If you don't believe in your ability to complete something, if you don't override that natural instinct to stop when it gets HARD, if you don't mentally decide to test just how much farther you really can go... then you'll never know what you might have done. Long distance running really is about 25% physical conditioning and 75% mental training. Because of this truth, I honestly believe that this training is making me a better person.

BTW I keep hearing these stories at the runs... :-D Many of the mentors keep referring to "the train run". I thought you might be interested to hear about it. You see, when we get farther along in our training, we'll be parking our cars in Del Mar and taking the train to Oceanside.... then running back to Del Mar! Would you believe I'm looking forward to this?

Feb. 21- Still Sick

2006-02-21T14:57:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday I thought I had just about beaten this cold, so I went for a VERY short and easy jog/walk. Turns out that wasn't such a good idea. I spent most of last night hacking away, trying not to choke to death and woke up this morning with a very froggy voice. I feel like I'm back at square one with this illness. It is SO frustrating! I really want to get out there and get back to training, but reason tells me that I need to stay inside and rest. I'm really starting to worry about the amount of training I'm missing out on, but it doesn't seem like there's much that I can do about it. I'll just have to trust that God knows best. (BTW Ethan has the cold too, poor little guy, and that isn't helping any of us sleep.)

In good news, I collected some more donations recently and I have now reached 45% of my fundraising goal! Yeah!
It's not as much as I had hoped to collect by now, but I have put into place a photo contest and a team breakfast for additional fundraising events that should help significantly. It's all in God's hands.

Sick

2006-02-17T12:28:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to let you know I have been sick since Tuesday and won't be running tomorrow (Saturday). I'll post again Monday.

Day 31 -34

2006-02-13T10:13:00.000-08:00

Friday was a day "off", so I cleaned house.

Saturday I ran with the Team. We met at Road Runner Sports and ran around the area there before holding a shoe clinic at the store. However, since I already had all the items they were going to discuss (THANKS MOM!), I hurried home to feed Ethan instead. I chose to run with "the five twos" that day. This means that I ran with the group pacing themselves for 5 minutes running and two minutes walking. This group actually split into two unofficial speeds. I remained with the faster group. It was hard, and I was playing mind games by the end (i.e. "okay just to the next bush..."), but I did it, and as always, it was fun running with others and felt great afterward. .... Although, Luke says I was a walking zombie for the rest of the day. :-P
BTW I ran 4 miles that day!

Sunday was supposed to be an easy 30minute recovery run, but Luke, Ethan, and I ended up taking a nearly 3hr nap that afternoon instead. We felt colds coming on.

Today, Monday, will be a 3 -4 mile run (70-80% aerobic).

I am also going to talk to someone about a possibly very large fundraiser this afternoon, so any prayers would be welcome.

Day 30 - First Mentor Run

2006-02-09T08:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent only 10 -15 min in the pool walking back & forth across the 3ft deep end. Although it was a warm day (high mid 80s), the pool was surprisingly frigid and I couldn't see keeping Ethan in it any longer. (He was content as long as I held him, but didn't seem overly thrilled with the experience.) I gave Ethan a nice long, warm playtime bath afterward.

This morning I went for my first "mentor run". These are optional midweek sessions set up around the San Diego area at various times and days throughout the week. They are called "mentor runs" because they are led by mentors as opposed to the coaches who lead the Saturday runs. I chose the 6am Mentor Run at Lake Murray on Thursdays. (It was either that early or not until after Luke got home and I didn't want to miss more time with him. ) So I got up at *gasp* 4:50am wondering what in the world I was thinking, and left the house by 5:20 to drop off Ethan with Luke's mom and then head over to the lake by 6.

There were about 5 other women who met there including the mentor. Two seemed to be close to my pace, one seemed just a little fastor, the mentor was just a little faster than her, and then there was another one who blew us all away. They all seemed very nice and it was fun running as a group. Although we didn't stick together the entire time, there were times when someone was close enough to talk to for a little while and I could always look either behind or in front of me for someone familiar. It's really motivating to have someone you know coming up behind you or just in front of you. It helps pass the time and makes it easier to judge your pace. It is also really nice not to have to push the stroller, although the path would be perfect for it. I'm thinking of going there for my daily training sessions once I finish fundraising. Right now I just don't have the time to drive anywhere. It's hard enough squeezing everything in as it is.

Days 28 & 29

2006-02-08T11:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I ran about 2 3/4 mi because I started my run too late and had to cut it short in order to attend a funraising clinic. There never seems to be enough time in the day lately.

Today I am supposed to run 30min or XT at medium intensity. I am going to make it a priority to get into the pool and deep water run today.

As a fundraising note: I seem to have hit a slight road block in trying to find a place to sell raffle tickets. 1) I didn't expect people to be so unwilling to give me permission. 2) I apparently have to get a license from the city and that may take 4 weeks to aquire! I may have to rethink my strategy. Prayers are appreciated!

Day 27- XT

2006-02-06T11:15:00.000-08:00

Today (Monday) the schedule calls for either a day off or a day of cross training (XT). XT for these purposes is defined as any low/non-impact cardiovascular exercise maintained at an intensity similar to running. (i.e. Deep water running, Spinning, Cycling, Rollerblading, Stairmasters, Lifecycles, Elliptical cross-training machines, Rowing machines, etc.)

If it is warm enough, I'm thinking of doing the Deep water running. Otherwise I guess I'll do the stationary bike in our gym (I think it's a lifecycle). It's one of those you feel like you're sitting in rather than actually on a traditional bike. Normally I don't like it (too boring!), but I can't think of anything else that will give my joints a break.

I also need to check on the many cannisters I've placed in the businesses around the area and make a couple phone calls regarding donations.

And of course, I'll have the regular feeding, changing, and playing with Ethan to do along with laundry and dishes. This is going to be a very busy day!

P.S. As of about 10:30 this morning, I now weigh 189.5lbs!! Yeah- goodbye to another 3lbs! :-D

Days 24-26

2006-02-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

Friday did not go as planned. My mother was in town and I spent the first half of the day working on fundraising, then took Ethan to get another vaccination, then spent the rest of the day and well into the night shopping. We were looking for some new pieces of furniture to replace the nonchild-friendly pieces we have now (Ethan is just beginning to barely scoot.) as well as a jogger stroller. For various reasions we did not find the furniture but we did get a jogger stroller. YEAH! I LOVE it! It makes running with Ethan SOOO much easier- especially on my shoulders- and it makes the ride more pleasant for Ethan. It has shock absorbers so it's not as bumpy a ride and he gets to sit up instead of the nearly laying down position of the other stroller. So with the canopy fully extended on the new stroller he can see where we are going (although he can no longer see me) without having sun in his eyes (which he hated- the sun I mean).

Saturday was my first official run with the Team! It began with an orientation at 7am at the LLS offices in Kearny Mesa. That lasted about 45min and then we did a warm up run and stretch followed by the actual training run. To explain:

The SD RNR Run Team is divided into three groups based on experience:

C group= done races before & running like maniacs (20+mi) each week anyway (long runs are more than 8 miles)

B group= maybe done a couple of races; logging 10-20mi/wk recreational running (long runs are in the 4 to six mile range)

A group= new runners or those starting up again after a long absence

I have placed myself in the A group. This time that group was further divided into 3 more groups based on pace:

Group 1: 8 min running, 2 min walking
Group 2: 5 min running, 2 min walking
Group 3: 3 min running, 1 min walking

This Saturday, I placed myself in Group 1 based on past training runs, but because Ethan had decided to keep me up Friday night for the first time in over a month, when the run ended I was somewhere behind Group 1 but in front of Group 2. Oh well. Not bad for a first time (especially after less than 5 hours of sleep).
(Next week the slowest subgroup will be eliminated and incorporated into the 5 minute group. This is because that is the pace of a 15 minute mile and is the slowest pace allowed in the marathon.)

After the run, there was an "Expo". First we had to sign our return on the sign in/out sheet. Then we stretched, got refreshments (Powerade and Einstein's Bagels)- I accidentally got a chocolate chip bagel thinking it was cinamon raisin. Then we made our way around various information tables. At one table they gave us a name tag and took our picture individually for some mysterious reason (I was so tired it didn't occur to me to ask why.) I do not think this was very kind- taking it AFTER we'd run!! Not fair. At other tables there were fundraising sign ups and information, as well as power food & drink samples.

All in all I had a lot of fun. While I was running (especially toward the end) I occasionally wondered what in the world I had gotten myself into. But once I'd stretched and made my way around the tables I was thinking more clearly again and felt an overwhelming sense of joy and excitement.

I also met Dylan again. He'd gotten up early enough to come the orientation. He was SOO cute! His dad held him and introduced them and then asked Dylan if he wanted to say anything. Dylan nodded but didn't say anything for a few seconds, so the Dad suggested he wave. And he turned and waved to the whole group with a big grin on his face! I got to watch him interact with several people that morning and he reminds me of the twins I used to care for when they were his age (although they were girls). Seeing him and watching him has made him more real - not just a name, a story, or a picture. It's really brought it home that these are real people facing very harsh realities. It's not just this vague threat to them. It's what's real. It's what they have to deal with every day- that their little boy could die way before anyone should.

I am more determined than ever to be successful!

Sunday- I was sick in the wee hours of Sunday morning and chose to sleep in rather than go to church (which was a difficult decision since I REALLY had wanted to go). Then, when I woke up, I had breakfast and allowed it to digest. And when I was still feeling well after about an hour and a half, I took Ethan out for our first jog with the new stroller. Because it was Sunday, the schedule called for an easy 30 minute recovery run. So I took my short route (about 1.5mi) at an easy clip and made it back to the apartment in about 20min or so. Ethan was alert the entire time and seemed to LOVE his new perspective. Unfortunately, we were so rushed to get to my inlaws house for the SuperBowl that I blew it and forgot to stretch. I'm sure I'll pay for that today (Monday).

Day 22 & 23- Slight Change

2006-02-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

Ethan had very bad indigestion yesterday and needed to be held vertical about 60% of the day. So I ended up spending the rest of the time feeding & changing him, and trying to get a little bit of house cleaning done between bouts. So far he seems to be doing better today. So I expect to do my normal run. My plan is to exchange Wednesday's "rest" for Friday's. So instead of resting on Friday as I normally would, I'll do a medium run as I should have on Wednesday. It's not ideal, but it'll have to do.

Day 21- An Offial Start

2006-01-31T22:13:00.000-08:00

Today was the official Kickoff for the new Team In Training season. Tonight I got to meet the coaches, mentors, and fellow teammates I'll be training with. I was also introduced to the Honored Teammates I'll be running for. There were many speakers, one of whom had quite a testimony. His story included a time when he was unresponsive - in a semi-coma - and not given much hope for survival. When he awoke he had to re-learn to tie his shoes and then he had to learn how to walk again. Now he is a fellow teammate training with the North County San Diego RNR Marathon run team. Isn't that wonderful?

There was also a lot of useful information there. I have a renewed hope for raising the funds. I also am surprised to realize that I may not be in the slowest running group after all. The first team run is to be 3 miles for the slowest group and 4 miles for the next group up. I feel I'm hovering somewhere in between there now. So though I will still start with the slowest group, it's now a possibility in my mind that I may move up. That's not something I expected... and it may still not happen, but it's encouraging to think about.

The first team run is this coming Saturday and I'm looking forward to it.

On a training note: Today I spent much of the day working on fundraising and had to squeeze in my run before taking off for the Kickoff. So, even though I didn't go the full route, I did about 1/2 of the 3 mile route (about 1.5mi) and ran the entire thing! (except 2 stop light waits when I just kept moving) I didn't keep too close an eye on time, but I think it took me about 20 minutes.

Painful Honesty......
As of 5 minutes ago, I weigh 192.5 lbs. And I have just realized that I didn't ever add my measurements, (let alone update them every week) so here they are in all their glory:
upper right arm 12 5/8in, waist 40.5", 44" butt, 26" right thigh. (I don't see any point in measuring both sides.)

In comparing to my first post, I've lost a whopping 3.5lbs! I can only pray that it's because I've gained muscle weight. At least I KNOW that I feel healthier and more energetic. .....You know what sucks? My husband has lost 10 lbs in the last 2 weeks without changing one iota - no exercising & no dieting. NOTE: He asks me to explain that he has played racketball 2 times by himself for 20 WHOLE minutes AND he has eaten salad for lunch the last two days! Well that explains it! (note the sarcasm)

For those who are wondering what happened to my plan to write in my novel each time I fed Ethan:
That plan has been put on hold until I reach my fundraising minimum. I now use that time writing letters, sending emails, and making phone calls. Returning to this goal is yet more motivation for reaching the minimum.

Days 17, 18, 19 & 20

2006-01-30T10:09:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not posting sooner.

As Friday is a day of "rest" on the training schedule, I spent the day delivering canisters to various businesses for the collection of coins for the LLS.

Saturday I ran for 7 minutes on the treadmill (not quite a mile since it included a 2min walking warm-up), before Ethan began to protest and I had to stop. So I stretched and took him on a run around the block instead (probably about 1 3/4 miles). That took me about 25 minutes. Then I went to the zoo and, although it was fun, by the time I got back I was EXHAUSTED!!!

So Sunday I stuck to the schedule's required 30 minute Easy/Recovery run..... sort of. I ran 2.75 miles in 30 minutes, plus a 5 minute cool down walk. I also did extra situps and back strengthening exercises.

Today (Monday= Day 20) the schedules calls for either another day of rest or a day of crosstraining. So, I plan to do everything else first (fundraising, housecleaning, etc.) and then if I have the energy and time left by dinner time, I'll do one of my home videos. It's fun to switch it up now and then. Either way, I'll make sure to fit in SOME toning exercises.

Day 16- New Route

2006-01-26T16:57:00.000-08:00

Today I extended my outdoor route to now measure 4.303 miles. (BTW- I'm using a google map pedometer to calculate my distances.) My time for completing this route was 40 minutes. Again, using the pace calculator, I ran about 9min 17sec per mile! Not bad for the first try! Also, I forgot to mention that when I run outside, I'm pushing Ethan (Who weighs over 14lbs not including stroller & car seat weight.) and I have to wait for traffic and stop lights.

My new course added about 4 additional street crossings that require waiting as well as some steeper grades (though still nothing I'd call a true hill)and so many driveways! Have you ever noticed all the ups and downs driveways create? With a stroller, you notice EVERY one!

I've been sticking to the area around my home so that I could incorporate doing laundry into my exercise time, but now that I'm needing more distance, I'm going to need to find somewhere without so many street crossings so that I can more accurately assess my pace.

It's too bad tracks don't allow strollers. Oh well, they don't have hills either and I need to practice on those since the marathon route has plenty of them!

Day 15- He is my strength!

2006-01-25T15:55:00.000-08:00

Today I ran/walked my outdoor entire outdoor route in less than 25 minutes!!!! That's 3.264 miles!!! That means I averaged 7 minutes 40 seconds per mile! Woohoo!! How did I do that?!

Well, I know that only God can give me strength, and that fact was driven home today by the two people I passed today who were confined to wheelchairs. How blessed am I to be able to walk, let alone run, and never mind even TRYING to complete a marathon?! Every time I felt like walking instead of running, I'd remind myself not to take the ability to run for granted and I'd decide to run "a little bit farther" - i.e. to the next lamp post. Then as I approached the lamp post, I'd think: "See you didn't think you could do it, but you did. Now run to the .... electrical box up there." And so forth. And playing these little mind games got me through it! Praise God who gives me strength! :-D

Here's the web address for a great Pace Calculator: http://www.active.com/calculators/pace_calculator.cfm#

Days 13 & 14

2006-01-24T19:38:00.000-08:00

So the last two days have been complete failures in terms of my goals as orignally defined in the first post on this blog. However, I believe the reason softens the blow a little.

The reason is that I have spent all day, both days, working into an exhaustion to raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Thus, by the time I've accomplished what I set out to do each day, it has been dark and the office has been locked. Since my new rule is no running after dark (in the gym or otherwise- see "Day 12"), I have not exercised. :-(

Tomorrow, however, I am going to take a day off from fundraising to attend my other responsibilities (house cleaning, writing my novel, & running). The only exception is a brief follow up call I'll need to make at about 12:30.

The good news is that all my efforts are beginning to slowly pay off. Today I had several businesses agree to let me place a cannister in their business to collect coins, and yesterday, Kiddie Kandids agreed to donate a portrait package for use in raising funds! Of course there have been a few "No's" but the majority either say yes or maybe, so I am encouraged.

And because my favorite show is on tonight (the only one I watch faithfully), I am going to allow myself a one hour break. Of course, I'll do situps and other brainless exercises while I watch so it won't be a total waiste.

Day 12 - Scary Night

2006-01-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

Well I didn't get to run until after our dinner company left last night. So Luke volunteered to watch Ethan while I went to exercise in our apartment facility's gym. The session started out well, I managed to get more than a mile in at a pretty good pace, but then some jerk came into the gym and to make a long story short- although he had a key, he wasn't there to exercise, he wouldn't leave when I asked him to, and I ended up having to call the cops. Rest assured that I am fine, but there will be no more exercising alone in the gym after the apartment offices close. (They lock the door to the clubhouse when they leave, creating only one way in & out of the gym).

Today I think I'll do my exercising outside.

Day 11- Commitment

2006-01-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

Today I "rested" (as per the marathon training schedule), meaning I did not exercise. What I did do was run errands and clean house all day. One of those errands was to drop off my registration at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society office!

Luke and I talked and decided that I could just go ahead and make the commitment. Our reasoning was bifold: 1) I had proven my ability and determination to see this through. 2) We realized that I needed to start fundraising ASAP in order to make the goal of $1700 by February 16th!

Tomorrow I will stray slightly from the training schedule for two reasons. First, the schedule calls for me to be running by 7:30am. This would mean Luke would have to be in charge of caring for Ethan. However, he has had a long week and wishes to sleep in. Since this is one of the last Saturdays he'll be able to do so, I'm granting that wish. Secondly, we have company coming tonight and that places housework as a high priority. So, instead of running the "long run" at 7:30am, I am going to try to squeeze it in this afternoon before company arrives.

BTW I got "The Notebook" when I registered, and inside, among other things, are the bios of two of our Honored Teammates. After reading them, I am more determined than ever that I WILL do succed!

Day 10

2006-01-19T21:57:00.000-08:00

Today I succeeded in my plans to run/walk my errands and then some! Yeah! I walked/ran quite a ways (pushing Ethan) and really pushed myself in between stores. Also, when I got back to the apartment complex I did another 14 minutes of run/speed walking on the treadmill. I'd hoped to get some idea of how far I could run after already having pushed so hard, but Ethan was having none of it, so I had to keep bending over (legs still going) to reinsert his pacifier or jiggle the stroller, etc. So the quality of my exercise was compromised. I did get through at least 5 straight minutes of running though before I had to reduce my speed to deal with him. Afterward I made sure to stretch really well (he'd finally fallen asleep, but I needed to go do some chores).

I feel really proud of my accomplishment today and I'm feeling more and more confident that I can actually do this!

I had another event to attend this evening, so I didn't get to writing yet, but I plan to get at least 1/2hr in before bed. Thus, I end this post. :-D

Day 9- New Confidence

2006-01-19T11:47:00.000-08:00

Since I didn't get to exercise Tuesday, I decided to do my three miles the next day...then my husband, Luke's, car broke down and ate up half my day. So I did my three miles Wednesday night on the treadmill. Because I'm trying to decide whether to join the running team or the walking team for the LLS, I decided to try to run a fair portion of my 3 miles- just to see what I could do. Well, after the first 5 minutes I was convinced that only in a moment of insanity would I sign up for the running team; but I kept going and by the time I was done I'd found a new confidence. Keeping in mind that I would have to do it again the next day, I completed 3 miles in less than 42 minutes and I think I might have done better. Yes, granted this is only 3 miles, but hey, I'm just starting out and it's a lot better than I thought I might be able to do! (I think I might do even better next time, too!)

Today, I'll wallk/run in the real world while I run some errands. So I won't be able to accurately time my acheivement, but I'm a fair judge of how hard I'm pushing myself and I aim to continue to push past that "I want to quit" mark. I've always known that I can go farther than my mind would initially have me believe, but after enduring 22hrs of labor (20 w/o medication) I suddenly have a new belief in my ability to endure and persevere. I am so excited by the thought that I might actually be able to run a 26mile marathon come June 4th!!!

And now that I have that goal in mind, whenever I start to think about how hard it is to keep going, I just remind myself that it is probably NOTHING compared to what a nine year old goes through in kemo therapy! And the thought that children are being tough enough to not only fight something like that physically, but mentally as well.... makes me push even harder! It's amazing to think that my running might make a difference- however small!

Day 8- A New Beginning!

2006-01-17T20:45:00.000-08:00

I did not get in my three mile walk today. Instead I took Ethan to the pediatrician for a vaccine, purchased a new sports bra, and helped my sister-in-law hook up her computer.

Also, tonight I attended an informational meeting regarding the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training Program. A decision has been made that if I can train everyday and still keep up with the house chores between now and their Kickoff date (Jan. 31st), then I will join the team!

I also have not yet had any time to write today. We will see how the evening progresses. For now, I have household chores to perform. :-D

Days 6 & 7

2006-01-17T03:11:00.000-08:00

Friday (Day 6) went as expected- too busy for either exercise or writing. C'est la vie. (That's French for "that's life")

Monday (Day 7) I did manage to squeeze in about 15 minutes of aerobic exercise before the long drive back home. Also, although I did not actually write in my novel today, I did spend a good portion of the ride home mentally "chewing" on it.

Tomorrow I will take Ethan to his doctor's appointment in the morning and then shop for a proper sport bra (mine is too small since the pregnancy). Then, I plan to get home in time to go for my "regular" 3 mile walk outside. ;-D

See you later!

Days 4 & 5

2006-01-12T22:58:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I didn't report in last night- my bad. I put it off and the next thing I knew it was today. Oops. So here's my report on Day 4:

I did 19 minutes of intense abdominal exercises- 15 minutes of which I had the added resistance of Ethan sitting on my stomach (it was the only way he was happy). Then I wrote - yes WROTE- in my novel for another hour and a half- one hour of which I sat on an exercise ball. I've heard this referred to as "active sitting". I did some bouncing which worked my thighs, but mostly it just caused me to be posture conscious.

I realized that my abs are currently weaker than they have ever been. Even when I went 2 years without "exercising" my muscles have never been this weak. That's why I only made it through the first 19 minutes of a video I used to be able to at least finish- even though I had to cheat a little here and there when I was out of practice. Now, my whole body trembles after 19 minutes and my abs refuse to lift.

The writing I did produced some huge changes in the preliminary chapters of my novel. I'm very excited about this latest turn of events and wish I'd had time to write again today but....

Day 5:
I had time constricting appointments today, so I forced myself to get up after only about 4 1/2 hrs sleep and get ready to walk. I walked an abbreviated version of my route so I think it was about 2 to 2 1/2 miles, but I'm not sure. It took me 33minutes to complete.

I'm beginning to feel the pride of accomplishment- keeping in mind that I can do nothing apart from God. I just love the way my body feels when I'm maintaining a regular exercise routine!

Tomorrow morning I have to drop off a birthday gift on my way to Ethan's doctor's appointment (regular stuff- not sick) and then I might visit with the twins I used to nanny for. When I come home I expect to be exhausted and take a nap before packing and heading out of town to visit family for the long weekend. Thus I will be taking a hiatus from my updates.
See you Tuesday!

Day Three- the first 3 miles?

2006-01-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

So, Ethan kept me up until 4:30am last night. Thus I didn't end up getting up until noon. (Thought I'd set the alarm for 11- didn't. Oops.) When I finally made it out the door and started my walk I was almost immediately confronted with my utter lack of fitness. It's pathetic really. Less than 300ft from where I started- I was already tired! It is slightly uphill and I was pushing a loaded stroller, but come on! That's ridiculous! Obviously it's going to take me a lot longer than I thought to make it to 3 miles in 30 minutes. *sigh*

I was hoping today would give me some idea of where I'm starting out- aka how long it currently takes me to go 3 miles. However, my mapped route takes me through the community college campus behind our apartment and around its track one time. I now know this will not work. The campus is under a TON of contruction and they have blocked off/rerouted several roads and walkways causing me to get a little turned around trying to find the track. Once I did find it, I was confronted with a sign regarding track etiquette: "No Strollers". This is something I probably should have thought of but didn't, having never been in this situation before.

So, between the getting lost and eliminating my once-around-the-track portion of my route, I'm not entirely sure how long my walk actually was today. I suspected it might be a little short of 3 miles and I was disappointed not to be able to time myself, so when I got back to our complex, I switched the laundry to the dryer and used the treadmill in our gym while I waited for Ethan to wake up for his next feeding. I managed to get in 0.33miles in about 5 minutes before he woke up, so I figure I do about a 15 minute mile without the stroller on on a flat surface. With the stroller and going up inclines... who knows?

I'll have to modify my route and try timing myself again Thursday.

Day Two- so far

2006-01-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

Since I am online anyway, I thought I'd throw an update at you. Thus far today I have NOT done any writing. However, I HAVE done some exercising! Yeah! Since the little bundle of joy was not so joyful this afternoon, I included him in doing the dishes by putting him in our sling and doing leg exercises while I washed. I did things like side to side toe taps, deep knee squats, plees (sp?- think ballerina), and other up, down, side-to-side movements. After finishing the dishes Ethan also joined me in a dance around the house where I mixed up dancing and exercise moves while listening to his fast-paced kids CD. My sister in law ordered me a Mommy and Me Dancing Exercise Video for Christmas and I can't wait until it's delivered! Today I covered my arms, legs, abs, and one back strengthening move with my impromptu exercising. I think it lasted about 30-45 min. I wasn't really watching the clock. (BTW he ABSOLUTELY LOOOOOOVED it!- until his last meal came back up, ending our dance session. Oops. Oh well, he got a bath out of the deal. ;-D )

Tomorrow's my first day to try and walk 3 miles. I'm actually looking forward to it!

Day One?

2006-01-07T13:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm off to a raring start! (note sarcasm) Not only is it NOT midnight or anywhere "thereabouts", but yesterday was a total FAILURE! How embarrassing. One day and I can't even keep my goals. In my defense I was kept awake until 6:30am that morning by my little bundle of joy? and didn't "get out of bed" until 3pm. Then, shortly after I did wake up, I was confronted with an urgent family issue that took a good deal of time to deal with. Of course, then there are those remaining 4 hours after the issue was resolved but before "bedtime" during which I could have done SOMETHING- but didn't. Let's face it. Yesterday was a total waste.
Here's hoping Monday is a fresh start!

Join Me? Join Me!!

2006-01-06T03:20:00.000-08:00

I'm always looking for an exercise buddy so if you live in the San Diego area and would like to join me one time or every morning, please email me at thereifinddelight2@yahoo.com !!!

Share Your Successes/Failures

2006-01-06T03:19:00.000-08:00

If you have any recent failures or success stories you'd like to share, feel free to either email me or post them as comments on any of my posts- including this one!

Thanks!
KMD

Call Me On It!

2006-01-06T03:11:00.000-08:00

If I ever fail to post on a weeknight, please email me at thereifinddelight2@yahoo.com!!!!! If I record a failure- let me know you've read it by commenting to that post. Even if I only get one response a month, I'll know someone's watching. ;-D

Thanks for your help!
KMD

First Post

2006-01-06T02:16:00.000-08:00

Right now there are two long-term goals which I wish to journal about on this blog.

My first long-term goal is to complete my fictional novel by the end of 2006. In order to do this I need to attain less erratic writing habits. In the past I have tended to write very intensely for anywhere from 1 week to 3mths in a row, then get distracted and "take a break" for anywhere from 1 month to 5mths. This makes for a VERY slow writing process and is just plain annoying to those who know about it. Why I procrastinate doing something that I love so much sometimes escapes me. Although, to be honest, writing can be very hard work and frankly, I have a lazy side to me.

My solution: Since I breastfeed every two hours right now and must be sitting for this, I am going to use this built in scheduling to help me get into a better writing habit. I breastfeed on "the evens" (2 o'clock, 4 o'clock, etc.). Therefore, I am going to set my first short term goal as using the feeding times of 8am and 10am to add to and/or edit my novel every morning. This should give me a total of 1hr's writing time every morning- except on Sunday. I will record my success or failure to follow through on this goal each night at midnight while I'm feeding once again.

My second long-term goal is to improve my physical health through exercise. Specificly, I want to lose those lingering pregnancy pounds and drop down to a healthier weight of somewhere between 165 and 175lbs. As part of my painfully honest policy for this blog I have just weighed myself. I can't believe I'm putting this on here, but I currently weigh 196lbs. I also want to return to a size 12 pant size. I am currently wearing one size 16 pair & one size 18 pair. Thus losing overall inches is part of my goal. I will post my measurements here once a week in addition to commenting on my overall success/failure (in sticking to my plan) each night at midnight.

My plan: I will go for a 3 mile walk every Tuesday and Thursday morning, and do 30 minutes of various toning exercises Monday, Wednesday, & Friday mornings. I will leave the weekends empty. I hope to increase the number of situps (read: various crunches and stomach exercises) that I can do in a given session, and to work up to completing the 3 mile walk in under 30 minutes by the end of January. (That's 10min/mile.) My ultimate goal is to be able to complete a walking marathon of at least 26 miles in less than 5hrs and after that to graduate into running (my true love).

So I will check in every night at midnight (or there abouts) for an update of my successes/failures.

Until then, Goodnight!