Recap and then some...

   Here is a recap from last week’s runs, this past week was by far much easier and I think I have slowly improved my time some. I promised I would weigh in and I did …



Officially 26lbs down!

  There wasn’t a change in my weight really, about 1.6 pounds, but on the flip side of that even though the scale did not move much I can tell that there were changes. I was able to get into a pair of jeans I hadn’t been able to squeeze into in almost 7 years! I promise I tried to put them on a month ago and it was a negative! Therefor I was totally excited, later over the weekend I decided that maybe another pair I had stashed away might fit too – they did make it past the hips and I could button them! HA! They were still a little tight for comfort but I was still impressed. I apologized to my scale and made friends with it again after all the foul things I called before. It goes to show you that it is not all about the scale all the time.

  On another note, when I run during the week I normally go right before I pick up Hailey from daycare and on my cool down I pick flowers for her. It’s pretty cool because it makes her day!  She always (always) ask me where I got them from, I tell her I pick them at the track where I run, and she is always asking to see the track. This Friday I decided that I would take her for a walk there, she loved it and she picked and picked flowers for her daddy.  We had to take two rest stops and a couple of fairy tales to get all the way around but we made it!! I was so sure I would have a mellow little monkey after that and I sooo thought my evening would be nice and relaxing – wrong! It just fueled that crazy girl of mine she was so full of energy the rest of the night!! I guess exercise does increase your energy?!

 

This week I have a 5K on Wednesday and I’m really looking forward to it. I can’t wait to get an official time on my run and see how much I have improved my PR time. I’m also excited about this run because it is for a good cause, the funds go to the Snowdrop Foundation. Honestly when I first started this I thought I could be going to a gym and pay them $25 dollars or more a month or I can try this running thing and I can sign up for a 5K a month and that money can go to help out an organization that supports a great cause.  This one in particular holds a special place in the heart of my boss and seeing him so involved has only led me to feel very blessed to be a part of something so awesome! Therefor I will promise to post something right after the race to keep you posted! Hehe can’t wait!!

One hard week...

Here is a recap of how my running went down last week, by the way I was feeling really bad about my runs and I was having a hard time with my weight and just over all feeling really crappy about myself. I’m thankful that I’m writing again because it gives me the chance to get a different perspective about how things really turn out.

Monday- Was the Boston Marathon Bombing. At first I was not planning on running but then as the evening progressed I felt like that was exactly what I wanted to do. It was a hard run for a number of reasons but mostly, with it being such an emotional run I found it hard to concentrate. Then I went out much too late and it was getting dark. I didn’t feel comfortable with the darkness, giving the days events? I’m not sure, but it kept me from running my normal route because some parts were too dark. In the end my third mile felt impossible so I just walked/ran home.

Wednesday – by this time the week seemed unreal. There was now the West Texas plant explosion and all kinds of things going on with the Boston Bombing! My issues of feeling crappy were definitely insignificant compared to everything going on. Maybe that is why I was feeling crappy? Again I’m not sure but my run sure did reflect my mood, it sucked. It felt very very tough.

Saturday – I was determined, I have been working my way to training for a 10K that I will hopefully run in October. Therefore Saturday’s are going to be my “long run” days, according to my plan I needed to run 3.5 miles. So I got up and already had made up my mind, I was going to run 3.5miles no matter what. This run felt a ton better, in mile two I had to check my phone for a text message and it slowed me down some. (getting my phone back into my arm band is tricky once I’m all sweaty) I actually ran 3.65 miles and then walked home. It felt good to kick my bad weeks butt. HAHA!

On another note I have been eating all kinds of stuff that I had taken out of my diet so this week I’ll be making up for all that junk food. Also I have been dreading getting on the scale which has not moved in a couple of weeks, so this Friday I will weigh in. Let’s see how it goes!

Time & Stuff

This week has been a rough week; I believe this week has been hard on all of us. If you are a Texan, American, if you are a father, mother, son, daughter, and yes if you are a runner (novice or experienced). It did not seem right to post anything without first addressing the Boston Marathon and close to home the fertilizer plant explosion in West Texas.  I still am in shock and at a loss for the right words to say.  This is such a tragedy. The impact of what happen Monday will affect our lives for years to some, the same way that 9/11 has and the same way that Columbine has, the same way every sick and disturbing terrorist act has.  The lives lost, the homes destroyed and the people affected also have years of healing ahead of them and it breaks my heart.

Will we over come? I have no doubt that we will. We should hold strong to our Faith and Believe.

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Running & Numbers - Okay I’ve stated before that I am a slow runner, I’ve been told “I can walk as fast as you can run!” yes it’s true and you know what? That’s perfectly fine with me, because you should have seen me walking LOL! Actually in the beginning I think I could run as fast as I could walk!

The first time I ran 3 miles it took me about 46 minutes and which translates to 15:40 per mile. In my defense I really was not sure I could run 3 miles at that time so I really paced myself. By March 30^th when I ran COLOR ME RAD my time had improved and my average was 13:30 per mile.  Pacing yourself is very important, this I can vouch for. The first half of my 5k that day many people flew passed me, in the second half I slowly but surely started catching up to people that flew by me in the beginning.  Amazingly by the time I was in my 3^rd mile I started passing a few people, mind you I’m sure that they were in better shape than I am but pacing yourself is important. 

If you ever try to start running by seeing how fast you can run then you will burn yourself out!

I would love to have been a person that hadn’t run since forever and then just took off running, no problems all Speedy-Gonzalez like - (AH-EM Alma!) No, I am still over-weight and learning the ropes of running day by day. I read other blogs about running and talk to other runners whenever I get a chance.

One awesome thing about running is that you goals are always getting pushed to the next level. I’m always pushing for a faster pace and I’m even training for a 10k (GULP!). This past Saturday I finally ran at a pace under 13min per mile! A goal I have been trying to reach for the last two weeks!!

I decided to post my running times on another page, so if you want to see where I’m at in this crazy mess I’ve gotten myself you can check it out here.  In the mean time I am encouraged daily by other people – normal people – girls that are just like me. Fighting the weight loss battle for themselves for their families and for their own sanity!

 

Something totally RAD!

I have not written a blog in just about nearly forever. Number one I think it’s crazy that I even managed to remember my password! Number two – the reason I want to write again… it’s because I can run! Yep I can run – mind you slowly but I can.

 After sitting down and analyzing why on earth I have a writing bug in me about this, I finally got to the why factor. It’s not because I’ve lost weight, no I’ve done that before. I can’t remember what is the biggest I’ve ever been – but if I had to guess I’d say it was 220lbs plus a little here or there. This was about 14 years ago, back then I was determined to lose weight! And I did. I went to the gym and busted my butt and lost a lot of weight. Since then it has been an ongoing yoyo, like so many other people out there. Up ten down five up twenty! Blah! What a pain. Needless to say; been there done that.

What is so different about this, well now I know I can lose weight. I know I can go to the gym for an hour a day and change my diet and TADA! I can lose weight.  I never knew or thought that I could RUN. I know that sounds funny but it’s true. About two years ago I started going to the gym in one of my “I am going to lose weight” type mind sets. I did go and although I was terrified to try Zumba I did that too. I even went to weight lifting classes. Neither of these made me feel like they were things that I could not accomplish. I’ve done some booty shaking in my time so all though I was intimidated by Zumba I still had a feeling like it was something I could do. I loved it. Running – that is different, since I was in Middle School I hated running I avoided it at all cost and made sure that I did as little as humanly possible.  You know on the track in school – I run the curves and walk the straight away! Yeah that was a big IF I even made it to gym class that day!

Getting started- Life takes over sometimes, one busy day turns into a very busy week, turns into a busy month, turns into busy life.  You’re going to think I’m crazy but after I came back to work the thought of taking out an hour and a half or so to hit the gym a few time a week seamed unreal.  I mean how is that possible?! So the weight came back, very sneaky like… BOOM HI I’M BACK! I was in denial.  Then something happened last September that turned things around, my boss attempted to run a 5K and was not very happy with the outcome. Over the next few months he started training and his drive and determination began to wear on me. He went to a trip to Vegas and got every run in during that time – throughout Christmas he kept things in control while I chomped on all kinds of things that were NO BUENO! Ok they were really really yummy but not so good for my waist line. By January my mind was made up, I would give it a go. See what would happen...

On 1/12/2013 I went for my first training run, the App I was using at the time was the Couch-2-5K on my android phone. I had to alternate a 90 sec walk with a 60 sec run for about 20minutes. I.thought.I.was.going.to.die. Turns out I didn’t die though; on 3/30/2013 I ran my first 5K!!!!

 

I could write more and more about my whole journey but I won’t bore with that for now :)My next post will contain embarrassing details like time and stuff!