Well in the last month we have been working pretty hard to establish an intentional eating plan. I realize that we haven't been on here in quite some time... alot has happened since my last post. So, instead of boring you with the details of the last year, howabout I just dive into the goals for the next 10 months...

1) Continue with the success I have had with Weight Watchers... 35 lbs so far... 35 to go!!

2) Continue working with my personal trainer... LOVE IT!

3) Continue improving on my cardio... Just signed up for my first half-marathon... Oh my!!

4) Continue spending valuable time planning our meals and developing creative eating plans for our daily living.

5) Share #4 with all of you...

My hopes in all of this is that I can be more accountable and give each of you that may struggle with some of the same things I do the drive and motivation to plan on your own... or maybe you can just use the plan that I put out there and hopefully have the same success that my family has had with all of it. Eventually, I hope to dig in enough to where I will post the cost of each day/week/month. That's where my husband comes in... that's his part in all of this. As I create these plans, he figures out the cost of them. When we can get a good working budget for a rolling menu we'll share that.

Here's what to expect...

I will post our weekly menu. I will include the recipes for certain dishes. I will add tips and comments about those that I have tried or those that I will alter. I will include the grocery list for each meal and suggestions for what you should have on hand at all times. Like I said, eventually we will compliment each dish with the cost... but I'm not there yet.

I hope you will join us in this adventure... this is something that is very important to us and very exciting... Food is a passion of mine and yet it is also an obsession that has cost me several years of unhappiness. Well, no more. I have taken my passion and turned it into a drive to be healthy and now I'd like to bring others along with me. Please note that the dishes that I will include are apart of a strategically designed healthy living plan. It is not a diet and not a fad... this is our lifestyle. When we induldge we try to stay within certain boudaries and I will encourage you to do the same.

Here's to healthy living and loving every moment of it....

new adventures...

well it's been about six months since i've logged in and tracked anything. it's also been six months since i've ran consistently. today is the 1 year anniversary of starting this journey and i can say that it is still a very large part of me.
i have began a new phase to the process. may 1 i began Weight Watchers. since i began at 218 i have lost a total of 12 lbs and i'm holding steady at approx 1.5 lbs per week.
the reason that i'm logging back in to blog tonight is to rekindle the accountability i had when i began running. i have accomplished so much with this journey. i have seen so many amazing things and i have been introduced to a new community of people... which i love. my eyes have been opened to a group of people that are tough and focused and humble. i want to be that person. i want to be focused. i have not been focused at all... since December and the stresses that allowed me to justify not running i have had a hard time getting back into the swing of things.
my job has been very intense. i am so tired when i get home. i'm having a ridiculous time making time for anything other than sitting and being still. so where does that leave me? hasn't the point of this just been to make sure that i get out there and do it? so monday july 11th is the day. it was day i started last year. it was the day where i realized how hard this was going to be. it was the day where i could only run 1 minute at a time. it was the day where i really thought i was going to fail with every step... only to find out that every step is actually a victory. it was the day that turned my life around. i am a runner... i am a runner... i am a runner... yup it's time.

been awhile i know...

so let me put your mind at ease... i have been running and i have been doing pretty well. the month of november was very good. i upped my mileage to 5 miles and i try to do that once a week. my typical schedule is 3 miles, 4 miles, 5 miles... and if i get an additional day i'll do another 3 mile.
on thanksgiving morning we ran a 5 mile event (the turkey trot in dayton). it was AWESOME! i realized that i really like running longer distances. i'm able to settle in and relax; something i still have yet to do with the 3 mile. it's weird, i'm not sure why i can get into a better pace with the longer distance. it seems to be totally mental too.
there were so many people at the turkey trot. over 7000 were expected and i'm guessing there was at least that many there. i quickly fell into my own step. britt and i decided to run our own races in light of what happened last time. we each had different expectations and it was just best to attack the day alone. my three goals were: finish (of course), don't walk, and don't panic. it's safe to say that i was able to do all three with ease. my panic came when i first woke up in the morning because it was pouring down rain and windy as all get out. i just knew it was going to be freezing as well. then i stepped outside to find it a mild 53 degrees. not too shabby. all in all it was good run...
the preparation was different too. training for the ghostly gallop was all uncharted territory. i had no idea what to expect and i was totally new to absolutely everything. training for the 5 mile was interesting. i took on the philosophy... "one more rock". on my route each rock is 1/2 a mile. so every time i increased my run by a rock i was actually adding a mile to my run. 1/2 a mile out, 1/2 a mile back... its also become quite a comfort running in the pitch black. now that the sun goes down so soon it's almost always dark when i run. i feel like that helps a lot with the "blind run" issue that i had during the 5k.
speaking of blind run, in preparation we had to run in jamaica. we decided to do so that last full day we were there and it was very difficult. if not for the obvious, who wants to run while they're on vacation, but also for the hills. jamaica is very mountainous and the course we run was riddled with very steep hills. i made it 30 min that day and threw in the towel. i do feel though that that run prepared me well for the 5 miles on thursday.
my biggest problem now is motivation. i'm not scheduled to run anything this month. and i gave myself permission after the 5 mile to eat whatever i wanted for the weekend, which has turned into a week... i can feel a major difference in my stamina and energy. time to get back into the mindset of "garbage in garbage out". without the proper fuel i'm worthless. i ran 3 miles the tuesday after the turkey trot and it hurt so bad. i could feel every soda i drank and every burger i ate. i ran another 3 miles today and although a bit better, i'm still not up to par. not ever close.
monday starts a new goal... i'm going back to running every other day without exception. it's when i give myself permission to relax is when i decline in motivation. my ultimate goal is that while on vacation in california the week of christmas that i run each day.
i've yet to run each day and i'm not sure how my body will react. i do know that what i put in my body will directly effect how i feel and how motivated i am.
i've finally started seeing differences in my body. things are fitting better. i have more confidence in myself because i know what i'm capable of. i'm starting to really believe in myself more... all things i did not expect to get out of this at all. but i'm happy... i'm very happy for the transformation...
i'll keep an update going of the month. in january i hope to participate in another event. i'm looking for a 5k so if anyone knows of any please let me know.

;)

39:20...

well, i ran my race. i have to say it was not at all what i expected!!! this whole time i've been training i have had it in my mind that all this practice and all this hard work was going to make for an easy run today. boy was i wrong!! it was really hard... i had to fight for every bit of that run this morning.
i started off feeling pretty excited. everyone was pumped up and super happy to be out there. there were high fives and shouts of encouragement all along the start. then of course the crazy runners broke off and the walkers and beginners started to move into their pace. britt kept asking me if i was ok and i thought that i was but i got tired pretty quickly.
we rounded the first corner and i realized that i was breathing pretty hard and i was pooped. britt was getting frustrated because i was going rather slow. he said that it was slower than our usual pace and i immediately got upset. i then could not calm myself down to save my life.
then came the worst thing ever... HILLS! the guy that told me about this event was specific that there was no hills. BULL SHIT! there was one that lasted for almost a quarter mile. it sucked.

the first time i ran the 5k in training, i panicked for several reasons. 1-it was a blind run. once i got past the half way point and realized that i have worked so hard and now have to go back i totally freaked out. 2-i couldn't find a rhythm. 3-no matter what britt said to me to try to get me thru it i took it as an attack and i just wanted to fight him. 4-my emotions got the best of me and i couldn't rationalize anything. all the above lead to me just fatiguing way too fast and having to struggle thru the whole thing.
this morning i did the exact same thing. i was lost cuz there were no mile markers. i had no clue where i was or how far i had to go. the course map was not laid out so great at registration so i didn't know what to expect. my mind kept playing tricks on me and i had trouble focusing. once that set in, i couldn't listen to britt. i knew he was frustrated and everything he said to me was the wrong thing... that's not fair to him cuz he was trying so hard to lift me up. (sorry babe!!)
all in all, the hardest part was all mental!
so where does this leave me? well, i crossed the finish line. i pushed all the way even though my legs felt like they weren't moving. 39:20... my best time yet. hills and all i made it across that line with an acceptable time.
4 months ago when i began this journey i would have never thought that i could do this. 4 months ago i was worried about increasing my intervals to 5 min let alone running for 39:20. 4 months ago i didn't know what it meant to push myself through fatigue and mental ambush to finish something that not everybody can do. what were my reasons for doing this? oh ya, because i can... well today, i did...
here's to the next opportunity!!!

2 days left...

well, run31 fans the 5k is on saturday and i only have one run left before the big day. i find it pretty amazing every time i run how far i've come. i hit a mile marker and i think, "wow, i used to be dying here" or "it used to take me twice as long to get to this point"... how i've improved. but this saturday will be the true test. i'm so unsure of what to expect. what's the course going to be like? how cold is it going to be? what should i wear so that i'm comfortable and not distracted? how early should i get there? aaaahhhh.... it's just another day on the pavement... right?

it's very gratifying to think how far i've come. i really didn't think that i would make it to this point. i was sure that i would either throw in the towel or never even be able to run an entire 5k. now i find myself craving the runs. on nice days i think of how much i want to get out there and go. i crave the outdoors. there are certain points on my normal course where the scents change. some not so nice... but others are amazing. the flowers, the animals, the sunsets... and some evenings the moon... last week we ran a 5k by the light of the moon. britt forgot his watch and there was no way to tell how i was doing. it didn't matter... the run was awesome! those are runs i crave...

on the nites when its difficult, i've been able to learn how to stay calm and focus. my goal for saturday is to do just that. i have to remember not to get caught up in the excitement and pace myself. i've started to understand what that means so that i can push the last half mile pretty good. i know what my best training times have been so i'm hoping to at least match those.

thursday i have one more run then my plan for friday is a long and relaxed yoga session. i've been kinda sore this week and my runs haven't been stellar. i'll do a mild taper just so that i'm fresh on the day of. sleep has been a big factor this week. just can't seem to get enough... so hopefully the rest of the week improves...
wish me luck ... i'll post pics!!!

32:00....hello i'm improving!!

i said in the last post that i was working on letting go of time in order to be able to measure my progress... well tonite was certainly progress. i decided that sense i ran 3.18 miles on tuesday i was going to drop back the distance tonite to 2.65 and push it a little harder and try to improve my time from last week. my best time on the shorter distance was 34:08. tonite i ran that distance in 32 min flat...
so far this week has been a major success. not only did i run another 3.18 miles on tuesday and drop 35 seconds, i approached it with a much different mindset and was able to accomplish a huge goal. the first time i ran the 5k i had a total melt down at the half way point. i got to that rock and realized i had worked so hard to get there and now i have to go all the way back. that did not sit well with me and i panicked. so this last time i just wanted to get through it as relaxed as possible. i decided that i was only going to focus on what i was doing at that given moment. i was not going to look ahead with a sense of completion until i got to the end. it doesn't matter how i got there, just that i got there. each breath was necessary to fuel my legs with the energy to keep moving. each half mile i completed was another step closer to the goal but it only matter what i had completed up to that point.
i got to the end of the run and britt told me that i had dropped 35 seconds. what a sense of accomplishment. i had managed to stay calm and focused and get to the end and improve. awesome...
so tonite i lacked a bit of energy so i decided to back off my distance to get a win under my belt. i was tight and sore from tuesday. i completed my first mile in a decent time, pretty consistent with what i've been doing lately 12:50. i knew that in order to maintain i really had to focus on every step. so i dropped my shoulders and continued to breath... a friend gave me a tip the other day. every time you feel like you're going to panic or back off your pace, take a deep breath and hold it for a second or two. then let it out in the rhythm you're accustomed to. it gave me the chance to collect myself and refocus. very helpful... as i continued the run tonite britt gave me half mile updates on my time and i seemed to be keeping a good pace, even with negative splits. at the end of the run when i'm most tired and really wanting to be done was when i felt like i needed to dig down and go for it. i sprinted the last 100 yards and made it in 32 min flat...
i can honestly say that i'm very proud of myself... i got my win.
the big day is rapidly approaching and i'm ready and excited...
looking forward to your thoughts... please share your experiences with me, cuz i need all the help i can get. ;)

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