Less than 16 weeks!!

If you can imagine, time is just flying by these days. It is now less than 16 weeks until I run the Okanagan Half Marathon in October. To get myself motivated, I created a poster for myself to countdown my workouts and hopefully have fun colouring and showing my son every time I go out running so he sees that I am an active person. I also made a poster for my friend who is running the same race as her first ever half marathon. She has been doing awesome so far, and together we manage to get out about once a week running. This week we started hills for the first time. We did two, and it was tough. It was a hot day, and we were both pushing a Chariot loaded up with two kids. So, I guess that was a bit of extra resistance, next week we'll do three, and hopefully can find the time to go without the kids, so we don't have the extra load!!

Things have been going pretty well lately. Today I took Sullivan running in the Chariot along with Cronos (the dog). I ran a route that ended up being 9.3km long. It was quite windy, so the uphill into the wind parts were definitely challenging. I had my ipod with me and was loving all the different songs that came on. It was a great run.

And, as for the weighing in... well, I just weighed myself, and was 189.4 pounds (85.91kg). Now, that might be a little low because perhaps my fluid intake should be more yet today (and it will be), but imagine the excitement when I stepped on the scale and was in the 180s!! That hasn't happened since before I was pregnant and even then, it's lower than I have been for at least a couple years now (I had been hovering around the 200 mark for quite some time). So, this was a huge accomplishment today. And this is good, because if I keep at it, the less I weigh, the easier the running will be, and since I am truly hoping to break an hour for a 10km sometime, this is extremely important!! That's it for now though...

Overcoming the temptation...

So, I was at the grocery store this morning, and possibly a little hungry while I was there. I needed to buy some groceries for dinner and decided on hot dogs, with salad on the side, and corn, and celery and carrots. Oh, and some peppers and onions for the actual hot dogs. As I was choosing the buns, I was so tempted to get a pastry of some sort. Everything looked fantastic. I mean truly. I could have had one of each. Even the little cinnamon danishes looked amazing and that might not normally be my first choice. It took everything I had but managed to get through without buying any. Instead I bought a grapefruit and a bag of grapes. So, that was a small little victory in the grand scheme of things.

And things are still going well in the weight loss department. I just weighed in at 192.6pounds (87.36kg). And that is after a somewhat disastrous weekend of eating. Started out good on the Friday with salmon and salad, but things just went downhill after that. Oh well, every day is a new day and even if things don't go well one day, that doesn't mean we can't improve for the next day!!

On the exercise front, things have been rocking. The last two weeks I have done amazing. I ran several times, once even at a pace of 10.1km an hour including hills (it was a treadmill workout). Another time, I thought I was running 6km, but it turned out to be 7.8km. And, I have been getting my strength workout in as well. At least 2 workouts a week of that, which is much better than other weeks. So, we're getting somewhere. And now, with a half marathon on the horizon for the fall, I will have to keep up with the training so that maybe I can have a personal best for that race!!

The Running Socks...

So, the other day, I went to see a movie, UP, with my husband, kids, and a friend and her kids. It was a great movie. As I was getting ready to go though, I chose to put on running socks. I really wanted to go running that day and figured if I was already wearing running socks it would help me be just that little bit closer to running.

Next up, we get invited to my brother's place for dinner. And, we go. I was worried that running wouldn't fit in to my day. And really, by the time we got home and got the kids to bed, it was after 9:30pm. I said to my husband that I didn't think I'd have time to run, and he said "but you already are wearing your running socks!!" He was right, and so I put on shorts and a tshirt and went to the basement to run on the treadmill. I only did a half hour program, intervals, but was so glad that I actually went down and did it, since really, I could have just stayed upstairs and watched television.

And, the moral of the story is... sometimes, doing something to give yourself the upper hand, really is the way to go. If I hadn't put on my running socks before leaving earlier in the day, there is a high probability that I wouldn't have gone running at all. But, since I already had the socks on, there was really no excuse... and so, I ran...

Now, it's been one week since I started this blog, and I now weigh 194.6pounds (88.26kg), so, we're slowly making progress.

Ice Cream Soup...

I have a confession to make. I love mashing up my ice cream and making an almost soup out of it. This started back when I was just a child. Whenever we visited my grandparents' house, we always got to have ice cream sundaes, complete with vanilla ice cream, or butter pecan (my grandma's favourite), and then we got to put on Hershey's Chocolate Sauce, the kind that comes in a can. Sometimes she had the butterscotch as well, but always the chocolate. And cherries, with a little cherry syrup from the jar. And coconut. And optional sliced almonds. My grandpa loved the sliced almonds on his. We always got to choose what we wanted and then ate our sundaes at the table. We always mashed up the ice cream and then ate it all mixed up (we being, my brother and I). It was a childish thing to do, but it was so much fun!! This was one of my favourite things about visiting my grandparents.

Now, fast forward to today. I am a grown adult living in my own house with a family of my own. And, I still love having ice cream. And, even at 35 years old, still love mashing it up. I know I should probably grow up sometime, but why, it's fun. I love it. And, it makes me smile anytime I have one of my mashed up ice cream soup sundaes. Really, it is fantastic. Luckily, this is a treat I try not to indulge in that often. But, it is a treat I love, and it just doesn't taste the same unless you mash it up.

So, I will continue to make my sundaes, and I will continue to run to help offset the extra calories!!

Running shorts...

I ran today, with my friend who recently signed up for a half marathon. She's pretty new to running, so right now it's a combination of running and walking. It felt great, plus, it was nice to be running with someone who is fairly new to running and offering my take on certain elements of running, like the kinds of clothes to wear. It made me stop and think about it, most specifically the leg part of the clothes.

In the summer, I wear shorts to run. They are spandex shorts that I would call bike shorts except that they don't have that extra padding. Back in my younger years though, that is what those shorts were called. I have worn bike shorts for running for as long as I can remember. I am not really one of those people that could ever wear the true running shorts that rival a bikini for the amount of skin they show. I really don't think anyone needs to see my whole thigh while I am running. I also have some bike shorts that are capri length. These are also comfortable to run in. I like having tight style shorts because I don't run into issues with them riding up on me, they stay in place and I feel comfortable in them. I would not feel comfortable in the short short running shorts. And, if you aren't comfortable (both mentally and physically), then you aren't likely to get out and run, so it's important that whatever you choose to wear, you feel good in.

I have started to dabble a bit into the world of running skirts as well. So far, I only have one running skirt and it's actually a maternity skirt, but it is fantastic. I ran a half marathon in it the day after I bought it (okay, I actually walked most of that race, but still). I have a gift card to use at a running store, and I think I will use it to buy a running skirt. That way, I can be stylish and run at the same time!! Can you imagine, I'll be more stylish in my running clothes than I am in every day life!!

Fitness vs. Food

I have goals, I have dreams. Unfortunately, sometimes the goals don't seem to compliment each other. I love baking and cooking and trying new things, but they aren't always the healthiest choices. And, I love running and exercise, but sometimes I am willing to come up with just about every excuse out there to skip it. So I have decided to blog about my journey.

I have big weight loss dreams. There was a point in my life when I weighed just under 150 pounds. For my height, that's about where I should be. I would like to be there again. However, in order for that to happen, I need to shed about 50 pounds. What amazes me about this, is I remember being just under 150 and thinking I was fat. I have since aged a lot and realized that the media really does nothing to help people feel good about themselves. For example, when I once joined weight watchers, I weighed 161 pounds, this was actually on the higher end of the acceptable weight for my height, yet I was there to lose weight. Crazy, isn't it. So here I am announcing to anyone that wants to listen, that I weigh 196.2 pounds and that I am 5'8" tall. I can't believe I am really putting that in print, or virtual blog space. However, I did weigh 242 pounds earlier in the year, in January, right before I had my second child, so, I have come a fair ways since then, but am really only back to where I was before I was pregnant. There is still a way's to go.

I want to use this blog to document my efforts and attempts at all things fitness and food. I know lots about both, yet I am not an expert on either. So, enjoy my efforts and hopefully you will see results.