I hate thinking of titles...so they will now just be the date: 11.01.12

I'm toying with the idea of keeping this blog alive.  I've lost complete interest in blogging about my faith, my fat and my friends ironically at a time in my life when these things are changing more than ever.  I'm glad I kept a record of my race training and my thoughts along the way, but once that ended I seem to have lost the motivation to keep going (like millions of others).  I ran a few times after the marathon, but other things were happening in my life and fall came and blah blah blah I stopped running.  I don't really regret it, and I plan to run again hopefully sooner than later, but I got kind of bored of it and looked for something new and exciting to take it's place. 

I've played the "gain-a-pound, lose-a-pound" game since the beginning of September and am basically at the exact same spot I was after our vacation.  I'm glad I didn't gain weight when the running stopped, but I definetely have not lost any either, so that's that.

On that "faith" side of things, our senior pastor and his wife have announced that they will be moving to Calgary so he can become the dean of a bible college there.  We are very excited for them, and feel it's an awesome fit for him and their family, but since that announcement our lives have been crazy.  Greg will be taking the position of Senior Pastor at our church and it all seemed to happen before we could blink. 

We feel very excited for what road God has us on, but of course we also feel nervous, ill-equipped, humbled and stressed.  Our church has grown steadlily over the last few years as our pastor has sought to restore health and a Christ-centered, family-friendly environment.  So we're glad to be stepping up at a time of health but a big change like this keeps us in constant prayer and a never-ending state of humility.  We are looking to God for everything through this transition: peace, strength, encouragment, support, even sleep.  But anyone who knows Greg knows that he is the real deal and I am 100% confident in him and supportive of him.  He's grown leaps and bounds as a preacher and leader. Seriously.  He is legit.

This transition is coming on over the next few weeks, and coincides with my return to work and Elliot's birthday, and Christmas all at once.  It will be a busy few months but I'm keeping a hold on things for now and plan to try to just enjoy the ride. 

So on that note, I decided to update the old blog and perhaps some cool things could result from recording and sharing my experiences as a pastor's wife, working mom, continued aspiring thin person, and friend. 

Scary Mom

I just finished a very hilarious book for any mom entitled, 'Confessions of a Scary Mom' by mother of three, Jill Smokler.  She started out writing a blog about her kids and the realities of being a mom, and she soon had a major following of other mom's just like her; real, honest, funny, raw.  She decided to start a new blog that would allow mom's to annonmously confess things and the results were funny, sad, and very real.  The book itself is an easy fun read where each chapter begins with some confessions she has recieved, followed by her own stories of motherhood on a particular subject. 

Anything goes in this book, from confessing your laziness as a mom, to the poor diet you default to when your kids are being a pain.  She tells it like it is and it's very refreshing.  The first chapter had me giggling so much I had to read it when I was alone to keep Greg from saying, 'what? what's so funny?'. 

I think one of the reasons I like this book is that it takes the pressure off of us to look like we have it all together and we know what we're doing.  The confessions she gets are similar to what I feel anyone I know would write, but in a world like ours with Pinterest and DIY cute things everywhere it's hard not to feel pressure to be SuperMom. One mom confesses her kids haven't had a veggie in 3 years, while another confesses her kids have had grilled cheese for lunch everyday for weeks.  I feel oddly refreshed by that and it makes me feel better about my own parenting skills. 

It's a great fun little read, but I would warn against some language in the book and her chapter on "Husbands, the biggest baby of them all" is a little feminist and demeaning to men.  I get what she's saying about men being sick and wives taking care of them like we care for our kids, but she does write like she's the superior being in that home.  Funny but not to be taken too seriously for me, thanks. 

So if you feel like an ego boost on your parenting skills, or a nice down-to-earth look at what's really going on in other people's lives, then check out this book or her blog. 

Still going...

Today I'm going running for the first time since my race.  I feel a little crazy for electing to do physical exercise when I could just sit here and eat chips, but I know I'll feel good after I do it, and I'm kind of looking forward to getting out there and just enjoying it, instead of worrying about my pace or time.  I have some new good tunes to listen to and I'm going to re-visit my old 5K stomping ground that I'm oh so familiar with.

Since the race, my mind's been on many other things...which we will discuss at a later date.  But I've been reflecting back on it and finding that so many areas of my life are like a metaphorical marathon.  Namely, my spiritual walk.  I, like many others, have miles where I sail along with little effort, feeling good, reading the word and staying strong.  Then there are miles where every step takes all your energy and effort, and you feel like a thousand pounds of dead weight dragging along the ground.  Opening your Bible is like pulling a tooth out and praying feels like a chore.  Those miles count the most.  Learning to push through and get past those hard miles will make your next hard mile go faster and easier.

Sometimes during my training, I would get outside and start running only to find that every fiber of my body wanted to STOP.  I was dying to walk, dying to just go home and sit down...but I would tell myself, "if this were race day I would have to push through these feelings, so keep on going".  And most of the time those runs got easier after a few horrible miles, but sometimes they didn't and I just got home and tried to recover from a horrible run.  But the point was, finishing those hard times made the next hard time easier.  The next time I felt horrible I knew I could push through because I had done it before.  When my spiritual life feels dry and heavy, forcing myself to push through and be uncomfortable is rewarding and I seem to find the hard times fewer and far between.

A marathon also has miles full of distractions much like a spiritual walk, and sometimes the most dangerous distractions are the positive ones.  When Disney set up the race course to have bands and cheerleaders along the route, I'm sure they just wanted to encourage and spur people on.  However if you're not careful, you can really waste a lot of your precious energy giving away high-fives willy nilly, and yelling 'way to go' and 'thanks for volunteering' to all the water station workers.  If you stop to admire all the support, you could be too tired to finish or too slow to complete the race in time.  I saw people standing in a 12 person deep line in the middle of the race, just to get a picture with Ariel.  WHAT? Although the standing and not-running part looked tempting, I would never waste any time doing that...precious time.  Why draw the race out any longer than it needs to be.  And in my spiritual life, I can also be easily distracted by cool Theology books, or self-help books, or being a Mommy books until I realize it's been a while since I read THE book.  Distraction meant to be encouraging but ending up hurting in the end.  Beware.

Then later, when you get to the last few miles and you're adrenaline finally kicks in and you feel you have a somewhat supernatural energy source you can tap into you're somehow able to finish what you once thought to be an impossible task.  Only in a spritual sense, the adrenaline to tap into is really the Holy Spirit who is always so great to keep us going and encouraged when we hit mile 13 and feel depleated.  He is our supernatural energy source.  He allows me to clean the house and have people over for the 100th time this week.  He keeps my patients supplied when my kids are nuts and crying and throwing things.  He knows when my human supply of joy or love for others is almost depleated and he always manages to come to the rescue with a fresh supply that could only be from Him.

So although I promised not to mention my marathon again, I'm amazed at how it has paralleled my life in other areas and wanted to share that.  So although I'm finished my race, I want to keep on running...both physically and spiritually. 

I DID IT!

 I'm alive! That's really the best news of all, considering the amount of times I thought I might die.  Not only was Cali hot but our Disneyland-park-filled days really got me tired and the race was on our last morning there...at 4am. 

 We made a few pre-race errors that could have been avoided; we stayed up until 10pm the night before enjoying every last ride and slushy drink we could soak in, and for dinner we shared a burger.  Not enough carbs and not enough food.  The night was really short and our alarms went off at 4am.  We had a quick shower to wake ourselves up and geared up.  We quickly downed some OJ, a boiled egg, and a cliff bar and took off for the race.  We got to our corral (start group) at 5am and stood around waiting.  There was music and DJ's and lots of stimulating pre-race pep, but I was still too tired to care.  We sat on the dark cold pavement and waited for our start time.  The only interesting pre-race thing was seeing Sean Astin there and being slightly excited to race Samwise Gamgee.  So once 6:14am came and it was our turn to cross the start line I was cold and tired but my adrenaline quickly kicked in.  Within minutes it was light out and I was swept away in a sea or people flowing down the road almost effortlessly like a fish in a current...until Greg said he had to use the bathroom.

So we hit mile 2 and saw a line-up for the port-a-potty and spent about 10 minutes wasted waiting to pee.  But better to pee than slosh around a full bladder for the next 2 hours.  Once we peed we thought we better step up the pace to keep our time down.  So we took off running hard and ran miles 2-7 or 8 pretty well.

Around mile 8 my electrolyte gummy felt gross in my stomach and we were walking more than running (although our walk was fast enough to pass some 'runners').  So yet another mistake I knew not to do had failed me.  I must have read a million times not to take or wear anything you hadn't tried before but alas, I thought myself invinsible.  But we pushed on past countless princesses, marching bands, hot rod cars, cheer squads and Disney characters until we saw the beautiful mile 13 sign.  I knew the finish line was around the corner and I couldn't wait to be done so we booked it to the end and never have I seen anything so beautiful as that finish line.

I must have told Greg a few times during the race that I would never do this again, but finishing was so much more rewarding than I thought it would be.  Knowing that I worked so hard since January, I had a baby only 9 months ago, I couldn't run 0.2 miles when I started and here I was...running 13.1 miles and proving to myself that I really can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!  It was awesome.

The race itself wasn't exactly what I expected in a few regards but now that I've tasted racing, I kind of liked it.  When you run by yourself you can focus on your pace, your heart rate, your thoughts and your music.  You can listen to your body and push yourself.  But in a race you're so distracted and over-stimulated that your pace is almost impossible to keep (especially navigating around 17,000 people), your body isn't telling you anything because of the adrenaline and your focus all over the place.  My mind was constantly like, "where's Greg, oh there he is, that's a fun running skirt, who would run in those shoes, what kind of water belt is that...it's cool, where is mile 6? what mile are we on? I need a water station...etc.".  It was like runner's A.D.D.

But now it's over.  I'm done and I'm so glad I did it.  Without the pressure of this huge race I never would have pushed myself to be a runner.  I never would have lost 27 pounds and I never would have thought I was even capable of being much of an athlete at all.  But now I feel like I could take on exercise with confidence and continue my quest for a healthy weight and body with assuredness.  I'm more confident in what I'm capable of and excited to see what's next for me. 

And what's next for me is a big question on my mind now.  Why work so hard to be able to run without dying only to quit.  I want to avoid the post-marathon plunge into binge eating and non-exercise.  I feel both free from training obligations but also lost in an empty calendar that has no work-outs on it.  I don't know what to do next.  Sign up for another race? Do some 10k's?  Try a new sport?  We shall see, but for now I'll just enjoy walking around the house with this big medal around my neck!

Mind over Matter

One of the hardest things about running, that caught me off guard, is the incredible mental component.  The state of your mind pre-run and during your run can make or break you.  When gearing up for a longer distance I've been trying to stay positive and tell myself things like, 'it's only 2 miles more than last week", or "I've been training for months and I know my body is capable of this", but once you're actually out there your mind can turn on you and hold you back big time.

I've developed some tips and tricks for keeping my mind off my pain and fatigue and on other things in an attempt to make my runs go by faster, and keep my thoughts from returning to the ever-so-frequent "can I stop now? can I stop now? can I walk now? can I quit now?".  I first noticed that when I trained with my sister on my visit to Vancouver our miles went by so fast.  We were talking and counting miles together and I wasn't completely focused on my body and my muscles.  Then as Greg and I started training longer distances together I confirmed that having a partner or a group is much more distracting than hitting the road alone.

So here are a few of my mental tricks that may be applied to any form of exercise.  Hope some of them help!

1. Music!  Of course this is a given for most people, but beware: not all running music is created equally.  I was first drawn to really exciting, pump-you-up songs, but quickly realized that they took all my energy as I raw raw rawed my way through my first 2 miles.  The key is to find mellow songs that are catchy to keep your heart rate low, but not put you to sleep.  Some of my new favorites are the new Lights album, Postal Service, David Crowder Band, Owl City and even Sia. 

2. Friend! As I mentioned already, going out there with someone else is great for keeping your mind off yourself.  Sometimes I even imagine a teather tying me to Greg and when I'm feeling strong, I can mentally set the pace and "pull" him, and when he's got more spunk than me, I imagine he's "pulling" me along and keeping me in the groove.  We also constantly negociate goals and keep eachother accountable to them.  We'll agree that we will run the next mile, and then give yourselves a little walking break and with him there, I'm less likely to cheat on that.

3. Food! I think about all the yummy things I'm going to bake or make when I get home.  I often think of the Starbucks treat I'll reward myself with, or what I have in the fridge to make a delicious dinner out of.  I personally can think of food all day so before I know it, 10 minutes might have passed.

4. My Body! Believe it or not, thinking of spicific muscle groups and changes that are happening in my body can keep me motivated.  I'll think of all the work my legs are doing and how the muscles hurt because they're getting stronger and next run they'll be even better and faster.  Or I think of my abs and focus on using them to propell me forward and visualize the muscles working for my health and speed.

5. Hot Bath! I love coming home, cooling down and then soaking my body in a big hot bubble bath.  I'll visualize the water relaxing me and remind myself that "this pain will end, and in just 45 minutes (or whatever) I'll be soaking my body". 

6. Mantras! They sound cheesy, or Budist or whatever, but they actually work if you pick one that means something to YOU.  I found a lot of the mantras I saw online didn't work for me and I knew I needed to find my own.  As I shared once before, mine are "If you ain't dying, you ain't trying". and "I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me STRENGTH". and "this too shall pass, it won't go on forever, soon I will be done".  Find what works for you and tattoo it in your mind.

7. Break It Down! Take your distance and break it up into small chunks that you know you can easily do.  Wether you decide to break it up by time, "I'll run 5 minutes and walk 1" or distance "I'll run unitl mile 7 and then walk a half a mile", breaking up your run will pass time and keep your mind working.  Plus, if you're slow at math like me then it really kills a lot of time to check your watch and figure our your distance and pace and expected time of completion.  I literally started doing 10 seconds of running and 50 seconds of walking and you wouldn't believe how quickly those 10 running seconds seemed to creep up on me.  I've even broken it down by "run to stop sign, walk to corner" and I often use this one speed limit sign on my regular route as an imaginary finish line and push myself to my pretend finish. 

8. Rewards! I'm not an extremely externally motivated person, but I know some people like to say, "when I can run a 10K I will gift myself some new clothes".  Whatever you kind of want to get, but don't have a great excuse for, use that thing to push you forward.

9. Gas Tank Trick! I came up with this when I kept reading about "keeping your fuel for the end".  I try and visualize my entire run as a full gas tank and use my energy as gas.  The goal is to empty it slowly so you're sure to have some at the end.  The longer the run, the slower I want my heart rate at the beginning and the easier I am on myself.  The shorter the distance, the more fuel I can burn through and really push myself. 

I hope these come in handy for some people.  I think I'll need to use a combination of all of them for my 1/2 marathon that's coming up in just 3 weeks!!!!!

Hobbies

I like to paint my nails. It makes me feel pretty and "polished", if you will. I have over 40 colors and a bag full of nail art paraphernalia. I love collecting cool new colors and trying new things.

As a bonus, painting your nails while you watch tv can keep you from unnecessary snacking! I got the yellow this summer and have tried it a few times. I seem to like it better every time I put it on. It's probably my second favorite. My ultimate fav is The China Glaze color "for Audrey". Not only is it made for me, but it's such a cute turquoise. Love it.

$10 Value Village "art"

 So I found this very retro 1970's curtain at Value Village and immediately thought of all the art I could do with it.  I could have cut out the squares and made throw pillows, or quilted them, or made a table cloth but instead I opted to use up some old Ikea frames I had kicking around with nothing in them. 

 I placed my frames in different spots and finally decided on my favorite pieces of the fabric.

 I love this strange rain cloud raining on the house only whilst the deer wonder the field, but only almost as much as I love the creepy pink eyed rabbits, the ugly bird drinking fizzy pink and yellow pop and the squirell tormenting the bird in the cage with a key.  Gold.

 So I cut them out, framed them up and am very happy with my new $10 art.  Love it.

Busy Summer and 7 Years Married!

 It's been too hot, too fun, and too busy to blog lately.  I've been hanging out with these two guys and soaking up some summer...

I've still been training, but I use that term a lot more loosely than before.  I usually make it out for a 4 mile run during the week and then Greg and I are still doing our long runs on the weekends.  We are now due for 11 miles, then 12 next week and then we're off to Cali for our trip!  We decided to let the half marathon be the first time we've done 13 miles. Partly because it's fun but mostly because we're out of training time.  It's only one more mile than 12, which we will have done, so I'm sure we can do it and we get to be excited that half marathon day will be the farthest we have ever gone.  right? (unsure face)

To keep in shape I'm also doing a Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred here and there and that seems to be helping off-set some of this major summer BBQ binging.  This past weekend we had Greg's sister and her husby in town and we ate ate ate.  We had a big anniversary dinner with cake, went to Chinese buffet, had BBQ, went to pasta house, had chips galore and many blended drinks.  I didn't count a thing and it did result in a pound gained but I don't care.  It's summer and I'm having fun.  The family is all gone now so I'm back  in business cutting buckets of fruit and veggies for snacks and trying to prepare low-cal meals. 

Somewhere in the midst of all the business this week, Greg and I had our 7th year wedding anniversary.  We plan to celebrate next week when things are a little more relaxed. Hopefully.  But I was remembering back to those early years and I feel very pleased to say that I truly find marriage better every year.  After 7 years, we feel comfortable in our groove, we feel our friendship is our foundation, and we're maturing in our faith, all of which make marriage better and better.   

first christmas together in our tiny tiny tiny place

 It's not hard to feel it's better now than in the beginning.  Check out our "dining room" here.  We didn't care though.  It was good times. 

dating. christmas banquet 2003. doing strange things with hands.

 We were skinny, pale, and very young.  But we thought we were pretty rad. 

super blurry picture of dating us

 Back when digital cameras were top knotch. Here is yet another dating picture.  Hair = Same

dating 2003

Wedding day. august 5, 2005.

God is good.  Time has gone so fast and been such a blast.  I'm excited to see what the next 7 years will bring and hope I can keep on top of blogging to record snips of it here and there. 

9 miles 10 pounds

Only 5 and a half weeks until my big half marathon day!! (those exclamation marks are more fear enduced than excitement).  I'm in shock that I only have one month left to train and that I'm not out there every day pushing myself harder.  I'm doing a few short runs a week and a little cross training here and there, then on the weekends Greg and I go out for a long run together.  Last Saturday we were out for 1 hour and 52 minutes and did 9.2 miles.  We were averaging a pretty good pace of about 9 minute miles until a big dog started following us and would not go away.  We were in the middle of a big 4 mile loop and the dog kept right up with us.  Finally we stopped to check the collar and call the owner, and when nobody answered we decided to google map their house and run the dog home.  So needless to say that slowed us down but at least pup was returned safe and sound.  The owner was shocked the dog was even missing and thanked us for running him all the ways home.

But anyhow, we're plugging away.  I never in my wildest dreams imagined I would exercise for 1 hour and 52 minutes, it's actually pretty rediculous.  Through all this training I think I've realized that a 10K or a 1 hour run is a good respectable distance that is managable and comfortable.  Anything beyond that is a little nuts and only doable for me because I can't wait to get my hands on that big giant medal, and had I known how much time was really involved in the training I might have thought harder about signing up for this, especially with a new baby at home.  Although the increase in distance and time has coincided well with Elliot's growth.  He's eating plenty of solids now and able to be apart from me for the necessary 2 hours at a time.  So this weekend we will gear up, stretch, cry a little and head out for a double digit mile run.  Insane.

I never thought I was in it for the medal but it turns out...I AM!  I'm glad for the exercise and the weight loss and the increase in my general health and fitness level, but man am I glad there's something to show for it that I can treasure and hang on my wall (yes I'm that conceited).  I anticipated the sweat, the shin splints and the sore muscles but it's the mind games that have really been an unexpected challenge.  I woke up on Saturday with major cramps, a headache, fatigue and low motivation.  Everything in my mind told me to stay home and forget 9 miles.  I knew deep deep down that I could do it and I would feel good if I just got out there, but I also knew I had good excuses to stay home.  So I dragged my butt so slowly to the shower and got dressed for the run, and while we were running I told Greg that I realize I gained weight and never committed to exercise because there are ALWAYS excuses in my mind and I ALWAYS used them.  My head was constantly telling me "this hurts, stop running, just sit down" but I needed to defeat those thoughts and learn to say "get moving, keep moving, this will feel good later".  It maybe sounds strange but I have learned a great deal about myself and how to be strong when I feel weak.

Besides running for hours, I've been busy soaking up some summer.  We're chillin in the back yard, at the Library, making cookies, painting, watching movies and just loving some time off.  I've met with lots of friends for coffee and had girls over for girly nights and I'm loving every minute of it.  I haven't been tracking my every calorie but I'm still hard at work applying all I've learned and am down to 165 lbs. this week!  I'm lighter than I have been in about 5 years or more and starting to feel like a chubby-skinny person instead of a not-too-fat fat person.  I'm so glad to be rid of those 24 pounds and I'm finally down to my LAST 10 POUNDS! I know people always say those are the hardest, but I feel empowered to push through and get this over with.  I'm swimming in some of my clothes and a little frumpy in others, but I'm not going shopping until I make it to goal weight.  The loss has been slow and steady, but best of all, maintainable.  These last 10 could take me a while but I'm so excited to look back and see a girl who decided to do something....and did it. 

I'm Bored

Lately Greg and I have been renting movies from the Library as a cheap free way to stay entertained.  Having a baby in the house means you are usually home by 8pm at the latest, and you're forced to sit around the house, which is fine for the most part, but once in a while I crave some evening social life outside my Nike comfy shorts and an old T-shirt. The movies we've picked are ok, but just ok.  They mostly have decent stories or exciting plots, but nothing too epic.  I'm finding 2 hours goes by and I've done nothing but wonder how much longer this movie is going to be.  Why is it that all the comedies are dirty, and all the action movies have filthy language and all the romances are about infidelity?  I'm kind of getting sick of watching such garbage.  Yesterday when I was returning some books I was tempted to go look for Anne of Green Gables to balance out the garbage we've been watching. 

In the 80's comedies were funny and definetely not as dirty as they are today.  'Adventures in Babysitting' is an awesome movie about a night of kid watching gone awry, but today's version, 'The Sitter' is nasty, low budget and predictable.  I'm usually not too stuffy about movies but it's getting really lame that there is nothing good out anymore.  'This Means War' is a comedy about two guys who like the same girl and compete for her love, it could be a fun story but by the end when she can't decide, her friend advises her that she should sleep with both men to find out which one is really her true love (rolling eyes).  Seriously. considering. Anne of Green Gables.  Don't get me entirely wrong, I do like movie nights with Greggy, but only if we're going to do a Indiana Jones marathon, or a Star Wars night.  Something well made that a person could care about. These library picks are just no good. 

So I'm considering some alternate evening-time-passers.  Maybe some that will be productive, or uplifting and not just a complete waste of my time? The question is...what to do?  I did get a crochet hook and some yarn, but what if I became a person who sat around doing crochet while watching Anne of GG?  I might die.  Maybe I need to look at this Pinterest everyone loves to find some craft ideas? Or some good book picks?  I need help. 

today in a nutshell

Weight lost this week: 0
Runs gone on: 1
Distance run: 8 miles
Calories consumed: 1 000 000
Stuff happening: painting nails, going to the library, constantly cleaning my house
Overall feeling: meh
Devotions currently: Acts
Grateful for: VBS where Liam can get out and do something fun in the mornings
Sad about:  people who are easily offended and give up on friends because of said offense
Excited for: girls night this Friday! Nails, hair, facials, friends.
Stressed about: running 9 miles on Saturday
Sure of: impending headache today
Wishing for: kids who would nap, so I can nap 
 Deciding to: remain positive and let Him be strong when I am weak. 

201 Miles

This is my running app on my phone.  It logs all our miles, pace, calories burned...etc.  I downloaded it the day I decided to train for this half marathon, which was January 30th where I walked 2.13 miles and ran 10 seconds of each 5 minutes.  I had a baby only 8 weeks prior, and had just finished eating the rest of Liam's birthday cake so it was no easy task.  It was cold and windy out and I had horrible shoes that were not even for running.  I looked rediculous all bundeled up in my Superstore workout pants and big ugly shoes, but I plugged away. 

In February I walk/ran 15.33 miles with my longest run being 2.91 miles.  So I basically only added 1 mile that entire month but going from 2 to 3 miles felt like going SO much further. 

March's tally was 25.31 miles with my longest distance being 3.27 miles.  Still slow and plugging along.  Still cold and embarrassing. 

April was 27.47 miles in total with my longest distance being 4.07 miles.  After training 2 or 3 times a week for 3 months I had worked up to 4 miles and I felt like that was faarrrr.  I was not improving too much, distance wise, but I know I was running about 50% of the time and had learned a lot.  I knew that you need actual running shoes, and that the proper gear will make all the difference in the world.

May's total is 36.36 miles and I made it up to 5.5 miles at one time.  My confidence was building, the weather was perfect and I knew how to max my time out there and prevent my nasty shin splints and stiff legs.  It was not until about this month that I began to feel like I could maybe call myself a 'runner'.  In my opinion, running 5 miles was nothing to sneeze at.

June.  I'm surprised that I did cram in 35 miles since I was on vacation in Vancouver for 2 weeks of that month.  But Greg and I did our whopping 7.07 miles before we left on holidays and I was killin' it.  I also did a 10K race in June for Pro-life and was comforatable doing it. 

July.  SO HOT.  I can't believe I've only logged 12.85 mils this month, and it's already the 11th, but it is just so hot and I have not been able to muster up the energy to go for an early run yet.  But I see it in my near near future as this weather is not getting any cooler.  Today I did 5 miles at 10am and by the end I was dripping everywhere.  It's also crunch time so Greg and I are doing 8 miles this weekend and adding a mile to that every weekend from now until our big 13 mile practice half marathon before we leave. 

So thanks to my app, I've been able to tally everything I've done and keep track of all my sweaty painful miles.  Today I checked and I just passed the 200 mark!  That means I've run from Lethbridge to Red Deer (for those who know what that even means).  I know my progress has been a lot slower than most people's.  Most half marathon training programs are 16 weeks max, and I've been 'training' for 24 weeks already, but I really did start from ground ZERO.  I had no base.  I couldn't run a block.  I had 25 extra pounds on.  So even though it's been long, I'm still proud to be where I am today.  I can't wait to get that medal and finish well. 

Friends Who Bless

 These are our pots and pans...

 They were purchased in 1975 as a wedding gift...FOR MY PARENTS.  As newly weds, Greg and I were happy to inherit many hand-me-downs.  There was nothing wrong with these pots and pans and we did not have the money to get a new set, so we took them from my parents and have been using them ever since. 

 Greg sometimes makes pasta in this pot and it sticks to the bottom and burns.  He always blamed the pot, but the truth is, it happened to me sometimes too.  The pot was thin on the bottom and if the heat was too high, you could easily have a big messy problem.

 I can't remember where this pan came from.  It might be from my family too, but it's very scratched and has no "non stick" to it, so you need about a half can of PAM to get your eggs out of it.

This IKEA beauty is from the college years and probably cost $5 10 years ago. It's perfectly clean...those are scratches you're looking at.  It too is paper thin and fairly useless.

I'm not materialistic (in too many ways), so for us, these have done the job well enough and we had not given much thought to replacing any of them any time soon.  But this weekend we had some dear friends over and they aparently thought differently.  We love to have people over and cook for them and serve them.  So we had two pots going with corn on the cob, a pot of mashed potatos, and some gravy simmering.  So needless to say they were all dirty.  My gracious friend was kind enough to do ALL our dishes after the meal while her husband was sharing some stories with us of their life lately.  Before I knew it, she had washed and put all my pots away.

Two days later, before they left town again, I got a text that a gift was sitting on our steps and I opened the door to find this...

 WHAT?!! A beautiful 10 piece cook set BRAND NEW!!!!!  I could not believe their generosity.  The card said that while poking around the kitchen, God had laid it on their hearts to gift us with this set.  After a brief moment of embarrassment from the obviously old state of my cookware, I recovered and was flooded with feelings of gratitude and blessing.  Friends so kind, so observant, and so in tune to the Holy Spirit that God knew my needs better than I did and they were willing to obey him and bless us. 

 I opened them up and was amazed how beautiful they are.  Lids that fit! Handles that won't burn your hand! Glass lids you can SEE what you're cooking!  It was bliss. 

So tonight I made Liam some pasta.  It cooked like a dream. And I was reminded of what it means to be not just a friend, but a friend who listens to the Lord and is quick to obey and bless others.  I know I'm not always great at that.  But I'm sure thankful for this sweet sweet reminder!

Greg is always ahead

The thing about losing weight, is you actually have to pay attention to it.  Greg's be winning with his sneak attack behind my back.  He's already lost, are you ready...6 pounds since the beginning of our challenge.  WHAT? I know, it's ridiculous.  He's killing it and keeping his methods mostly secret.  I've lost 0 and spent most of yesterday evening eating coffee ice cream and chips.  Big fail.

So I'm reminding myself that every morsel of food counts and to continue to succeed I have to be careful what I snack on.  I almost baked some killer sugar cookies today but instead opted for a low fat banana bread from my 1200 Calories a day cook book, not even my mom's killer banana loaf with sour cream.  This one has only 1 cup brown raw sugar, and 1/4 cup butter.  That should tie me over, baking wise, for the next while.

Dinner will be some eggs and veggies  because I'm trying to save some calories for the ladies night I've got planned for tonight.

Profile picky

Testing blog post via mobile phone. Sounds cool but it's hard to type an entire post on your tiny iPhone keyboard. I like the feature that allows you to upload pics from your phone but I'm not sure how often I would post from here. So I'll test the photo upload feature with this dirty mirror shot of my 168 body. Just a little progress pic.

Real Cream Goes Down Smooth

I'm a huge coffee drinker.  I've worked at Second Cup and Starbucks and love everything from a hot dark roast black to a iced flavored latte.  But mostly around the house we drink a medium roast in the morning and use a flavored coffee creamer.  We mostly get vanilla flavors and although we knew they are 'lactose free' and almost never expire we would drink almost a liter a week.  The International Delights creamers are delicious but are essentially a margarine/plastic product so after being inspired by my sister-in-law I sought out some recipes and found a great real dairy alternative to use!  And, it's easy peasy.

Melt 1/2 cup Brown Sugar and 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract...

 Find a glass container with a seal, or an old jar to store it...

Once your sugar and vanilla are melted you can add 3-4 cups of cream (and I added a little cinnamon)...

 When it's all mixed together you can store it in your glass container...

 My glass container is from IKEA and was only a couple bucks, and it seals tight so it's awesome...

 Add to your brew and voila! A healthier, lower fat alternative to liquid plastic!

Besides making kitchen concoctions, I`ve been busy training with Greg, visiting friends and soaking up some delicious sun.  We`re down to only 7 weeks before our California trip and the marathon so Greg and I are also kicking off a 10 pound challenge.  I lost the pound I gained while in BC but I`m still sitting stagnant at 169, and Greg has stopped logging calories and has put a few back on too, so we want to feel good and be ready for Cali, and what better way than to engage in some healthy marital competition.  I`m going to kick his butt!

Back Home

After two weeks trecking the kiddies all the way to Maple Ridge BC, then to Whistler, and then around Washington I'm pretty spent.  I had a blast visiting my sister and brother-in-law, and of course my nephew but it felt like not an hour went by where we weren't doing something, but if you spend more than 2.5 seconds in my family you'll learn that's not unusual.  It always sounds nice to sit around and do nothing, but in reality it's pretty boring.  We hit some museums, 3D minigolf, bowling, shopping, gondolas, mountain viewing, more shopping, eating out, swimming and more shopping, bbq, cooking lesson, and yes, we even managed to squeeze in 3 training sessions for the marathon.

But being home means back to business.  I'm going to hit the ground running (literally) with my last 8 weeks of training and I'm back full swing into my calorie tracking.  I tried adding my calories for the first few days away, but that went quickly by the wayside as I popped this and that in my mouth.  Plus it was a rare opportunity to enjoy some home made food from my chef brother in law, who can pass up coconut crusted halibut with homemade mango salsa, roasted zuccini, carbonara from scratch or big bbq cheese and bacon burgers? Ummm, definetely not moi.  And surprisingly with all that I only gained 1 pound, so I'll call that a win.

It was great to go shopping and try on Large shirts, then put them back because they were too big and buy the Mediums.  It was also great to get back to one of my favorite USA stores and pick up my favorite jeans in a 8/9 instead or 12!  Maybe by September I'll pick up some 7s?  I know I went way over my daily calorie limits most days but I still felt like the work I have been doing at home paid off because it taught me to listen to my body more and know when I really don't need anything to eat or at least not as much to eat.  We went to Golden Coral Buffet in the States and it was crazy how yellow the food was.  You were hard pressed to find a veggie and the salad bar had the creamy dressings, bacon bits, croutons and cheese for toppings.  I literally saw someone make a "sandwich" out of two huge biscuits, a monster piece of fried chicken, and gravy all over it.  I was able to see that sandwich and know that if I ate that, it would probably be more than what I should eat in an entire day. Although I judge not because I did buy 4 bags of marshmallows in Target (chocolate, mint chocolate, cinnamon, star shapes), I don't know why we only have white boring ones in Canada?  lame. 

trecking sleeping baby

Chris and his massive grill

sisters

the fam -Elliot sleeping in the van

Greg back to nature

 When I got home my 1200 Calorie a day cook book had arrived and tonight I'm making cajun crusted chicken breast and some spinach salad.  I can't wait to try these recipes! More on those later....

Sockbun Sunday

If you don't already have a sockbun maker from *Clairs then you need one.  It will change your hair life.  After watching this 2 minute video on YouTube where this girl made a super cute hairdo in no time flat I was on the next Toyota ride outta here to get one and I love it.  I've been looking for cute but really fast hair styles to do now that I'm running more and not about to do my hair twice in a day (or sometimes once in a day).  Plus my hair is getting longer and I need some fresh styles.  The sockbun maker is essentially a mesh puffy elastic that you put your pony through (like a donut) and then you wrap your hair around it, or pin your hair around it depending on how messy or tight you want your bun to look.  If you're really thrifty you can take an old sock, cut off the closed end so you have a tube and then roll it up into a donut which would be like the mesh thing from Clairs, but to me the Clairs holder gave more volume and was also the color of my hair so if my bun is not perfect then you won't see a white sock underneath, plus it's really only $4.  I love this do because you can wear it loose like this, or tight with a flower or a ribbon if you're going out! Enjoy! 

20 down!

aesselmont lost 1 pound since her last weigh-in! She's lost 20 pounds so far.

I kinda felt like that status update on myfitnesspal homepage deserved an exclamation mark today, am I right? I finally cracked into the 160's and I'm so glad to be out of those 70s.  I seemed to have sluggishly trudged through the last half of the 70s but I finally came out on the other side and I hope to never go back up there. It feels good to have seen the 80's go by, and then the 70's go by and now I'm looking forward to breaking some new ground as I make my way through the 160s.  I was 166 lbs before I was pregnant with Liam, and I was back to that (on a broken skinny scale) for a few short weeks 3 years ago but I really have never weighed less than 166 in maybe 5 years.  I'm only 3 pounds away from beating that goal and then I'll be on new ground as I sink into the 150s.  I can't wait!  I even sold some of my chubby clothes online this week and it felt good to have people take them away never to be seen again.  I have my goal jeans washed and ready to button up (alllmmost there but it's a nasty muffin top) and a cute white blouse that my mom bought me in 2006 that I have NEVER been able to button up and it still has the Banana Republic tag on it.  Goal Outfit ready to go baby.  Maybe 10 weeks to go?

The big obstacle coming up is a trip we're taking to Vancouver next week to visit my sister and her family.  Travel is not a friend to weight-loss but I have some tools that I hope I can use to try and stay on track and maybe even lose some weight.  Of course myfitnesspal is my best tool, but next to that I plan to do 7 miles and then 8 miles with my sister while I visit.  I also have a pact with Greg to split meals when we eat out.  No way do I need an entire restaurant meal to myself.  Sharing the food helps cut the calories but it also keeps away that nasty bloated feeling you get when you ate your own Happy Meal. I really hope that with those I can still come home in two weeks being on track.

Another thing that's been a reality for me lately is that my running is not the major player in my weight loss.  At first it was hard to separate the calorie counting and the running to see which was really responsible for the numbers going down, or at least which was more responsible. It seemed logical that running would make me burn calories and therefore lose weight, but after dropping the calorie counting ball for a few weeks and not seeing the scale move, it became clear that running alone will not take these pounds off.  I was stoked today to break that 20 pound mark so I picked up our two 10 pound weights and tried to remember what it felt like to walk around with these on me only a few months ago.  It felt so heavy and I was feeling sorry for my muscles and my heart.  It also became obvious that a pound is a lot of weight and that's why it takes a lot of hard work to get one pound off your body.  One pound is not going to fall off, but it will melt away with hard work.

14 more to go....better get to work!