1 Year of Tracking

Today marks the 365th day of tracking my food on My Fitness Pal.  1 year of never missing a day.  I'm quite proud I made it to this milestone.  I think it is safe to say that it is a habit at this point and I have every intention of keeping it up.

Yes, I have had many, many discouraging days where I went so far over my calories I was completely embarrassed (even though no one could see my food diary but me).

Yes, I have had success.  I've lost 27 lbs since I started (that was 1 year back in August).

I still have 6 pounds to go to get to my goal weight but I was weakening in my resolve and was fearful of giving up so I went into maintain mode for the summer.  I haven't quite worked up the motivation to get back to losing but I am proud to say that tracking my food has helped me maintain.  This is the first time in my life that I have maintained a loss as opposed to gaining it back as soon as I stopped losing it.

Anyway, I know I haven't been blogging much but this was a notable achievement for me and I needed to pat myself on the back.  :insertgrinhere:

I've lost it...

My resolve...

It seems to have fled somewhere and I cannot find it.

I have been on this weight loss journey for over a year.  I'm tired.

There was success.  Very slow and hard earned success.  I lost a total of 27 pounds (2 sizes) before I hit a plateau and lost my resolve.

Earlier this summer I realized I was teetering on the edge of falling off the wagon so I switched from trying to lose to trying to maintain. That gave me enough extra calories each day to not feel quite as deprived.  In the last couple of weeks, I have noticed that at some point, I began allowing myself to pop a bite or two of something in my mouth and I wasn't tracking it.

Not good.

I refuse to allow myself to go backwards.

I haven't gained any weight back, I'm still at my low, but I'm afraid if I don't find my motivation soon, I will begin to move backwards.  I absolutely do not want to do that.

I also have not been running lately.  No excuse, I've just let myself get so busy that I haven't made time.

I don't have an answer yet and I'm still searching for that resolve that was so strong for most of the last year.  If you find it, could you please send it my way?

Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon

This was a fun, quick, overnight trip down to Springfield, IL to run.  There were quite a few running friends converging from all around the country to run this race and since it was somewhat local for me, and I was trained, I decided to join in on the fun.

I talked Kelly in to coming down with me.  She doesn't enjoy running even a little bit but she didn't mind riding along and relaxing while I was running so it was a win for both of us.  It was nice to spend the time with her catching up.  We live 4 doors down from each other and have been friends since high school but our lives are so busy, we don't get all that much time together.

We left Friday after Kelly got off of work and drove down to Springfield.  We checked in at the hotel and hit the expo right away.  There wasn't much to the expo so it took all of 5 minutes and we were done.  We were supposed to meet up with ROTE friends for dinner but there was a 2 hour wait at the place we were meeting at so that didn't end up working out.  They grabbed food from a different restaurant and brought it back to the hotel to eat.  Kelly and I decided to try our second choice place and ended up eating there.

After dinner, it was the normal routine of laying out clothes, making sure everything was ready for the morning and trying to get a decent amount of sleep before the race.

Morning came all too soon and I did my best to quietly get ready and slip out of the room without waking Kelly up.  I made it down to the lobby where I met up with many of the ROTErs who were there to run.

When it was time to leave the warmth of the hotel, we all headed to the start line which was only a couple blocks from the hotel.  I had no goals for this race other than to enjoy it.  Most of the group running it were running a half the following day in St. Louis so they wanted to really take it easy for the race.


I ended up running with Janice & Scot since we all wanted to run about the same pace.  Scot is normally faster than us but he was running the race on a fractured foot so that slowed him down.  I am still in awe that he was able to complete this race on his foot.  He was clearly in pain for much of the race but he never complained, he just kept going.

The course was nice, the company was nice.  We probably could have done without the cobblestone stretch of street but I was enjoying the places the course brought us past so I can't complain too much.

State Capitol

Lincoln's Tomb

Janice, Scot & I coming in to the finish

It was a nice race and one I would go down and run again with friends though I don't think I would go down alone to run it.

Post race photo in front of the old state capitol

50th Anniversary Medal

I'm a Bad Blogger

Life has been busy and I am barely keeping my head above water.  Unfortunately, the blog is the last thing I have had time to keep up with.

I have a partially written post about the half I ran in April.  No excuse as to why I never finished it. 

Fun Summer Friday's are in full swing.  I haven't written about any of them.

We went to Disney World for 9 days.  I still plan on writing about that (and posting pictures).

I have pneumonia.  I think a mild case but I'm not a doctor so what do I know? 

I haven't posted a weight loss update for a long time.

Since I'm sidelined from any exercise for a bit, I'm going to work on catching up.

Stay tuned...

Chicken Caprese Ciabatta

I don't post much about my food.  I enjoy cooking and I really enjoy when something I experiment with turns out so yummy.

I had a caprese sandwich at Jason's Deli a couple of months ago and have been craving them since.  I finally decided to make one for myself tonight.  With a tiny change (I added the chicken to get some more protein in there).

Ingredients are:

Take & Bake Ciabatta Roll from La Brea Bakery
Thin sliced boneless, skinless chicken breast (sauteed with salt & pepper)
Basil Pesto spread
Tomato slices
Baby spinach
Fresh Mozzarella (sliced)

I cut the ciabatta roll in half and spread a thin layer of basil pesto on each side.  Then I layered the mozzarella, tomato slices, spinach and chicken breast.  It would be perfect on a panini press but I don't have one so I wrapped it in foil and put it in the oven for about 10 minutes.

I entered the recipe in My Fitness Pal and it tells me it is 616 calories for 1 sandwich.  A bit high but so very yummy and satisfying.

photo courtesy of Google Images

Can't wait to make another one!

2 Years Ago...

I wrote about it Here.

I've been thinking about it all day today.

We miss you Austin.  Wish you were still here with us.

Left to right:  Nathan, Bradley & Austin.  The 3 Amigos.

Bradley & Austin

Austin, Bradley & Nathan

Time to Donate My Hair

Back in January, Caitlyn cut an 11" pony tail off and donated it to Locks of Love.  I said then I was planning on donating mine also but I wanted to wait until after Donna so that I could run with it in a pony tail.

Well, I finally made the appointment to get it cut.  I was not super excited to cut it off because I was afraid of how short it would be.  Mark & Caitlyn were not happy either, they liked my long hair. 

I contemplated backing out and not donating it but thinking of what a bad example that would be, I knew I had to follow through.  I don't want to be the type of example to my kids that says I am going to do something and then I back out for selfish reasons.

I had Caitlyn take a "before" picture.

I had 10" cut off.  Caitlyn took an "after" picture also.

I'm happy I waited as long as I did.  I can still put it in a small pony tail and considering I have a race in 2 weeks, that's a good thing.

I'm happy with the way it turned out but I'm also planning on growing it long again.

Another Half in Three Weeks

A couple months ago, I signed up for The Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon in Springfield, IL.  I know enough people heading there to run it and it is close enough to drive so it wasn't too hard to make the decision.

I'm not too sure how this one is going to go though.  I haven't run all that much since Donna and this is a hilly course.  I do not do well with hills.  It's all I can do to run on a flat surface.  Wuss, I know.

I'm heading down there solo on this one.  I was hoping Mark would come down and run and I even figured the kids could come and stay in the hotel while we run.  Mark arrives home from a trip to Denmark just hours before I am supposed to leave to drive down there.  He is not even remotely interested in hopping in the car and driving 3 hours after sitting on an airplane.  The kids have no interest in riding in the car for 3 hours only to sit in the hotel while I run a race.  I see their point so I guess I am on my own.  I'm not used to time alone so it feels somewhat strange. 

I'm excited to be running the race though.  Running past historical sites and through Lincoln's Cemetery sounds pretty cool.  I even have a book I want to read before I run.  It comes highly recommended and is a fictional account of the true story of the plot to steal Lincoln's body.

Besides, who wouldn't want to earn this medal?

3 weeks to go.  Guess I should try to run to get ready, huh?

Well Said...

I follow many types of blogs.  Some are running friends, some are food related, some advocate for different causes.  One of my favorite blogs is No Greater Joy Mom.  I have written about her blog before.  She very passionately advocates for adoption, more prominently, special needs adoptions.  She and her husband have 9 children.  3 that were born to them and 6 who they adopted who have a variety of special needs.

Anyway, she wrote a post today that was just what I needed to read.  I wouldn't do it justice to even try to summarize it so I'll just post a link.

Well said Adeye, thank you for sharing your heart.

26.2 With Donna - The Half Marathon

Wow, I cannot believe that it has already been two weeks since we ran this race!

Let me begin by stating that this may well be one of my favorite race weekends EVER!

I LOVED being with Mark all weekend!  He has been traveling so much lately that I really miss him.  It was nice to be a couple again.

I loved the hotel on the beach!  We were so busy that we didn't sit on the balcony as much as I hoped we would and we only went for 2 walks on the beach but even just the sound of the ocean was so wonderful.

Walking on the beach the first day

We had meals, laughs and lots of fun with our running friends.  Thinking back on all of the banter and laughter, I can't help but smile.

The "old folks" stopping for treats in St. Augustine.

Next stop on the tour of St. Augustine

Lunch the day of the expo.  The young'uns finally joined us!

Pre-race dinner at Cheesecake Factory

The race itself went great!  Mark & I woke up, got ourselves ready and hopped in the car.  We left early this year to try to avoid the traffic mess that happened last year that caused the start to be delayed.  We drove to the hotel next door and picked up Alison.  Note:  Alison flew all the way from the UK to play with everyone and run this race.  We also had the pleasure of celebrating her birthday breakfast with her at Disney!

Had to get a picture of her with her flag on our tour of St. Augustine

Anyway, we arrived quite early as the traffic jam didn't materialize this year so we sat in the car staying warm and relaxing for just over an hour.

Finally, it was time to join friends.  We hit the port-o-potties and met up with the peeps we could find.  We never did have everyone in one spot at the same time but we were able to snap this picture with a good number of us.

They changed the start area and where we gathered for the corrals this year.  I did not like the new arrangement.  The warming tent and tents with pre-race treats were off limits to us before the race and once we were heading to the start line, everyone was so intent on getting to where they needed to be, they didn't take the time to enjoy the treats.  We even tried to "sneak" in but were sent back to the corrals by volunteers.  I did have time to grab a Munchkin from the table before we went back though.  I was pretty excited about that Munchkin.

Another dislike of the new corrals was that we missed all of the start activities.  No prayer, no national anthem, nothing.  By the time we were moved up to the start line, the first corral was on its way.  That was disappointing to me.

I did have a chance to snap a "selfie" of Mark & I walking to the start line.  I took several pictures but this one is my favorite because we were photobombed by Cath.  Love it!

I don't think I mentioned it here but Mark got my sickies (probably bronchitis) days before we left.  Since he was undertrained for the race and not feeling his best, he decided to stick with me for the race.  I'm so slow that my slow pace is easy for him.  Yeah, I'm not proud of that.  He was well aware that my goal was to PR (had to beat 2:54) and my super-secret goal was to break 2:45 and he wanted to "help" me get there.

There was a mess-up with his bib and somehow he was put in the last corral and I was in the corral in front of him.  I went back a corral to start with him.  No biggie and it turned out we got to start with Mindy & Cath.  Jenny, Carrie & Kimberly were also with us in the corral but we lost them on the way to the start. 

We started the race pretty strong and stuck to the 2:1 interval that I trained with.  A couple miles in, we were in our first beach neighborhood where we started to partake of some of the treats being offered.  We had cookies, croissants, cornbread and I can't remember what else over the next few miles.  What I didn't bank on was that it would bother my stomach so much.  I got a really acid like feeling in my stomach that stuck with me until a while after the finish.  Not a good thing.  I didn't feel like drinking anything with flavor so I stuck with water at almost all of the water stops.

I was very intentional about not looking at my Garmin.  I wanted to run my race at my intervals and not get caught up in the math.  I did get irritated with Mark a couple times because he kept checking his Garmin and trying to tell me what pace we were at.  He was really pushing my pace which also irritated me.  See a theme here?  I finally asked him (in a somewhat snarky manner) to quit it.  Poor guy, he was just trying to help.

My breathing was another issue I was dealing with.  I went through spasms where I was wheezing and coughing.  I needed a couple of puffs of my inhaler a couple of times during the race.  Mark used it for a couple of puffs also.  It helped him tremendously.  I think it was at its worst on the beach.  Salt air maybe?  That was between miles 6 & 7.

Speaking of the beach, it was much better than last year for me.  No stiff, bitterly cold wind at my face.  The weather was actually perfect for me.  It was in the upper 50's at the start, 60's when I finished and overcast.  Perfect.

We ran into Joan & Janice just past mile 6 on the beach.  Always fun to come across friends on the course!

About mile 7 was the chEAR squad.  Chris, Mark & Rachel were there cheering us all on.  We didn't really stop, just paused to yell a quick hello.  Joey & Matt were there also.  I think they took a little race break and cheered with them until everyone passed, then continued on with their race.

I think it was Rachel who snapped this of us passing by

Other than the coughing and acid stomach, the race was going well.  I didn't look at my Garmin until mile 10.  I knew I could push that last 5k if I were on pace to meet my goals, even though I was really fatigued at that point.  Imagine my surprise when I passed the 10 mile mark at 2:04.  I had 40 minutes to finish the 5k.  Piece of cake, or so I thought.  The end of this race is the most difficult part.  A clover-leaf with a nasty camber to it leading into a causeway.  Lots of uphill when you are the most exhausted.

Mark was feeling pretty good at this point and decided he wanted to run it in so I urged him to go on.  I kept plugging along.  Right about mile 11, I got a cramp in my left hamstring like I've never had since I started running.  It brought me to an abrupt halt and I had to stop and stretch.  While I was at the side of the road stretching, I watched a woman trip and fall a few feet away from me.  She gashed her chin really bad.  I ran over and a few others stopped and had her laying down while we waited for medics.  Fortunately, we were very close to an aid station and someone was there in what felt like seconds.  I think the distraction was good for me because I was able to start running again and although it felt like my hamstring was on the verge of cramping, it didn't.  I reduced my intervals to 30:30 on the uphill portion and imagine my surprise when I reached the top of the causeway and Mark was there waiting for me.  He did not want to cross the finish line without me.  He was actually shocked I wasn't further behind him.  We ran the downhill portion and rounded the corner.  I needed one more walk break and then we ran it in.  When we crossed the finish line, my Garmin read 2:44:02.  I did it.  I made that super secret goal!  Even better, when I checked the official results, they showed me finishing in 2:43:56.  I couldn't be more pleased with that.

We weren't able to hang around to wait for friends to finish, we had very little time until we had to be out of the hotel room.  They gave us a late checkout but by the time we caught the bus back to the start and drove back to the hotel and showered and packed up, we were actually a few minutes past our time.

The weather also started to turn southward just as we were boarding the bus back to the start.  First the rain, then the lightening and thunder.  Unfortunately, this caused them to close the course and load everyone who was still out there on to busses.  All of our friends running the half were able to finish.  Alison and Jill were running the full together and were able to finish by the skin of their teeth, Joan and Janice were pulled off the course at about mile 22.  I felt so bad for them but I wouldn't have wanted them on that causeway with lightening in the area either. 

After we left the hotel, we headed towards Orlando to spend a couple nights at Disney.  We were famished so we stopped about half-way for a burger at Wendy's to tide us over.  Weather was rainy and stormy and the traffic was heavy.  We even drove through a tornado warning area.  No, we didn't see any tornados but the clouds were green.

What can I say about our time at Disney?  It was fun and relaxing and everything we wanted it to be.  I'm not known for remembering to take pictures at Disney.  I get too swept up in the magic and just enjoy myself.

I did capture the "Goofy" side of Mark

Alison's birthday breakfast at Kona Cafe

Enjoy myself I did.  Can't wait to go back!

As far as the Donna Half?  I already have rooms booked for next year.

**Note:  Some of the pictures used here were "borrowed" from others.  Mainly Rachel, Joan & Joey.  Many thanks to them even though I didn't ask their permission in advance.  Oops!

4 more sleeps!!

Till we leave for Florida!  I can't wait for so, so many reasons!

1. We'll be in 70 degree weather!
2. We are staying at a hotel on the beach with an oceanfront balcony for the first 2 nights!
3. We get to see friends!
4. I'm "only" running the half marathon which means I will not be so sore and run down that I can't enjoy myself after!
5. We are driving to Disney World for a couple nights after the race!
6. I get to play at Disney World for a couple days, just my Honey and I!
7. We are staying in a DVC condo which is so much nicer than a hotel room!
8. We won't be in cold, snowy Chicago! (with 4-6 inches currently falling, this is a biggie!)

Yes, I have mom-guilt for leaving my kids and running off to have fun without them.  No, they aren't happy about us leaving.  I keep telling them that the best thing I can do for them is to make sure that my relationship with their father is the best it can be.  They don't seem to think that a trip to Disney without them is necessary for us to achieve that.  Funny kids.

I have had such high hopes for this race.  I want to run it well and the goal has been to set a PR (personal record) for my half marathon time.  I am pretty well trained and it is still possible but this bronchitis is not allowing me to run at all and that is messing with my head.  I'm losing the confidence that I can do it. 

Ah, well, time will tell.  

Bronchitis

Yep.  I've got it.

Tuesday morning I ran a quick couple miles on the treadmill.  When I got off, I sort of felt like I was having asthma issues.  I do have allergy induced asthma and need my inhaler maybe once or twice a year.  I also know that the cold dry weather we have had all winter can cause breathing issues.  I used my inhaler which helped a little and went to work.  Sadly, the improvement was short lived and I struggled Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday.  It wasn't getting worse but it wasn't improving. 

With the Donna 1/2 less than 10 days away, and with some prodding from my running friends, I decided to be pro-active and head to the doctor today since I was off work.  Diagnosis, Bronchitis.  I have a Z-pack, steroid and I have to use my inhaler every 4 hours.  No running for the next few days either.

This can really only go in two directions from here.  The race is 9 days away.  The meds could work great and I could be back to normal and have forgotten all about it by race-day or it could linger (If the past is any indication, the latter is a more likely scenario). 

I had high hopes for a PR but if my breathing is compromised, that's not going to happen.

Whatever the outcome, I'm ready and excited for the weekend.

13.1 Miles

I ran my second to last long run before Donna today.  I was scheduled to run 13 miles.  I'm training to 14 miles this time around, hoping I have a PR in me.  I sort of blew it with my fueling this morning and waited too long between when I drank my GenUCan and when I started running.  Oops.  I hit a wall around mile 9 and had to change my intervals from 2:1 to 1:1 to get the last 4 miles done.  It wasn't my best training run but I know why and I won't repeat that mistake on race day. 

I could not stop at 13 miles.  I had to go to 13.1 to make it a half marathon.  Actually, I went to 13.15 to make sure I was really covered.  I'm pretty sure everyone else would do the same thing, right?

Donating Hair

A few years ago, Caitlyn donated her hair to Locks of Love.  Immediately after she cut the pony tail off and sent it in, she told me she was going to grow her hair back out to donate it again.  Somewhere along the way, I told her I would join her and we would donate our hair together so for the last year or so, we have been waiting for our hair to be long enough to donate the 10" pony tail.

We finally reached the length we need to donate our hair.  She was anxious to get hers cut as soon as possible where I am not.  Not because I don't want to donate my hair but because I need to be able to put my hair in a pony tail to run Donna next month.  I can't run a race with my hair flying in my face with the wind. 

I tried to talk her in to waiting till after next month so we could cut our hair together but she was just too impatient and couldn't wait.  After weeks and weeks of begging, I finally gave in and made the appointment.

She cut off an 11" pony tail.

So there you have it.  She cut her hair without me. 

 My turn is coming.  After Donna.

Updates

I'm a bad blogger.  Life has been so busy, this blog has taken a back seat.

Christmas was just nuts for me.  Work was super busy and Christmas shopping was excruciating this year.  I had no idea what to get anyone and all of the shopping always falls on me.  I hate the pressure it creates and it really ruins the season for me.  I feel like I really missed out on celebrating the real reason for Christmas this year.  I'm going to do better next year.

On Christmas Eve, Mark started not feeling well.  Turns out he had kidney stones.  Over the course of 2 weeks, he was in and out of the hospital a couple times (both resulted in being admitted overnight), he had an outpatient lithotripsy (to blast the stone that was too large to pass into passable pieces), had two stints put in and removed and two inpatient laser lithotripsy surgeries.  It was a rough two weeks.  I'm happy to report that he is much better now.  That boy needs to learn to drink more water.

As if dealing with Mark's kidney stones wasn't enough, during that same period of time, Bradley slipped on some ice and dislocated his shoulder.  This resulted in an emergency room visit, his shoulder in a sling, a follow-up visit with an orthopedic doctor, a fracture somewhere in the shoulder socket and 6 weeks of physical therapy.

Yeah, 2014 is promising to be an expensive one.

There are some good things to update also.  First, training for the Donna Half Marathon is going great!  Well, it's going great for me.  Poor Mark hasn't run for ages.  Between his kidney stones and all of the traveling he is doing, he hasn't run at all.  I've already trained up to 12 miles and there are only 2 more long runs to go (a 13 & 14 miler).  Time to pray we stay healthy for the next 5 weeks.  I'm getting really excited for our trip.  Excited to see friends, excited to run the race and excited to spend a couple days at Disney after the race.

I got my blood work results and everything looks great.  Even my thyroid.  My mammogram also came back normal.  All good news.  I still have blood in my urine which concerns the doctor so I need to follow up with a urologist.  After reading up on it, I'm not super concerned.  Apparently it is common for long distance runners.  I need to make that appointment soon though.  I also need to see a dermatologist to have a mole on my leg removed.

I am still going strong with My Fitness Pal & the fitbit.  Since I started trying to lose weight (last September) I have lost 17 lbs.  The good news is, I've lost weight that I really needed to lose.  The bad news is I get discouraged so easily.  It is coming off so slowly and it gets frustrating.  I'm not giving up though, even though it is a slower journey than I anticipated or want.

Well, that's all the update I have in me for now.