HR Training Bust!

Summer is here. . .  as you may have read in my previous post, I was playing around with heart rate training.   Did I mention summer is here?  I live in the midwest.  Hello humidity!  Hello turtle pace.  Last week, during lunch I went to the park, like I always do, for another heart rate run.  This happened. . .

Umm. . .  I officially declared hear training a bust.  I had to go much slower than the previous week just due to the weather.  I don't have time for this.  I may not be able to continue lunch time running anyways.  The weather makes it too hard to clean up post-run without a shower at work.  So I only run during lunch when the weather is nice enough.  But still. . . I am putting any more attempts at heart rate training on hold until the weather is better. It's hard enough keeping my HR at or below 148.  I don't need the weather making it more challenging.   I'd like to give this a fair chance, but it's just frustrating right now.

This weekend was a mixed bag. . . we didn't do anything special. The weather has kept my husband out of the field for a LONG time.  If you had asked us back mid-April if he'd be done with planting by now, we'd have said yes with no hesitation.  Then it rained almost non stop for a month, not allowing the field to dry out at all.  He's finally been able to get some bean planted, but not much and we have a long way to go. . .

I took this picture when I stopped by the field to see how he was doing.  This field is not at our home, so I had to help him move equipment here by picking him and bringing him back and forth.  This is a 25 acre field and he was able to get it planted yesterday.  He's trying to finish another field this morning, but the rain is on the way again.

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Saturday and Sunday we did some gardening - planting flowers that is.  We cleaned out flower beds, added new mulch and planted some flowers.  I seem to either plant *no* flowers at all or I want to buy every flower I see.  This year it's the  "must buy all flowers" mentality.  I planted 2 more pots this weekend just because I fell for some flowers and had to have them.   I don't know if I posted much here, but I can't stand my "home". . . so some years I don't bother with the flower beds because in general I don't allow any one to come to my house.  So no one sees them, so what's the point?  It's a LOT of work watering all the flowers in the summer.  But for some reason this year I got the itch.

I finished this wreath this weekend.  This was flying around Facebook.  As a result it was really hard to find all the supplies.  All the red. white and blue bandanas were sold out everywhere.  I hung it on the door, but we don't have a porch or any type of awning, so the sun will fade this over the summer.  As a result it's now hanging on the *inside* of the door.  I spent too much $ on this to let it fade, but I don't like it hanging inside.  I should just give it to my mom. . . 

I made a cake to take to my barn this weekend.  I originally started making this in Christmas colors but have branched out for other holidays :) 

And yesterday afternoon I hung out with my kitty boy - Pudding.  Otherwise known as Puddy, Puddy McPoppers, Puddy Pop Pop . . .   he's the last cat left of a litter of five that we had a year ago.  I dont' know what's happening to my cats, but the two girls vanished fairly early on.  Then I had three boys left.  One went missing early in Oct and then we had two. . . they were best of friends. . .  last week Wednesday the other one went missing. We searched high and low.  I just don't know what's happening and it breaks my heart and I don't want to lose this kitty, as he's just so super friendly.  But he's very lonely without his brother.  It makes me so sad. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

A fun 4 mile run!!!

The *only* time I've really ran with someone and we purposefully ran together and stayed together for the whole race (with limited walking at water stops and such) was during the KY Derby Half Marathon in 2014.  It was my very first half and I ran it with a friend.  We had never ever ran together before so I had no idea what to expect.  But we stayed together and finished together and it was fun.

So yesterday morning (Saturday) it was kind of sort of misty outside, but it was a cooler temperature and overcast - perfect running weather.   I didn't *want* to run as I had done a brief 2 miles on Friday after lunch and I was just tired.  I thought about taking the day off.  My husband was talking some nonsense about going to the gym.  What?!  He's a new runner and I think he hasn't quite figured out what *good* running weather is.  I said if you run here at home, I'll run with you.  Can we stick together?   My husband runs a pace around 10:00 - 10:15 I would say, but I also think he's still finding his pace as he's only been running consistently since January.   My current pace seems to be around 11:15, maybe 11:00 if I'm having a good run.  Could we meet in the middle?  And if so for how long?  I told my husband that it's good for him to do a run at an easy pace once and a while.

So off we went and I didn't want to run any mile (or much of any distance) faster than 10:30 cause I knew I couldn't hold it long.  We planned 4 miles and so I needed to find a rhythm and stay there.  The first mile was easy.  The second wasn't all that bad either.  I thought "if we can make it to the halfway point and still be together I'll be impressed".   We turned around at mile 2.  I hadn't eaten anything that morning but I had a pack of Gu with me.  I didn't take it and that was a bit of a mistake. I did take it around 2.5 and that was a bit late.  I was starting to struggle and when mile 3 hit I was pondering walking and let my husband run off a head of me.  But I pushed through.  At 3.5 we turned the corner to home and I was groaning.  My husband told me I could do this!  I stayed strong and we finished 4 miles together!

They say the best way to increase your pace is to run with someone faster than you. :)   It sure does help.  I told my husband I'd like to do it again on a regular basis, provided this wasn't a fluke.   Next time I won't run 2 miles the day before.

We got home right as fedex was delivering my Advocare order.  I truly believe that Advocare has really improved our health and our life.  My husband is the smallest he's been since I've known him and probably the smallest he's been in his adult life.   I love the products so much!

Notice our matching headbands?   We got them last weekend when we were in Springfield at Scheel's.  They are Junk brand headbands.  Technically both are unisex.  But mine is stretchy and his ties in the back.  My husband sweats buckets easily so I think he's learned that headbands are amazing for keeping sweat out of your eyes.

So 10:41 pace!  That's pretty good for me for 4 miles.  I was running well last summer before I got sick and I hope to get back to that again.  It was fun to run with someone else the *entire* time.  However, I can't talk and run.  They say you should be able to but there's just no way.  No matter how slow I run, my breathing sucks and I sound like I'm in respiratory distress.   I can never hold a conversation.  Just not possible.  I think it would be fun to run and chat, but right now I'll just take running with someone else.  It made the time fly by!

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I was in a workweek hustle this week and I kicked some butt!  I'm really not sure how because I have a desk job and it takes effort to reach 10k steps a day.   So I'm really not sure how I slammed this one, but I did. Yet another reason I was tired yesterday and wanted to have a day off.  Maybe today will be that day.  It's hard for me to convince myself to take a rest day.  Especially on a weekend.  It's different if I've been at work all day.

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 I can't stop taking photos of Doughnut the barn kitty.  She's so pretty but she's not all that nice. She's a typical female that only likes you when she wants to like you.  She purrs so loudly but then will just randomly squeal and bite you.  I guess I should be glad she's not super friendly cause I'd be cuddling her all the time and I wouldn't get anything done at the barn. 

Run for the Chocolate 5K

I'm not going lie.  I thought about skipping this run.  The alarm went off at 6:15 am.  I shut it off and the second went off at 6:30.  It was going to be *really* cold outside and my bed was really warm.  My kitty, Mr Blue, was snuggled up with me giving me purry kitty love.  Why do I pay to run?  Why do I pay to run a race 30+ mins from my house in February?

Yesterday my husband went to pick up the packets.  I suggested that he go get them in case the race was canceled and we couldn't get them Saturday morning.  Yes I was kind of hoping the powers that be would decide for me and simply cancel the race.  Then I wouldn't have any guilt.

I guess because this race is near Valentine's day, they categorize the runners when you sign up.  You have the option of this such as happy couple, bachelor, bachelorette, it's complicated. . . . the shirts reflect your status and each one is a different color.  This year you had the option of a shirt or a beanie.  I chose the shirt, hubby chose the beanie.

This morning we arrived an hour early and sat in the car.   Everyone was sitting in the car.  I'm was dreading the pre-race trip to the porta-potty.  That was going to be frigid and it was exactly as cold as I thought it was going to be!

The race started promptly at 9 am and it was a chilly 14 degrees without the wind chill.  This race takes place pretty much right along the Mississippi River in downtown St Louis.  There's wind.  The first mile I ran with my right hand inside my left fearing frost bite.  Yes I had gloves on.  My right index finger was just so cold I really wondered if I'd get frost bite.  However, I usually have hot hands when running and they warmed up and I had damp gloves at the end.  But. . . I was busting a move my first mile and I got this new record: 

Last year we ran this race and it was short of a 5K.  Significantly short if I remember right. This year it was still short.  They changed the route slightly but I knew it wasn't going to make a solid 3.1 miles.  When I looked at my watch crossing the finish it was 3.0 miles.  My hubby's Garmin said 3.02.  I kept running after the finish to get a solid 5K.  I thought maybe I'd beat my 5k record in my Garmin, but that didn't happen.  Another lady asked me if my watch showed 3 as she me continue to run.  Hers showed 3 too.  That's so frustrating.  This would be my fastest 5K in a race, but the official results are skewed in my opinion (the avg pace is off) because it wasn't 3.1 miles.  I hate that. 

This photo shows us at the start line as well as the goodies at the end.  They gave us chocolate fondue this year!  The race is held at Bissinger's Chocolate in downtown St Louis.  They have amazing chocolate.   The chocolate dipping sauce was so yummy.  They make their own hot chocolate and I wish they would sell it.  It's so creamy and smooth.  They put chocolate covered marshmallows that are topped with peppermint in the hot chocolate.  SOOOO good!  It hit the spot. The melty marshmallows were the best!!!

At the finish like you get these chocolate heart suckers.  A the one water stop on course they gave out the little chocolate hearts.  I just grabbed some and put them in my jacket pocket.  I was running to fast to mess around with eating :) 

Here are our official results  But again it was a 3 mile run.  Here's my Garmin results. 

I'm glad I got my warm and lazy butt out of bed to do this run. We took a pic before leaving and the quote kind of sums this day up for me. . .  I have a love-hate relationship with running sometimes, but I don't quit. 

TGIF - 3 day weekend ahead. . .

It's Friday!  It's a 3 day weekend.  It doesn't get much better than this :)  

It's been a long week.  Days have moved slowly.  Stress has been involved.  I wrote a blog and took it down cause I felt it was too personal.  So that brings me today and I'm feeling the urge to write. 

Last weekend was drop dead gorgeous.  Especially Saturday.  When you see this you know it's a wonderfully nice day.  (none of those are Eli)

I had a good ride on Saturday and took Eli for a walk in a grassy lot afterwards.  It was just too beautiful - we had to go out and soak up the sunshine. 

I went for a run Saturday morning and finally had a pretty good pace.  The kitty selfie is Mr Puddin'.  We call him Puddin' Pops, Pudding McPoppers, Puddy.  .  . he's an amazing kitty.  He lives outside in the shop with his brother. 

My pace was purposefully fast because I want to keep up with my husband during the 5K we are running tomorrow.    The thing about tomorrow is. .  

It's going to be REALLY cold!  Look at the "feel like" temp.  I'm not sure we should actually run this race, but I'm sure we will.  It's paid for.  My husband is going to pick up the packets today. 

So while last weekend was gorgeous, come Monday the temps were 30 degrees lower and we had a couple days of light snow this week. 

I love snow!!!!  I want more than we ever get unfortunately. 

Today is February 12 and it's the release date of Vince Gill's new CD. 

I was really excited about this, but I'm kind of pissed right now.  I pre-ordered this CD.   The website said it would ship a few days ahead of the release date.  The tracking appeared in my USPS dashboard this morning.  There is a tracking number but it doesn't appear that the package has actually been accepted by the post office.  I assumed I would receive this *on* release day.  I could have pre-ordered from Amazon and I know I would have received it.  I could go to the store and buy it.  Yes my pre-order included a t-shirt, but I don't need that shirt.  I just ordered it in advance so that it would show up in my mailbox on release day.  When will it arrive now? Monday is a holiday and so I'm guessing I don't see it till Tues or Wed.  I'm really bummed about this. 

This morning was rather interesting.  We got light snow overnight. .  . *maybe* a 1/2 inch.  As I was driving out of my drive and onto my road I saw tire tracks with some snow over them. . . and some foot prints with some snow over them.  I thought to myself "who was walking on the road".  My road is a dead end.  You are either coming to my house or my neighbors house.  Once I got to the end (which is a very short drive) I see this. 

Oops!  Someone had some problems.  I called my husband.  He walked down from the house (again this is really not far) and looked at the truck and the plates.  I headed to work.  My husband called me. . .the foot prints didn't go anywhere.  They never came onto our property.  They walked past our drive and then walked in a circle.  We assume the person was calling for help.  My neighbor said no one knocked on his door.  My husband called this into the police.  They took 1 hour to arrive.  They talked to my husband, called a wrecker and another truck showed up (presumably the owner or someone connected to the owner) and that's about the last I heard.  The roads weren't slick.  Based on the snow in the tracks/prints this had to happen sometime after midnight but likely before 4 am.  There was a small window of snow last night.  Maybe the drive slid.  Maybe he was drinking.  Maybe he fell asleep.  My husband did say it appeared the driver broke the window of the passenger side with a hammer to get out.  The driver's side of the truck is facing the photo and that's pretty flat as you can see.   What an interesting morning!

So three day weekend coming up!  Valentine's day (I'm having cake!) and a 5K.  Hopefully some sleeping in will be included during the weekend.   Have a great one!

Hot Chocolate 15K 2015

This was my third year running this race.  I LOVE this race!  This year when I got sick (first post here), I had already signed up for this race (we signed up in May).  I was worried there was no way I'd be able to do this run.  But I was determined that somehow I'd cross the finish line.  

The first year I did this race, the high was 20 degrees for the day and the race was under a weather advisory.  This year we are unseasonably warm with highs in the 60's (yesterday we hit 70) and today's forecast was all rain.  It's grossly hot in my opinion and unhealthy for animals, but many people are happy that it's this warm.  I was really worried about the rain and watched the forecast non-stop.  I was so worried about getting soaked.  I've been caught in the rain, but never voluntarily started a long run knowing I'd be rained on the whole time.  Needless to say I was stressed. 

Yesterday we went to get our packets.  If you were in the first 15% to sign up, you got special city embroidery on your jackets. 

See the "St Louis 2015 Finisher" below the Hot Chocolate logo?  I thought the StL skyline was nice addition as well.  I love this race - it has one of the best goodie bags that I've ever had. 

We got up bright and early this AM, and it wasn't raining.  Woo hoo!  But the forecast was rain and the radar didn't look good.  I forgot to take a screenshot of the radar before the run - but this was around noon and you can see that basically we are having an all day rain. 

We drove to St Louis for a 7:30 start time and it was dripping by the time we got there.   I started to worry about how exactly I'd get through 9.3 miles with wet shoes/socks.  We walked to the Soldier's Memorial, where the race and post-race set up was.  We immediately used the ports-potty and it was about 7 am.  It was windy, damp and I was chilled.  We headed towards corrals but I wanted to use the bathroom one more time.  It was the whole "I'm cold and need to pee" feeling.  We got in a line and I knew there was no way we'd be able to make it before the start.  So we gave  up and got in our corral.  We were in corral B and I'm not sure why.  There were pacers from 10:30 - 11:30 in our corral, but there were pacers in the 9:xx range in corrals behind us.  I didn't understand that and when those group passed us on the course it really wasn't all that cool.  I felt like I was getting passed by a large crowd. 

The race started on time and it was dripping. I made the dumb decision to put a plastic poncho on while waiting in the corral.  That didn't last the first mile.  I felt like I was in a sauna.  I took it off and trashed it.  I basically got too hot to start and I paid for it.  My face felt like it was fire red through mile 5-6.  My husband ran the 5K and we didn't stick together at the start.  I can't stick with him knowing I have such a long race before me.  But I have to admit that he did amazing and we actually both crossed our respective 5K markers (the course split at mile 2.6) at the exact SAME time.  I thought that was CRAZY.  The time (the actual time of day) was 8:08 that we both crossed our 5K markers.  34:43 was my time.  His was 1 second behind me, I think cause he was a second later across the start.  My husband does NOT run or train at all.  He just does these runs with me for fun and he rocked this 5K.  I was kind of jealous of his time.  I train for this and he practically beat me!

I did really well through the 6 mile and 6.2 mile split.  But then things went down hill.  I walked a few times and then right after I crossed the mile 8 marker we hit a rather long hill.  I think it was about 1/2 mile of hill.  That's why mile 9 was the worse time.  All StL races that I've done end up hill.  Once we got over this hill and headed back near the finish we had a few small hills including up to the final turn to the finish.  It really sucks when you have 0.2 miles to go and are just getting killed by a hill!  I was really proud of my splits through mile 6.  I really need to train on hills more often in order to really improve my time in this race. 

 I beat last year by 52 seconds.  That wasn't as much as I hoped.  But I will say that my only goal was to finish this race!  I always want to beat the time from the previous year, but I was so thankful that I was healthy enough to run this race. 

The chocolate fondue finisher mug is fantastic.  This year it was hard to eat because we couldn't sit on the ground - it was a muddy mess. So holding the mug and eating was a challenge. I should say that the weather held out in the sense that there was never more than a light drizzle.  My shoes only got wet really when I stepped in a puddle or kicked water onto my feet myself.  I'm so thankful for that!

We really had a great time and are already talking about next year.  I asked my hubby if he wants to do the 15K?  Ha!!  Or if he actually trains for the 5k - he'd whoop my butt!!!!

My final finish time was 1:47:06 and a pace of 11:30/mile.  My Garmin was actually pretty close this year.  I tried not to weave like a crazy person through the crowds. 

Here is a close up of my medal and my jacket embroidery:

We continued our tradition of eating breakfast at Cracker Barrel following this race. I always get Eggs in the Basket.  I call them Hole in One Eggs when I make them at home.  I get them with runny yolks and it's so good.  I get turkey sausage cause quite frankly their turkey sausage rocks and their regular sausage does not!

They say that time heals all wounds.  Well it also fades your memories a bit.  I sometimes tend to "forget" just how much pain I was in during that time I was sick.  I tend to forget how painful it was to put my feet on the ground in the morning.  There were mornings I couldn't put my hair in a pony tail.  There were morning I couldn't get my hand to my mouth to take medicine.  I had pain in almost every single joint.  It was horrible and I think about it and try to take myself back to that time every now and again to remember just what it was like.  People are sympathetic to those with chronic pain, but until you experience you really truly cannot imagine what it's like. Even now. . . even when I've experienced this. . . it's faded and I take my health for granted somewhat now.  Whatever I had hit me with no warning.  I know the date, time and exactly what I was doing when it hit.  I have no clue if it can happen again.  Not getting a diagnosis sucks cause I just don't know what happened or if I'll have to go through that again.  I'm so thankful I'm "healthy" right now.  I'm so happy I was able to run this race.  Don't take your health for granted.  And if you are thinking of taking up an activity like running - do it!  Start small.  But just do it!  There are people that wish they could and they can't.  Be thankful for every little step you can take.  Doesn't matter if you walk or run.  Doesn't matter if you move 1 mile or 9.3 :)  Thanks for reading!

Pre-Race Update

I'm 3 days out from the Hot Chocolate 15K.  Training wise I'm doing really well.

I had my last long run this past Saturday.  What a hot mess that was.  I woke up to a dense fog advisory on my phone. I rolled over and thought "let the sun burn the fog away".  I couldn't really relax enough so I got up 20-30 mins later.  No fog!  Told my mom when I was leaving (she was going to pick me up in town at the end of my run).  I over dressed.  At mile 1 I was ripping off my hat and jacket.  I was sweating as the sun was on my back.  At the hour mark (mile 5-ish) I was freezing cause I was in the shade.  Suddenly I realized there really wasn't any sun and the fog was rolling in.  WHAT?  Usually the fog happens in the morning and the sun burns it away.  So I had 3 more miles (about 30 mins) of running in cold damp fog.  My hair was so wet I was surprised I didn't have icicles.   I was so happy to be done and so super surprised to see my pace.

So Saturday we pick up our packets and on Sunday we do the run.  And the forecast is all rain on Sunday (starting Sat night).  So I'm freaked.  I've been caught in the rain before.  In the summer.  I haven't chosen to run a full 9.3 miles in the rain.  I don't have any waterproof running clothes. :(   I'm not really sure what we will do.  This is my third year running the 15k.  This is my hubby's 2nd year running the 5K.  I want to run. But I don't want to be miserable.  We are having unseasonably warm temps so maybe it'll be ok, but if it's truly raining I'm not sure.

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Life has been crazy busy.  I had a few days home alone when my hubby went to a tractor pull in Mississippi.   I enjoyed that.  I didn't even talk to him while he was gone.  I didn't want to know if he was drinking.  I'm not saying he's an alcoholic.  I'm saying it's caused problems and I wish he just didn't drink period.  There are people that don't drink a sip. That would make our life easier cause right now our marriage is rocky as hell. 

Last night we went with my parents to the St Louis Zoo Wild Lights.  It was a nice night (55 degrees) and the lights were beautiful.  You could see the Sea Lions, the new Polar Bear and the Penguins/Puffins.  The sea lions were really really hard to see.  The walkway you walked through was lighted and the water the sea lions were in was not.  You mostly saw your own reflection.  The polar bear's home was also dark.  We got to see him for a few minutes before he went and laid down to sleep behind a rock out of the eyes of the public.  We got lucky there.  The penguins were fun though, even though no one was swimming or moving around much (last time they were and that was a blast). 

I wore my new tall boots with my skinny jeggings that I never wear.   I wish the boots were a bit taller (the pains of being 5'10") and I got blisters.  Probably not the best idea to wear them the first time to walk through the zoo.  Oh well! :)   And that's some hot chocolate with Bailey's.   Yum!

I'm gaining weight and was 191 earlier this week.  Not cool.  I'm trying not to stress.  I know I will do the cleanse or the full 24 day challenge after the new year.  I'm just trying to say in the 180's till then.  189.4 this morning! :)  It's a tough time of year.  I'm staying active and trying not to stress too much.  Long runs always seem to bump my weight up for a few days anyways.  So having 7, 8, 9.3 three weekends in a row is working against me. 

I ran 5 miles!

Yeah so I have done 5 miles.  I've done 6 miles.  All in my training for the Hot Chocolate 15K.  But I haven't run the whole entire time.  I'm still kind of figuring out my fitness level and quite honestly I might be allowing myself to walk when I don't need to.  Whatever the case, my running mojo isn't quite where it was before I got sick.   But yesterday I left work, drove to the park in town to start running so that I could beat sunset.  The town I work in is much more hilly than the town I live in. So I was worried about running the whole 5.  There's a 1 mile loop at the park that has some hills that look small, but 5 times around would be killer. So I went around it once, then headed to the main street which is more flat.  I ran till I hit 2.5 and then turned around and ran back to the park doing another loop.  I was pretty proud of myself!

The funny thing here is that the pace of 11:36 is the *same* pace as the last time I did 5 miles when I walked 1/4th of a mile in the middle. I find that amusing and disappointing.

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Remember the phone drama I spoke of in my last post?  We returned all the phones to Best Buy on Saturday and rolled back our contract.  I'm not sure what we will do.  I honestly want my husband to get on his own plan.  Why?  Because I don't think we'll be together for 2 more years.  So separating the plans later would be more complicated.  I guess that's only *if* I upgrade the 2 year contract.  Otherwise, the no contract options that providers are doing these days would be much easier to separate.

So here I am back to my cracked Galaxy S4 and hating every minute.  The phone is laggy and the cracked screen is annoying.  Plus I think it's kind of faulty to touch as when I'm typing suddenly words that I had no intention of typing are flying on the screen.  Oh well.  I also took the insurance on all these phones off my Sprint plan cause let's be honest - that's a scam. 


Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Historic Moment and some other random things. . .

I'm 5'10" and have struggled to find clothing that is long enough. Jeans are a continuous problem.  Skirts have been impossible for a long time.  Long skirts stop at a funky spot on me, not just below the knee, not mid calf, but somewhere mid calf to ankle.  Basically in a funky spot that they should not stop and therefore I've never been able to wear long skirts.  Through the years of trying them on, I've also that that even if they were long enough, that I didn't look good in them.  I've always felt they've made me look like I have huge hips.  And lets be honest I have had huge hips.  That's my problem area.  Earlier this summer a FB friend suggested I try Kohl's.  I did and I actually found a skirt that was long enough.  I didn't have a chance to wear it.  I got it in early July, went to Canada, got sick. . . suddenly it's fall.  But I wore it to a wedding this weekend.  I called this a historic moment and had to get photographic proof. :) 

It felt weird to walk around and feel the skirt at my ankles.  At my ANKLES!!!! I pulled it off and didn't think I looked too dorky.  I refused to wear a short dress so it was this or pants.

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I started my weekend with a 3 mile run/walk on Sat.  I repeated that on Sunday.  Remember I had a goal of running by Oct 1st.  Well I consider this success.  I'm not running the full distance, but that wasn't the goal. The goal to be hitting the pavement and putting in the miles.

My lung capacity isn't the best and my heart rate sometimes gets too high. But I'm working on it and I'll get it back.  It's going to take time, but I knew that going in.  6+ weeks of laying around doing nothing had to have some kind of impact.

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It feels good to be working out again cause I'm fat. I see it in that skirt photo.  I'm slowing reintroducing advocare back into my life.  I missed it.  But I cut out all supplements other than what the doc told me to take for my illness.  I'm not very good at taking a lot of stuff.  So I had a hard time keeping up with what I needed to take to get better.  So I'm back on the wagon!  I feel like I have the willpower today to get through the day without eating sugary things and without soda.

Spark helps with avoiding the soda.  Advocare doesn't make a variety box.  I bought all flavors and made my own variety boxes.  I still have some that I'd like to sell.  These are packaged in the older square packaging (except for 2 flavors), so I have a special price on them.  If you've wanted to try spark, or try all the flavors, let me know.  If you aren't local I'll ship them to you.  Ask me about the price!

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On Sunday we went to the last Cardinals home game of the regular season.  There was a special for all inclusive seats and we sat on the Powerade Bridge. 

I pigged out yesterday.  I don't even want to think about.  The scale is *so* high this morning.  This was my *first* round at the buffet.  I made my own brisket nachos.  I went back for a hotdog and more cookies.  We had Chinese for dinner.  Ahh!  Today is *going* to be good.  I feel fat and that is motivation to be good. 

I took a fun photo of a bracelet that I got on etsy. 

I wear that to every game.  I LOVE it! 

We ride the Redbird Express to the game.  Because there was also a football game in StL yesterday the traffic was awful.  It took us over 30 mins to get out of downtown and let's just say I'm surprised we didn't get in a wreck.  Our bus driver lady was NUTS!  But we were talking to the people sitting behind us.  We were in sideways seats and they were in front facing seats so it was pretty easy to chat.  And suddenly I realized that the man seemed *very* familiar.  Maybe he was my 8th grade science teacher?  So I asked.  I was wrong, but he was my teacher.  He was my math teacher when I was a Jr.  I had him for Trig/Pre-Calc.  He was one of my favorite teachers!  His voice was so familiar but I couldn't place him at first.  I think since he was wearing a hat it threw me off.  It was fun to catch up and also fun to tell him that I went on to get a degree in math.   Now I might be looking for him on the bus next season!  

New PRs and a holiday weekend

This was such a busy weekend and at the same time I felt like I didn't get anything done!

First I got off work on Thursday at 11:30 AM.  We were given 3 hours off and I didn't take a lunch.  I went to the park in town to do 3 miles before going to ride Eli.  It started off amazing and just stayed that way.  It was cool and overcast.  There was  fine mist at the beginning.  Perfect running weather.  Just over halfway through my Garmin beeped that the battery was low.  OMG.  I knew I was on track for my fastest 5K.  I just hoped the battery would last.  Thankfully it did!  I am so tickled with this pace.  It actually felt easy.  Now the rest of my runs this weekend were not like this.  But I'm hoping that I'm onto something and will need to re-evaluate my goals.

Then I went to the barn and I just had a great ride on Eli.  He's 20 now and things haven't been so good.  But he gave me such a great ride.  Great way to start my weekend!

It was a busy week and my 7 day fitbit step total was the highest I think it's ever been on Friday.

114K!  Usually breaking 100K takes some effort or some long runs.

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On Friday we had tickets to the Cardinals game.  We were going with my parents and it was their first time at this Busch Stadium.  I believe this is the 3rd Busch Stadium, but I'm not sure.  It opened in 2006.

We had fun!  There were fireworks after the game.  They do such a good job of this and everyone has a great seat.  It's fun to just sit there and wait for the lights to go off and the fireworks to start.

My mom took this photo of us.  I don't really love it.  I think it makes both of us look heavier than we really are. She got close (as opposed to zooming in) and I also feel like it's shot upwards a bit.   But there you have it. . .

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We didn't have any plans for the 4th.  A friend from my barn gave me some homegrown blackberries and I attempted to make a pie.   I tried this years ago and it flopped.  It was super runny and disappointing.  This time it turned out much better!

But holy sweetness!  I guess cause I don't eat much sweet stuff anymore, this was a shock.  We got some vanilla ice cream to top it with.  That helped toned down those blackberries, but my teeth were still coated in sugar.  Thanks for Carb-Ease Plus from Advocare.  I popped that before inhaling this hot mess of sugar!  :)

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Yesterday I went to the barn to ride and found this:

Swollen knee from a little cut above the knee.  I opted to ride him lightly for 40 mins to see if the swelling would go down.  It didn't.  It did get warm when it wasn't before.  So maybe riding wasn't the best idea.  But Eli puffs up like a stove pipe from the most superficial cut.  So I knew that's what it was from.  I put ointment on the cut and hopefully this is better today.  He was going to give me a really sweet ride so I was bummed that I had to go easy. :(  

Today is someone's birthday at the barn so I made a patriotic cake. 

Now unfortunately it's Monday.  I didn't gain any weight from this crazy weekend when I got on the scale this morning. :)   WHOOP!   I leave for Canada in 3 days! Well the first stop is Detroit.   The nerves have kicked in.