Reflections on 2009!

2009 was my year! It was the year where I PR'ed at each of the three half-marathons I did. It was the year of my first half-marathon that I traveled any distance to do that was an amazing experience! It was the year of my first full marathon. It was the year that I hit my goal weight at Weight Watchers. It was a year where I watched myself change from 206.4 (my weight at my last weigh in of 2008) to my current weight of 164! It was also the year that saw me turn 40 at my healthiest and fittest ever!

I do know that I have a lot of will power and a lot of drive to get me to where I wanted to be, but I could not have done it without the wonderful support of my hubby! He has a schedule that allows him to be home before I am so he cooks, cleans and does the grocery shopping. He makes it possible for me to leave work and go to the gym on the way home by taking care of Logan's needs We sit down a plan out a menu and he makes it happen. On Sundays after shopping we make little individual serving sizes of my basic lunch stuff and cut up veggies for the week. He is the rock at home that makes my life easier so I can spend the time taking care of my needs. Thank you so much for being there for me this year! Here is to many more years with you my dear!

I don't know what 2010 has in store for me, but I'm anxious to find out!

A quick weigh in post!

I gained this week - 2.4 pounds to be exact - but like my future Daughter in law says - it is all Macaroni and Cheese - I can not resist my moms homemade mac and cheese. There was other things for Christmas dinner, but I didn't have much of anything else! Mainly Mac and Cheese! It was a rough week food wise and an even rougher week workout wise. I still need to get into my grove with the new activities and I also depended too much on getting activity on Saturday and my bike ride I had planned ended up not working out because I found I don't have the right things to wear for cold weather biking! My bike ride was supposed to be around 2 hours and it ended up being 30 minutes! This week will be much better and I will get some of this gain back off! It puts my weight at 166 and that is exactly 2 pounds above my goal and I'm not happy with that at all! I also don't much like the way my body feels right now. I'm very sluggish, my tummy isn't very happy and I feel dehydrated.

I'm doing half a Duathlon!

I would love to say I'm doing all the Duathlon - but I will remain good and not run until released by the doctor = so there is a New Years Duathlon on January 2nd and one of my running buddies will be doing the running part for me and I will do the bike! I'm excited because this will get me out of my comfort zone. I have never cycled in an event before, I will also learn a bit about transition areas in Duathlons, and Triathlons and it sounds like a ton of fun! I'm very excited! I now have a short term goal for the next two weeks and I have a long term goal! I'm set!

Oh and I bought a TYR swimsuit yesterday! I can't believe I can fit into a TYR swimsuit! Yes it shows off my trouble areas more than my regular suit, but if I'm going to be serious about the Tri thing I needed a good sport suit!

Weigh in Day!

This mornings weight was 163.6 - I'm down .8 from last week and .2 under what I weighed in at goal on December 6th. It was a challenging week with lots of food at work (which I only indulged in a little bit) and then on Friday we went out to dinner to celebrate my oldest graduating from college. I made great choices and I'm very happy with my loss this week.

The coming week will also be challenging - I'm going out to late lunch/early dinner today at the cheesecake factory and then Christmas eve will be spent at the in-laws and Christmas day at my parents. There will be lots of food around and I'm going to try and make the best choices I can. I'm just going to take each day as it comes.

The one thing I wasn't really happy with was my lack of activity this week - I earned no activity points this week. One problem I have been having this week besides motivation is the fact that right now I don't really have a "goal" - I need to be training for something to keep me out there and with the ankle injury I can't run, so that puts another added challenge in there. I have decided that for this week I will get myself to the gym at least twice, Next Saturday I'm planning a bike ride and for my long term goal I have my eye on a Tri-For-Fun on June 5th - it is a .5 mile swim – 16 mile bike – 3 mile run. My wild card is the swim, I have not been in a pool much so I need to get going with the swim training!

Weigh in Day!

So I'm now 5 weeks to lifetime! My weigh in today was up .6 - at first I was not OK with that, but after thinking about the amazing losses I have had the past four weeks I figure it was probably my body going "Whoa Nellie!" On maintenance I'm supposed to add 4 points to my daily target and I didn't do that since I still want to hit the 100 pound loss mark, but it was also a challenging week with pizza and See's candy at work and bunco night on Friday. I used up all my points and all of the activity I had earned and went over by a half a point. I have struggled with the activity this week as well. I don't have a set schedule down like I did when I was running. I need to get my butt to the gym and get on the bike! All I have to do is not go over my goal weight by more than 2 pounds and I will be lifetime in 5 weeks! This week will prove to be challenging as well I'm afraid - tonight I have the Sacfit banquet and on Friday we are going out to BJ's Brewery to celebrate my oldest sons college graduation! I have found very limited nutrition info on BJ's so if anyone knows where I can find it let me know! I want to go in to the place with a plan!

One last goal picture!

Hopefully you can see the picture - it is what my E-tools said to me when I put my weight in on Sunday! Yes I'm a big geek and I sat here taking pictures of my computer screen! LOL!! I love the stars!!

A day I will never forget!

So after a very stressful week of weighing myself when I shouldn't have and being way more stressed than I needed to be because of the number on the scale - here is the scale at my weigh in this morning! Good thing I invited all those people!! LOL!! I hit goal!!!

Official stats for those keeping track at home? Current weight 163.8 - Loss this week of 1.6 - Total loss - 98.7 pounds!

The meeting was an emotional blur - there was some very nice things said about me - again - when did I become this person? I know it seems weird, but I have been doing this for myself - not really for anyone else, but if I can help people along the way then BONUS! I got a really neat picture frame from my leader since I always carry a before picture with me they want me to have a frame for "The first day of my after"! It was so nice to have my family there, my parents and my older son and his fiance braved the cold and early hours and came out. I also invited a few other people who had been important to me and my journey and they came as well! This pic is my leader Cara on my left and Carol on my right. On a side note - when I met Carol and found out she was a runner it inspired me to run and she ran her first marathon because she wasn't going to let me do a full marathon before her!

And then as if the day wasn't already emotional - my parents dropped me off in the freezing cold so I could do my leg of the CIM relay! I had the last leg and the rest of my team did so great! The pressure was really off me to run fast and I could just enjoy the ride! CIM is amazing - I can't wait until next year so I can run the whole thing! After I finished I walked a couple of miles back out to bring in a teammate that was struggling - CIM has a course limit and she was behind that which means she was on the sidewalk and had to wait for traffic lights and such, but she did it! It was so cool being out there cheering people in, watching people make their goals and just giving back to the people who had supported me 3 weeks ago when I ran my first marathon!

This is me and Leslie - one of my relay team members waiting for the person to come in to hand off to me!

It was a very long, emotional, (and cold) day - so after going to Fresh Choice to eat I came home, took a hot bath and snuggled under the electric blanket and took a nap. I got up in time to watch about an hour of TV and then it was bedtime!

Fit by Forty? You Betcha!!

So today (December 3rd) is my 40th birthday! I can hardly believe how much I have accomplished in the years between 37 and 40. I never really intended to be "fit by forty" but here I am - 97+ pounds lost - thousands of miles ran - 5 half marathons - 1 full marathon - numerous other races and training runs - a new bike with many miles on it - a whole new way of looking at food and fueling my body - a treadmill that isn't a coat rack - I feel great - I have more self-esteem - I have more confidence - my goal weight is right around the corner - I'm a stronger woman mentally and physically and last but not least I'm a good role model for my children.

Thanks for supporting me in my journey everyone!

A quote leading up to a big weekend!

This weekend I will be running my last run for a little while - I have an injured ankle and I have been cleared by my sports medicine doctor to run my leg of the relay, but then I need to give my ankle the time it needs to heal. Probably two months of no running - just cycling or swimming and my PT exercises that I have been given. I am thankful that I have not injured myself badly enough that I can't run the relay and thankful that the injury isn't a permanent thing and will heal. The injury will also mean I will not be able to coach for about the first month of the new season with Sacfit - but they can't get rid of me, I will be out there on my bike supporting the runners all that I can!

Our "Rowdy Red" running group coach sent out the last email we will get from her this season. I say that like I won't see her ever again, but I'm blessed to not only call her "coach", but "friend" She is one of the great ladies that is making my dream of running a leg of the CIM relay come true and has been there every step of the way to see me meet my goal of running my marathon 3 weeks ago.

She sent out this quote and it is just perfect in every way - in every part of this journey I have taken. Thanks Betsy!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

--- Marianne Williamson

A couple of pictures to share with you!

This is how I survived Thanksgiving and lost 1.8 pounds this week!

In the bottom right corner is my place setting - to my left is the salad and my scale that I did use to weigh everything - right in front of my plate is two measuring cups that were also used to keep my portions in check. I started my meal out with salad and then made my other choices after I was done with my salad!














AND - This is what my Wii fit showed me this morning! A "Normal" BMI! The Wii fit and Weight watchers scale is a little different but only about a pound, so all I have to do is kick this last pound to the curb and I will be at my goal! I sure do like the cool sound it made when I have a normal BMI - a girl can get used to that!! I promise now though I won't get obsessive and weight myself everyday like I used to do!

On a side note - I hope I have not jinxed myself, but I have people coming to my next Weight Watchers meeting because so many people wanted to be there when I hit goal - I have told them all to show up next Sunday - most of them wanted a weeks notice - so the pressure is on - My leader has told me she will bring a sheet with her and if I have to I will take things off to hit my goal, but I'm hoping that will not be necessary!!

Weigh in Day!

Just a quick weigh in update post - have a ton of stuff to do today!

I weighed in at 165.4 - 1.8 pound loss this week and only 1.4 more to go to goal!

The weekend by the numbers!

4.5 - Recovery miles walked on Saturday!

1.6 - pounds lost this week!

95.3 - total pounds lost on my Weight Watchers journey!

3.2 - pounds left to goal!

10 - the age my youngest boy will turn on Tuesday!

40 - the age I will be in 11 days!

Picture of me finishing my first marathon!

This is my finishing picture which the race organizers so nicely made available to us for free - I think it is the best pic I have ever seen of me at a finish line! I was about two steps from being in pain again but for that moment there was nothing but adrenaline, joy and accomplishment!

Weight Watchers Recommitment Day!

So for much of the last few weeks I have not been able to fully commit to being on program due to the higher mileage and getting enough fuel to make my body go - so today is recommitment day. I weighed in at 168.8 which is a .4 gain from two weeks ago. I know I can't trust this number completely since I ran a marathon yesterday, but I will take it and move on from here. I could possibly show a higher number next week as well, but again I will take the feedback and move on! I'm fully committed to kicking these last few pounds to the curb and getting to my next goal which is 164 my Weight Watchers goal weight! And then 162.5 (100 pounds lost mark)

I'm a marathoner!

First I must say I finished and I must acknowledge all the people who supported me along the way (you all know who you are!). I know I couldn't have done this without your help!

The weather was perfect and the first 10 miles were great, but then I started having a hamstring issue that slightly altered my gait. At the halfway point my hubby was there and I took some Tylenol and he massaged my hamstring which made it feel better, but it became obvious that my altered gait had put pressure on my other knee and it started bothering me later on in the race. I was hoping for a 6 hour finish - and at the halfway point I was on right on pace for that, but the last half was slower and I walked a majority of the last 9 miles. I did everything else right, my nutrition was spot on, my hydration was perfect - it's just sometimes on race days things are beyond your control. I kept my walk pace as quick as I could and kept chugging along even though I couldn't run any longer without pain. As I rounded that last corner I saw the finish line and something came over me that I still can't explain - I ran across the finish with no pain! I had pain again once I stopped, but for that brief moment it was like my body wanted me to have that experience of running across the finish line! I came in with a chip time of 6:34:24 and I am beyond thrilled with that! I will have some pictures to post, but I wanted to get at least something posted for now. It was a most amazing experience and there were times I just wanted to stop on the side of the trail and quit because I was upset I wasn't able to run, but then all my training would have been for nothing - I would have put in all the miles and not achieved my goal!

Today I'm sore, but I feel great - I'm a marathoner and nothing can ever take that away from me! When I crossed the line yesterday I told someone (don't even remember who) that I was never running another marathon again, but this morning once again I'm looking forward to CIM 2010 - my second marathon!!

Marathon Madness!

I sit here on Friday morning - thinking about Saturday morning. Just 24 hours from now I will be at the start line ready to run my first full marathon. I am surprisingly calm about it. I'm ready, I have the training, I have the support and I have the motivation. I know I can do this! I can already picture myself crossing the finish line. I get overcome by emotion still when I cross a finish line and I know I will cry, but they will be happy tears! I will be a marathoner! I am already thinking about when I will run my next marathon (probably Dec 5th, 2010 California International). But first - Run the River 2009! (that link has a really cool google course map in case you want to take a look!).

A midweek post!

So I spent much of Monday beating myself up for the weekend - there was cake (lots of cake...no - really, more cake than you could imagine!) and pizza and beer and there was no weigh in (I was going to sleep in but I was awake and knew the results would be bad so skipped it anyway...) and I felt guilty. Why do we do this to ourselves? I was reminded by a great Weight Watchers leader of Rafiki from the lion king...



Here is the dialogue in case you can't watch the video. There are such great and wise life lessons in Disney movies!

Simba: I know what I have to do. But going back will mean facing my past. I've been running from it for so long.

Rafiki hits Simba on the head with his walking stick)

Simba: OW! Jeez, what was that for?

Rafiki: It doesn't matter. It's in the past.

Simba: Yeah, but it still hurts.

Rafiki: Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.

swings his stick at Simba again who ducks out of the way)

Rafiki: Ha. You See ....

Sacfit Saturday!

I had an easy 5 miler today and I took the opportunity to do it all by myself. I talked to my head coach and asked her if she had coverage for the groups then I would love to just run by myself and recharge my batteries. It was lovely! Just me, the trail and my music! I have spent the rest of the day doing NOTHING - well I can't say nothing - I did catch up on TV that was DVR'ed but other than that, really nothing! I think it was just the sort of day I needed to recharge my batteries! I think my busy schedule was just catching up with me and I was feeling really worn out. I feel much better tonight!

Oh and I have only 2 runs before I run my marathon! My taper schedule has me running 30 minutes on Monday and 20 minutes on Wednesday! I can hardly believe at this time next week I will have completed a marathon!!

On the food front - because I feel like being completely honest here - I didn't weigh in this morning - I stepped on the Wiifit on Thursday and I'm up over 2 pounds, but with the marathon coming up, I can not be limiting calories. I'm not going to go overboard either, but I don't want my focus this week to be the number I see at my weigh in. I might or might not go to my meeting tomorrow - I'm really hoping for once in a very long time, to turn off my alarm and sleep in. I don't know if my internal clock will do that since I pretty much get up between 5:30 and 6 EVERY day, but I'm willing to try! Wish me luck! I need to be well rested!

Sacfit Saturday - The I Heart Tapering Edition!!

Just have to love a good taper run! After my sucessful 20 miler last week on the agenda for this week was a lovely taper run of 10 miles! Pure bliss! I ran with Rebecca and we ran faster than our long run pace, but not quite as fast as our marathon pace (or did we? I dunno??) The difference between me and Rebecca is she is fast and she knows it - I have test results saying I'm as fast as her, but I'm not as confident in my pace as she is. She makes me run outside my confort zone and pushes me to embrace my pace and she is doing a darn good job at it! I am now just one "long" run away from my full marathon! I can hardly believe it! The run I have worked so hard for and trained so hard for is right around the corner! (oh and I say "long" run because my next saturday run is a mere 5 miles!) I'm feeling strong, confident and only a little bit frightened! So if anyone is bored and in the Sacramento area on November 14th feel free to stop on by and cheer me on! I will be "Running the River"!

Weigh in Day!

A quick post before I meet the group and run this morning - I weighed in and I lost 1.2 pounds this week bringing me to a new all time low weight of 168.4! The gain from two weeks ago is gone and then some! I have now lost 94.1 pounds total! I am a mere 4.4 pounds away from my weight watchers goal of 164!

There has been some people in my life concerned that I wasn't eating enough and lately I have been really starving most of the time - I consulted with a nutritionist that knows about running and food and she confirmed that with my higher mileage I was not giving my body what it need. She told me how many calories I should be eating on regular days and on long run days and I have been following that for almost two weeks and I'm still losing, but am no longer starving all the time. I have also noticed that my long runs go better as well. I feel so much better after doing them with enough food!

There is also the connection of food in San Francisco and my success at Nike - I PR'ed and didn't really try to and I didn't feel like I was pushing myself too hard - I stopped and took pictures along the way had a great time chatting with V-jam and just had a really good experience! I even walked around for quite a while afterwards with the left over energy I had! I think that was another wake up call for me. I did so well because I basically ate what I wanted and when I was hungry for the two days before that in San Francisco. I ate way more calories than I would have if I was home and I was rewarded for it in an awesome race. Like a good friend says - the car doesn't run with no fuel in the tank!!

4 Bridges Half Marathon

No I didn't run a half marathon the day after my 20 miler, but I was there! I cheered on some of our group that was running and my boy did the Kid's Scary Scamper! We have been training him for the CIM Marafun Run that is 2.62 miles and on December 6th - part of what I have been training him to do is pace himself and he is doing much better than I did in the beginning! Once he completes the training program they have set up for us and the 2.62 miles he will have completed the cumulative mileage of a full marathon 26.2! He has a little watch that he uses to time himself and he is just too cute! So the scary scamper was 1 mile and here are a couple of Pics!

This was about the halfway point! Isn't he adorable with his bib number on??

Him at the finish - his finishing picture looks like most of mine - looking down and turning off the timer on the watch! They got to cross the same finish line as the half marathoners did!

Here he is with his official time 7:54:85!

After the run and seeing some people finish we went to the Folsom zoo and had a great time!

Sacfit Saturday and Weigh in!

Weigh in first - Up at 5AM to weigh in at 6AM before running at 7AM! I'm at 169.6 - losing 1.4 of the 2.2 pounds I gained last week! I'm happy with that! :) (VERY happy to be back in the 160's)

Today I ran 20 miles - I am ready now to taper (10 miles next week - 5 the following week) and ready for my full marathon! I feel so confident this evening that I can totally do this!

BUT - I'm very tired and I'm going to go to bed now - just didn't want to do that without posting my regular Sacfit post and weigh in post!

I ran like a girl! Nike Women's Half Marathon 2009!

I don't even know where to start - the day was so awesome and I'm going to be in tears again writing this. I met our group of Sacfitters at 6:15AM so we would be together and start together. Here we are bright and early and ready to run! Vanessa - the one in the red shirt did the full marathon - the rest of us did the half.


Me crossing the start line about 20ish minutes after the race started - there was music blaring, everyone was so excited and we had to wait a while for our pace group to be let out of our "corral" so all the faster pace group could go. It was great for building the excitement!! We started out running between tall skyscrapers and just taking in the view - it was amazing! So cool running through the big city! Then we went out onto the Embarcadero. We could see the Bay bridge and there was a cruise ship docked that wasn't there the day before and the pier was all quiet - you could see Alcatraz and it was the perfect weather for running. A little cool with a slight breeze. Just amazing!!



This is me in the middle of climbing one of the hills - in fact I think it was "The big one" - Alcatraz is in the background!

Vanessa with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge - we ran almost 10 miles together and had so much fun! I also after finishing thought I could see her since the full marathon people split from us and then met back right before a split again by the finish line so I went to find her at her mile 16 and only waited about 15 minutes! At that point she was having pain when she ran, but only had 10 miles to go and she planned on walking and finishing!

These were some inspirational signs at the top of another hill - pretty cool shot with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background!

I ran what I felt was a comfortable pace and I kept thinking I could break 3 hours (my previous best time was 3:03:45 but a very different course) We walked all the hills (my angel on my shoulder telling me the whole time to not slow down, walk with authority!) and recovered some at the top and the ran the rest skipping some walk breaks at times and I felt so good. The miles flew by! I don't think I really believed I could break the 3 hours mark until I hit mile 12 and my Garmin said I was at 2:45 - I thought - I could power walk this last mile and still break 3! I ran the entire last mile with no walk breaks and came in with an official chip time of 2:56:01!! I was crying at the finish and some woman came in behind me and was crying and I told her I needed to hug someone and she grabbed me and hugged me, we must have stood there crying and hugging for several minutes! This was her first half marathon! Someone took our picture and after asked us our names, I don't know if it was media or race people, but I hope to find the picture! The rest of the finishers chute was a blur. I do remember sexy guys in Tuxes standing around, but couldn't tell you what the guy who handed me my necklace looked like (can you tell I'm happily married?? it's not about the guy it's about the bling!). They gave us a bag and then lots of food, drink, samples of stuff and a nice little aluminum foil blanket to keep us warm, the finish line was right by the ocean and it was cold and breezy!

We walked around for a while, walked over to see Vanessa and a TNT friend that was there cheering people on and then we got on the bus to go back to the Hotel and start our trip home. I was really emotional last night and again this morning, I guess it took a lot out of me. It was such an amazing weekend with so many positives, I don't think it could have been any better! I also want to thank my hubby for making the weekend so special and being so supportive. I am the luckiest girl in the world!!

And of course and picture of the bling!!! (poor lighting in this picture makes it look gold - it is actually silver - I will take another picture later and post it.)

Twas the Night before Nike!

Original title to my post huh?? Today was once again an amazing day! We did a little shopping, we did a little more sightseeing, we rode the cable car from one end of the city to the other (twice!) I have lots more amazing pictures that I will work on posting when I get home. I met a friend when she came into town and we picked up her packet and then I went back to the room and rested before meeting some members of my running group for a wonderful dinner. We walked over to the start area and decided where we will try and meet up so we can run together for at least a little while. Tomorrow is going to be so amazing! I have my angel on my shoulder and I plan on finishing strong and making her proud!!

Twas the Friday before Nike!

Today was an amazing day! After stopping by weight watchers (I had a 2.2 gain - after a very challenging week) We drove to San Fran and only hit traffic on the bay bridge, found our hotel right away, they had a room ready and we checked in - got stuff in the room and then headed out for the expo. I got my goodie bag and my number and timing chip. We wandered around the expo for a bit and then headed over to Niketown. What an amazing store! I bought a new running cap and we ended up going back later on to buy a t-shirt. I found my name on "the wall" Outside the store all the registered participants are listed on the wall and I took a pic, I will post some pics after I get home. We went and did a little shopping and then went and had lunch at The Cheesecake factory and had the best Red velvet cake cheesecake for dessert! Yum!! We did more shopping and more walking, found chinatown and toured most of union square. I'm so ready for bed now!

Twas the Thursday before Nike!

I'm so excited I can't stand it!! This trip is going to be so great! It has been the first time hubby and I have gone anywhere in a long time without children. The main reason we are going on Friday instead on Saturday. We still don't know for sure what we will do there but I think we will figure something out! I would like to go into Chinatown and there is a little place we want to check out for breakfast and then of course the shopping at Union square, the race expo and other assorted stuff that we don't do when we go because we always go to the tourist areas and don't venture out past there!

Then of course on Sunday is the run! I am torn between racin it and trying to break 3 hours or taking it slow and taking lots of pictures and enjoying the scenery! I have pretty much decided that that I won't decide until I'm running and see how things go. I have decided to play it smart though and walk the hills!

Hubby has taken today off to get things packed, Logan packed and ready to go to Granny and Papa's house and the animals situated and such. Tomorrow morning we get up, take Logan to school, run to weight watchers to weigh in and then leave for San Francisco!!

I shall wear purple!

So I expect there will be a few posts leading up to Nike this week - this is my first. I have decided what to wear and I have made it my own. I have a dear friend that just got a cancer diagnosis and I called her this afternoon and told her I'm running this half-marathon (my fifth!) in her honor. Purple is her favorite color, so I will be wearing my purple running shirt, but I didn't want to just stop there. I have a coaches shirt that has my name on the back, but I want people to cheer me on by name when I run past the spectators (I have been told there are lots!). So I added my name to the front, my bib number will go under it.

My other addition is this V - sitting on my shouder. She will be my angel on my shouder for 13.1 miles!

Love you my dear! Soldier on!!

Weigh In and SacFit Saturday - all in one post!

So I stopped by WW and weighed in before the run on Saturday and I stayed the same so I didn't really think it deserved it own post anyway - so I'm the same as I was last week and I'm fine with that - with the higher mileage I'm putting in I'm still eating healthy and such, but not obsessing about everything and making sure my body still gets what it needs to do what I want it to do.

So on the schedule for those of us training for a full marathon was an 18 mile training run! I have been really focused on Nike San Francisco coming up (next week!!) so I don't know if that is why I wasn't really nervous about the 18 miler or if I have truly changed my mindset by breaking that 14 mile barrier and now I have to confidence to do it. Yes some runs are harder than others, but I have to tell you - this one was amazing!! I ran it slower and we also changed our intervals to 2 minutes running and one minute walking and I can't believe the difference it made. I didn't have to walk anymore than just our walk intervals (on the 16.5 miler I had walked a long hot section) and I came in strong and felt amazing! I started out with two people who were really cool to talk to and they kept me in check making sure I didn't run too fast and then after a stop to administer first aid to a team mate I went with another from our group who is normally faster, but she slowed down some and I ran 9.5 miles with her and she was so great to talk to and I had so much fun! The miles just flew by! I will tell you it does help to run with someone who has done the mileage already - they have the confidence that they can complete the mileage because they have. Two of the ladies I ran with has done a marathon before so it was so great getting their perspective!

I didn't get my normal nap after the run, we watched a movie and I just wanted to spend time with the family - so when I went to bed I slept so good and woke up this morning feeling great! My legs feel great, my body feels strong and my only issue is a slight headache, I hydrated great during the run (with a little help from my friends) but didn't drink that much after I got home, so today I will hydrate and start getting stuff ready for my trip to San Fransisco to run the Nike Women's Half!

Soldier on Bre!

It has been a while since I have showed off one of the men in my life - he used to reside on my shoe, but then switching shoes every week I got tired of lacing him into new shoes so I needed to find a new place for him - so I thought about it and decided I don't need him as much any more. I don't him him on my shorter weekday runs, I got those down. I do however still need him to be with me on my longer runs, so he now resides on my long run water belt (which I love BTW!!). He will be with me as I run 18 miles on Saturday just hanging out like most men do, staring at my butt and reminding me to soldier on!

Cowtown half!

What a great day! Lots of people running today I think one report said 4200 people was registered. I felt pretty good and the shoes felt pretty good - my ankle started bothering me a little over mile 8 - but then quit bothering me until I stopped running at the end, but ice for a bit and some food and I felt much better! One thing I was super excited about was this was my very first half marathon last year - so I was anxious to see when the front runners of the full marathoner (they do a double loop of the couse) would pass me. I went almost a whole mile farther before the passed me this year! I felt really good until I was about 1 1/2 miles from the finish. I realized at the end of it I didn't fuel myself like I should have and it had been quite sometime since I had eaten anything, I did gu's at twice but then nothing and by the time your energy level gets that low and you only have a mile to go it is too late. I pushed myself and got to the finish line tired, with leg cramps and a blister on the end of one of my toes, but also with a new PR! I wasn't supposed to be racing it, but I did take it easy the first several miles and the pace I was running felt really good. My Parkway half time was 3:05:10 and my cowtown time was 3:03:45 - I know if I had been smarter with my nutrition I would have broken 3 hours - that is how good I felt the whole run!

I took my camera with me, but then had hubby take all our extra stuff to the car after the run so we could want for the rest of our people come in and forgot to keep the camera out Duh! My parents were out there twice on the route cheering us on - Dad was taking pics and mom was ringing the cowbell I told her to bring. She said she had a lot of fun standing on the corner and ringing the bell - Maybe there is a seasonal job in her future? ;)

Here is a video from the start of the race - my hubby is in it (at 2:45 right behind the reporter black jacket, blue hat), but I started behind him a ways so I'm not in it.

Here is a pic our head coach took before the start! She was getting pics of everyone with the stuffed cow - so cute!!!

My season of races....

At the beginning of this season I had some lofty goals - I had signed up for the lottery for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco (if I got picked I would be doing the half) and I wanted to train for my first full marathon as well. I didn't know how well those two would go together, but I signed up for Nike not knowing if I would even get in, but if I did I would run it. Well I got in! Hotel is booked, days off requested and everything is in place - my only concern is how would it fit in my full marathon training schedule? Thanks goodness it fits in pretty well! This has been my season of races starting with a fun little fourth of July race, then buffalo stampede, but now we get into the big ones - Cowtown is tomorrow where I get to see the new members of our group this season complete their first ever half marathon! For me it is a training run to log the miles. I have to keep telling myself it is a training run - don't race it - don't mess up your full marathon goal. You put a bib number and a timing ship on me and I tend to run really fast...

In two weeks is Nike San Francisco - my second half marathon for the season which also has to be ran as a training run, nice and slow - this will be the biggest run I have ever done and I think it is going to be so amazing! I'm taking my little camera with me and I plan on having a great time and see the sights!

On November 14th is Run The River - my first full marathon! This is what it all comes down to this season - completing my first full marathon - this will put me in an elite group as only about one-tenth of 1 percent of the population will complete a marathon.

But wait - there's more! - On December 6th (three days after I turn 40) - I will run with three awesome ladies in a relay team at the California International Marathon - they are letting me do the last leg since it is my "Birthday Run" and I'm super excited about being part of this run. CIM is the run that put the running bug in my head -I watched the front runners finish in 2005 when my son was doing a fun run with his teacher and I was amazed - I thought to myself one day I would love to run - but at that time I was not fit, overweight and definitely not a runner. It took me some time to change that, but I did it and now I will be a small part of the run that started it all!

Weigh in Day!

Still woke up before the sun came up to weigh in this morning even though our run is tomorrow - don't want to skip a weigh in though! I am in the 160's!!! My stats for this week down 1.8 to 168.8 - Total lost 93.7 pounds. This week I made sure I used all my flex and about half of my activity and I lost weight - I know what my body needs me to do, but even after doing this for over two years it seems weird to eat so much and lose weight. I earned 56 activity points last week and only had 22 left at the end.

I have adjusted my WW goal weight so I can get there a little faster - my range is 135 to 164 and I had set my goal at the 100 pound loss mark, well my leader pointed out I can still lose the 100, but have my goal at 164 so I can get there a tad faster (think free membership once I hit my goal and stay within two pounds of it for 6 weeks.) So my official goal weight is now 164 - meaning with this weigh in I am 4.8 pounds away from my goal! I'm so close I can hardly stand it!!

New shoes part 3!

And hopefully the last part! I traded in the neutral shoe today to go back to a stability shoes and actually I realized in this process that the ones I started out with were not stablity shoes, but motion control - so stability it is for now - I do pronate after consulting more professionals - so this should take care of my ankle pain and should now take care of the bottom of the foot pain I was having with the adidas! *sigh*

Here are my latest and hopefully last pair of shoes this season!!

My wedding band!

After reading Ida's Blog about her trying on her original wedding ring - I decided I would give it a shot too. This is the original wedding band that my hubby put on my finger when we got married when I was only 16! We have been married almost 24 years now! I had to take it off because it didn't fit after I started gaining my pregnancy weight with my first son - we got pregnant 3 months after we got married so I figured I only wore the ring maybe 6-9 months at the most. I have a second ring that is beautiful and very special to me and it fit before I started losing weight, but after the first 20 pounds came off it was too big, so what a wonderful surprise to place this on my finger and have it fit!! If someone would have told me a couple of years ago I was going to lose weight and start running and eventually fit into my original wedding band I would have thought they were crazy!! Oh ad that black thing my hand is on to take the picture? That would be my dog's head!

Sacfit Saturday!

I am proud to say, I can no longer say "I have yet to run anything over 14 miles!!!" We did 16.5 miles on Saturday and yes it was hard, and yes it was HOT - had one member that ended up really sick due to the heat - but I did it, I was very diligent about fueling myself during the run, making sure I stayed hydrated and making sure I listened to my body. It also helped tremendously that after my wonderful hubby had finished with his 5 miler (he is tapering for his goal race next week) he went out on the bike and was there for me if I needed him. All I really needed from him though was the fact that he was out there. I felt so good coming off the bridge and running in to our "finish line" I'm sure everyone heard me for miles around I was that excited!! So next week is cowtown - my hubbys goal race and a step back in mileage week for thse of us training for the full marathon!

Weigh in day!

So Thursday night I already knew I was in trouble this week. It had taken me until Thursday to use my flex points leaving me with 49 activity to use half of in one day. I have basically found that with the amount of activity I earn, if I don't use my flex points and about half my activity I will hold on to weight, water or whatever and I will either have a gain or stay the same. The result was a .4 gain. Not significant, but a gain nonetheless. I was so hoping to step on the scale this week and see a number in the 160's, but there is always next week! So my stats? - 170.6 - 91.9 lost total - 8.1 to go until goal!

New shoes part two!

One other thing the sports medicine guru told me to do was to run (pun intended) to the local running store and have them look at me run and make sure I'm still in the shoe that I need to be. The ones I have been wearing is for runners who pronate and they are a stability shoe. So I went down today with my old shoes, the new ones I just bought and gave her my history and she watched me walk, had another person watch me walk and run and their opinion was I no longer need a stability shoe. I tried on 8-10 pairs of shoes - this nice person was so patient with me and I finally ended up with a pair of Adidas Supernova Glide.

They are quite nice and feel great from the start just like my other running shoes have all felt with the exception of the New Balance ones I just bought.

Since I believe in having two pairs of shoes and they only had one pair in my size I came home and bought a second pair online in a different color. Adidas! Who would have thought!!

Warning - if you are a guy you might want to stop reading here....

I also stopped by Nordtroms - my bras are too big and I couldn't wait to get sized again - went down a band size and two cup sizes! I'm so excited about having a bra that fits well again - and the amazing thing was it made my t-shirt I wore today look too big on me!

I love new clothes!!

Sacfit Saturday!

Sacfit Saturday was not what I had thought it would be, but I have learned so much about myself and grown so much so I listened to the professionals and took their advice. I was supposed to run 15 miles - my first 15 miler ever, but after running the 10 mile race all on the street and at a faster pace in brand new shoes I was having ankle pain all week long. Frustrating pain because it didn't hurt all he time, only AFTER runs and not during at all. After consulting with our sports medicine guru on Friday he told me it was probably just inflammation because of the harder foot bed on the new shoes and the 10 miles all on asphalt and he told me to ice it and rest it and wear the new shoes around the house to break them down a little. I asked him if that meant I should run the 15 miler and he said it would be better to rest it, that resting it now wouldn't mess up my goal, but not resting it might. So I took my bike out and instead of running I was the mobile aid station and runner support for the group and it was so much fun! I really enjoyed being out there and ended up logging 24 miles on the bike! The farthest I have ever done!! The old me would have pushed it and ran anyway and probably injured myself more. So now I'm looking ahead to the 16 mile run next week and I already have part of my stuff prepared - I'm ready to stay upbeat and positive and know that I have the training to do this mileage!

Weigh in Day!

This morning before Sacfit I ran by the center to weigh. I will actually attend my regular meeting tomorrow, but am now weighing in before my runs so I don't stress over eating and drinking during and after the runs. The numbers you ask? 170.2 pounds - 1.6 pound loss this week brining my total loss to 92.3 pounds! I'm very happy with the loss and will just keep doing what I'm doing and I know I will be at my goal in no time! I need to stop stepping on the scale again during the week. We ate at a mexican place on Sunday night (a 64 point day!!) and on Wednesday and Thursday I was still retaining so much water I was getting very frustrated (Wednesday the scale showed me up 3 pounds), but it was gone by my official weigh in and I did a whole lot of stressing for no reason at all. Knowing I was up on Wednesday and Thursday didn't change what I did the rest of the week, I just kept right on track, used my daily point and a couple of extra and didn't add any extra exercise. I just stressed about it when I shouldn't have. So I can now proudly say it is true - one bad meal or one bad day will not mess things up - it would have went badly if I would have let that be my ticket to overeat or not workout the rest of the week, but I didn't!

Sacfit Sunday - The Buffalo Stampede Edition

Today's race was the Buffalo Stampede 10 miler and it was the first race that I trained for seriously and ran last year. It was the race that made me fall in love with the running community and this year just reinforced what I already knew - I love Sacfit, running and the running community! The plan was to do a 3 mile warm up and then do the other 7 miles at a minute faster pace (for me it would have been running at a 12:30 pace) - so after the three miles I start doing the faster pace and it feels great - but every mile my run intervals start getting a little faster and faster and I end up beating last years time by just under 18 minutes! Everything felt great and just fell into place perfectly, the weather was beautiful, I ran with two other girls that was having great runs as well and the faster pace didn't bother them, the new shoes felt great, I felt awesome and girly in my new running skirt and the faster runners as they past us were cheering us on and telling us we were doing good! As I rounded the corner to come into the finish there was a huge cheer and the Sacfit group that had either already finished or just came out to cheer us on were there - it was so amazing!!

Last years time - 2:29:54.8
This years time - 2:12:20.5

What an amazing day - there is nothing like an awesome run to build up some confidence!!

You have worn out a pair of shoes girl!

So I take my trusty runners (New balance 859's) into Fleet Feet thinking I need new insoles in them - I have some pain the bottom of my foot right behind my toes after long runs and I'm sure I have just worn the inserts down (which I had replaced not too long ago). Kristy takes a look at the inserts, the shoes and then looks at me and says - "The inserts are fine, but you have worn out a pair of shoes girl!" Here is what my trusty runners look like currently - they are ready to be stripped of Army dude and Road ID so I can put them on the new shoes I picked up today! I'm going to miss these - they have been with me through so much!

These are my new runners - the updated latest and greatest model of the previous ones! I introduce you to the New Balance 850! I heart New Balance!!

Food Finds!

Bunco last night was right down the street from Whole Foods so I stopped by to see if they had the new Peanut Butter and Jelly Larabars. They had those and I bought six but they also had a box a Larabar Minis! 12 mini bars in a box and each mini bar is 2 points! Perfect for a before run snack!

They also had this box of brownie bites that come out to two points each for a pretty good size brownie bite and they are very good. Nice chocolate flavor and chocolate chips in them - they had several varieties, but I got the one pictured. You can check out the other products they have at their site I would love to get some more items from this company - I bet they are all as good as the brownie bites!

Weigh in day!

I lost .8 this week - bringing me back to 90.7 pounds lost total. I knew if I was careful I would lose that pesky bounce back pound! I even ate out twice this week, made great choices and had a wonderful week! I think changing my weigh in day is going to be very good for me - I will weigh in before my long runs and not have to worry about recovering and retaning too much water and such but still make it to the Sunday meeting to celebrate wiht my peeps!

Mind catching up to the body!

It has taken me a long time to put all the weight on and really only taken me a little over two years to take it off, I do find myself looking in the mirror and seeing the "true me" more and more now. I had an amazing week where I was asked to guest speak at two weight watchers meetings and I met some pretty amazing people. I know by talking to them and taking their questions I helped and inspired them, but more than they will even know - they helped and inspired me.

The leader who's meeting I was visiting (Sandy) did this wonderful introduction of me and both times I found myself totally in awe of the person that she was introducing - and then it would hit me - hey that person is me! It was also fun watching the reactions of the people when she would say that I had lost over 90 pounds. The best was this great mother-daughter team (the daughter was about my age) that I was sitting next to at the second meeting, we were talking a bit before the meeting (without revealing anything about myself) and they inspire each other and keep each other accountable and help each other out and it was so good to see them doing this together, how awesome is that?? So Sandy starts the introduction and the mom is sitting next to me and kept turning to me and saying "Wow that's amazing!!" The look on her face when I stood up to speak was priceless!

I'm closer than ever to having the Wii fit say my BMI is ideal and not overweight (by the way the Wii fit this morning has that pesky bounce back pound gone - so I'm back where I was last week..) Some days I can hardly believe that I am this person - who set out to do something and has followed through and is making my dreams come true. I have grown so much through this journey and I have met some amazing people and I hope to continue to inspire, motivate and help people - and more importantly be inspired and motivated by the great people who are in my life right now.

Weigh in Day!

I braced myself for the "bounce back" that happens when I lose a lot in one week so I was prepared when the scale read 172.6 - a one pound gain for the week that I am very accepting of because I know my body does this. I lost 3.4 pounds last week for heaven sake, so I will see what next week brings - hopefully at least a 1 pound loss!

I have decided to make a change though - I'm going to start weighing in on Saturday mornings. There is a meeting early enough that will allow me to weigh in and still get to the trail to run with the group, but I won't be able to attend the meeting, but I can still go to my regular meeting on Sunday. I have found myself trying to minimize my water intake and food intake after I run on Saturdays and I need to give my body what it needs to recover. Last week I was very dehydrated and stayed mildly dehydrated for several days due to not wanting to drink a ton of water. If I'm going to be successful at the higher mileage I need to give my body what it needs and not have the stress of weighing in the day after my long runs hanging over my head. I think this will be a good change for me, it will just mean I have to get up earlier still on Saturday's so I can eat my breakfast early enough so I'm not having tummy trouble on the trail.

Next week I was going to have to weigh in on Saturday anyway due to the race on Sunday - so I will just start the routine there!

Sacfit Saturday - or looking ahead into the unknown!

So today was 14 miles! The last two 14 milers that I did went badly (my first season) - but this one ROCKED!! I felt tired, but good at the end but I guess that is to be expected when you run14 miles. We went for a nice dunk in the river afterwards, the cold water on the legs feels so good and helps with recovery. We went and picked up the boy and came home and made lunch and then took a nap and now I'm still a little tired, but I feel great! My legs are not nearly as stiff as they were after I got home and I have even been wandering about the house cleaning and gathering laundry and such!

My new water belt was awesome! I never felt worried that I would be out of water and topped it off at both the aid stations. I was able to fit everything I needed in it with room to spare! The one issue I had, but I don't think it is belt related is it did hit my on my hip bones and there is still a minor red mark on both sides where the belt was against the bones, these are bones that previously I dind't have to worry about because they were under so much fat I didn't even know about them, but now they stick out some and not covered anymore so things rub against them, like my water belt, my compression shorts, my blue jeans during the week etc... Oh the problems I have!!

So on to next week which is a fall back week for us and a 10 mile race - Followed by a parade in Nevada City that my hubbys band plays in! It should be fun! The following weeks will be a new mileage for me - 15 then 16.5 for the next week! Marathon mileage here I come!!

My reward!

So Hubby ordered this for me as an advance for my 90 pound reward and I got it yesterday but I didn't expect to earn it so quickly! I can't wait to test it out on the 14 miler on Saturday!!

Weigh in day - the 90 pound lost edition!!

I stepped on he scale this morning hoping to see 174 something and what I got was 171.6! That is a 3.4 loss for the week and a 90.9 pound loss total! I was shocked to say the least! Sandy was our sub for today and I knew she was coming, but she was there to celebrate my 75 and my 80 pound loss with me, so when I heard a few weeks ago that she was subbing the "OK - Sandy will be here what goal will I hit." talk started. Last week when I was at 87.5 I figured 2.5 pounds was too much and alas, Sandy would not be celebrating with me. Poor Cara my regular leader is always missing my milestones! The receptionist called her and told her I hit 90 lost and she said well of course she did Sandy is there!! I'm am just on cloud nine right now! This number also means I am less than 10 pounds from my goal weight now!

Sacfit Saturday or Breaking the Natoma Loop curse!

So for anyone interested here is a map of our route today!

Lake Natoma Loop

It was so pretty out there and had it not been so dang hot it would have been enjoyable at the end! Kidding - it was hot and I did have some trouble with the heat, but the body felt good and it was an awesome 12 miles!

I have broken the Natoma loop curse! The last time I ran the loop I got a small rock in my shoe and ran 7 miles with it in there causing much pain and swelling and I had to be brought in by car from the last aid station (1 1/2 miles from the finish). That is when I found out my shoes were not only a size too small - (who knew they had to be bigger because on long runs your feet swell??) but I was tying them too tight! (I didn't want then to fall off!). Conquering this run shows me how far I have come in a year. I'm wiser, I listen more to my body and what it needs, I take time off from running if I'm sick, and I am making better food choices and not starving myself anymore. I have one more run to conquer - the 14 miler! Both 14 milers in my first season a year ago went badly and I have yet to run anything over 14 miles - so I will beat back that beast next week!

Weigh in day!

So for this week I lost .2. I didn't do much different this week as far as how many activity and flex I had left over at the end of the week, but most of my over pointages (hey I made up a word!!) came later on in the week - so I'm hoping for a good number next week! My stats? I'm at 175.0 - total wieght loss to date 87.5!

SacFit Saturday!

So the plan today was 7 miles (a step back week) but we would be doing them a minute faster than we normally run - so for me that would mean a 12:30 pace. I did well for a few miles and then things got tough - I started really struggling and couldn't quite pinpoint why, I was totally sweaty and out of breath and just not feeling right - then I started wheezing. So with about 1 1/2 miles to go I had to stop and take my inhaler (twice) and get my water belt and heart rate strap off me because I felt like I was suffocating. We walked the rest of the way in (thanks Rebecca for sticking with me!) and I took my inhaler again and I started feeling better. Today's weather was to blame for the attack I believe, it was very warm and very muggy and the air quality wasn't that great either.

Where does the time go???

I have all these things saved in my inbox - mostly quotes and such that would make great posts and I haven't had the time to write any of them out. I also haven't written about our trip to Point Reyes - although I did post the beach pic. I also have a pic of my food I take daily in my lunch and it is almost a month old and I have changed a few things in my lunch so now I need to take a new pic! Arggh! I have also been a slacker at updating my mileage ticker at the top of my blog so I finally did that and I jumped up by 44.4 miles!! Time to catch up just a little bit!!

This is our big accomplishment at Point Reyes! We toured a couple of beaches just walking along and hanging out and we kept talking about the Point Reyes lighthouse. I had heard stories about the lighthouse and how to get down to the lighthouse you had to tackle some stairs. We decided to drive out there and see what the fuss was all about. So we get to the parking lot and there is a little over a mile walk just to get to the light house. So we head on out. Once we get there we are greeted by the following sign.
Logan my 9 year old says he wants to go down so we decide we will do it. We start down and I basically run down the stairs in no time at all. It felt pretty good flying past all those people struggling to come up the stairs - but of course I was going down...

From the top of the stairs we couldn't see anything due to the fog, from the bottom where the lighthouse was you could see the ocean and it was beautiful! It was so worth the steps it took to get there and if we hadn't decided to do it we would have missed out. We take some pics, tour the light house and then decide it is time to go. I ask Logan if he is up to running the stairs back up and he says he is so we go for it. Hubby timed us and it took us about 4:30 to get all the way back to the top and a steady quick pace all the way up! We then walked the little over a mile back to the car very proud that we were able to do something that I don't think we would have even tried to do in the past. That sign (and all the people at the top of the stairs gasping for air) would have scared us off. and we wouldn't have gotten these shots!

One of my favorite shots of the day even though the sun was in our eyes and we are squinting!

Some blog love!

I got a lovely blog award from the lovely Ida over at Losing myself 2!

Thanks Ida! That was so sweet of you! I don't have time right now to pass on the blog love - Im at work! - so how about if you read my blog - I tag you! There are so many lovely blogs out there it would be too hard to choose!!!

Weigh in day!

I'm down .8 this week for a total loss of 87.3 pounds total! This post is short and sweet - we still have a ton of stuff to do and have been out all morning!

Sacfit Saturday!

Today the plan was 11 miles! We had a little hiccup getting in the park - the gate was locked and it took them a while to get it unlocked so we ended up starting a tad late, but considering everything that had to be done the operation got underway quickly! I moved up a group today so I started out with the 13:30 which I have to say is a great group (plus my two weekday running partners are in that group as well)! We had the aid station again (yummmm Kit Kats and Payday Bars....) and then at the turnaround point I decided to try out the 13:00 group which is the group that my cooper test results tell me I should be in. I ran with them for about two miles and was really struggling to keep up and then I ran out of water. The next water fountain was one that didn't work so good and I nad to lean my bottle over so much to catch the water that I could only get the bottle about 1/4 full. The next fountain I filled my bottle and re-hydrated and started feeling a bit better. In the mean time I had dropped back to the 13:30s again and finished right behind them since I had to make the two stops to get water. Then a quick trip to stand in the river and ice the legs down and I was good! I'm sore today, but I know most of that was pushing it and trying to stay with the faster group even though within a 1/4 mile I knew I shouldn't.

Picture of my new running skirt!

So here is a pic of the skirt - sorry I'm not in it, but it is currently in the washer with all my other running clothes. Maybe next time I hit the trail with my girls I can get a cell phone pic of it on me, but for now you just get a pic off a website that sell them! It has shorts built in underneath the skirt part and it makes me feel all girly!!

Weigh in Day!

Not much to report today - I stayed the same - I'm good with that this week! Gotta run because breakfast is almost ready and I have a TON of stuff to do today!

SacFit Saturday!

This is the Skirt edition of sacfit saturday! On Friday I bought a running skirt - it is so pretty and I couldn't wait to wear it, so I ran my 10 miler today in it! I did great and the skirt did too! LOL!! I was the only coach for our pace group today and it was a small group, but I'm used to that. We all did very well and I felt great afterwards! The cutest thing was as I was passing the walkers on the way back in some of them would say to me "Hey you are Jeff's wife right?" Of course I would say yes and they would reply back with "He is right you do look good in that skirt!" Too funny - he never told me I looked good in it, but I guess he told lots of people on the trail! I could have also named it the self-esteem boosting run. I felt great out there today and lots of people told me I looked good and it just made me feel better! On a side note the before mentioned cooper test complete results are back and the suggested pace group for me is the 13 minute group! I'm super excited! A little over a year ago when I joined I ran with the 15:00 minute group and today I ran with the 14 minute group because that is what I had been running for the last four week, but next week I'm going to try the faster group and see how it agrees with me. I just have to make sure we have the coach coverage and I will start movin' on up!

Weigh in Day!

So I'm currently on week two with not weighing in at home and going to Weight watchers not knowing to expect. I was pleasantly surprised when I weighed in today due to overindulging at the beginning of the week and having a huge negative number to get rid of. It took me all week to get rid of the negative number and it meant that I had to earn 57 activity points to do it. I worked out harder than I ever had and I did it! I am a pound down from last week and a new all time low weight of 176 pounds! 86.5 pounds lost! Hopefully you can read my chart (you can click on it to show it bigger!!) - it shows 89 points used on Sunday! I don't think I have ever been that far over and then continued to track - the old me would have given up on the week and figured whatever I did wouldn't be enough - I did think that several times in the week, but I made the better choice!

SacFit Saturday!

Today was a nice 8 mile run - the weather was perfect and the company was wonderful! We really passed the miles quickly! I could really tell the speedwork that I have been doing has been making a difference, I had to stop twice (once to stretch out a tight hip and the second time it was to get a small rock out of my shoe) and both times I was able to kick up the pace and catch back up with the group!

The picture on the beach!

Here it is! My before - taken one month before joining WW and the latest taken at Point Reyes a week ago!

Two years ago today...

I walked into the Weight Watchers center and signed up after having a very horrible doctors appointment that ended up with "I recommend you get help losing weight - I recommend Weight Watchers." I was 262.5 and miserable. That is the one thing that the counselors at weight watchers remember about me - they look at my before pic and always say they don't me remember me being that big, but they do remember how sad I was - how I always sat in the back and never talked at the meetings. Now they can't get me to shut up! (kidding, kinda...) I am a much better person for taking that step and I always congratulate the new people who come in for taking that step as well - I know how hard it was for me to do it.

Me in a skirt??

So for those who don't know me personally - I own basically jeans and t-shirts and running clothes (lots of running clothes...) My future daughter in law has lost some weight and sent some clothes my way - including two skirts! I liked the skirts, but kept thinking am I really going to wear them?? So after burning my legs and feet at the beach on Sunday I decided that pants would not feel so good on them and I took the plunge and tried one of them on. First off - its a 12 - and it went on and felt great, so then I dug out one of my new shirts and paired with it - along with my new Keen sandals that I can wear to work since they have a closed toe and Ta-Da!! Me in a skirt! I felt so amazing yesterday!! Here is a pic! Oh and again the skirt is a 12 and the shirt is a Large! It has been a very long time since I wore something that made me feel so good about myself. In fact I have to admit - I'm wearing it to work again today, just with a different top!

Weigh in Day!

So this is a day late - I went to my meeting and weighed in and then drove to Point Reyes to go to the beach which I will write a separate post about and post some pics (rememeber my horrible side view on the beach before pic - well I have an updated version now!). Anyway I lost a pound of the 1.4 gain I had last week - so I'm now at 177 and I'm down 85.5 pounds total! Yay!

Sacfit Saturday!

Today was the dreaded cooper test. However I am always excited about the cooper test because it is a great gauge of how I'm improving. We met at the track and I did my volunteer duties while my hubby did his cooper test and then he came and relieved me so I could do mine. Essentially you run the track as far as you can in 12 minutes. The first season I only made it 3 times around and a bit more - part of that was walking because I couldn't run the whole 12 minutes. Second season I ran the whole thing, but had slower paces and faster paces and managed to do better - just a tad over 4 laps. This season I went out, ran the whole thing at around a much faster pace than I'm used to, finished it strong and managed to complete almost 4 3/4 laps!

On a side note - I got no less than 10 people come up to me at the run today and tell me in one way or another that they have really noticed my weight loss. A Co-worker commented to me that it looked like had lost a lot of weight just this week! (actually my last weight in was up but thank you very much!!) I can tell a difference in the way my body feels again and I'm in one of those periods where I do actually look in the mirror and see what everyone else sees!

On the challenge front - I have not stepped on the scale at home at all - I will be going into my weigh in tomorrow knowing I had a very good week and not knowing what the scale will say for the first time in a very long time!!