Fish and More
I guess it is not really a surprise that I have fallen off the blogging bandwagon yet again, is it?

Things are going well on the WW front. There has been some bumps along the way and my loss has slowed but I am still down over 25 lbs since September so that is not bad at all.

I just need to be really diligent in tracking, that is the key to keep me losing. When I don't track, I am much more likely to make poor choices. Well, not necessarily poor choices but choices that may not have been the best choice possible.

I have been eating more fish. I am not a seafood fan so this is a big leap for me. Tonight was another leap for me, as far as seafood goes. I have been eating only fresh fish but tonight, I tried some "previously frozen" turbo fillets. I didn't know it had been frozen or I would have chosen a different fish. As it was, I did like it. Greg had asked me to get cod and I decided to try turbo instead. I just didn't tell him it was cod and he was fine with it.

Catching Up

The Great Pumpkin 5K was on October 9th. Kaity, Nicholas, Greg and I all ran it.

I had a goal time in mind and was actually 7 minutes under it. I am not going to post my finishing time because, frankly, it is rather embarassing. It shows me how much I have let my running slide but I am trying to get back up to what I would consider to be an acceptable pace for me. Nicholas, who never runs, finished in about 25 minutes. What a stinker!

Things with WW continue to go well. I am six weeks into the program and am down almost 18lbs! I have not taken measurements but will next time I get my hair cut. I decided to take pictures when I get my haircut. I had thought about every 10 lbs but I will never remember to do it. I get my haircut every 6 weeks though and that will be an easy way for me to remember. Am I going to post the pictures here? Unlikely but perhaps.

I did notice that my capri yoga pants are falling off my waist. When I put them on to go to the bus, I was very irritated at having to hike them up every few steps and then I realized "Hey, I have to hike these back up every few steps!" It is a good thing.

I hurt my ankle walking down the wet hill to the mailbox yesterday. I just slipped in the grass, klutz. So it is not really sprained but it is sore and a bit swollen. I can walk alright but I don't want to try running on it until Satruday at the earliest

5%!!

Since it is Tuesday, I had a weigh in today. I didn't post last week but I did lose last week as well. As of today, I am down another 3.2 lbs, putting me at 5% of my starting weight lost! Woo hoo!

I have to say, I really thought I would not like Weight Watchers much. I was sure that I was going to be limited in what I could eat and because of that, I would feel unsatisfied and hungry.

This week, I had a Chipotle Burrito Bowl...with guacamole and still lost over 3 lbs. Weight Watchers really is not a diet, it truly is about totally changing your eating habits and how you look at food.

The other night, Greg and I went out running. I had my podcast turned down low enough that I could converse with him but still hear the prompts...so I thought. I kept waiting to hear "You are half way" when I suddenly heard "Cool down" Whoops! I let it cycle down and just ended up doing 2 reps of that specific work out.

Since it was raining yesterday and I hate starting a run in the rain, I decided to get up on the hated treadmill. I went through my workout and finally looked at the display. It was nearly a mile less than what I do outside in the same amount of time...how did that happen?

Greg, Kaitlyn and I are signed up for a 5K this saturday,my first 5K in over a year. We will see how it goes.

Down!

Woo hoo! I was down almost 9 lbs at my first weigh in today. I know I won't continue to lose that much each week but it was pretty darn awesome to see.

I will be so glad when my mouth is healed. I had to get a root canal and then a crown fitted. While I was numb, I bit my cheek....which was then further irritated by shots to numb it for additional work. So I have a very swollen mouth, a bruise on the roof of my mouth and even a prescription rinse only helps for so long.

I decided to take a page from Andrea's book, as it were, and get pictures taken of me every 10 lbs. The first one, that started this entire thing, will never, ever be posted. I may or may not post the others.

Yay FreeAgents! They have a page on Facebook. I really need to stop into RWOL more often but when I know I am not running like I should, it is a bit hard to be enthusiastic about posting crummy milage.

Wake Up Call

Once again, I have let my blogging fall to the side while I do other things.

I knew I was overweight (seriously, how could I not with a blog titled what it is) but always kinda kidded myself that I “carried my weight well”, I was “tall so I could weigh more anyway”. I was shocked, horrified and embarrassed when I saw a picture of myself that my son had taken at the beach. No swimsuit picture is flattering but this showed me from the side and soaking wet. Ouch. What an (unpleasant) eye opener. Much as I despise that picture and would love to just delete it off the camera, I am actually going to print it and put it in my journal to remind myself exactly WHY (one of many reasons) I decided to join WW.

Tuesday was my first meeting and I am on day 3 of the program. So far, it is going well. I am not eating my full range of points but only because if I eat any more, I will explode! I am sure as my points shrink, I am going to be looking at how they managed to go by so quickly.

Last night I actually ate a bell pepper with hummus. This may not sound like a big deal but - I don't normally eat bell peppers and I have never liked hummus (I don't like peas) I tried an orange bell pepper since they are supposed to be more sweet and the hummus I got was pretty good. Greg said it was not the best hummus he has ever tasted but until my tastebuds expand some, it is working for me.

Something New!

I decided that this blog was looking tired and needed a facelift. I am not sure how I like this but it will do for now.

Plodding Along

After months of nothing but lackluster running, I decided to kick myself in the butt and start running more again.

The past week, I finished out a 5 day running week with double digit milage. It sounds much more impressive than it actually is given that my weekly milage is less than some of my previous single runs. Bleh.

Still, I know the only way to get back there or close to where I was is to actually get out there and work at it. To that end, I ran 5 days last week and started out this week with a longer, slow run.

Nope, not gonna get milage or split times from me yet. I am too embarassed to actually post how slow I have become and how pitiful my milage is. Yes, any milage is better than none but I am allowed to call it pitiful.

My goals for this week is to run 4 more times and gradually increase both distance and pace.

Second verse (or third or fourth), Same as the First

Yes, I have fallen badly off the blogging wagon. I do tweet and discuss things over on Twitter. I like to think of it as blogging light.

It is the time of the year for WTP and I did sign up for my third year with them. I have been doing various exercise for 30-60 min a day in addition to getting out on the trail.

This is something I need to do for me and unless I get some form of accountability, it is just not going to happen so here I am, blogging again.

How Ironic

You know the song I am talking about...Isn't Ironic? Well, I so had that happen to me.

As I mentioned way back in May, I joined the Women's Training Program again in a (vain) attempt to kick start me into activity. Yeah, I did my runs, yeah, I showed up but I just felt my motivation was about -5.

On race day, my 5 yr old who wanted to run, decided that it was too darn hot and humid (and it was) to run so I walked the 5K with her. We did have little spurts of running. She was my pace setter so we ran when the mood would strike her and walk when it did not. I clocked in my slowest 5K ever ;) but since I turned off the Garmin, I have no clue. I know we were right about the 1 hour mark.

So it was ironic and bittersweet that Ann, the program director, got up and started talking about the most inspirational runner in the program and then called ME up there! Despite fervent pleas, the ground did not open up and swallow me. I had to go up in front of 500 people and be held up as an inspiration.

Wow, that is something to live up to and even more so when *I* know that my inspiration abilities are so sadly lacking.

So, what to do about it? I am at the point I swore I would never get to. My time has been shot to hell, all my conditioning is nearly gone and while I have been out, I am run/walking and doubt I could make it 3 miles right now if I didn't walk.

My plan of attack....run often, run more. It is simple yet such a hard thing to start all over again. We won't even discuss my weight.

:::sigh::: I am so disgusted with myself and truly, the only one I can point a finger at is myself.

Good Grief!

I knew I had fallen miserably off the blogging wagon but I didn't realize I fell quite so hard.

I could give a whole list of excuses for not blogging, for not running as much as I should, for not doing a lot of things but they are just excuses. Boring, not of interest to anyone but enough to suck the will to do a lot of things right out of me.

I signed up for the Women's Training Program being offered through the Reston Runners. I went through it last year in the hopes of motivating me and I think I just relied too heavily on it. For me to get back into the running habit, I am going to have to dig into me and not look for an external source to boost me up.

Greg got a new bike (who knows why? His other bike is fine but now he can get home a whopping 5 minutes sooner but who I am to say anything since I have a slew of ponies around) so his "old" bike is now mine to use. I am really going to buckle down and alternate riding and running. I am not looking forward to how my rear is going to fell when I first start riding.

So my long distance plan is to train with the WTP and run the 5K at the end of June. We will see how things go from that point on.

Yay Jenny!

Fantastic news for Jenny! Lumpy has not returned, no signs of cancer!

Spirit of the Marathon

A Jenny update: Her biopsy showed it is not AML, her WBC is going down and she is feeling good. They are still checking to rule things out but it was incredible to see the milage being ran for Jenny yesterday.

Today was a special showing of the movie Spirit of the Marathon It follows six runners as they prepared for the 2005 Chicago Marathon. We got tickets for it a few weeks ago and I was really looking forward to seeing it.

All I can say is : How freaking awesome! It was so inspiring to see "normal" people as well as elite runners preparing. I had to laugh (as did everyone) when a 26 yr old who was running her first marathon relayed the following:

"I tell my friends I am running a marathon and they ask me if I expect to win. Win? (laughs) No, I will be happy to finish!" Isn't that the truth? Why does everything have to be about winning? I only "race" against myself and I "win" everytime I get out there and finish a race.

It is just incredible to see these elite runners finishing 26.2 miles in just over 2 hours. I can't event finish 13 miles in that time. So they run twice as far as I can and faster. Incredible.

Go see this movie if you have the chance, there is a repeat showing on February 21. Check the website above for a theater near you. It is worth it!

ORN: I saw a movie about running, does that count?

For Jenny

Jenny is a poster on Runners World Beginners Forum. She is a lawyer and runs an insane amount of milage each week. Now, what is your idea of insane? 50 miles? 70 miles? Would you believe that she routinely clocks in over 100 miles a week?

Jenny not only runs and lawyers, she is also a cancer survivor. Last year, she found Lumpy, who turned out to be Hodgkin. Jenny completed her treatment and has been doing well. She has elevated WBC and a tender liver. She got a bone marrow biopsy to check for a variety of things and is waiting on news.

Someone on the forum suggest we run milage for Jenny. If Jenny can be the strong woman she is, I can suck it up and do 3 on the hamster wheel for her.

Feeling Miserable

Not me! Woo hoo...not that I am glad that anyone is feeling miserable. If someone has to be feeling miserable, I am glad it is not me.

I got up at 5:40 am to take Nicholas to seminary. He was still in bed so I got himm up. I heard him get into the shower. It is nearly 6 am and he is still not out and ready to go so I went to see what was up. He was back in bed and mumbled pathetically "I don't feel good." This is not like him so I told him to go back to sleep but next time, come and tell me before I sit half awake waiting to take him. He felt pretty crummy all day long. He took some Nyquil tonight and we will see in the morning how he feels. Since he did feel so rotten all day, I told him to stay home tomorrow but he wants to go to school.

I slipped on the ice outside the other day and twisted an ankle. Not badly but I am feeling it when I go on the stairs and attempted the treadmill. I am hoping it will be good tomorrow.

ORN: about a minute on the treadmill before Mr. Ankle asked to get off

We Have Ice!

Since I have not yet filled in the missing posts, you don't know that our freezer fritzed out on us. First the dryer, now the freezer. It was still keeping things relatively frozen but no ice. Naturally, we discovered this on Saturday morning. We had hopes that one of the kids had left the door open but with no ice and nothing refreezing solidly, our hope went down in flames.

The guy came today and replaced some thermostat in there and we have ice! I have heard it crashing into the container on a regular basis. So, we have ice in the freezer and plenty of ice outside.

Today not only was husband home but the kids were home as well. Two of the boys were supposed to be going on an almost 5 mile hike around the Manassas Battlefield. Greg was planning to go along to be one of the adult leaders. It was below 20F this morning and so I shot down the idea of the two boys going. They really don't have the clothing to withstand this kind of cold long term, one is dealing with a nasty double ear infection and the other is coughing (along with everyone else) Greg went up anyway and was willing to go along but after outlining our reasons for our boys not going, the hike was called.

We got Tinsel a new bed today since she has outgrown her other one. We found a nice pillow at Sam's but it had some greasy dirt spots. I asked about it, it is a discontinued item so no hope of it coming back in. I pointed out many others with similar stains so they took nearly half off. Tinsel likes her new bed.

ORN: Lost motivation, if found, please send my way because I really need it!

Grooming 101

See yesterday, I am still whipped

Cool Toys

Place holder, I have this written and just need to upload it!

Can We Get A Break?

Two hour delay this morning for school. Big surprise...

Yes, it actually snowed yesterday but along with it, Devin started to complain of his ears bothering him. He saw an oncologist on Tuesday, his ears were clear. He came down in tears last night so I gave him something and sent him back to bed.

I called for almost 2 hours this morning before I finally got through and was able to make an appointment for him. The doctor confirmed he not only has an ear infection, he has a pretty nasty ear infection in both ears. He is now taking drugs and is sleeping with a humidifier in his room to help with his cough. Obviously, he stayed home today. This week, he only made it to school one day. Next week, they have off Monday, Friday and the following Monday.

I am determined to just grit my teeth and get on that darn treadmill. I am considering taking the DVD player from the upstairs bedroom and take it downstairs. Maybe if I pop in a DVD, it will help pass the time.

ORN: Think of Scarlett, tomorrow is another day

Snow! Snow!

We had snow in the forecast but you all know how that works. Yeah, we may get snow and we may not. We were on the edge of the light snowfall and the heavier snowfall. It started snowing about 10 am yet school remained in, not even a 2 hour early release. I was surprised since we ended up getting more than 5" of snow.

The kids wanted to go out and play so badly but today was the first day this week that everyone went to school. Even Rhys was not coughing much.

With the snow comes the slippery black ice underneath so no outside running for me. I find as I get older, I am a lot more wary of running on less than stable surfaces.

ORN: ::::sigh:::::

Place marker

I am marking my place until I can write up today.

Now, don't take that to mean anything earth shattering is going to be here, just sick kidlets that want momma and no one else will do.

Wednesdays are always hectic around here because there is so much going on in the evenings. We have dinner earlier than normal so we can get out the door for Young Men, Achievement Girls and any other activity that could be going on. In this case, I had a Cub Committee Meeting after YM.

Devin was home sick again and Rhysie didn't want to let me go anywhere. Ugh, I will be so glad when sickness is gone.

ORN: Now I wonder why I put this here when it seems that everything conspires to stop me from putting running actually here!