This weekend went by in the blink of an eye! Saturday we went to the outlet mall. We hit Under Armour first, as usual. We got some good deals. My husband got more than I did, but it's always hit or miss for one of us.
Sunday we went to my husband's mom's house. We did Easter with my family last weekend because that's when my brother had his son. (every other weekend ) But we started Sunday morning by getting up in time to run 5 miles. Like we set an alarm so we'd get up in time to get this done and be at my mother in law's house by 11 am. Who are we?!?! Like seriously! We set an alarm to go run. A few years ago I'd have laughed my butt off if someone told me we'd do this. In recent years this is something I would do. . . but now my husband is joining me. It's just amazing how much we've changed.
Again, in order to run "together" I speed up and my husband slows down. The previous 2 weekends, we've been at 10:40, so this was just a tad slower. It was just so fun though! We took a cute selfie afterwards.
I love the spring flowers :)
So we went to our Easter gathering. A fried of the family comes every year and she works at Walgreens. She gave our great-nephew a kite that she got on clearance for $0.19! It was a big hit and he was a pro kite flyer! He looks tall in this pic, but I believe he's about 7 years old. I think he turns 8 in July. I'm not sure. . . I can't keep up with the ages of all the kids.
I love that you can see that the kite is a turtle in this pic. Turtle Power!!!
After that we took my car to a mechanic friend to be worked on today. I won't get it back till tomorrow though. I had three lights coming on randomly. . . check engine, vehicle stability control and the traction light. . . a weird combo, but the point to the O2 sensors, so both are going to be replaced tomorrow.
I did better with eating this weekend. Last Sunday I was at my low for the year and the next day - bam! 2 pounds up! What?! Last weekend was that time of the month so I had that against me. It took me all week to get those pounds to budge.
Here I am today. Last Sunday I was 184.2. So pretty much a wash. I'd like to see the 170's sometime soon, but I know I"m not being strict enough on my eating. And yes that is Bachelor Ben in that photo. I had the People magazine in my bathroom! :)
Last but not least - I got a cat trap in the mail and I caught my cat!!!
Ha ha. Mr Blue is a sucker for a box. Put one on the ground and time him. . . he's in that sucker within 30 seconds flat!
Have a great week!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
It was 5 weeks ago when I was just walking during recess and got slammed with this "sickness". It feels like 5 months.
Currently my biggest complaint is my feet.
Generally they don't hurt when I'm not on them. But it's the initial standing/walking that hurts. And sometimes it hurts bad. This morning I got up and they were the best they've been in a long time! I was pretty happy with that. But they seem to hurt more later in the day. When I first got sick, mornings were worse.
This past weekend I got the guts to try the Oriental Energy massage place in my local mall. I got a 30 min foot massage from a middle aged Asian guy that smelled like stale smoke. We didn't communicate well but the massage was good, if not a bit too strong in some areas for my poor sore little feet.
My hands are almost normal when I wake up, but my wrists are still tender and don't like certain movements. For example, I grab my purse in my right hand and try to put it on my right shoulder with the same hand. The wrist has to bend and support the purse quite a bit for that movement. No one thinks twice about doing this, I never did. Now I have to use my opposite hand.
My knees suck. Standing and sitting, going up and down stairs. . . .all tender. But what's worse is that yesterday I was at Michael's and I squatted down to look at something on a shelf without thinking about it. Holy shit! I don't think I've squatted since I got sick. Wowza. Holy effing pain! I shot up like a bullet and almost cried. So I will continued to squat once or twice a day to monitor this. I can only imagine that it got better since all this started, because everything has. Which makes me think a few weeks ago I might have fell over and landed on my ass in the store. Who knows!
Today I'm going to get xrays of my feet. If I have RA, a rhuematologist would monitor joint damage. I don't think I have any at this point, but this could be a baseline xray. And I got to pick which joint to xray. My right foot hasn't been the same since I rolled it over a stair step. So why not just see if anything is going on there.
I was given permission to walk and I hated it. I want to run. I have only walked once. And if I'm worse the next day I have to stop. I was in severe foot pain the same night. So I haven't done it since. But I really overdid it that day. So since the weekend was so hot and humid I decided to wait for better weather and try again. This weekend looks like it will be nice and chilly in the AM. I have a *secret* goal. I want to be running by:
I am signed up for the Hot Chocolate 15K in Dec. This will be my third year in a row. So I have high hopes I can start running my Oct 1. Keep your fingers crossed for me! I don't know if this is a far-fetched goal or not honestly, but it's my secret hope. I need to run again!
Sometimes you don't want to do something. Sometimes you don't want to work out. Whatever that work out might be. Yesterday we had a funeral to attend. We were there from basically 8am-2pm. It was a long day. When we got home I literally put my PJ's on, laid on the couch and read my kindle. But as 3:00 rolled around I knew I needed to get off my lazy butt and go for a run. Yesterday was a gorgeous day. It was in the 40's and sunny. There was wind, but I could run and out and back keeping the wind blowing at me from the side. I did *not* want to run. I cannot tell you how badly I didn't want to run. I literally felt like doing this:
Yes that would be a temper tantrum. I really thought about crying. I was exhausted from 2 nights of not sleeping well and the day we just had. But I was also mad at my husband and I wanted out of the house. So I did. I changed clothes and got out of the door before I could think about it.
I felt damn good with the avg pace of this run. :) I started off refusing to look at my Garmin. Just run. I really was mad so I think that's how I managed to keep up a fairly good second mile. About a week or so ago I ran into my neighbor and he talked to me about intervals. I had been thinking of doing intervals for some time now, but I'm lazy. No lie. He said it really helps the pace. So somewhere just before the end of mile 2 I decided to do it. Running on the backroads I used the telephone poles as markers. I ran "fast" from one to the next, then slow to the next one, then "fast" again. This is what saved my mile 3 from being slow. I finally set my Garmin to beep at me if I get below an 11:40 pace and it sure did beep at me during mile 3. Especially when I went up the one and only hill near my house. But I tried to repeat a few intervals. I thought it would be more obvious in my Garmin stats, but it's not. Maybe cause they weren't long enough and I probably didn't vary my pace as much as I felt like I did.
You can see some hills and valleys there near the end in the pace and the cadence. So I did do something. I was sure huffing and puffing when I was done!
I just can't tell you how proud I am of myself for doing this run. It would have been so easy to lay there and keep reading. I feel like these kind of days are going to keep me successful. It's all abotu consistency.
This morning I decided to go for a run. I wanted to do 4 miles, but it just wasn't working. I have no idea what the problem was. Today is suppose to be pretty warm with temps in the 50's. But there was frost on my car and it was in the 30's when I left to drive to the park.
I wore my old navy tights (unlined), and unlined long sleeve shirt from Target and this jacket (you can't hardly tell that's a link!) from old navy. I love this jacket! It is SO comfortable. I got it Thanksgiving night when the whole store was 50% off. Total impulse purchase. I got an xl which is a size larger than almost everything I currently wear on top. But trying it on in the store, that's the size that felt and looked the best. I love how it's cut a bit longer in the front and back. It's just super flattering. But apparently it was just not quite right for today's run. I have no idea what went wrong. I was just kind of sticky. I wasn't even hot. I did take the jacket off somewhere around mile 2.5. I only did 3.5 miles total. And I walked several times. Something about walking just doesn't work in my head. Then it doesn't count as a "run". I also haven't walked during an outside run in a long time. But it is what it is. And I am still having knee issues. So what could I do?
When I got back to my car I had to head to the ATM and then Dollar General. Our milk and bread were both expired. I had drank some chocolate milk anyways before my run, but I wanted more with breakfast. I normally have a shakeology smoothie but I wanted a hole in one egg. So I made that and had more milk. Yum!
Even with all that walking my pace was only 1 min/mile less than it has been.
Today we have Christmas with my immediate family. I saw on FB that my brother's whole family is sick. He sent out a text asking if everyone was ok with them coming as they have colds. What are you suppose to say? That would be half the family missing! Plus Christmas is for kids and they have 2. So they need to be there. I enjoy giving gifts (more than receiving) and I like to see the kids open the gifts. I already know what my parents got me. So other than the stocking stuffers, nothing will be a surprise. Oh those stocking stuffers! What a stressful thing that is. I have such a hard time getting a stuffer for everyone. I find that crazy difficult. So I'm off to wrap a few more gifts cause I'm a slacker!
