The whole point of me wanting to lose weight was to get rid of the belly. I
wanted to take a step away from Mrs. Claus and a step towards some flat
stomached gorgeousness. We will call my ab Goddess Natasha. There were many
reasons I wanted to become Natasha. I wanted to make sure I prevented strain on
my heart, I wanted to get rid of chub, I wanted to wear a bathing suit and not
look like a Keebler elf.
In the past, I would always start crunching like crazy, then promptly give up
with a cupcake in one hand, a Coke in the other, and a bag of Cheetos resting on
my beach ball of a belly. This time I actually did some research and learned I
could not magically target zones. Instead, I changed my lifestyle, and lost the
weight.
I dropped all of my goal weight and STILL had the dang belly. What is up with
that? I stood on a rooftop and shouted to the world with a shaking fist:
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO SMOOTH YOU OUT!!!!!!!!!! Am I destined to
resemble a Honey Kissed Ham FOREVER?!?!?! Why does your body not let you TARGET
ZOOONNNNEEESSS
(make zones echo to get the right affect)
Apparently the answer, because yes of course I do have the secret weight loss
answer you have all been wanting. This answer.... are you sitting on the edge of
your seats??? The answer.. is time. Ugh. I know right? That is the worst answer
EVER. But that's it. Time. You just have to keep at it. Keep working out. Keep
eating right. Keep on keeping on with your bad self. And eventually, whenever it
good and well feels like it, it will just start melting away.
In the past two months I have only lost 2 pounds, which is fine since I am
not attempting to lose weight anyway. But I have lost FOUR inches of belly.
FOUR. My stomach still has some more to go. It still has stretch marks that I
call my "beauty baby marks" in front of my girls. But it is SHRINKING DANGIT!
And I haven't done a single thing to encourage it! EUREKA! And yes, I will
answer to Natasha!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Wardrobe Malfunction
Saturday was my second race to run. It was a 4 mile Poker Run, where you got
cards as you ran along and you got a prize at the end depending on how well you
did. (I got a super fun nerdy black running t-shirt that had a math equation on
the front, LOVED it!)
My first race I discovered several wardrobe malfunctions and I was determined to correct them this second time. So I planned out my outfit the night before. I had my favorite socks to run in (not running socks, this may be a future purchase for me), my new shoes, my running pants, and 3 different types of layers for the top so I could peel if necessary. I went to bed content.... (and of course this is when you queue the dramatic music we see in reality shows- and the camera pans to what I am forgetting and you all gasp in shock that I could forget it in the first place).
So 6:30 am my alarm goes off and I jump up all excited... well I was pretty sore so I think it was an actual roll out and a shuffle- but this is my life so pretend I'm being all excited and I just come out of bed naturally with perfect hair and make up. I got dressed in all my layers, ate my healthy carbohydrate fueled breakfast and opened up the door to THE COLDEST WINDS EVER!
Excuse me?? We have been enjoying 60 degrees for the last month! What is this?? Winter or something??
I promptly shut the door and started scrambling for a hat and gloves. The first hat I could find was my husband's sock puppet hat. I shrugged and jammed it on my head. The last race had men in ladies dresses and wigs, so I felt my sock puppet would fit right in. Then I reached into my purse to grab my gloves. I knew they were in there because I had just worn them earlier in the week and I always stick them right back in. (queue dramatic noise again, camera pans over to highlight my two nosy toddlers rooting around in my purse for candy) One of my gloves was MISSING! *gasp! shock! horror!*
I started panicking, the race started at 8 and we were getting close to 7:10 by this time. I look in every drawer I can, under the couch, in the living room toy bins, and I even run out to my car to see if it had fallen into the floor board. With absolutely ZERO luck. Remember, its absolutely freezing and it's Oklahoma- where the wind comes sweeping down the plains- so the wind was gusting at 30mph. I head back in and I just start looking for ANY gloves I could find. And what did I settle on? One of my 3 year old daughters' pink and white striped gloves. If I stretched it REALLY tight it covered about half of my hand.
Never one to call it quits, I yanked the pink glove on and went out the door. When I got there I tried to hand proof of payment to the guy and he told me, "oh I trust you. if you are here you are either an idiot or a runner." I looked down at my pink glove and I knew it was a whole lot of both.
Long story short, I ran a mile farther than I had ever run before, and averaged 11 minute miles- which was faster than I had ever done before. Mischief Managed.
My first race I discovered several wardrobe malfunctions and I was determined to correct them this second time. So I planned out my outfit the night before. I had my favorite socks to run in (not running socks, this may be a future purchase for me), my new shoes, my running pants, and 3 different types of layers for the top so I could peel if necessary. I went to bed content.... (and of course this is when you queue the dramatic music we see in reality shows- and the camera pans to what I am forgetting and you all gasp in shock that I could forget it in the first place).
So 6:30 am my alarm goes off and I jump up all excited... well I was pretty sore so I think it was an actual roll out and a shuffle- but this is my life so pretend I'm being all excited and I just come out of bed naturally with perfect hair and make up. I got dressed in all my layers, ate my healthy carbohydrate fueled breakfast and opened up the door to THE COLDEST WINDS EVER!
Excuse me?? We have been enjoying 60 degrees for the last month! What is this?? Winter or something??
I promptly shut the door and started scrambling for a hat and gloves. The first hat I could find was my husband's sock puppet hat. I shrugged and jammed it on my head. The last race had men in ladies dresses and wigs, so I felt my sock puppet would fit right in. Then I reached into my purse to grab my gloves. I knew they were in there because I had just worn them earlier in the week and I always stick them right back in. (queue dramatic noise again, camera pans over to highlight my two nosy toddlers rooting around in my purse for candy) One of my gloves was MISSING! *gasp! shock! horror!*
I started panicking, the race started at 8 and we were getting close to 7:10 by this time. I look in every drawer I can, under the couch, in the living room toy bins, and I even run out to my car to see if it had fallen into the floor board. With absolutely ZERO luck. Remember, its absolutely freezing and it's Oklahoma- where the wind comes sweeping down the plains- so the wind was gusting at 30mph. I head back in and I just start looking for ANY gloves I could find. And what did I settle on? One of my 3 year old daughters' pink and white striped gloves. If I stretched it REALLY tight it covered about half of my hand.
Never one to call it quits, I yanked the pink glove on and went out the door. When I got there I tried to hand proof of payment to the guy and he told me, "oh I trust you. if you are here you are either an idiot or a runner." I looked down at my pink glove and I knew it was a whole lot of both.
Long story short, I ran a mile farther than I had ever run before, and averaged 11 minute miles- which was faster than I had ever done before. Mischief Managed.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
My first race!
I did it! I completed my first race!
I started running c25k in October. It started off being a physical challenge and turned quickly into a mental challenge. I signed up for a race and since my motto is always go big or go home, I picked the Polar Bear Plunge. While only a 2 mile race, it boasted jumping into not one, but three freezing cold pools of water. It sounded crazy and right up my alley. I also hoodwinked my supportive husband to doing it with me.
I am good and comfortable with a 2.5 mile run right now so I really thought it would be easy. Boy was I wrong! Here is a break down of what happened and what I learned:
We brought a change of clothes and our phones, but did not have a 3rd person there to hold our stuff. Next time I will get a third person to come with us and be the keeper of our stuff/ taker of photos. things would have been much easier if we had that!
We started off near the back of the pack. that was big mistake number 2. this made us behind a bunch of slower people and increased our run time considerably. We ended up starting to go around people, but since this was our first race and I was unsure of running etiquette, we went slowly for awhile.
We started off running about a quarter of mile and then we took our very first plunge into cold water. It was straight into the Arkansas River. There were quite few people who skipped this one, and I think they are PANSY'S. Brandon jumped in head first and I went in to about the chest level. It was sooooo cold! Then we had to run sopping wet through the sand and it was tough.
Once we got away from the river we ran about a half a mile until we got to a dock. It was made up of a bunch of different cubes of plastic and we had to run across it. Talk about crazy! It was slippery and would bounce and move and it is a miracle I held my balance. There were a few people that plunged into the river again.
The next obstacle was to run along an amphitheaters stairs. It was simple enough, then a mile later we finally got to the pools. Now the way this website read was that it was a small jump into 3 pools, 3 to 5 feet deep. there was noooo mention whatsoever of SWIMMING. We get to the first pool and jump in. if we thought that the river was cold we were mistaken! Those pools were 10 times cooler than the river ever thought of being. We had to swim from jumping into the deep end and swim across the pool to climb out the steps on the shallow side.
On all three pools as soon as I jumped in my body naturally tried to gasp for air because of the cold. Gasping is NOT something you want to be doing when your head is under water!!!!! I came up for air, freaking out quite a bit if I am going to be honest with myself. I was able to get all the way across the first pool with several loud prayers to God and sheer determination. The second pool..... oh brother! I gasped water into my lungs a second time and started flailing. My husband grabbed me by the waist, (since he was so tall he could actually touch) and brought me to where I could touch. I then got out of the pool with as much dignity as possible and continued running along. I believe the phrase, "hardest thing I have ever done in my life besides childbirth" came out of my mouth.
The third pool required diving for your medal. there was nooo way I was going to let my husband help me again, and NOT get a medal. So I plunged in once more, gulped water, but this time i knew what was going to happen. I got to the shallow end and grabbed 3... ribbons? GASP! The medals had come unhooked and were somewhere in the murky bottom of the pool. I wear glasses though, and water was all over them and I just couldn't SEE them. I started to say over and over again, oh no! oh no! i can't! where? i can't! And then my husband yelled my name and one of the volunteers was willing to trade me a ribbon for a full medallion! thank goodness because I was so determined to get that medal i would have frozen before I gave up!
We then had a final sprint to the finish line, but if you wanted an actual picture, it was more of a waddle, waddle, slosh, slosh to the finish line. We crossed the line hand in hand and I felt so proud of myself. 3 months ago I couldn't run for more than 60 seconds. the polar bear plunge took me about 35 minutes. While that time is slightly terrible, remember that I couldn't go that fast, and I had to wait my turn to jump into the pools, and I spent a good minute digging for my medal.
when it was over we trembled and shook to the car to get our change of clothes. We got a nice fellow racer to take our picture and with GREAT strain we both got our change of clothes on. We left with big smiles on our faces and I said we would do it again next year. I know one things for sure, can't wait for the Mud Run in April and we have A LOT of training to do before the Warrior Dash!
I started running c25k in October. It started off being a physical challenge and turned quickly into a mental challenge. I signed up for a race and since my motto is always go big or go home, I picked the Polar Bear Plunge. While only a 2 mile race, it boasted jumping into not one, but three freezing cold pools of water. It sounded crazy and right up my alley. I also hoodwinked my supportive husband to doing it with me.
I am good and comfortable with a 2.5 mile run right now so I really thought it would be easy. Boy was I wrong! Here is a break down of what happened and what I learned:
We brought a change of clothes and our phones, but did not have a 3rd person there to hold our stuff. Next time I will get a third person to come with us and be the keeper of our stuff/ taker of photos. things would have been much easier if we had that!
We started off near the back of the pack. that was big mistake number 2. this made us behind a bunch of slower people and increased our run time considerably. We ended up starting to go around people, but since this was our first race and I was unsure of running etiquette, we went slowly for awhile.
We started off running about a quarter of mile and then we took our very first plunge into cold water. It was straight into the Arkansas River. There were quite few people who skipped this one, and I think they are PANSY'S. Brandon jumped in head first and I went in to about the chest level. It was sooooo cold! Then we had to run sopping wet through the sand and it was tough.
Once we got away from the river we ran about a half a mile until we got to a dock. It was made up of a bunch of different cubes of plastic and we had to run across it. Talk about crazy! It was slippery and would bounce and move and it is a miracle I held my balance. There were a few people that plunged into the river again.
The next obstacle was to run along an amphitheaters stairs. It was simple enough, then a mile later we finally got to the pools. Now the way this website read was that it was a small jump into 3 pools, 3 to 5 feet deep. there was noooo mention whatsoever of SWIMMING. We get to the first pool and jump in. if we thought that the river was cold we were mistaken! Those pools were 10 times cooler than the river ever thought of being. We had to swim from jumping into the deep end and swim across the pool to climb out the steps on the shallow side.
On all three pools as soon as I jumped in my body naturally tried to gasp for air because of the cold. Gasping is NOT something you want to be doing when your head is under water!!!!! I came up for air, freaking out quite a bit if I am going to be honest with myself. I was able to get all the way across the first pool with several loud prayers to God and sheer determination. The second pool..... oh brother! I gasped water into my lungs a second time and started flailing. My husband grabbed me by the waist, (since he was so tall he could actually touch) and brought me to where I could touch. I then got out of the pool with as much dignity as possible and continued running along. I believe the phrase, "hardest thing I have ever done in my life besides childbirth" came out of my mouth.
The third pool required diving for your medal. there was nooo way I was going to let my husband help me again, and NOT get a medal. So I plunged in once more, gulped water, but this time i knew what was going to happen. I got to the shallow end and grabbed 3... ribbons? GASP! The medals had come unhooked and were somewhere in the murky bottom of the pool. I wear glasses though, and water was all over them and I just couldn't SEE them. I started to say over and over again, oh no! oh no! i can't! where? i can't! And then my husband yelled my name and one of the volunteers was willing to trade me a ribbon for a full medallion! thank goodness because I was so determined to get that medal i would have frozen before I gave up!
We then had a final sprint to the finish line, but if you wanted an actual picture, it was more of a waddle, waddle, slosh, slosh to the finish line. We crossed the line hand in hand and I felt so proud of myself. 3 months ago I couldn't run for more than 60 seconds. the polar bear plunge took me about 35 minutes. While that time is slightly terrible, remember that I couldn't go that fast, and I had to wait my turn to jump into the pools, and I spent a good minute digging for my medal.
when it was over we trembled and shook to the car to get our change of clothes. We got a nice fellow racer to take our picture and with GREAT strain we both got our change of clothes on. We left with big smiles on our faces and I said we would do it again next year. I know one things for sure, can't wait for the Mud Run in April and we have A LOT of training to do before the Warrior Dash!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Runaholic
I have ALWAYS wanted to be a runner. When I was in the 7th grade I tried out
for track, made the team, but was unable to continue because of the afterschool
runs and not having a ride home from school. After highschool I would give a
treadmill a go and would be so intimidated by just about everything that I never
pursued it. I tried to start running in January of this year, but was WAY to
gung ho (i felt like i should just start off running 2 miles at a time) and
ended up giving myself double shin splints that took two months to recover.
So finally I tried again with C25K this fall. I was not born an amazing runner.
I irked it out of myself, 30 seconds at a time. i tell myself, 30 more seconds, 30 more seconds.
I lie to myself, i say, "oh you have probably been running for 20 minutes now, it will be just a little bit further. (8 minutes into the run)
I yell at myself sometimes. (in my head of course, I'm not too crazy.)
I beat myself up.
I encourage myself.
I think of myself getting my Polar Bear Plunge medal on January 1st. (my first 5k!!) I think up outlandish scenarios of people driving by and being jealous of me.
I bribe myself.
I do anything I can to keep running.
The past 2 weeks (week 7) gave me a crisis of faith. I was done with intervals. But why? Intervals and I are friends. We got this. Intervals and I are going to be in each others weddings. You want me to just DO AWAY with intervals?? I dont know if i can do that! And I really didn't. All of my tricks weren't working anymore. I would get 15 minutes into the run and just stop. Finally my friend Sarah suggested for me to just walk a minute, and then pick it up again. So i said alright, she generally is smarter than me, and I did it. So it took me 2 weeks, but I got through week 7.
Today I was starting week 8. I felt confident. I mean i HAVE to get this down right! I have my first 5k in a month! I need to be lean, mean, and crazy. (i signed up for a run that i will be jumping into freezing cold swimming pools. THREE of them) So I start off. I do my five minutes of walking and settle into my rhythm. What I did differently this time, was I started off meandering. Running every which way that I felt like. I took no specific path. Then i finally settled on a loop. It was smaller than the loop I am used to running, but it was a steady curve, and I wasn't facing into the sun and wind for too long of a time. I ended up losing track of the loops after 6, a few laps later i realized i did and lost count again after another 6. My guess is i did 15 laps around this place, maybe closer to 20.
I started to head back to the building and my asthma was starting to kick up. I wasn't coughing yet, but i could feel the wheezing. I snuck out my phone for the very first peak at my time left. (my countdown on my phone and i have a love/hate relationship) I glanced, ONLY TWO MINUTES LEFT! I felt elation! I felt on top of the world! Two minutes is nothing! So i ran out the last 2 minutes, finished on cloud 9, and ran for 28 minutes STRAIGHT. My previous longest distance running withouut a break was 18 minutes.
I knew I had it in me. I just had to believe in myself while I was doing it. I had to be confident. So it may have took a little lying, cussing, encouraging, and bribing (i am going to have pizza for dinner HA) but i FINISHED DANG IT! And Ii have arrived!!
So finally I tried again with C25K this fall. I was not born an amazing runner.
I irked it out of myself, 30 seconds at a time. i tell myself, 30 more seconds, 30 more seconds.
I lie to myself, i say, "oh you have probably been running for 20 minutes now, it will be just a little bit further. (8 minutes into the run)
I yell at myself sometimes. (in my head of course, I'm not too crazy.)
I beat myself up.
I encourage myself.
I think of myself getting my Polar Bear Plunge medal on January 1st. (my first 5k!!) I think up outlandish scenarios of people driving by and being jealous of me.
I bribe myself.
I do anything I can to keep running.
The past 2 weeks (week 7) gave me a crisis of faith. I was done with intervals. But why? Intervals and I are friends. We got this. Intervals and I are going to be in each others weddings. You want me to just DO AWAY with intervals?? I dont know if i can do that! And I really didn't. All of my tricks weren't working anymore. I would get 15 minutes into the run and just stop. Finally my friend Sarah suggested for me to just walk a minute, and then pick it up again. So i said alright, she generally is smarter than me, and I did it. So it took me 2 weeks, but I got through week 7.
Today I was starting week 8. I felt confident. I mean i HAVE to get this down right! I have my first 5k in a month! I need to be lean, mean, and crazy. (i signed up for a run that i will be jumping into freezing cold swimming pools. THREE of them) So I start off. I do my five minutes of walking and settle into my rhythm. What I did differently this time, was I started off meandering. Running every which way that I felt like. I took no specific path. Then i finally settled on a loop. It was smaller than the loop I am used to running, but it was a steady curve, and I wasn't facing into the sun and wind for too long of a time. I ended up losing track of the loops after 6, a few laps later i realized i did and lost count again after another 6. My guess is i did 15 laps around this place, maybe closer to 20.
I started to head back to the building and my asthma was starting to kick up. I wasn't coughing yet, but i could feel the wheezing. I snuck out my phone for the very first peak at my time left. (my countdown on my phone and i have a love/hate relationship) I glanced, ONLY TWO MINUTES LEFT! I felt elation! I felt on top of the world! Two minutes is nothing! So i ran out the last 2 minutes, finished on cloud 9, and ran for 28 minutes STRAIGHT. My previous longest distance running withouut a break was 18 minutes.
I knew I had it in me. I just had to believe in myself while I was doing it. I had to be confident. So it may have took a little lying, cussing, encouraging, and bribing (i am going to have pizza for dinner HA) but i FINISHED DANG IT! And Ii have arrived!!
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