THE GRAFFITI RUN - St. LOUIS!!!!

OMG...It was so much fun!

 Here are some photos from the fun both before and after....

I had a personal best today... Here are my Un-"Official Stats"

I look forward to my next 5K on May 18th!!!

Calling an end to radio silence

It has been a while...well actually WAY to long since I have posted anything.

I apologize for being so...absent...lately.

So here is a little catch up on what has been going on.

1) Weight Loss- I lost 1.8 pounds over the month of March.  This doesn't bother me at all. I have learned things over the last year and a half that tell me that ANY TIME I increase my exercise (in this case running longer) my body FREAKS and tries to hold on to any and EVERY gram of fat that my body has. It doesn't like it at all! It wants to be fat...which I don't like.

2)Running- It is only logical to move to this topic next. I am in love with this simple activity. I love how it makes my muscle feel even when they are so shaky I think I won't be able to take another step. I love how it makes me feel ABOUT myself. I totally have one of these moments every time...

The greatest thing you ask? I don't give a damn. I am a 268 pound women who runs 4 miles 3-4 days a week. I am kicking ass!

3) Slimming and Goo!- I don't know about the rest of you...but my band is being a little pissy lately. I CONSTANTLY have to keep my little red friend near by when I eat or drink.

It is an almost daily thing that has gotten worse over the last few days. I mean...I went from maybe once a day but more like three days a week having to deal with the slime/goo. Now it is almost EVERY TIME I eat. I have no idea what to do. It has been almost 6 months since my last fill. I have a hard time believing that this is because of my fill level. This next part has been written since I wrote the above part I have found a theory I am going to test. My restriction has gotten worse since I increased my cheese intake. I am going to leave it out of my diet for a week and see if there is any change.

4)Employment- As I am sure some of you know I have been working at an internship for the last five months. As of Wednesday, it be came a permanent position. They are keeping me on a part time accountant. I will work when they need me and not work when they don't need me. This is the best of both worlds. I get to further my career while still getting to spend time with my babies.

5) Graduation - FIVE MORE WEEKS!!!

1 Week and counting....

My first 5K is coming up in 8 days....I am SUPER excited!

I have gotten to where I can run (and prefer to run) 4 miles at a time...

On that note...I have signed up for another 5K.

The Saint Louis Zoo has something they call Make Tracks for the Zoo. It is a family event. My daughter (7) gets run in a 1/2 mile race and my son (3) gets to participate in a 1/4 miles run.

We all get T-shirts and the money is for a good cause...

SO EXCITED!!!

Little tidbit I just had to share

Until Sunday...I hadn't gotten a run in for almost 2 weeks...

I was sick as a dog but soon found myself not wanting to run...

So Sunday I ran ...

The aftermath of my run on Sunday....

Monday I was sore...as was to be expected....so I didn't run

This brings us to today...

After class today I found myself kid free...With my kids on Spring Break they have been spending a lot of time at Papa's house. While I miss them like crazy I am super glad that they are having fun.

Anyways...It was 60 degrees out side with a nice little breeze so I decided to go to the lake not far from my house to run outside.

While in the car I found myself NOT wanting to run the C25K program for the day. I didn't want to have to stop and walk....With that, a crazy thought started to grow in the back of my mind...

The track around the lake is 3.7 miles...I wondered if I would be able to run for the entire 3.1 miles of a 5K. I started out walking...classic warm up....At .35 miles into the track...I began to jog.

There were times when what I was doing could barely be called "jogging" I was going so slow...or felt like I was going so slow. 

The most astonishing thing...I didn't stop...I jogged for 3.6 miles without stopping. It took me 57:07 to complete the entire 3.9 (including the warm up)...I was so proud of myself. I have never in my life done that. I proved to myself that I CAN do it...

Ok to be honest...my time should be 55:07 and I did stop....once...there was a lady there jogging who got tangled up in her dogs leash. It was almost slow motion watching her fall to the ground. As I approached I watched as people just ran around her...looked at her like she was in their way...I noticed that her puppy was trying to escape so I quickly grabbed his leash and went to help her up. She was bleeding but was ok once the other good Samaritan (a bike rider) and I managed to find someone with napkins. Once she was safely tucked away I continued my run...It may have messed up my time but if I ever fall and have blood gushing from my eyebrow I hope someone stops to help me.

There are some moments in your life where you would have to get better to die

That is how I felt this weekend.

What started a stupid cold ended up with me going to bed at 5 pm on Saturday...waking up off and on all night feeling nauseated and throwing up....At one point I was sleeping on the bathroom floor because getting out of bed was too hard....I finally got out of bed at 9 am only to move to the couch.

I ate nothing...I barely got fluids in me and that was only though sheer determination by the hubby to get me to drink my Gatorade.

I even posted on Facebook that feeling like crap would have been an upgrade from how I felt.

Thank god this only took 24 hours to get over...it was the longest 24 hours of my life...

As you can imagine I am a little off as far as my diet goes...

Yesterday I ate 4 saltines, a banana, and a small bowl of egg drop soup.

Today I drank a protein shake, ate beef fried rice, and a hot dog....not exactly quality diet material.

I also haven't run in over a week....This is not good for my fat little self.

Tomorrow I am going to get my ass back in gear...I add one disclaimer to that...If this motion induced headache doesn't go away...the run will not happen!!

I will keep you posted...

Finally...Weigh in day

Ok so technically it was on Wednesday...but with tax season and school in full swing I am running a bit behind.

Beginning Weight (12/20/2012)- 330.6

Last Months’s Weight – 277.2

Today’s Weight – 270.6

Total Weight Loss – 60

FINALLY!!!

I have lost 60 pounds!

The hubby is still withholding my scale...That means that I don't get to weigh in again until the 5th of April. I have to admit that it is nice...I just focus on getting my runs in and balancing it with my calories...I try not to stress...It seems to be working

Let see if we can keep it up!!

My story of why I ended up crying on the treadmill

That title kinda makes me feel like I am one of those short story authors that don't tell you their new book is actually a collection of short stories....oh wait....I kinda am!

Story #1 - My day to day life with diet haters

Much like the rest of you (if anyone out there still READS this blog) I am on journey. I pretty much NEVER call it a "Diet"...I mean it is a diet in the sense that the definition of diet is  the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats. For me, it is a lifestyle change as cliche as that sounds.

So on to the store of the day...I am not sure how much about me you all know...First, I am an overweight person who had lap-band surgery. With that I live on a high protein diet. Second, I am gluten intolerant. That last part is the one that most people seem to want to guilt me about...which I don't get.

I can't have donuts, pizza, bread, cake, cookies, pies...most things that I don't eat anyways!

When people realize this I typically have this conversation:

T=Them M=Me

T - "So you mean you can't have pizza?"
M - "No, the crust has gluten."
T - "I am so sorry..."
M - "Why?"
T -  "Craving food is the spice of life. It is just so satisfying to eat the foods you want."

Typically by this point I can't help but wonder when I mentioned that I wanted pizza. I used to eat pizza every Friday....I used to love donuts, and cake and cookies, but once I realized that I can't tolerate gluten I realized how SHITTY these food made me feel. After while you don't WANT to eat this stuff.

I miss sandwiches, but not enough that eating the pieces of the sandwich sans the bread won't cure it.

The conversation typically continues with....

T- "I feel so bad for you...I don't think I could do that."
M- "Meh, you get to a point where you don't even want it."
T - "Yeah, keep telling yourself that." (Typically laced with sarcasm)

I had this conversation today with a friend at school. He told me he was having pizza for dinner. I made the mistake of mentioning that I don't eat pizza...Interjected in the conversation above was the explanation that I was having stew (Creamy Beef Stew with mashed cauliflower). It is this BEAUTIFUL stew that it SO satisfying. Chalked full of vegetables and yumminess....SO MUCH BETTER THEN PIZZA. Yet, I am the one being pitied...I find this just as aggravating as when people find out that I have a lap-band and they whip out the "You don't need that...you are perfect the way you are." WTF??

Story #2 - Crying on the treadmill

Again for those of you that know me...I am training for a 5K. I am participating in The Graffiti Run on April 13th. My goal is to be able to run the ENTIRE 3.1 miles. I have been training with the Couch25K program. It is a step by step training program...It is kinda awesome...

Anyways...This last Saturday I completed Week 5 Day 1. That consisted of a 5 min warm up, 8 min job, 5 min walk, 8 min job, and a 5 min cool down....I was SO excited...I made it the first 8 minutes without stopping. I glanced at the next training day. That ridiculous program thought that I could go from barely running 8 minutes to running for 20 minutes non-stop.

Today I walked into the gym today at school. I was fully intending to repeat the last day. I couldn't help but think how ridiculous it was to thing that I...a fat chick weighing in at 277 (at last weigh in) could possibly run for 20 minutes non-stop. I had barely made it 8.

My husband ,while I was ranting about this ridiculous next step, kept telling me that endurance by this point was more about the muscle between my ears and not the ones on my legs. Between him and my test score in cost accounting (I kicked that test ass...I got an 89 when the class average is 72) I decided that I should at least try what was the worst that I could happen...I not make it?

So with my mind set and my music blaring in my ears I started my jog. Pretty soon I was at the 8 minute jogging mark....then 9....then 10...then 15...All the while I had a HUGE grin on my face...I no doubt looked crazy...then the 20 minute mark hit...that is not to say that it was easy...it took a lot of working though the pain and convincing myself not to stop...but I MADE IT!

It was at this point that I started to cry....I was so proud of myself...so overwhelmed with this achievement that tears rolled down my still smiling cheeks. I am fairly certain that no one noticed since I had gallons of sweat running down my face at the same time.

OMG....I...a fat, overweight women who had NEVER run that far or that long in her LIFE successfully ran 20 minutes!

I am tickled....and those are my stories for the day!

Give me a shout out if you are still out there!...Peace and love to all!!