Absent blogger

party of me.  Dave and I got our hands on a runner's lifting guide put together for a runner friend of mine.  What we didn't take into account, is that my friend is much stronger than we are.

We headed to the gym last Tuesday (yes, an entire week ago) and proceeded to do all of the workouts (with corresponding recommended weights) and were so sore over the next few days that even walking up/down the stairs hurt (I blame the dead lifts - evil).  I got a short 2 mile run in on Thursday, and had good intentions to meet up with friends on Christmas Eve for a run, but sickness and weather made us postpone.

I need to get this running into high gear if I'm going to be ready for 13.1 at the end of March.

The good news? we are headed to Hawaii on Thursday night and we are determined to do one hike/active healthy thing per day so we don't become total beach bums (which isn't really our style anyway!).  Maybe a run to explore waikiki or honolulu? I'll keep you posted.

Most Embarassing Moment Ever!

So, we're in the hot tub, enjoying champagne together, and talking, like we do most nights.  I stood up because I was getting warm and Dave, being an immature boy, blows on my stomach like you'd do with a toddler to make farting noises....

He does this RIGHT as our neighbor walks out to put her garbage out - pretty much the only neighbor we haven't met in our year of living here.

Lovely! :) hehe.

weekend full of activity

It was a good weekend.  I decided to sign up for the Sammamish Valley half marathon in March, which means I need to start running more than once a week, but this weekend was a good start to getting back on track.

Dave and I got home from work on Friday and were inspired to paint our master bedroom.  A surprising workout :)  but we loved the color (we only did 3 walls, one wall still to come tomorrow hopefully - we have to move the bed) so much that we decided to paint the hallway on Saturday.  Thank God for leftover paint!  this was after a 4.5 mile run.  My legs were sore this morning from my run (embarassing!) but I went to hot yoga anyway.  very tough today, but I felt so good afterwards.

Just realized that I can no longer call Dave "the hubs"... I keep forgetting and just typing Dave, so I'll refer to him as such :)  He is currently cooking us up a yummy dinner: twice baked potatoes, potato salad and bacon wrapped steak.  he meant to get pasta salad, but accidentally got potato salad, so it's a little bit of a potato overload tonight.

I'm working from home tomorrow and soooo loooking forward to it!  Hawaii countdown is on - t minus 11 days!

The hardest thing about waking up and going for a run...

Is getting out of bed.  seriously.  7:30am on a Saturday is brutal.

hot yoga again tomorrow.

I tried hot yoga for the first time....

wow.  just, wow.  I HATE yoga... my friend Skari tried to get me to love yoga about a year and a half ago and it was a disaster.  Running makes yoga hard... very tight hamstrings and no flexibility! 
anyway, she's been raving about bikram for awhile so I finally broke down and went with her. It was a 90 minute class!

I won't say I "enjoyed" it, but it definitely was way better than normal yoga.  Maybe sweating makes me feel like I'm doing something? but it was good.  it was hard, but it was good.  I weighed myself after I showered and blew my hair dry and I think I lost between 2-4 lbs of water weight alone.  crazy!  Probably tmi, but I didn't have any spandex shorts so I just wore running shorts and I was so sweaty it honestly felt like I had peed my pants

I think I may try to do it on a weekly basis :)

Bikes...

So I did end up running on Thursday.  3 cold miles with Riley, who was being such a pooper that she was slowing me down by the end.  It felt fantastic though.  I ran last Sunday with some of my old Team buddies and we did just under 4 miles.

The hubs and I decided during the week before Christmas we are going to paint our master bedroom. We had our eyes on this Ralph Lauren "suede" textured paint so we went this this specialty paint store to go take a look at it.  Bottom line: we went into a totally different direction, but the paint store happened to be right next door to a bike store, so I asked hubs if he wanted to go in (our current plan is to buy each other bikes for our birthdays in February).

We decided to just browse, and turned down the saleslady's offer to help, until I realized we had NO IDEA what we were looking at.  jeebus bikes are extremely involved.  Hubs made a comment at one point "man this is an investment"

apparently I'm too big (aka tall and long legged) for a woman's bike, so we were both looking at Men's hybrid bikes (a little cheaper than road bikes).  We looked at the trail system and it is about 17 miles to work from our house.  with some pretty nasty hills.  We will probably start out really slow.... (aka, buy something for the car to put our bikes on the back and just do trails) because road biking freaks us both out.  But, it's something we'd like to work into our workout routine, especially for the gorgeous spring/summer months here in the PacNW. First order of business: padded shorts.  my ass was screaming just looking at the bike seats!

We went to the hubs Christmas party last night and one hubs' friend's girlfriends asked me when my next race was (she knows I run, and she ran her first half in June of last year).  I realized I really don't have anything on the calendar, which sucks.  I need to book something soon to get me motivated.  There's been talk of the Wenatchee half marathon in April, but I don't know.

Shameful confession:  I did a local half marathon last year where I didn't get a medal, and I was pretty pissed.  I don't want to do local races if I'm not going to get the cool hardware.  Petty, party of me....

it's been a bad few days

no time for the gym - working a ton... and unfortunately (due to my job of wining and dining candidates) eating out a ton.

On my way to Maggianos now for another dinner. sigh. tomorrow I am able to work from home and I WILL go to the gym. and lift.

Beautiful lake front run today

We ran the Burke Gilman this morning for 3.75 chilly but beautiful miles.  My friends (who I met through Team) are all considering doing the Dublin marathon in the fall, but the fundraising minimum is likely to be in the neigborhood of $6-7k, and I just don't know if i can do it... but I really want to run with them!

for now, I'm going to focus on getting my mileage for long runs back up over 5 miles!

Traveling

So I have to go to Toronto for work at the end of January.  My passport is the only thing I haven't changed my name on after the wedding so I decided to expedite the process so that I can travel with my married name.

Except I can't find my passport.  insert stream of expletives here.

Getting back into it

Oh I had such good intentions to go to the gym yesterday, but yesterday was the day from hell.  I was hosting a recruiting event meaning I was at work from 7am - 6:30pm.  we stopped at Panera the way home (not the best food choices but I only ate half of my sandwich and saved the other half for lunch today).

I ended up working solid (minus a 15 minute hot tub break) until 11pm last night.  booo.

Today was much better.  My friend Chris and I ended up running - it was so so nice to get out on the trails with him.  We did just under 3 miles in about 27 minutes.  We totally rocked 10 minute miles.  I love running with people that push me (though admittedly it might be the last time - he has gotten way faster than me! he is aiming for a sub 4 marathon - my next goal is sub 5 hours!).

now off to try the amazing banana ice cream i've been reading about and another hot tub break before bed - best purchase we've ever made!

Work

So yesterday ended up being a rest day because of work.  I'm recruiter by day, and while it's a fun  job, I put in a lot of hours.  yesterday I had a dinner to go to with candidates, so when all was said and done, I was at work from 8:30am and didn't get home until about 9:30pm.  I brought all of my running stuff with me and planned to sneak out around 4 to get a few miles in.  Then I realized I forgot to charge my Garmin and I wasn't feeling a "just run and don't care about time/distance, etc" so I called up a friend who has a Garmin to see if he was around to run.  No dice since he ran the Seattle half marathon yesterday.  Then I looked outside and it was pretty much dark and  realized my only reflective schtuff was on my shoes.  so: rest day.

The hubs, however, is not a recruiter so he went home and went to the gym without me.  We decided we'll go together tonight, and then tomorrow my running friend will be ready to get a few miles in so we'll run together in the afternoon while hubs takes a rest day.  I'm so much more motivated when I have people around me to help me.

We also started looking at bikes.  We aren't getting each other Christmas presents this year because we are going to Hawaii over the New Year, so we started talking about potentially buying each other bikes for our birthdays (both in February).  Bikes are EXPENSIVE!  I was thinking they would be $100-$200... um. no.  So we may need to rethink that plan.

Happy Tuesday!

Amazement

I was looking at the posts on my facebook wall today (you know, because I'm cool). and saw that Laura is married to <insert hubs name here>.  sometimes it knocks my socks off a bit that I'm married. and I've got the coolest husband in the world.

I hope that feeling never goes away :)

I am wearing new jeans today.  They smell funny.  I probably should've washed them before I wore them.

oh well, lesson learned

Just when I was content to spend the evening on the couch...

The hubs says he's going to go to the gym.

"Do you want to go with me?"

um, not really... but I know I should.  So we went. we did 10 minutes on the stairs (Oh how I hate the stairs), 10 minutes on the rowing machine (um... my first time ever, and holy hell are my arms going to hurt tomorrow!) and then I did 10 minutes of intervals on the treadmill while hubs walked on the treadmill besides me (he has knee issues and can't do a whole lot of running).

Now I'm relaxing on my chaise lounge in the family room with a 50 lb black lab trying to edge me off, trying not to eat everything in the friggin house because I'm SO HUNGRY!

Trying to build muscle and motivation

So, while I typically don't go around posting pictures of myself on the internet - it's important to set the context for this post.  Just to preface this post - my intention most definitely is not to offend anyone - I'm just trying to share my experience in my body.  So this is what I looked liked as of my honeymoon at the end of September 2011.  I'm at my heaviest weight right now at about 134 (I'm just a hair under 5 feet 8 inches).  (I do not feel like I need to lose weight - that is not the point of this post).

Now, this is the part where I can just hear the snickers.  Maybe I don't know what you're thinking, but what I'm imagining is (with heavy sarcasm) "oh poor skinny girl - I feel so so sorry for her."

While I'm not asking for your sympathy, I am asking you to hear me out.  Being "fit" and "in shape" doesn't really care about sizes, ya know?  I was 130 lbs and had trouble getting up a flight of stairs at a normal pace without gasping for air.  My husband used to call me the most out of shape skinny person he knows because I would get tired so quickly with very little physical effort. 

I read a lot of blogs - mostly centered on weight loss/running because I am so inspired by everyone's stories.  As I was reading through Mary's blog over the last few days (yes, I read from the beginning to the present in about 3 days - she is so inspiring!). I got JEALOUS!

Let me explain.  Now that I've run a few half marathons, I'm starting to get more leg muscles.  My arm muscles are still pathetically non-existent.  And my legs?  Apparently I'm the only one who noticed.  My husband, who sees me naked pretty much every day, told me the other day when I complained about the pudge that has taken up residence on my tummy since the wedding, "You know, I don't notice a different between your body now and when you ran your marathon or from when you didn't run at all."  When I clarified to make sure he wasn't just boosting my ego, he confirmed: he saw absolutely no change when I was running tons and tons of miles and now (or before).  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

So yes, I do get a little jealous when I read weight loss blogs and people can feel their body change and other people notice a difference - because that will never be me.  It doesn't matter how much I work out (well, I guess I could become like those gladiator women - but that look just doesn't appeal to me).  That definitely makes getting motivated to work out a TON harder.  Why should I choose healthy food choices?  why should I go to the gym or go for a run?  I have to be much more intrinsically motivated (I will eventually feel a difference in my body/energy levels/confidence levels).

I'm open to comments - constructive or otherwise - so let's hear them!

Progress

Well, the good news is that the hubs and I went to the gym on Friday and on Saturday.  In fact, on Saturday I even ran to the gym (about a mile and a half) and then did 3 miles on the bike.   I want to start taking a more wholistic approach to working out (meaning - not just run).  I've exclusively ran for a year and a half (minus the 5 month break) and I decided I need to be a more well rounded athlete.  i'd like to start lifting a bit (especially to strengthen my core) and the hubs and I want to buy bikes

After we  got home from the gym, I convinced the hubs that since we aren't going home for Christmas (our families live in the midwest) we need to have a real tree this year.  We went to Home Depot and picked it up and then spent the next 10 hours struggling to get it up  We finally got it up, got lights and beads on it, and it fell.  This prompted a 10:30pm run to Fred Meyer to pick up a new stand, and ended with a flathead screwdriver and rubber mallet to chisel away at the knots on the trunk.

Good news - the tree has now been standing for 12 hours!  The other perk is that I got a fantastic arm workout yesterday from all the lifting and holding.  However, coupled with my actual arm workout yesterday, I'm extremely sore today.  We decided not to go to the gym this morning - we'll see how I feel this afternoon.

My post on being "thin" and trying to get in shape is coming - stay tuned!

Treadmills vs Outside Running

originally posted on 11/25

so I’m sure every runner out there has an opinion about running outside vs running on a treadmill. This is one scenario where the hubs and I completely disagree.

He LOVES running on a treadmill. He likes that someone else is monitoring his pace - it keeps him motivated and he feels like he has a better workout.

I do not like running on the treadmill. Because I have to stay a consistent pace I feel like I tire way more easily. Hubs asks “well, don’t you want to keep a consistent pace when you run?” yes…. but I find I can run faster outside, so it’s frustrating to me to be tired after running a mile at a 12:00 pace when I ran a mile outside the other day at a 10:30 pace.

The gym we go to has tv’s on each treadmill. This makes the running a little bit easier. I can get my HGTV fix in while working out. The bad part? the time/distance, etc. is RIGHT THERE! When I run outside, I have to make a concerted effort to lift my arm and look at my Garmin (which, don’t get my wrong, I do much more often when I get tired!), but on the treadmill, I just have to glance down a fraction and it plays with my mind - I get more tired after running a shorter distance. Now that it’s dark whenever I’m not working, though, I think I’m going to have to get used to treadmill running. We live in a developing area, so there aren’t a ton of sidewalks. In fact, if I want to leave my neighborhood, I have to be “on the road” for about a half of a mile before I get to sidewalks…
Unfortunately, I also had a friend in high school who was a runner and went out for an early morning run when it was still dark and was raped, so I have a very scary fear of something happening to me when running alone. and since hubs doesn’t like outside running, I’m on my own. I would take my nurse (aka Riley) with me, but she can be a bit of a distraction, and I can’t race with her so I’m worried about getting to used to having her along.

Stay tuned: tomorrow’s post should be interesting: the thoughts of getting in shape as a skinny person. There are a lot of weight-loss blogs out there (and I am so inspired reading them all) but the bottom line is: I don’t need to lose weight by working out - and that brings a whole new set of challenges. I’ll discuss more tomorrow

Meet my nurse, Riley

She's very good at giving snuggles

I put on my workout clothes today...

Originally posted on Wednesday, November 23rd

that’s a start, right?

I need to run to the store to get some last minute stuffs for our Friendsgiving feast tomorrow, and I need to head to the bead store because my bff, Skari and I are having a black friday jewelry making-athon for Christmas presents

truthfully, I’ve been fighting off a cold for a week now and I don’t think working out will help. so, I’m trying to take it easy. couple that with the massive amounts of food that is going to be consumed tomorrow and it won’t be pretty.

Hard to believe that a year ago today, the hubs and I were signing all of the paperwork for our first house (and I was preparing for my first half-marathon, the Amica Seattle half, which always takes place the Sunday after Thanksgiving).

Finding the motivation to get back on the wagon is the hardest part, right?

Context is a good thing, no?

alright… so why did I create this blog? Well, I created it for me. I do a lot of things for a lot of other people. I work so that my boss looks good (he would agree, it’s cool). I bring home a paycheck so that the hubs and I can live in a nice house and have nice things (don’t worry, he contributes just as much as me!).

I was thinking the other day… what do I do just for me?
1. I run. Oh i hate it, but I love it.
2. I bake. and then I give my goods away to my co-workers and the hubs’ coworkers because I have no self control.
3. I make jewelry/crafts. I enjoy designing and have done a decent job on our house (though, it’s still a work in progress)

For now, I’m not going public with this (aka it’s not on Facebook). I have followed a few folks that have inspired me along the way with their running stories, and I welcome followers, but most likely they will be people I’ve never met, and I’m okay with that.

So, why now? about a year ago, I decided to start training for a marathon. I got hooked up with a fabulous Team, thanks to an old manager, and I ran my little heart out. I ran 3 half-marathons and 1 full marathon in 6 months. I made amazing friends.

and then life got in the way. My last race was the Vancouver half marathon on May 1st. I ran sporadically throughout the month of May but have been pretty lazy since then. Work has been busy and I was busy getting married and all that fun stuff, but there’s no excuse.

I ran my first mile in several months the other day. it was awful. I hurt. This is my accountability mechanism to get back into running and will be sprinkled with other tidbits that make me happy.