Top 10 finish

Yesterday was the backwards mile race, I was #220. Unfortunately, I woke up with a cold on Thursday morning and then had a bout of intestinal distress Thursday night into Friday morning. By Friday afternoon I was feeling a little better and the kids really wanted to do their race yesterday, so I decided to go for it on the backwards mile. There were only seven racers, and I did come in last, my husband had the kids yell "You'll be in the top 10" when I first ran by. If I was feeling better I think I could have come in as high as third, I couldn't have been more than a minute or so behind the other racers, except the winner. He had clearly trained for this backwards mile and I heard him talking about other events he had done. He finished in 7:57, right after he lapped me on the 1/2 mile course. I think it took me about 18:00, I wasn't really all that tired when I finished, that's how I know I could have gone a bit faster. I'm a bit sore today, but not nearly as much as I had expected. It was a very strange experience running backwards, I'll plan to make it an annual event. Next year I'm going for first female finisher! Or not.

The kids race was ridiculously short, maybe 100 feet or so. There were only 4 kids entered, a girls older than Hot Wheels and then one younger than Superman. They finished in chronological order as well. All the kids got a green ribbon and a lollipop. Unfortunately our camera batteries quit just as I tried to get a picture of the start, oh well. Cutie was back at my parents' house, so we went to pick her up and the boys had a donut that grandpa bought. Okay, I had a jelly donut, too. It tasted worth the calories.

The rest of the weekend has been spent finishing some painting, doing some cleaning projects and getting ready for Hot Wheels' fifth birthday parties next weekend with our family. Really, I'm about to be the parent of a five year old. How did that happen, didn't he just come home from the hospital?

Home transformation project #2

Kitchen before:

Kitchen after:

This may be one of the most dramatic home improvements we'll ever make. The difference with that wall open is incredible. I used to hate sitting in one chair in the family room because it felt claustrophobic, but now it's great. In case I haven't mentioned it recently, my husband is completely awesome and has busted his butt for the past seven months to get us moved and into this house. We've lived there five months today and he's already done the bathroom and this project.

By the way, the picture of the boys was from when they were helping dad install the recessed lighting. Hot Wheels has the shop vac hose for reducing the dust flying around when he cut the ceiling and Superman was in charge of lighting.

A rather uninspired strength training workout this morning. I'm bench pressing 65 lbs, but the third set's a challenge. I'm also down from 120 lbs to 90 lbs of assistance on the pull-up machine. I'm making progress and even a less-than-stellar effort is better than nothing.

Watch out for that....flat spot....there

This morning for the second time in one week I tripped while running on the treadmill. Maybe it's the treadmill with speed bumps? I was able to catch myself before falling- a lifetime of clumsiness has gained me decent reflexes for that sort of stuff at least- but I still was annoyed. At that point I decided to stop at 2 miles rather than run the planned 4.5 miles. I switched to the elliptical trainer for the remainder of my workout. From now on I'm only running on the back corner treadmill, less likely that eight people would watch me trip from there, unlike my front and center performance today. Ugh.

The rest of the day has followed suit as just being annoying. I'm going to blame it on being tired and move on. I was really hoping to hit 4.5 miles today, I felt good for the 2 I ran before tripping, but I was just done after that. Oh well.

Until I have the final home renovation project pictures to post, here are the boys "helping".

It was short.

This morning's one mile time: 7:54. Absolutely as fast as I could go on a treadmill. I still have no idea what that would translate to in a self-powered mile, I'm hoping I could do somewhere in the 8:30 range.

Then I walked around the gym, did a half-hearted lifting set and dragged my butt to my desk. I'm just not feeling up to anything today. I feel like I'm walking through water, or a fog, or something.

Here's a picture of Cutie's first experience with sweet potatoes last week. So far it's the only food she likes. She really ate some, she didn't just wear it. She wants to charge of that spoon, though, and is quite annoyed that after this result, we limit her spoon control because we don't want to bathe her immediately after every meal. She's quite laid back, but with a streak of independence as well.

But I really meant it

I've got a friend trying to lose weight and I've been trying to be the motivator and positive outlook for her as she hasn't been as successful as she would like. My year to date has been mostly successful in that area and I was entirely sincere when I was telling her that she should be focusing on the positive improvements she's made when the scale didn't tell her what she wanted. And I meant it. Really. Until I stepped on the gym scale this morning and read 157. What? Last Friday read 156 and this was my best week of running and lifting ever. I even ate well for the most part and tracked my food. Usually I've got a feeling before I get on the scale and I know about how the week has gone, today I expected closer to 155- not 157. And you know what? It ruined my mood. I completely ignored my fast run to date, my longest run to date and how good I felt. That number crushed me. Guess I haven't come quite as far as I thought.

Thursday 5K and stuff

This was Thursday 5K #4 and my time was 29:32. Sort of. I made it 2.1 miles and had to take a break for the bathroom and then finished in a total running time of 29:32, but it was probably a three minute bathroom break. I'm not sure why I have such a digestion problem with running and why it's more of a problem some days than others. It's a bit discouraging to think of trying to run longer distances when I don't want to be that far from a restroom the whole time! (Part of the reason that treadmill running is good for me.) Overall I was very pleased with how the run felt, I think I even could have gone a little faster, next Thursday I'll try 6.4 mph. That should be a low 29 minute 5K. I sure never thought I'd be at this point before Cutie was even seven months old! She will be on Saturday, by the way. I'll have new pictures soon.

In other news I'm feeling particularly effective and motivated lately. Two nights this week I've been painting, because once we painted the ceiling I realized how awful the hallway looked so I'm painting that. The problem is that the hallway wall meets up with the kitchen wall and now I can see how awful the paint in the kitchen looks so I'll likely be investing more time and money into kitchen painting now. Superman has been "helping" me paint. He's actually done quite a good job in open wall areas with the roller and when he can't paint he sits and supervises me. He also likes to keep me company and tell me stories. He's so adorable sometimes. I'm kicking some butt at work and just feeling good in general. Home transformation project #2 should be finished this weekend and it is awesome. I'll share pictures of that as well.

I'm toying with the idea of a June sprint triathlon. A little crazy since I haven't swam or biked in a year or so. Could I really get ready on just two months notice? Or do I want to focus a little more on the running and then add the training for the August triathlon? I'm just not sure. Oh well, these are great "problems" to have in life.

Expectations

I had very low expectations for this week based on how it started. Sunday night Cutie slept from 7:30pm-10:30pm and then was up quite a bit for the rest of the night. Finally at 4:30am I got up and left her in the crib, I had resolved that I was going to get back to the gym this week and husband was going to be on duty. I warned him that he should go to bed early on Sunday night, I think he regretted not taking that advice. I left just before 5am (as he tried to settle her back down, but she was up for the day) and got to the gym for 5:30am. It was a lifting day so I was going to do a short cardio session and then the weights. I hit the treadmill and thought for grins I'd set it to 7.5 mph (8 min mile) and see if I could make half a mile. Well, I ended up running one mile in SEVEN MINUTES AND FIFTY NINE SECONDS. I got to 7:30 and I had to crank the speed a little to get there under eight minutes. I was really psyched about that effort. The only downside was that it reminded me I do really have asthma and the rest of the day was spent in a low-intensity asthma state. Not really an attack, just a tightness in my chest and some discomfort. Some day I should go back to a doctor and have a new inhaler prescribed, I'm sure.

Last night was a better night sleep, but I'm still recovering from Sunday night so when Cutie got up at 4:15 I was expecting a bad day. She went back to sleep with only about 5 minutes of back patting and I was once again at the gym for 5:30am. I decided to go 10 minute miles for 3.5 miles, ended up doing FOUR miles. That was my goal for the whole month and here we are with 13 days to go. Woohoo. The only thing I was disappointed with is that I could not have run even one additional minute because of intestinal distress that hit just as I reached four miles. Not sure how, or if, I'm ever going to get past this obstacle, wish I could figure that one out.

All in all the week is blowing away my expectations, I even got some painting done at home last night. After husband and I painted the first floor ceiling this weekend I realized how much I disliked the yellow wall, so yesterday I bought some grey paint and started in. Amazing the difference with a nice coat of paint. Home transformation project number 2 has been a relatively large one and we hope it will be finished this weekend. I'll post pictures when it's done.

Oh, happy feet

It's amazing that I can blow money on many stupid things and then others, that are really necessities, I don't want to spend the money. Way back in 2002- that is SIX years ago, I purchased Wrightsock double layer socks for my training to walk my marathon. I love them and have been wearing the pairs I collected ever since. My double layer socks have been worn to single layer and the seams are shot. So I just broke down and ordered eight new pairs. Woohoo- happy feet again.

I am completely enthralled with the idea of Misty's injinji toe socks, but since I don't blister with these, I'll stick with them. If I ever become the ultra-runner that she is, I might splurge on those.

Post Blip

Not sure where my major mood dip came from yesterday. At one point in the afternoon I was sure that not only would I never work out again, but I was going to gain back all of the almost 40 pounds I have lost and be fat and miserable again. I'm most definitely not pregnant, so I'll blame the mood swing on lack of sleep and move on. I did avoid any further food debacles while at BJ's, although there are chocolate covered almonds in the house now- but likely not for long.

This morning's 5K was the best yet: 29:59 for 3.1 miles. I even bumped up the speed to 6.4mph (9:22 pace) for the last minute or so of the 5K and then kept running until I hit 3.25 miles. Tuesday I'm planning on 3.5 miles. The gym scale still read 156 this morning, so I didn't ruin anything with my poor food choices the past few days, which makes sense.

Now that I've shared my hope that my thighs will soon no longer rub, I've got another body goal that I hope I will achieve. I'd like to get rid of the "underbutt". It's clearly not the top of my leg, but it's not really my butt cheek, it's in between and I call it the underbutt. It's gotten smaller and I hope it's soon to disappear. Although truly my butt is one of my less self-conscious things anyway, I've been told I lack one. I clearly don't, but it's not the same as my bat wings- those are the big trouble spot. I'm not even sure I'll ever be able to lose enough weight to get rid of the bat wings, but I've mostly adapted to them. Just don't stand too close to my upper arm if I wave, I've got triceps, but they're covered by the bat wings, which could probably knock you over.

Blah

Funny, I finally break through a weight loss plateau and my motivation tanks. I missed the gym again this morning (that's twice this week!)- up from 3am- 5:30am with Cutie, and I ate crap today. I'm also off to BJs (wholesale club where we buy diapers, yogurt and a really tasty frozen Chinese food dish) where I will likely partake of more crap- undoing my efforts that got me down to yesterday's glorious 156 at the gym. Maybe 5K day tomorrow will turn me around. I hope. Next week also starts a fitness incentive program at the gym, 10 weeks and you need 40 days of attendance at the gym to win a prize. Last year it was a watch. That should keep me motivated. Maybe.

I'm just going to call it "one of those days" and move on. I'll do my best to resist at BJs.

The long goodbye

There is a parting of the ways that will happen. It's taking a while, longer than I would like, but it is coming. Yes, my right and left inner thighs are headed to a shape and size where they will no longer meet each other with every step I take. This is a much anticipated event, another one I'm hoping will transpire by the end of this month. It's not an official goal because I know it will just happen when I've lost enough weight. When that momentous occasion arises, I will don a pair of nylon shorts to run, I've long been way too embarrassed to be the fatty running with shorts that have long since disappeared up my butt because my thighs rubbing together pulled them right up. I went through four years of high school cross country running in shorts made for girls weighing approximately three pounds and my shorts were perpetually up my butt (And don't get me started on the tank tops that were a second skin). Ever since then I have worn long pants for about 98% of all my gym workouts and events. That's my comfort zone. I don't even own many shorts because I never wear them. This summer, I WILL bust out of the zone and wear shorts. Good-bye inner thigh rub, you can't possible leave soon enough and I won't miss you when you're gone.

Mixed morning

The morning started great- with all three kids sleeping THROUGH the night! The first morning since her arrival that I have not spent time with Cutie before heading off to work. I did check to make sure she was breathing, considered briefly waking her to feed her so she didn't wake up SuperDad at 5am, but decided to let sleeping baby lie and headed off to the gym for 5K day. (He told me she slept until almost 6:30am. She didn't go to sleep until 9:30pm but that's still- nine hours, woohoo! )

Got to the gym and realized I forgot my iPod, grrr.

Stepped on the scale and was pleasantly surprised with a 157.4- after a couple sketchy diet days and poor (to none) workouts Monday through Wednesday. Yeay.

Started my warm up and realized I also forgot to put up my hair, grrr. Went back to the locker room and found my hair band, reminded me I want to get a hair cut soon. Headed back to treadmill.

Ran 3.0 miles at 6.2 mph. Yeay.

Missed a treadmill 5K PR because I saw 3.0 miles and started walking, realized after about 40 seconds I didn't finish the full 5K and ramped up the speed again- final time 30:05- grrr.

But, it felt better than the last 5K, so that's a good sign. In all honesty I have no idea how these treadmill runs will translate into a real, outside race time. With daylight savings starting this weekend, it will still be a while before I'm running outside, so I'm going with what I can for now and hoping that's good enough. I didn't think I'd get to the point where three miles was no big deal- and here I am able to run it with some effort but it's not killing me too much. Some day I'd love to say I'm going to run an "easy five". We'll see.

Unfortunately, the only negative effect of the 5K runs has been that I get quite nauseated and a bit of intestinal distress for the rest of the morning after the run is over. I hope it will subside as I get more consistent with them.

Crazy?

I guess it was meant to be that I would go to the gym this morning not at my usual time but right before lunch. When I walked out of the gym, there was a table outside the cafeteria to recruit members for the work sponsored running. I joined. Yikes.

I have to commit to two races sponsored by work and they pay the entry fee. There are option hill and track workouts that I've heard are guaranteed to improve your running. The track workouts would be difficult to attend, but the hill workouts are at lunch off campus. Maybe. I think my second "A" race of the year, after my August triathlon will be a 10K in October. Six point two miles. I'm sure that sounds like nothing to many people, to me it's pretty huge. It's also the Olympic triathlon run distance, obviously, so maybe I'll be up for a June '09 Olympic? We'll see.

Cracking me up

Yesterday Hot Wheels was just cracking me up and these may not be nearly as funny when you didn't hear them directly, but I have to share anyway.

As I'm unloading groceries from the car, he comes to hold the door open for me (because he's sweet like that and it was raining) and says "Mom, why are they called groceries? I don't think they're gross."

A big interest in our house is space. We love our night time star projector and we look at the constellations almost every night before bed. The boys have both been asking me about zodiac signs- we just call them people's star signs. I never remembered to look up Cutie's star sign and yesterday I was looking at a horoscope page and noticed she's a Leo. I told Hot Wheels and Superman that she's a Leo and Hot Wheels said "Well, since she's still a baby, doesn't that mean she's Leo Minor?" (In case you didn't know, there's a constellation called Leo Minor, right above Leo in the night sky.

Blew off the gym Monday, had an uninspired elliptical trainer day yesterday and missed it again this morning. I might try to get there later in the day today depending upon how my work day progresses. Either way, I'm planning on another "5K Thursday" tomorrow. I hope to make that a habit. Short funk, I hope. Better kick out of it tomorrow.

24 days until the backwards mile and 7 1/2 weeks until the 5K and the "A" race triathlon is set for August 7th. Time to get serious.