Reader Questions & Answers #20

On Sundays, I will answer some readers' questions in a post. If you have a question that you would like me to answer here on the blog, just send me an e-mail with the subject "Q&A", and I may include them in a future Q&A post. They don't have to be about weight loss or running--anything is game!  (Remember, I'm not a doctor or dietician, or any sort of medical professional--I can only answer questions from my own experience).

Q. I'm looking into getting a treadmill.  Can you recommend a specific make/model or just features that it should have?

A. I am certainly no treadmill expert, but I can tell you from my experience what features I like, as well as features I don't find to be necessary. When I was looking for a treadmill, a huge factor for me was the cost. I couldn't afford to spend a small fortune on a machine that I was hoping I wouldn't have to use all that much (I much prefer running outside to the treadmill). I also knew that I didn't need all the bells and whistles--I just wanted a reliable machine I could run on.

The features that I really like (or features I wish I had) are:

• The one-touch speed and incline control buttons. See the gray numbered strips on each side? You just have to push the button and it will change your speed or incline. You don't have to hold down an up or down arrow button to change the speed/incline. This makes it easy to go from a walk to a run almost instantly, and makes my running intervals much more efficient.

Front face of my treadmill

•  The speed goes up to 12 mph and the incline up to 12%. A lot of lower-cost treadmills only go up to 10 on each. Now, I'm certainly not going to be running at 12 mph ;) But, I hope to use that for sprints one day. The highest button I've pushed is 10 so far. On the incline, however, I have used the 12%--it makes a GREAT workout. Some treadmills go up to 15%, which would be nice, but those treadmills usually cost a lot more.
• This treadmill has iFit technology, which is something I've never used and probably never will. This wasn't a selling point for me at all.
• I like that the console is very simple. There aren't a million different buttons to try and press while I'm running.
• I don't remember the length or width of the stepping part of the belt, but when choosing a treadmill, it's important to get one that isn't so small that you're practically falling off the back of it with each step. Also, you want it to be wide enough for comfort.
• My treadmill folds in half, but that doesn't make it take up much less space. From what I've read, the treadmills that fold up smaller tend to have more problems with the hardware, so I didn't care about finding a treadmill that folded up.

• I wish that mine had a spot to put a magazine for reading. You can see from the first picture that there isn't a spot to put a magazine. I can't read while I run, but while walking, it would be nice. 
• I have found (with all treadmills I've tried, even at gyms) that the heart rate grip monitors are extremely inaccurate; so that wasn't a selling point for me either.
• My treadmill has built-in running/walking programs. I've used them and liked them, but I mostly just use the manual setting.
• Options that you can get on certain treadmills, but will most certainly pay extra for: a built in TV, a color touch-screen panel, downhill incline, etc. But keep in mind that the more features you have, the higher the risk of something breaking.

Overall, I would just suggest thinking about what YOU plan on using it for, and then find the simplest version you can find that meets your needs. 

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Q. I was just wondering if you ever had a hard time sleeping when you were losing weight?  I'm a good sleeper till I start to count my WW points again.  If you did, do you have any tricks for a better nights sleep?

A. It is definitely harder to sleep on an empty stomach (for me, at least)! But from the very beginning of my weight loss, I would always have a bedtime snack. I usually saved that time for dessert--a brownie, a cookie and tea, wine and a piece of chocolate, etc. I know a lot of people think that you shouldn't eat right before bed, and maybe that's true, but I always have (and probably always will). Maybe give it a try and see if it helps :)

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Q. Did your bra sizes drop quickly during weight loss, and did you have to keep buying new ones? I'm wondering how much mine will shrink as I lose weight. 

A. I've actually never been very large-busted... at my heaviest, I was a C cup. I can't remember exactly what my band size was, but I want to say it was 42 or 44? Anyway, my band size went down, but I resisted buying new bras until I couldn't stand it anymore--because bras are expensive, and I knew I would have to get another new one soon anyway. So I think my bras went from 44C, to 40C, then 38B, then 36B (which is what I wear now--although I'm probably closer to an A cup!).

I didn't really notice the decrease in breast SIZE as much as the perkiness--they are not at all perky anymore :(  But it surprisingly doesn't bother me--I'm fine with having small boobs ;)

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And now a question for all of you...
How have you been staying cool in this heat wave? Has it changed your summer plans at all?

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Bullets

What a waste of a perfect Saturday! I didn't do anything today. ;)

• When I woke up, I finished reading my book, The Wrong Mother. It was good, and held my interest enough to actually finish it--which is a rarity lately! It's a murder mystery, and despite the fact that I had hard time keeping track of all the characters toward the end, I was engrossed enough to finish the book within a week (very fast for me).
• Today was a rest day, which is good because it was 100 degrees today! I avoided going outside all day.
• For the past week (or maybe even longer) I've had this feeling that there is a hair or something stuck in my throat. I know that sounds strange, but my doctor a Google search made me think this is caused from stress. I know that I don't actually have a hair stuck in my throat, but that's the only way I can describe the weird feeling. It's been driving me CRAZY.
• I've also had a twitchy eyelid for a few weeks, which I've also read can be caused by stress. Coincidence?
• I gargled with some mouthwash today, and because I was trying to get it back in my throat as far as I could (to hopefully fix the "hair" problem), I ended up swallowing some. It was only about a tablespoon, but I was coughing and just totally grossed out. It left a horrible taste in my mouth, and then I was extremely nauseous for the next three hours or so. And unfortunately, it didn't get rid of that hair-feeling.
• The kids and I watched a movie called Dolphin Tale this morning. It's a family movie, and those usually bore me, but this movie was great! I cried at least 10,000 times during the movie--not out of sadness, but just because it was such a feel-good movie. My kids really liked it, too, and I was impressed that they made it through an entire movie (they usually get bored with movies after just 20 minutes).
• Estelle keeps taking her nail scratcher out of the box... so that she can lie down in the box and sleep. She just barely fits in it.

• I got a FedEx delivery today, which I will share with you soon (hint: it involves a giveaway!)
• I've still been eating vegetarian. It's been...about three weeks now? So far it's been a piece of cake and I haven't missed anything.
• It's supposed to dip back into the 80's this week, which will actually feel good compared to the 95-105 temps we've had lately.
• Noah is going to be 8 years old on Friday--I cannot BELIEVE how fast my kids are growing!

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A super hot 10-miler

Boy, did I pick a bad day to run 10 miles outside.

The kids spent the night at my parents' house, so I woke up bright and early at 5:30 to drive to the Metropark and start running by 6:00. The idea was to finish before it got TOO hot outside. When I stepped outside, the air was so thick it was hard to breathe. I couldn't believe how humid it was at 5:45 in the morning! As I drove to the Metropark, I started having second thoughts. But the sun was just coming up, and it was gorgeous next to the water:

I wanted to try and run at a pace that felt similar to running on the treadmill, just to compare my pace to running outside vs. the treadmill. I didn't want to push myself too hard, for fear of not being able to finish the run; but I didn't want it to feel too easy, either.

I wasn't focusing too much on my pace, just running by feel. I brought along my iPod, and I was listening to Jillian Michaels' podcast. I saw at least 10,000 bunnies all over the path, and one baby deer. I had mapped out an out-and-back route, and as I approached the turn-around, I ran into a family friend, so I chatted with her for a minute or so. I even saw a hang glider (parachuter? Not sure what to call that!) above me, which I never see around here:

Can you see it?!

I was getting really hot at that point, and as soon as I turned around, I was bummed to discover that the sun had come up over the trees and was right in my face. There wasn't any shade coming up for a few miles, and I started to get a little worried about how much I was sweating. I only brought water with me, instead of a sports drink, which was stupid on my part (no sodium).

Thankfully, my knee was holding up well--I was able to keep running without any walk breaks. At mile 7, I was back into the Metropark, and I felt my whole body get covered in goosebumps despite the heat (a sign of heat exhaustion). I took that as a cue to take a walk break. I walked a little to bring my heart rate back down and drink some water. Thankfully, I got about a mile of shade.

At mile 8, I got nauseous. That has only happened a couple of times while running, and I knew it was a bad sign. I decided to be safe and call it quits, so I stopped to call my dad (the first time I've ever called for a pick-up!). He works at the Metropark I was running in, so I was going to ask him to drive me to my car. Unfortunately, his cell phone was turned off--he never has it on when it's important that I get a hold of him!

I put my iPod in my pocket to be more aware of how I was feeling (and breathing). I walked for a little bit, then jogged a little, and kept repeating that. I stopped for more water about a mile from the car, and I doused myself with water from the fountain to cool off. That cooled me off enough to walk/jog the rest of the way back to the car.

The first 7 miles went pretty well!

I was so relieved to be done! I definitely should have planned better. In retrospect, I should have 1) warned my dad to leave his phone on, just in case; 2) brought Gatorade instead of water; 3) planned my route backwards, so that the sun wasn't in my face for the worst part of the run; 4) when I saw how hot it was going to be, completely forget about trying to set a good pace and just run much more slowly than I wanted.

My splits:

The first half of the run was actually going pretty well, and I felt good. It wasn't until I turned around and the sun was in my face that I started to really feel the heat. I definitely learned some lessons for next time, though!

I burned 971 calories, and I had already planned what I was going to spend them on--you guessed it, pecan pancakes at Cracker Barrel. Rather than go right after my run, however, I decided to wait and go for dinner when Jerry and the kids could go with me.

That was actually a wise choice, because it helped me to stay on track with my calories all day. If I had gone right after running, I'm afraid I would have had the "eff it" mentality and overate all day (which is what happened last week!). The pancakes were delicious, per usual, a great way to spend the calories I burned.

If you're running in this heat, please be careful and listen to your body!

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My first blog post as a Fitterati is now posted on the Fitness website! It was so much fun to write--it reminded me of when I used to write columns for my high school newspaper ;)

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A lesson in sugar

It's a good thing my blog doesn't rely
on my stellar photography skills ;)

I'm so glad I didn't end up bringing any cake pops home "for the kids" last night, because by 7:00, I was feeling really binge-y. If I had the cake pops here, I would have eaten them--all of them. Thankfully Jerry was here last night, because he kept me from sabotaging myself by giving me a massage.

At around 10:00 pm, the kids were still wide awake (Eli fell asleep in the afternoon, and napped for an hour... which meant he wouldn't go right to sleep at bedtime). We decided to take them outside and let them do sparklers. I've always been scared of those things, because I can remember my little brother Nathan having to go to the emergency room when we were kids from a spark going into his eye.

Not to mention how short the stick that you hold is! It's easy to get burned. So I was super excited when I saw this idea on Pinterest--poke a hole in the bottom of a Solo cup, and stick the sparkler through. It will protect the kids' hands. My kids had a blast, and blew through two boxes of sparklers in no time at all.

This morning, I woke up to more thunderstorms. I actually love thunderstorms, so it was kind of nice. Last night in bed, while it was storming (and later when people we setting off fireworks), Jerry and I talked about how cool it would be to have a glass ceiling so we could watch the storms and fireworks. Then I realized it would probably feel super hot like a greenhouse, so we nixed that idea ;)

I went to get a few groceries today, and I saw something at the store that I was tempted to buy:

I kind of think the Bud Select 55 and MGD 64 taste like carbonated water, so I can't imagine this will taste much different... but I may give it a try next time I go to the store. Have any of you tried it? My favorite low calorie beer is Beck's Light (64 calories), but it's very expensive and kind of hard to find, so I rarely buy it.

My kids each bought a can of Arnold Palmer, and when we got home, Eli asked me if it was healthy. I told him no, and he asked why. I took that as an opportunity to SHOW him the amount of sugar in his drink. I saw that there were 39 grams of sugar in the whole can, so that meant there were about 10 teaspoons of sugar (4 grams of sugar =1 tsp).

I started measuring out sugar by the teaspoonful into a glass, and asked Noah and Eli to tell me when to stop (when they thought I got to the right amount). Noah told me to stop after three teaspoons. Eli guessed eight. When I showed them the amount, I was hoping they'd be shocked and decide "Oh yes, it IS bad for you!" but they both said simultaneously, "Can we eat the sugar?"

LOL, total sugar lesson fail.

I guess I can't expect that to work on them if it won't even work on ME ;) Show me the amount of sugar in cookies or ice cream, and it doesn't make me want it any less!

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Fourth of July party

Jerry and I don't usually do much of anything on the fourth of July, but my parents decided to have a party this year. I was really happy that Jerry was off work today. He's been working so much lately!

Since he was off, I actually had the option of running outside instead of on the dreadmill. However, I chose the latter--shocking, right?! I've discovered that my knee doesn't give me any problems when I run on the treadmill, so I'm actually growing to like it for that reason. And as I mentioned before, I have been watching shows on Netflix while I run. The Biggest Loser is the perfect show to watch when I run--I pretend Jillian is yelling at me instead of the contestants ;)

Today on the schedule was the same as last week: 15 minutes easy, then four repeats of (5 minutes tempo + 2 minutes easy), and ending with a 10 minute cool down--a grand total of 53 minutes. I turned on the Season 10 finale show of TBL and started running.

I've noticed that my "easy" pace is feeling easier each time I run... which is awesome, because it means I'm probably getting faster. I'm curious to see what my pace would be outside in ideal conditions (today it reached over 100 degrees, so I am perfectly content running in the air conditioning). I know that my outdoor pace is not going to be this fast, but I feel like I'm getting back to where I was before I started marathon training.

Jerry is working Friday, so unless my mom can watch my boys in the morning, I'll have to do 10 miles on the treadmill. I'm learning to like the treadmill, but 10 miles on it will be tough. Anyway, I felt awesome after running, and I was dripping with sweat. I took a shower and got ready for the party.

I ate lunch before I left, so that I could hopefully avoid the food at the party until dinner time. For lunch, I wanted something cold, so I had a cup of fruit salad (that I made for the party) topped with Kashi GoLean Crunch and almond butter. It was a really good, light lunch.

There is fruit under there, I promise!

I asked my mom what she planned on doing for food at the party, so I could plan out in advance what I was going to eat. Everyone was going to bring a dish, and my mom had brats to cook on the grill. I brought the fruit salad I made and a vegetarian hot dog to throw on the grill.

I was really surprised at how good the veggie dog was--I wasn't expecting it to taste very good. With the ketchup, mustard, and onions on it, I wouldn't have really known the difference. I ate two cups of the fruit salad, and avoided all other food.

Until dessert.

My aunt made cake pops, and they were tempting me the whole afternoon. I finally decided to eat one, and just estimate the calories in it. I guessed about 200 calories. It was delicious, and worth every calorie! Then it was very tempting to go back for another, but I restrained myself.

It was extremely hot all afternoon. I wore my favorite green sundress (the one that many of you complimented on my Michelob cider review). I actually got that dress for $2 a Goodwill. I love it! But I felt so sticky and gross (there was 100% humidity today). I sat outside under an umbrella and chatted with people.

It's kind of interesting--when I was obese, I despised the heat. I would have stayed indoors in the air conditioning the entire time and complained about the heat along with everyone else. But ever since losing the weight, the heat doesn't bother me that much. I felt so "normal" sitting outside on the fourth of July at a picnic, wearing a sundress ;)  Sounds cheesy, I know.

My aunt kept asking me if I wanted to bring home some cake pops "for the kids", but I just couldn't do it. I knew my kids wouldn't get a single one of them if they were in my house (I would eat them all), so I declined.

I still have about 300 calories left today, so I'll probably have a couple of glasses of wine tonight. I'm glad that I stuck to my guns at the party, even with the cake pop!

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Talking about blogging

It was thunder storming today, so we didn't get to go to the creek. Which was good, because I needed a break! I can't believe the boys aren't sick of it yet.

I didn't mention this yesterday, because I didn't know much about it at the time.. my friend Tammy's husband, Stan, is writing a book about blogging. He already signed his book contract and it's all in the works now, but he wanted to interview me for his book. (Rather than having just the big-name celebrity bloggers, he wanted to show that "normal" people blog as well, and it impacts their lives--which I am a good example of).

So yesterday evening, I met with Stan and Tammy at a coffee shop for the interview. It was actually really fun to talk about blogging with someone! I don't know many bloggers (in real life, anyway), so I don't get to talk about it much.

Blogging has become such a huge part of my life, and I absolutely love it, so naturally I would like to talk about it with someone that knows what I'm talking about ;) Stan has a great blog called Pushing Social which is actually about blogging. I so wish I had known about his expertise when I thought I wanted to switch to Wordpress and was completely overwhelmed!

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Yesterday, I made an old favorite for lunch--Indian Lentil Soup. I forgot just how good it is! I've always said that the hardest part about eating vegetarian would be to give up broth. I cook a LOT of soup in the fall and winter. Despite the fact that I love to cook, I hate making homemade broth, so I just buy the base (like a paste) that you mix with water. I've seen vegetable stock at the store, but it's super expensive.

Anyway, the last time I was at Gordon's, I was super excited to find this:

It's the same stuff that I normally use, only it's a vegetable base instead of chicken or beef. I used it yesterday in the lentil soup, and it was delicious--I wouldn't have any idea it was made with vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, which is what I used in the past.

Yesterday, I had the soup with a spinach salad for lunch (which I didn't like, so I chose not to have salad again today). Today I had the soup and an apple with granola for lunch. Both yesterday and today, I felt full until dinnertime--that never happens!

Lunch is always a hard meal for me, because I never know what to have. Then I'm always hungry again an hour later, and that is prime binge-time for me. Making a batch of the soup didn't take long, and now I can have leftovers all week.

I've been doing pretty good this week as far as eating goes, so I hope to see a loss on the scale tomorrow. I had a couple of bad days at the beginning of the week, so it could be a wash. Tomorrow we're going to a party at my mom's house, so it will be hard to stay on track, but I'm going to do what I used to do while I was losing weight--eat before I go.

The party is at 1:00, so I will just eat lunch before I go, and then have something ready to eat when I get home. I'm going to make fruit salad to bring with me, so if I'm hungry, I'll have a cup of that. Jerry is watching what he eats right now too--he hasn't gained more than a couple of pounds, but he said he really likes where his weight is right now and he is worried about gaining because of the habits we seem to have picked up lately.

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The other day, after reading all the book suggestions, I was really in the mood to read. The library was closed, so I just looked at my shelf (which contains very few books--just some my sister gave me that I've been meaning to read for a while).

I picked one called The Wrong Mother, by Sophie Hannah, and I really like it so far. It's suspenseful, which keeps me interested enough to keep reading. But I've requested (at the library) quite a few of your suggestions. I'm sure they're all going to become available at once, and I'll have 10 books to read in three weeks, lol. That always happens to me--I can never decide what one to pick, so I pick too many, and can't possibly read them all. But some of them are pretty popular, because there was a long waiting list.

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Baseball again tonight if it doesn't get called off because of a thunder storm!

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Cheese in a can

Ahh, July. Only two more months of listening to my kids fight non-stop with each other before school starts back up.

Thanks so much for all the great book suggestions! I am a super slow reader, so those suggestions will probably last me a lifetime. For those of you that asked, I am on Goodreads. It may look like I don't use it very often, but the truth is, I just don't finish very many books. I start new books all the time, but if it doesn't hold my interest enough for me to want to continue reading it rather than watch TV or read blogs, or other distractions, then I just don't finish. The perfect example of a book that held my attention is The Hunger Games. I absolutely LOVED that series!

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Why does it look like his half is bigger?! I was SURE I took the bigger half...

Going out on the boat for the fireworks on Saturday turned out to be pretty fun, but I ate way too much junk. I let myself get too hungry before we left, and when we stopped to get snacks, I made some poor choices--chips and cookies.

Jerry and I split a huge cookie, and once I took a bite, it wasn't very good. I shouldn't have finished it, but that is such a bad habit of mine! I wasted those calories on a cookie that didn't even taste good.

That night set me back this week as far as my weight goes. As of yesterday morning, my weight was the same as it was on Wednesday, despite the fact that I ate pretty well from Wed-Fri. I'm back at it today, so hopefully I'll at least see a little drop when I "officially" weigh in on Wednesday.

My mom bought "cheese" in a can for the kids. I've never understood the appeal of that stuff! It looked so disgusting, but my kids think it's awesome. They thought they were cool to spray the cheese right into their mouths. Yuck!

The fireworks display that the park put on was actually pretty impressive. Jerry and I sat together on the floor of the boat to watch, and it was nice to just be together. Thankfully, the kids had a good time so they weren't complaining non-stop, like I expected. The sunset was gorgeous, too:

We got home a little after 11 p.m., and Jerry had to work on Sunday, so we went right to bed.

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Today was technically the first day of my running "break". Remember how I said I was going to take a whole week off? Well, I only lasted until 2:00 pm today, lol. I started to feel a binge coming on, and I knew that if I ran, I would stay on track. So I promised myself that if I felt my knee hurt in the slightest, I would stop.

I had to do the dreadmill again, since Jerry was at work and the kids were here with me. I turned on Season 10 of The Biggest Loser (Ada's season) on Netflix--the marathon episode. It was different to watch it this time, now that I kind of "know" Ada (even if it's just by phone and Internet). It was such a motivating episode to watch while I was running! Seeing her run her fastest mile on the treadmill and then run a 4:38 marathon was super inspiring. Watching that made the time on the treadmill fly by for me today.

Today's run was scheduled to be 50 minutes easy with 8 pick-ups. So I set my Garmin for 5 mins 30 seconds of running easy, and then a 30 second sprint... repeated 8 times, and then a 2 minute cool down. I did my sprints slower than last time. I did the first one at 10 mph and it just felt too fast--my muscle cramped up a little, so I took it down to 9 mph and 8 mph for a couple of them. It looked like this when I was done:

After running, I felt a million times better, and my knee didn't bother me at all. Lately, it only seems to hurt when I run outside. So I successfully avoided a binge, which is a big accomplishment!

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Reader Questions & Answers #19

On Sundays, I will answer some readers' questions in a post. If you have a question that you would like me to answer here on the blog, just send me an e-mail with the subject "Q&A", and I may include them in a future Q&A post. They don't have to be about weight loss or running--anything is game!  (Remember, I'm not a doctor or dietician, or any sort of medical professional--I can only answer questions from my own experience).

Q. Did you talk about your weight loss as you were doing it? I feel so self conscious telling my friends I'm dieting! It's like admitting I'm fat (not that they can't tell...). 

A. I was embarrassed to tell people at first--not because I was afraid to admit I was fat (I knew that was obvious)--but because I was afraid of failure. I had tried to lose weight so many times before only to gain it all back, so I "knew" that it wasn't going to last. I just wanted to save myself the humiliation.

However, once I realized I was really sticking with it, and a couple of months had gone by, I was pretty open about it. My friends learned that I was completely determined to stick it out, and I wasn't going to cave in at get-togethers (Winers meetings, mostly). I think telling people is actually a good thing--it makes it harder to quit, because it's embarrassing to admit to the people you've told ;)

My first Winers meeting that I was "dieting"... nobody knew
at that point.

Actually, that was one of the reasons I started this blog. I wanted there to be people I had to be accountable to, whether I was losing weight, maintaining weight, or even gaining the weight back. Knowing that I will have to admit my weight on my blog helps keep me in check (sometimes--it doesn't always work!). But anyway, you don't have to get specific with your friends about what you're doing--just maybe tell them that you're making healthier choices to try and lose a few pounds. They don't need to know the details.

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Q. How long did it take before friends started to notice your weight loss? I'm down 25lbs, and no one I go to school with or work with has noticed or said anything! Only my family and boyfriend! :(

A. It's so frustrating when you work so hard and it seems nobody notices, isn't it?! Nobody said anything to me until I had lost 40 pounds. Forty pounds is a lot of weight! It took me about four months to lose that much, and sometimes I wanted to give up because "nobody noticed". But once I got to a certain point, it was like everybody noticed all at once, and I got a lot of compliments. It helped me to stay motivated. Just keep in mind that you're losing weight for YOU, and not for the compliments (although they are definitely nice to hear!). And if you keep on going, people will take notice eventually ;)

50 pounds down--people FINALLY started to notice!

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Q. Do you recommend one over the other for the Garmin? I plan on buying one, but I can't decide if I should go for the more expensive one or not. I do listen to music while I work out, maybe the vibration feature is enough of a reason...

A. I wish I had experience with all of the Garmin models so that I could recommend a specific one. The only ones I've used are the 205, the 305 and now the 910XT. I don't believe that Garmin makes the 205 and 305 anymore. The 910XT is awesome, and has all the bells and whistles--but if you're not a triathlete (*cough* ME *cough*), then you'll be paying for features you won't use.

There is a great blog that has a review of all of the watches, and it can definitely help you make a decision! You can find it here: DC Rainmaker Product Reviews. That said, I definitely recommend getting one that includes a heart rate monitor (some models don't). Even if you don't think you'll use it, you may change your mind later (as I did) and wish you had it.

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Q. Do you know of anyone through your channels who lost weight, became a runner with ASTHMA?  I find it hard to find runners with asthma.  I am looking for tips for starting a running  plan from someone with asthma.

A. This is a question that I actually cannot answer, because I don't know anyone with asthma who has become a runner (at least that I know of). But I wanted to post this in case any of my readers have dealt with it and may be able to offer some encouragement...?

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Groundhog Day

Thanks to the fact that my kids are obsessed with catching crawfish in the creek, I feel like I’m in the movie Groundhog Day. It seems like I’m writing the same things over and over again. I may end up taking a break from blogging this week (especially since I’m taking a running break) so that it doesn’t seem so monotonous.

That said, I bet you can’t guess what the boys and I did today...

This time I let them bring a friend. They asked if they could bring Brendan, and I said sure, but let me take a shower first. When I got out of the shower, Noah told me that he called and talked to Brendan’s mom, and told her that we’d pick Brendan up in a few minutes. I didn’t even know that he knew their phone number! Hahaha, so I threw on some clothes and we headed out.

I brought the boys to the creek and  Listening to the boys talk was cracking me up. I was sitting in a lawn chair watching them play, and they were having conversations with each other. At one point, Brendan (7) said to Eli, "I know what you mean, I feel your pain, Eli, I feel your pain." Bahahaha! A couple of times, I heard Noah say, "O-M-G!" I know for a fact that he didn't learn that from me!

I wished I had a book to read or something. All I had with me was my iPhone, and I got bored with that quickly. However, I AM getting caught up on my Google Reader. I’ve been about a month behind on everyone’s blogs, and even though I was reading a little every day, it wasn’t enough to catch up.

 
Right now, I am only about a week behind. I hope to get it all cleared out within another week or so. I’m kind of bummed that I missed so many cool giveaways! By the time I read about each giveaway, it was over—by about 3 weeks, lol.

Tonight we are going out in the boat with my parents to watch the fireworks show put on at the Metropark. Every year, for as long as I can remember, we've gone on the boat for the fourth of July fireworks show. I can't say I enjoy it, but I know that the kids love it, so that's why we go. I am just not an outdoors-person in the slightest. My brothers sucked up every last ounce of that gene.


I really need to come up with plans to keep myself busy all week. I know that I don't run for hours on end each day, but it takes up a good chunk of my morning--between dressing to run, then actually doing it, and following it with a shower and getting dressed, it takes 2-3 hours. Since I'm taking the week off of running, in the hopes of healing my knee, my days are going to seem very long. Especially if they only consist of taking the kids to the creek! 


I supposed I could be productive and get my house uber clean... but that's no fun! I really want a good book to read, but I'm at a loss. I've started and stopped dozens of books this year, and haven't gotten interested in any. Yes, that includes the 50 Shades series... I'm probably the only person on the planet who thought it was lame and didn't even finish the first book. It's not that I'm a prude, either--I love a good smut book! ;)

I have a couple of books on request at the library, but I'm third in line, so it will be a while. Any suggestions? I like easy-to-read fiction novels, as well as memoirs. On second thought, maybe I should just give up on books and work on clearing out my Google Reader first!

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Rip Van Winkle

It was another early morning for me today. Yesterday was pretty hot--hot enough that my boys' baseball games were canceled last night! So I wanted to make sure and get my 10-mile run out of the way early today to avoid a heat stroke ;)

Ty was coming to meet me from Ann Arbor (about a 45 minute drive) at 6:30. So I got up at 5:00 to get ready for our run. We met at a gas station, and then I drove from there to the park that Jessica and I used to park at for our long runs. I had mapped out a 10-mile out-and-back route that went to the tip of the Metropark and back.

It was pretty hot outside. At just 6:30 AM, it was already in the 70's, and it was 81 when we finished. It was extremely humid--the air felt really thick, which made it harder to breathe. We saw quite a few people out running, though, which was really surprising. I never see other runners! But I counted at least 6 or 7 today.

My knee was holding up pretty well, but at mile 4, we decided to do a short walk break every mile (the 9:1 thing Jess and I did). Ty is coming off of a hip injury, so we took it easy. When we got to the bridge at the Metropark, we stopped for a quick picture:

My knee pain got worse at around mile 9, and I decided to listen to my body (like my doctor told me) and walk the rest of the way back to the car. I stopped my Garmin, of course ;) Ty said that taking a week off of running really helped a lot with her hip injury, and I think she has me convinced to take a FULL week off of running. If I'm going to do it, the best time would be NOW. I don't have any races lined up until September 1, when I'm running a half-marathon in Minnesota.

I don't think that taking a full week off will harm my fitness level, so I am going to try it. My next run won't be until a week from Monday--so I'll be skipping all three scheduled runs next week. I'm going to go for walks instead, as long as my knee feels good about it, and I will continue my strength training, stretching, and foam rolling. Let's hope that the time off helps my knee!

Anyway, we got back to the car, and I was drenched in sweat. When it's that humid outside, the sweat is just ridiculous. But here are our splits:
Stupid Garmin is all screwed up. I just spent about an hour trying to upload our run, and it wouldn't work. It STILL won't work. And even when I look at the Garmin itself, it's only showing one lap (the first mile). Oh well, at least I can get the final stats of the run:

My iPhone takes terrible pics of my Garmin,
but I'm too lazy to get my real camera.

After the run, we headed to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Ever since I had the pecan pancakes when Jennifer and Angela were in town for the documentary, I've been craving them again. They are probably going to be my go-to meal after my long runs during marathon training. They did not disappoint me today:

I ate all three pancakes, but I really wish I'd just had two. I felt comfortably full after two, but they were just so good I couldn't stop! Then Ty headed back to Ann Arbor, and I went home to shower. I've been extremely stressed and anxious for the last couple of weeks, and it's causing physical symptoms that are really bothersome (lump in my throat, eyelid twitching, etc). So I took a Xanax to relax a little. I don't take it very often, but when my anxiety and stress gets really bad, I might take one.

Then Jerry and I took the boys to the creek to catch crawfish again, since he was off work today. He waded through the creek with the boys.

I was really starting to feel the Xanax, which was making me incredibly tired. That's why I don't take it very often, because it puts me to sleep. Jerry took a picture of me, which looks really pathetic:

When we got home, my kids called my parents to ask if they could spend the night over there, and of course my mom said yes. I was excited to be able to hang out with Jerry, and possibly even go out somewhere. I wanted to lie down for just a couple of minutes, so I laid on the couch and watched Tosh.0 with Jerry... and I actually fell asleep! I never, ever take naps--I was willing myself to keep my eyes open, but I just couldn't. Jerry thought it was funny, and actually took a picture of me sleeping. I can't believe I was so out of it that I had no idea he took this:

I am so not attractive when I sleep, haha! Anyway, I didn't sleep very long--just a few minutes--but then my eyes shot open and I panicked that I had fallen asleep. I know a lot of people like naps, but I hate them--I feel like it's such a waste of my day.

So now Jerry and I are trying to figure out what to do tonight--whether we should go out or stay in. I'm leaning toward staying in. ;)

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