Motivational Monday #11

After getting the kids on the bus this morning, I turned on CNN to continue watching the footage of the Boston Marathon bombing. I'm still just stunned at the whole thing. I wasn't planning to run today, but something strange happened while I was watching the news--I felt like I needed to run. I was feeling so sad every time the news showed photos and video of the bombing.

Every time I saw the photo of the 8-year old boy who was killed, my heart just broke all over again. I feel so sad for his father, who had just finished the race when the bomb went off. I have an 8-year old boy, and he was waiting at the finish line for me at my first marathon last year. It meant so much to me that my family was there for me. I just couldn't even imagine going through that.

My heart felt so heavy, and I felt like I needed to get out of here. I actually wanted to go for a run. And I realized that over the past year or so, I've evolved as a runner. When I'm feeling stressed, running takes my mind off of the stressors. When I'm feeling anxious, running gets out that negative energy. When I'm feeling sad, running is a relief in the same way that crying is.

I put on my running clothes, and headed out the door. I ran six miles at a comfortable pace, and as I ran, I thought about how proud I am to be a runner. Runners have a determination so strong that nothing can break it. I left the house with a lump in my throat and a head full of images that sickened me; but when I returned, the lump was gone and all I could think about was how much love I have for the running community (both runners and spectators showing their support). It was very fitting, then, when I saw this quote that John posted on Facebook:

It couldn't be more true! And on that note, I'd like to share yesterday's Motivational Monday post...

---

Yesterday, I got a phone call from John, my Ragnar Relay teammate who lives in San Diego. He was at a 10K race, and said that he met a woman named Wyndi, who recognized him from my blog! Later, I got an e-mail from Wyndi about the encounter, and she wanted to share that for Motivational Monday. This is Wyndi and John at the Peace Love Run race... (by the way, if you ever seen John out and about, make sure to say hello! He is honestly one of the friendliest people you'll ever meet).

---

This is Ally and her fiance, after running her first 5K. Her fiance made her promise that after the race, she would start calling herself a runner--and after running the 3.1 miles in the rain, she finally agreed that she was, in fact, a runner. She finished in 33:58, beating her goal time by over 6 minutes!

---

I don't have many male readers, so I am always excited to hear from the few that do read ;) This is Dean, running a 5K race--his very first race! He is running to lose weight, and has lost 34 pounds so far. He said he ran the whole way, felt great, and even could have kept going!

---

Katie walked 25,780 steps on Saturday--the equivalent of nearly 11 miles! That was the most steps she's taken in a single day so far. She's also lost 42 pounds since January! (Here is Katie's blog)

---

Chris ran her first 5K in under 42 minutes, beating her goal time of 45 minutes! When she first started training in February, she couldn't even run for a minute without getting tired and winded, but she persisted, and it paid off in a big way at her race.

---

Elizabeth ran her second 10K on Saturday, and PR'ed by 5 minutes from last years' time. She's lost an amazing 151 pounds! (Here is Elizabeth's race report on her blog, and her Facebook page)

---

Ashley PR'ed her third half-marathon, with a goal of 2:10--and she finished in 2:09:55! She spotted another of my Ragnar teammates, Andrea, at the race, also (next time, make sure you say hello! Andrea is super nice, I promise.) (Here is Ashley's blog)

---

Amanda ran the Portland Race for the Roses 10K--by herself! She's always run with a friend or family member, and she was very nervous to do the race alone, but she made her goal time with ONE SECOND to spare! This photo is with her sister, who ran the half-marathon. (Here is Amanda's race report)

---

Kelly ran her fastest 5K ever at a race last weekend, finishing in a super speedy 23:37! She's shaved 10 minutes off of her 5K time over the past 2.5 years, dropping about 20 pounds in the process. She has a goal of completing an Ironman by 2015. (Here is Kelly's race report on her blog)

---

Tricia completed her first 10K on Saturday! She began with a goal of running 5K, and when she checked that goal off, she went for the 10K. Now that she's completed that goal, she's toying with the idea of one day doing a half-marathon :)  (Here is Tricia's Facebook page)

---

Lyndsey did her first trail run (if you've ever run on a trail, you know it's quite a bit different from road running). Only one-tenth of a mile into the run, she fell, scraping up her leg; but rather than limp back home with a broken spirit, she continued on for a total of 8.5 miles! That's hardcore ;)

---

Deb ran a half-marathon on Saturday to benefit the American Cancer Society. She ran in memory of her mom, who passed of lung cancer 14 years ago. Deb says, "She would be so proud that I've lost 40 pounds, and am running, and loving it!"

---

After reaching 80 pounds lost, Wendy started the Couch to 5K program this week! She said it felt great, and she hopes to train to one day run a 5K, 10K, half- or full-marathon, or even a Ragnar.

---

Here is a link to the Facebook post with lots of great motivation. Here is a snippet:

GREAT JOB this week, and congrats to all of you!

Continue Reading...

Boston Marathon

I had my Motivational Monday post all ready to go up at 9:00, but after hearing the news about what happened at the Boston Marathon today, it just didn't feel right to post it. I'm horrified and just feel sick about the whole tragedy. I know quite a few people that were there today (runners and spectators), and I'm just shocked that this happened. An 8-year old boy killed while spectating a marathon?! It's heart breaking, and just so soon after the tragedy at Newtown--how can we even feel safe anymore?

I was so sad to hear the news today, and I have been glued to CNN all day. My thoughts and prayers are with all those that were affected by what happened today in Boston.

I'll post the Motivational Monday tomorrow. I'm sure you all understand.

Continue Reading...

Rabbit

I was surprised to wake up pretty sore today. I run 12 miles for my long run just about every week, so I didn't think I'd be sore from running a half-marathon yesterday, but pushing the pace took a toll on my legs. Normally, I run four miles on Sundays, but I took a rest day today. I might take another rest day tomorrow.

My next race is the Glass City Marathon as part of a five-person relay team. My sister is the one who formed the team made up of Jeanie (that's my sister), Jen (her best friend), Debbie (another friend of hers), Ty (who I invited), and me.

I'm really excited about the relay! We're doing it solely to have fun, so there is no pressure at all, which makes me happy. I've never run as part of a relay before, except for the Ragnar Relay, which is overnight, so this should be new and interesting. We provide our own transportation to each exchange point, which I think is even better--our team can stay together and leap frog the runner with the car, just like in the Ragnar.

I volunteered to make sparkle skirts for the whole team, so I worked on those today. When I bought the fabric for those, I saw some ribbon that matched perfectly and I thought would make cute headband. So I bought the stuff to make headbands for all of us as well. I made a copycat version of the Sweaty Band.

I spent the whole afternoon sewing sparkle skirts for my relay teammates.

I have some fabric scraps that I'm going to use to make wrist bands, too. Now that I'm done with my half-marathon, I am really excited about the relay!

---

Yesterday, at the starting line of the race, I saw Ty just before the race started. She wanted to get a quick picture, so she motioned for a group of us to get together, and someone took a picture with her phone. I didn't know any of the others in the photo (and I didn't even turn around to see who was in it, because I was focused on the race starting any minute when the picture was taken).

Anyway, yesterday, Ty posted the photo to Facebook:

When I looked at the photo, I was shocked to see that the woman on the right in blue was the woman who paced me for the whole race (although she didn't know that...)! We were pretty much leap-frogging each other, and I made it a goal not to let her out of my sight, since she seemed to run the pace I was working on.

I wrote a quick "thank you" comment on Facebook to her, because she had no idea that she was my "rabbit" at the race. Ty sent me a link to her story, and I was completely amazed. Her name is Asia, and there is no way I can do justice to telling her story in a few words here, so here is the link to her story. The whole thing gave me goosebumps.

---

I talked to my friend Sarah on the phone today. We've been trying to work out a date for me to go visit her in Phoenix. I've been wanting to go out there ever since I started flying again (despite my fear), but it's been really hard to figure out a date. I had been planning on going out there the last week of May, but she found out she has to do something important for her job that week. Then she's coming home (to Michigan) for six weeks!

She used all of her sick days for maternity leave, so she can't take time off until the fall. So now it's looking like I may end up waiting until the fall to go visit. That's going to be tough, because I have a couple of big things going on in the fall--I'm a bridesmaid in Jerry's sister's wedding in September, and then October is the Chicago Marathon with Andrea. Oh, well, at least now I'll have some time to save a little extra money, because right now I'm really too broke to think of a trip!

Continue Reading...

The True Nature of Cats, Part 3

If you haven't seen it yet, I wrote a post earlier about my half-marathon recap. You can read it here.

(This is the third post of a four-post series about The True Nature of Cats movement that I learned about at the Purina ONE headquarters. You can read the first post here, and the second post here.)

The first week, I wrote about food; last week, I wrote about play; and now I'll write about making our cats environment as close to nature as possible, while in a house setting.

Anyone who has owned a cat probably knows that cats like to be hidden. They love to watch what is going on without being seen themselves. This is part of a cats instinct, so it's important to allow them to hide. In nature, cats spend some time stalking their prey before pouncing, and the stalking involves watching without being seen. We can set up spots in the house for them to use their instincts to hide.

The Purina ONE headquarters has an entire room set up with tons of cat stuff--toys, cat trees, hiding places, etc. It was SO cool to see all the different ideas...

Estelle would have a field day in that place! They even had a spot set up where we could make a hiding box for cats (which they then donate to a shelter, which I think is really cool). But it would be cheap and easy to make a box for your cat like this one, using a cardboard box, some tape, and paper:

Cats also like to be up high. This is another thing they do in nature--climb trees to watch their prey without being seen. Ideally, we'd all have a tree in our house for our cats to climb, but that's not very realistic, obviously. So the next best thing is to provide spots that are up high for our cats to perch.

I have a cat tree that my cats love to sit on (I keep it next to the window, so they can look outside). I saw some cool shelves at the Purina ONE headquarters that great for cats; I think I may make one (stepping completely into the "crazy cat lady" shoes). It's a curved shape, which is more natural than a flat shelf.

They also had these AMAZING cat trees around, which I would love for my cats, but I heard they are something like $1200. My cats will have to stick to the carpeted tree, unless I can sweet talk my dad into making one of these babies...

(By the way, Purina ONE doesn't sell this stuff--they bought it to create an ideal environment for cats, to educate people on the nature of cats.)

Estelle can give you some other ideas of what kind of environment makes cats happy... ;)

Can you spot her in there? No idea how she did it, but she's lying on top
of the hangers without falling!

Boxes, bags, and any kind of nook or cranny cats can find make great spots for them to hide. Bonus if the spots are up high! This picture of Chandler is on top of my kitchen cupboards, and before he got too fat to get up there:

Cats have different preferences, and all four of my cats like different spots--Chandler likes to be up high, Phoebe likes to be outside (if she can sneak out) or on a lap, Estelle likes to be inside of things, and Paolo likes to be wherever is soft and cozy.

Speaking of cats going outside, obviously that's in a cat's true nature as well. But cats are much safer in the house, and statistics show your cats will live much longer as an indoor cat. But something we learned at Purina ONE was that you can train your cat to use a leash. There are special leashes for cats (a harness, rather than a collar). Purina ONE included a leash in the box of stuff they sent, so I gave it a try. My cats weren't happy about it, but maybe with some more practice they'll like it. A leash is a safe way to let your cat explore outside (if would be very different from walking a dog, however; you wouldn't walk around the block, but let your cat explore the bushes and trees and and all that).

---

On to the giveaway... :)  The winner of last week's canned food coupons goes to Lincoln! My boys found this picture hilarious:

Hahaha, he was having a ball with the toilet paper!

For next week, I have a coupon for an entire case of canned Purina ONE food (24 cans total) that I will be giving away. To enter, send me a picture of your cat in his/her "true nature"--where they like to hide or spy on you ;) Use the subject "Happy Cat".

This is the box that the toys from Purina ONE came in--
Estelle claimed the box instantly!

I only got about 25 photos for this last giveaway, so I didn't put them into a slideshow this time--but I'll save them and maybe make a slideshow next week, including those pics then.

Don't forget, the three food winners will be given the chance to win a big package of toys and puzzle feeders and cool cat stuff from Purina ONE! This will be your last chance, so make sure to find a cute photo of your kitty in his/her true nature ;)

Continue Reading...

Martian Half-Marathon race report

(I'm posting my Saturday "cat post" tonight, so this is just a bonus entry from my race today.)

As I've mentioned (way too often), I've been lusting after a sub-2:00 half marathon for about three years now--since I started running. Ever since I finished the Detroit Free Press Marathon in October, I've been concentrating on getting faster. I've been working my ass off to run a half marathon in a time that starts with a 1.

Today was the big day I've been training for! I had been running at an 8:45-ish pace for my long runs, so I was VERY confident that I would reach my goal today. It wasn't a question of whether I would PR, but rather by how much I would PR.

And then a couple of days ago, all the talk started about the weather, and how we were expected to get freezing rain, some snow, and super high winds on race day. Also, part of the course was flooded. This totally burst my bubble, and I was really worried that maybe I wouldn't meet my goal after all.

Last night, Jessica and I rode with one of her friends to the expo, where we picked up our packets. And you can't go to Dearborn, Michigan without eating Middle Eastern food, so we carb-loaded on rice and pita bread at La Pita. I got my usual chicken kabob, of which you've seen the picture a dozen or so times.

Last night, I had a hard time sleeping--which almost always happens the day before a race. I got up with Jerry this morning at 4:30, even though I didn't have to leave until almost 7:00. I ate a big bowl of oatmeal with strawberries and chocolate chips (a great combo, by the way!):

I drank a whole quart of water and two cups of tea. I dressed in my muscle tights and two long-sleeved black tech shirts, hoping it would be warm enough.

I drove to Kroger, where I was meeting Jessica, and her friend drove us to the race. The weather was nothing like I was expecting, which was a good thing! It was cold, but I was fine with cold; I just don't like freezing rain AND cold AND wind. The race directors handled the weather issue REALLY well--they rerouted the half and full marathon to avoid the flooding. I'm sure that was a huge pain for them to do, but everything went off without a hitch.

The new course

As soon as you cross the starting line of this race, it goes up hill--which actually didn't bother me, because at the beginning of the race, I was just wanting to MOVE and get warm. It was super crowded at first, and I had to weave around people for a while, but I finally settled into a semi-comfortable pace.

The first few miles, I recognized the course from the 10K that I've done two years in a row. The half-marathon course is usually an out-and-back course (which you know I love), but since they rerouted it to avoid the flooding, I had no idea what to expect. It was kind of fun, the not-knowing.

I got a LOT of comments on my muscle tights. It was so fun! They were a great conversation-starter with other runners. I kept hearing "Nice legs!" "Check out those glutes!" and "Great muscles!" They were a good choice to wear, because they kept me distracted from the fact that I was running, and because when I would hear a comment, it usually made me run faster ;)

The new route took us through subdivisions, which was actually really cool--a lot of times, we could see runners on the opposite side of the road, going the opposite direction. Around mile 5 or 6, I saw Jessica not too far behind me. I wanted to yell out really loudly, "Go Jess!" but I was tired! I barely managed to say, "Great job" in passing. Then I saw Ty, and again, I wanted to yell--but I just managed a wave.

Mile seven really hit me hard, and I felt very tired. I decided to eat a Shot Blok (I brought two of them along with me in the pouch of my handheld water bottle). They were really stale and stuck together (I never use fuel when running, so when I say stale, I mean so old I probably shouldn't have been eating them). It took me probably a half a mile to get the whole thing swallowed, and I was even more tired from all the effort. But by mile 8 or so, I was feeling better.

At around mile 10, I was ready for another Shot Blok. I was fumbling with it, and then I dropped it on the ground. Without hesitation, I picked it up, squirted a little water on it, and popped it in my mouth. It was all I had! After that, I started to think of all the shoes that were running on that ground after using porta potties. I was grossing myself out, so I tried to think of something (anything) else, while trying to chew the stale Shot Blok for nearly a mile.

At one point (mile 11 maybe?) we had to cross a bridge that freaks me out every time--it's part of the 10K course, so I've had to run over it before. It bounces up and down from all the runners being on it at once, and it feels like trying to jump on a trampoline with a dozen other people. Very strange to run on! (Runners who don't know about the bridge always gasp, or say, "What the?!" while crossing--it's kind of funny).

The course was pretty hilly (especially for someone like me, who doesn't have a single hill to train on!), but whenever I came to a hill, I made it a mission to run FASTER. I charged up the hills, and then sped through the downhills. Shortly after that weird bridge, I turned a corner and it was a very steep hill in front of me.

The bridge had worn me out a little, and then I charged up the hill, and when I got to the top, I felt the weirdest sensation--almost like I was going to faint. My feet felt like I was still on the bridge, and I got dizzy. My pace slowed to 8:50 ish, and I focused on one girl that had been pacing me the whole way, pretty much. I just tried to focus on keeping up with her, but she was slowing, too. I eventually passed her at around mile 12, where there was a big old hill.

I was SO relieved when I saw that I had just a mile to go. I tried to pick up the pace again, but I was really ready to be done. The wind was picking up, and it had been drizzling freezing ran on and off for a few miles. The last quarter mile or so was downhill, which was nice.

The last tenth of a mile was actually pretty fun, because there were a lot of spectators, and lots of people were yelling comments to me about my muscle tights. I had a big old smile on my face through the whole finisher's chute and when I crossed the finish line.

I had done much better than I even anticipated--I expected to finish in about 1:55 if all went well today. I stopped my Garmin... 1:52!

My splits:

 My official results:

I grabbed some food (my kids are lucky, because I run a race and then bring them each a cookie from the finish while I eat a banana), and then went to the finisher's chute to watch for Jessica. She finished in 2:01:01, taking 14 minutes off of her PR!

After that I was FREEZING, and we stopped at Starbucks on the way home. I got a decaf, mostly just for the warmth. After I got my car from Kroger, I went to the local bakery that makes the best doughnuts ever, and I got a peanut butter cream-filled doughnut to have after lunch. It was SO heavenly!

Anyway, I am THRILLED with my new half-marathon PR! Now, I feel like I can truly just run for fun, without trying to hit a certain pace. I've reached my major running goals, and it will be nice to just run by how I feel, and not worry if I am slowing down.

(By the way, thanks so much for the offers to pick up my packet, etc., if I should do Indy--but since I reached my goal today, Indy isn't an option anymore. Probably for the best, because I don't think I could have worked it out anyway! But I do have a registration that can be transferred until the 19th. I was going to try and sell it, but if one of my readers would like it, I'd be happy to give it away. The only condition is that you actually use it! ;)  Just send me an e-mail if you're interested in it.)

Continue Reading...

Options

I've been training so hard for about five months to get my sub-2:00 half-marathon. In training, I've even managed to finish around 1:54, which is just crazy to me. But, of course, it doesn't "count" unless it's a race. When I chose my goal race, I had three (fairly local) options--Rock CF, Glass City, and Martian.

I was in Dayton getting my RRCA certification for Rock CF, so that one was out. I agreed to run Glass City as part of a relay team, so that one was out. That left Martian.

I've run the Martian 10K for two years in a row, and I really like the course, so I was excited to do the half this year. I've done awesome in my training, I'm injury-free, everything was looking good. Until the weather forecast kept getting worse by the minute. Doesn't this look like a joke?

Tomorrow, it is predicted to be freezing cold, with a mix of rain and snow, and very windy. Oh, and let's not forget that some of the course may be flooded. This is supposed to be SPRING!

I'm really bummed out about this. I'm praying for a miracle, but planning for the worst. I was very confident that I'd get my sub-2:00 time, considering the pace of my long runs is faster than the pace needed for that finish time. But I wasn't planning on horrible weather. Now, I'm not feeling so confident.

I'm still going to try my best, but I can't pretend this doesn't put a big huge wet (and snowy) blanket on my outlook for the race. So I started thinking of alternative options, in case this doesn't work out. I don't want all my training to go to waste.

Option 1: I could register for the Glass City Half-Marathon, and be Runner #1 of the relay. That way, I could do both the relay AND the half-marathon at the same time. Problem with this is that it won't be nearly as much fun as just concentrating on a fun relay race.

Option 2: I am already registered for the Indy 500 Festival half-marathon on May 4th. I was going to try and sell/give away my bib, since I wasn't planning to go. It's a little over a two-hour drive, so I could get up uber early on race day, drive to Indy, run the race, and drive home. The (obvious) problem with this is all the driving.

The main reasons I chose not to do Indy were because I didn't want to spend time away from my family (doing "my" trips without them), and because of the expense (the hotel and food for a whole weekend). By doing it this way, my biggest expense would be gas money, which wouldn't be that bad.

If I do decide to drive to Indy the day of the race, are any of you, dear readers, planning on doing Indy and could you possibly pick up my packet on Friday? There is no race day packet pick up. I'd also kind of be looking for a place to park...

I'm just hoping I won't even have to worry about it. I hope I have an awesome race tomorrow and get my sub-2:00, and be done with it!

So anyway, I will think it over as I'm dying running my race in the tornado-y flooded blizzard tomorrow. Should make for a good race report, right?

---

Yesterday, while Jerry and I were getting the boys ready for school, Eli said that he wishes he could jump on his bed (pretty much impossible with a bunk bed!) and Noah agreed. I said, "Well, we could separate you guys--you could have separate bedrooms." And they thought that would be really cool.

When they left, I said to Jerry, "Let's do it today! We can surprise them when they get home from school." So we went shopping for bed frames. I didn't want anything expensive, and we ended up getting some stackable bunk beds at Wal-Mart, which was cheaper than buying two separate beds. This way, we figured, if they hated being separated, we could always stack the beds and they could be together again.

We came home and took apart the old bunk bed, then put together the new twin beds (and by "we", you know I mean "Jerry", right? Good.) We separated the rooms, and cleaned them to look nice when the kids got home. Then we waited around, super excited for the bus to come drop them off. When they got home, I told them I had a surprise in their bedroom.

They walked in and were stunned, and super excited. They kept hugging us and saying "Thank you!" It was the perfect reaction; I would have been disappointed if they thought it was no big deal. Eli was excited to sit up on his bed with his back against the wall and color on a little lap desk:

Noah was very happy to have the smaller room. He gets scared of the dark, and with the smaller room, his lava lamp keeps the whole room lit up. He was thrilled with his bed:

---

Tonight, I'm planning to make myself feel better about my race by fueling up with some La Pita. Jessica and I are going to the expo to get our packets, and going to La Pita for dinner!

Continue Reading...

Shortcut novice

It is SO hard to get a 100% on my ActiveLink on the days that I don't run. Yesterday was my rest day, and it was thunder storming, so I didn't go out for a walk. I did run a few errands and clean around the house, so I was being fairly active.

Then last night, at around 7:00, I saw that I had just barely reached my baseline (the point at which I've accomplished the required amount of activity for the day, when I can start earning PointsPlus for activity beyond that).

I was just going to forget about earning any PointsPlus yesterday, but Jerry said, "Want to do the Wii Fit?" And for some reason, I said sure. When I got on the balance board, it said I had lost 20 pounds since the last time I used it, which was fun to see. I did the marching band game first, which is my favorite.

Then I did the biking game, where you have to "bike" around the island and collect flags. I did the "expert" course, and had to find 20 flags. (If you're not familiar with the biking on the Wii, you just step in place on the balance board, which pedals the bike on the screen). It took much longer than I thought it would to find all the flags, and I wanted to quit, but I hated to leave the game without accomplishing getting all the flags!

Well, 59 minutes and lots of frustrated curses later, I finally got all the flags. And it had the nerve to call me a "Shortcut Novice", hahaha.

Even after that, I'd only earned 3 PP. My calves were a little sore from doing that!

This morning, I planned to run outside, but when I got up, it was pouring rain. I was going to run on the treadmill after getting the kids ready for school, but then the rain stopped, so I was able to run outside after all. As soon as I got outside, I noticed it was really windy, and I almost went back inside to drool over Jax while I ran on the treadmill, but I knew I should stick it out.

My hope was to just get in one good, fairly fast run as a confidence booster for my race on Saturday. I wanted to try and match my "happy" pace on the treadmill (8:20/mi). On the way out (out and back route), I felt great. Other than a few big gusts, the wind wasn't too bad. It didn't occur to me that it felt easy because I had a tail wind the whole way out! Duh.

When I turned around, the wind took my breath away for a minute. I was giving it the same effort as before, but my pace slowed and it was HARD. Mile three was definitely the hardest. Mile four was pretty rough for the first half, but then the last little bit wasn't bad, and I picked up the pace to finish strong.

It's interesting to see the change in pace from mile two to mile three, even though my heart rate stayed exactly the same. When I was running with the wind, my pace was 8:14; when I turned around, my pace was 8:28, but I was using the same amount of effort. Wind resistance definitely plays a big part in my pace!
 

I wish I could say that this was a confidence-booster run, but it felt really tough! Tomorrow is my usual long run day, but since I'm running a half-marathon on Saturday, I'm taking a rest day tomorrow. So this was my last run before my goal race. The weather isn't looking too good for Saturday--I really hope it's not going to rain! The race posted this on Facebook:

Bummer!

I had to go weigh in at Weight Watchers today. I haven't been going to the meetings at all since the issue with the receptionists. Because I'm a Lifetime Member, I only have to weigh in once a month. Anyway, Jerry decided to go with me, and wanted to stay for the meeting. He usually just goes and weighs in, and then leaves--he's never stayed for a meeting before.

It was funny to me, because he was really nervous about it! He was worried about being judged. But he reached his goal weight the last time he weighed in, and he didn't even let the receptionist know that it was his goal--so he didn't get an award or anything. I might be shy about talking about my own accomplishments, but I wanted to tell them all what Jerry has done; so I announced that he'd reached his goal and then I got out my phone and showed off his before and after pictures.

The receptionists were super nice, and made Jerry feel good about his accomplishment. While we were waiting for the meeting to start, we were flipping through the handout booklet that we got, and Jerry started laughing when he saw this:

 If Weight Watchers wants men to get excited about their program, this certainly isn't the way to go about it!  ;)  Jerry spends 5 PP on a beer every night, and that's why he likes the program--he doesn't have to give up beer or drink HALF a beer in a wine glass! Hahaha. I can just picture his "friend's" face when Jerry suggests sharing a beer and drinking it out of wine glasses.

Continue Reading...

Headband review and giveaway

So, despite the fact that I ate way too much sugar this week, I was only up half of a pound on the scale for my Wednesday Weigh-in...

When I eat crappy all week, I FEEL like I've gained 100 pounds back. Even after one meal of eating too much, when I feel too full, I feel like I'm 253 pounds again. But then after a day or two of eating really well, I feel light as a feather, even if the scale doesn't show that.

Regardless, I'm happy with my weigh-in today, and I'm even happier that I'm back to making better food choices. My main focus this week is to cut back on the sugar--one treat a day, not three or four ;)

Jerry suggested weighing Chandler to see if his diet has done him any good yet. So I think I'll weigh Chandler in on Wednesdays as well. I was shocked to see that the diet is actually working--he's lost half a pound!! He weighed a svelte 24.5 pounds after a week and a half on his new diet. I'll write more about how he's doing on my Saturday cat post (Caturday?)

---

I was recently contacted by 6 Dollar Bands, a website that sells no-slip headbands, to see if I wanted to review their headbands (and give one away to a reader, of course!). Last year, I reviewed Sweaty Bands, and was actually pretty impressed with how well they stayed on my big head (I can't get headbands to stay in place, for the life of me).

Lately, since I've been doing quite a bit of running on the treadmill, I've been wearing them to keep my hair out of my face. My hair has gotten long enough that I can't put it in a bun, because the bun comes loose in less than a minute or two. So I put it in a ponytail, but then my bangs wind up in my face. So I was using the Sweaty Bands that I had, and was happy to review the 6 Dollar Bands and see how they compare.

They are called 6 Dollar Bands because most of them are, well, $6 (some are $8--I'm not sure why some are more than others). They sent me two bands:

How do I always manage to look the same in every picture?!

They are lined with velvet ribbon, so that they stay in place on your head. They were nearly identical to the Sweaty Bands, except these ones are adjustable. They have a little slider thing on the elastic. In the pic below, the band on the left is a Sweaty Band, on the right is the 6 Dollar Band.

The only noticeable difference between the Sweaty Band and the
6 Dollar Band is the adjustable strap (on right)

In comparison, the Sweaty Bands are $15-18, and the 6 Dollar Bands are $6-8. I really do like these bands, and I discovered that they stay put the best when I wear them closer to my hair line, like in the pictures above. If I try to wear them back farther, they slip off. But if I wear them an inch or so from my forehead, they stay on through my entire long run (I wore one during my 14+ mile run a couple weeks ago, and I didn't have to adjust it at all).

I'm still not sure about the care of the headbands--I just hand wash mine in the sink quickly after a run, and let it air dry. They look like they'd probably hold up okay in the washer, but I haven't tried that. The fabric of the sparkly one seems a little more fragile, so I'm not going to be wearing it for daily runs.

These headbands do absorb a little sweat, but I wouldn't consider it a "sweat band"--it doesn't absorb much. I wear them to keep my hair out of my face, and they do that job very well (also, they look cute).

Would I buy these at a race expo? Yep! I definitely think they are worth the $6-8 price tag. 6 Dollar Bands generously agreed to give away a headband to a Runs for Cookies reader! So if you'd like to try one, just leave a comment on this post, and I'll randomly select a winner on Friday (4/12) at 9:00 AM EST. CONTEST HAS NOW ENDED.


You can check out 6 Dollar Bands on their website and on Facebook. (Disclaimer: I was given two headbands to review for free, but was not required to give a favorable review--my opinions are honest, as always).

Continue Reading...