yurbuds review and giveaway!

Last night, Jerry and I went to our friends' house for a get-together. It was a lot of fun to see everyone (my friends from high school). We didn't stay too late, because Jerry had to work this morning. It was around 10:00 when we got home, and as I was walking up to the house, I noticed something that made me stop in my tracks.

The screen was pushed from the window and lying in the yard. The house was totally dark, and Jerry and I (stupidly) left the windows open when we left. I was a little worried for a minute that someone had broken in, but when I looked in the house, I could see our computers, so I knew that wasn't the case.

I rounded up the cats, and Chandler was missing. I knew exactly what happened--Chandler pushed the screen out of the window and went on a little excursion outside while we were gone. I told Jerry, "I bet you anything he's sitting at the back door right now, waiting for us to let him in."

We went to the back door, and sure enough, he was sitting there. I'm really surprised that Phoebe and Estelle didn't wander out (or they did, and had the agility to jump back in...). Paolo has no interest in going outside, so he was lying on the couch. I wish I could have been here to see what all the cats did when Chandler broke out.

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This morning, I really wanted to do anything other than run. I've put in a lot of miles over the past week. The problem is, it's really hard to earn 14 Activity PointsPlus on the days I don't run. But I really couldn't stand the thought of a run today, so I ended up going for a long walk.

Thankfully, there weren't any wandering dogs today, and everything was great. I walked slowly, and listened to the Jillian Michaels podcast. Yurbuds recently contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in reviewing their earbuds. I've heard really great things about them (I had actually bought a pair for Jerry last year), so I said of course I'll try them out.

I think I'm pretty lucky in that I've never really had big issues with the standard earbuds that came with my iPod. I don't have problems with those falling out like a lot of people do. My only real complaint about those ones is that they are really uncomfortable after a while, especially in the winter when I have a headband covering my ears. They kind of hurt. So I was hoping to find the yurbuds to be more comfortable.

They sent me a cute little package of goodies:

The yurbud earphones, of course, but also a towel, a mini Luna bar, and a Sweaty Band. Fun! The model they sent was the Inspire Talk for Women, which means the buds are made for smaller ears.

When I first read about yurbuds, I was a little intimidated, because they say that you twist them to lock them into place, and they are "guaranteed to never fall out". When I read about the twisting thing, I figured it would involve some fiddling around with them, and ain't nobody got time for that.

Surprisingly (to me, anyway), the yurbuds really are that simple. I didn't have to keep maneuvering it, trying to cram it in my ear; you just set them in gently, give a quarter turn, and that's it.

I wore them on a couple of runs (even though I've stopped using my iPod while running--I wanted to see if they stayed in) and on my long walk today. They didn't fall out at all, and I didn't have to readjust them. They are certainly more comfortable than the regular earbuds I'm used to.

This model also has a little microphone on the cord, so you can use them for phone calls. This was my favorite feature; it was kind of strange to talk to Jerry on the phone while my phone was in my pocket (yes, welcome to the 21st century, Katie!).

So overall, I really like these, and they will definitely replace my regular old earbuds from now on. My only complaint about them is that I think the wind noise is a little more noticeable; it was REALLY windy a couple of days ago when I wore them. I don't know if the wind noise was because of the earbuds themselves or just because it was so windy. But the wind noise wasn't bad enough to make me not use them.

Oh, but speaking of the wind, I did notice one thing that I really liked. The cord on the Yurbuds is slightly stiffer than the earbuds that came with my iPod, which I noticed made the cord move a lot less in the wind. I hate how the wind blows the cord from my iPod all over, and sometimes my arm will rip the earbud out because of that. With the Yurbuds, the cord didn't bother me, even in the strong wind, so I was happy about that.

One of you can win a pair of green yurbuds Inspire for Women, because they generously agreed to let me give away the same package I got! (Note--the model of earbuds is slightly different in that it doesn't have the microphone). Just fill out the form below, and I'll use Random.org to choose a winner on Tuesday, May 28th at 9:00 a.m. EST. Good luck! Contest has now ended.

(Disclosure: yurbuds sent me a pair of earphones for free to review, but I was not required to give a favorable opinion. All opinions are honest, as always.) 

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New wardrobe

So, I couldn't help myself this morning. I kept thinking about the garage sale yesterday--how many clothes I bought, but also how many more I didn't buy. I bought mostly bottoms yesterday (jeans, capris), so I wanted to go back and maybe get some tops.

The kids really wanted to go to a garage sale, so at around 9:00, we headed out. When we got there, I was glad to see that she still had a lot of her clothes there. I went though all of the tops, and ended up buying another $40 worth of stuff.

When I got home and tried it all on (everything fit, and and I love it all!), I piled everything together for a picture of what I got for $98:

31 tops
6 pairs of jeans
8 pairs of capris/cropped pants
1 pair of black dress pants
2 dresses

I seriously have an entire new wardrobe! I went through my closet and took out a bunch of stuff to donate, and then put all my new stuff in. It's so fun to have all these "new" clothes.

A few people asked how I find good deals like this--the key is to go EARLY to the sales. If it starts at 8:00, get there at 7:45. If the sale starts Friday, but you can't go until Saturday, chances are it will be pretty picked over. You can look for garage sales advertised in the newspaper, because sometimes they list whether they have clothing and/or what sizes.

Also, I'm not going to lie, it's gotten easier to find good stuff now that I've lost weight. When I was a size 24, it was really rare to find nice clothes in that size. There are times I go to sales and don't find a single thing; but when I do, like at this sale, it's totally worth it!

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I wasn't sure if I was going to run today. Normally, Saturday is a rest day, but since I'm going for 100 Activity PointsPlus this week, it would be really hard to get in 14 ish PP today without a run. My kids went over to my parents' house when we got home from the garage sales, so I ate lunch and then decided I'd go run five miles or so at an easy pace.

It ended up being a bad run. I went out a little less than three miles, then turned around to head home. at about mile four, I passed an unleashed German Shepherd. I'd seen it a couple of times before--once, it scared the crap out of me, barking like crazy and walking toward me, but the last time I saw it, it just stood there watching me, motionless.

There was a mail truck right across the street, so I ran on the other side of it, shielding myself from the dog in case it came at me, but the dog just stood there like a statue. A few houses down, there was an unleashed bulldog, but the owners were out and the dog was sleeping, so I wasn't too nervous. I just kept thinking, "A few more houses to go, and then I'm in the clear!" because there is a huge stretch of about a mile without any houses (and therefore, less chance of an unleashed dog).

At the very last house before the empty stretch, I saw an unleashed Husky. I froze and watched, trying to figure out what to do. There wasn't anyone outside, and I had never seen that dog there before, so I didn't think it belonged there. The dog spotted me, and watched me for a minute, then started walking toward me. I turned around and started walking the other way, trying not to panic.

I kept looking over my shoulder, and the dog started running at me, so I started running away from it (the opposite direction that I had been headed to get home). I know, dogs can't chase you if you don't run, but I was terrified and just wanted to get away from it. I decided to just run to a house and knock on a door, ask to use their phone, and call my parents for a ride home.

I ran up the driveway of the first house, the dog closing in on me, and there was a woman in her garden. I'm sure I looked ridiculous, but I was gasping as I told her a dog was chasing me. She looked at the dog and said she knew who it belonged to. The dog ran up the driveway, and she stooped to pet it. I was trying to hard not to cry, because she probably thought I was mentally unstable or something from how scared I was! She said that I could go ahead and keep running, and she'd take care of the dog.

After that, my run was ruined. I couldn't get my heart rate to slow down, and I had exhausted myself from all the adrenaline. I ended up finishing out six miles.

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Tonight, Jerry and I were invited to a get-together at our friends' house. They actually live really close to us, so I think we'll walk over there. They're going to grill out, and asked us to bring a dish to pass. I'm thinking a fruit salad (or fruit kabobs), for a couple of reasons: 1) It's 0 PointsPlus, so I can fill up on it; 2) Produce is "allowed" in our no-grocery-shopping-in-May challenge. We're still going strong with it, but I am SO excited to go grocery shopping again!

Oh, and that reminds me... yesterday, when I ate a bite of my chocolate peanut butter ice cream, I realized that I had forgotten that I challenged myself to give up peanut butter for six weeks! But I still enjoyed the ice cream, and as long as peanut butter doesn't become a problem again, I'm okay with ending the challenge early. ;)

I've been doing really well this week with my eating and my activity. I've earned 57 PP at the moment (probably 61 by the time this post goes live tonight). So I'm definitely on track for 100! I've kept my eating really consistent, too, so I hope that by my weigh in on Wednesday, I'll be back down to 133 ish.

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Jackpot!

Today felt like Saturday. I was confused all day! But I got up and got the kids ready for school this morning, and Jerry was off work. My mom called this morning and asked if I wanted to go to a few garage sales with her, so Jerry put the kids on the bus while I went with my mom.

I totally hit the jackpot at one of the sales. From the street, I could see a super cute black and yellow dress, and it looked like it could be my size. When I checked it out, it was indeed my size, and the $80 price tag was still on it! The woman was selling it for $5, so I snatched it up.

I walked into the garage, and there were a TON of clothes on the left, all folded in organized piles (organization will get you everywhere when having a garage sale). Almost everything was American Eagle, which is my favorite brand of jeans (or clothes in general, I guess). Their jeans fit me really well (a lot of jeans are tight in the calves, because my calves are huge, but AE jeans fit me all over). I bought about 6 pairs of jeans, 5 pairs of capris, 4 pairs of shorts, that dress above, a sundress, about 8 tops, and a pair of jeans for Jerry--for a grand total of $58.

Normally, $58 would seem like a lot for a garage sale, but I knew the jeans would fit, and I got SO much cute stuff! I was really excited to get home and try it all on. The first thing I tried on was the yellow and black dress. I zipped it up, admired it in the mirror for a minute, and then when I went to unzip it, it only unzipped halfway. It was completely stuck. I could zip up, but not down, and I couldn't slide the dress off unless I unzipped it.

I fought with it for a few minutes, and was starting to feel panicked and claustrophobic, so I grabbed the dress and pull the two sections apart, breaking the zipper. I know I can put a new zipper in it, so it will be worth it later, but I was bummed that the zipper was messed up. All the other clothes fit perfectly, and I was thrilled.

Jerry tried on the pair of jeans I got him (also AE brand) and they fit him really well (he's getting so skinny! They were a size 31 waist... I remember when he was a 40 waist). I told him that they had a ton more, so he should go check it out, and he did. He came home with a whole bunch of stuff. Apparently, that woman and her husband are the same size as us, and they really like AE also. Good for us!

After my shopping spree, I finally did my long run at 11:00 a.m. I never go for a run that late! But it was pretty cold outside today. I even needed to wear long sleeves and pants while running. I'm not training for anything important right now (marathon training doesn't "really" start for another couple of months, so I just decided to run a short-long run of eight miles today.

It was pretty windy, which I've come to get super annoyed with lately, but I was glad it wasn't hot outside. A couple of miles in, I actually discovered that I am capable of screaming one of those high-pitched screams from the movies. I didn't even SEE the snake until it was right at my feet, slithering around. I'm pretty sure I jumped a mile in the air and my scream was heard from here to California.

Normally, I'm not afraid of snakes; I'm much more scared of spiders! But the fact that I totally wasn't expecting to see it right at my feet scared me half to death. The rest of the run was totally uneventful.

Since it wasn't a really long run run, I didn't get anything very special for a long run treat today. Being Pizza Friday, though, we actually dined out for pizza. I invited my parents to come with us, and the six of us went to a local place. Jerry and I ordered a small fajita pizza, and it was FANTASTIC.

It had chicken, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, and banana peppers on it. I ate two pieces, and was very tempted to have a third, but I always regret it when I eat three. I brought it home instead, and will probably have it for lunch tomorrow.

I did want to get some sort of dessert for my long run today, so I got a teeny tiny little ice cream cup. I haven't had this flavor since August 2009--I used to eat a few pints of it a week! I'm still too scared to buy a whole pint, but today, I got this 3.6 oz. cup.

It was very small for 8 PP, but the ice cream is just as good as I remember it being. Definitely worth it! But too dangerous to buy more than a tiny cup ;)

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Skinny playlist

I finished the day yesterday with 15 Activity PointsPlus--not bad! It was pretty hard to get that many, but (obviously) not impossible. Now I just have to do it for six more days ;)

My mom reads my blog, so I usually avoid writing about very personal things (i.e. sex). So, Mom, if you're reading this, that was your cue to scroll down a bit. Okay, so last night, Jerry and I were--ahem--"talking" in bed, and all of a sudden, there were these bright flashy lights. I said, "What the heck is that?!" and then I realized it was my ActiveLink, which I forgot to take off (I wear it clipped to my underwear band).

When it gets in a certain position, the lights start flashing to show your activity progress for the day. So it was just letting me know that I'd reached almost 125% of my goal for the day. Just before bed, I had only earned 14 PP; but after the "talk" Jerry and I had, I'd earned another, bringing me to 15 for the day ;)

This morning, I did pretty much the exact same workout as yesterday. First, I ran five miles on the treadmill (keeping my heart rate in Zone 3). This time, I set it up as a virtual race, so the incline would go up and down randomly. The last couple of miles, I increased my pace to get my heart rate up a little higher. I realized that when I set the treadmill at 7.0 mph, my heart rate only gets up to about 145. I was a little nervous to set it higher, but at around 7.3-7.5 mph is where my heart rate got to the top of Zone 3.

I was watching Flashpoint, and that episode ended about five minutes before I reached five miles, so I started a new episode. Then, when I reached five miles, I just switched over to a walking program on the treadmill to keep earning the Activity PP.

This afternoon, I was getting edgy and wanting to eat out of boredom, so I started cleaning. I cranked up some music and cleaned the hell out of the house. A Blink 182 song came on and it reminded me of a playlist I used to have when I was losing weight. I have no idea what happened to it, but I titled it "Skinny" and it was a whole bunch of songs that just made me want to be thin and happy. Weird, right? When I was losing weight, and feeling like I wanted to binge, I would sometimes turn on the playlist and crank up the volume, and it would help take away the urge to binge.

I had forgotten just how helpful that was, so this afternoon, I created a new "skinny" playlist; mostly all the same songs as before. I have a lot of Blink 182 on there, because it reminds me of the hot summer nights of 1999, when Jerry and I first started dating (no idea why that is). I'm not going to write out the list, because, well, some of the songs are kind of embarrassing ;) The songs aren't inspirational or motivational in any way; rather, I chose them based on how I feel when I listen to them.

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Oh! I keep forgetting to write an update on Chandler's weight loss. He's down to 23 pounds now, which means he's lost 2 pounds in 2 months. That's pretty good for a cat! Jerry and I have noticed a HUGE difference in his energy level. He's very playful now. When we get out "the bird" toy, and fly it around, he actually leaps in the air for it. Before, I couldn't even get him to open his eyes, let alone play.

When Purina ONE gave me a month's worth of cat food, I assumed I'd just use it and then switch back to a cheaper food; but when we ran out, I asked Jerry what he thinks, and he said we should keep buying the Purina ONE Healthy Metabolism stuff. Even though it's more expensive, it lasts longer, because I've been feeding them on a schedule (which is a total pain in the ass, by the way, but the only way I can get Chandler not to eat more than he should). Also, the cats are doing so great on it that I'd hate to make any changes.

I feed the cats at 6:30 in the morning, and again at 4:30 pm. I mix a little wet food with some dry food, and they each get their own plate. Chandler wolfs his down, and then watches for the other cats to be done. If I don't watch him carefully, he'll finish off their food in mere seconds, so I have to watch them eat. I do leave dry food out all day in the puzzle feeders--Phoebe, Estelle, and Paolo eat from them, but Chandler refuses to work for his food, hahaha.

At first, Paolo wouldn't use it either. He would see me get a scoop of food and pour it in the top, then look at me like I was pure evil when he realized he couldn't eat it out of the top where I poured the food in. He figured it out, though ;)

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Flashpoint

Like I said yesterday, I expected a bad weigh-in today. I went over my PointsPlus by 165 for the week, so I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. I thought that the worst it could be was 137, because last week I was 134. In reality, it was actually higher than that...

At 137.5, that's a 3.5 pound gain for the week. I'm not liking this upward trend! I definitely feel ready to get back on track though. I really would like to start and end the summer at (or below) my goal weight of 133. Summer officially begins on June 21st, so I'm going to stick to my plan to get back to it.

I am shooting for 100 Activity PointsPlus this week, which is going to be very tough! That's over 14 PP per day. But I'm really hoping that it keeps me active and busy, so I don't think so much about eating. I'm also doing my best to get in all the Good Health Guidelines for Weight Watchers this week. Today, I checked them all off, even my healthy oils. (I actually love to drizzle oil over popcorn for a snack, sprinkled with lots of salt).

Today is normally a rest day, but I took Monday and Tuesday off after the half-marathon on Sunday, so I decided to run today. It was raining this morning, with a good chance of thunderstorms, so I ran on the treadmill. This is the first time I've run on it since finishing Sons of Anarchy, and I've been dreading it because I wasn't sure what new show to watch.

I'd added quite a few shows to my Netflix queue, so I chose one that looked interesting--"Flashpoint". The description on Netflix says: "Sgt. Gregory Parker and his Strategic Response Unit tackle high-risk cases too tough for normal cops, including bomb scares and hostage situations." I like crime/drama shows, so I gave it a try this morning.

It was really good! It's exactly what I was looking for--dramatic with lots of action and suspense to keep me interested when I really want to do anything other than run on the treadmill. There are four seasons, so it should keep me busy for a while.

I ran five miles today (heart rate in Zone 3), and then walked 2.2 miles (which got me through two episodes of the show). When I was done, I saw that I had already earned 8 PointsPlus. (I stopped my Garmin after the run, because I don't log the walking).

Once I plugged in my ActiveLink to the computer, a new message popped up, congratulating me for finishing the 12-week challenge.

 

I earned 785 Activity PointsPlus during the 12-week challenge. That's an average of 65 per week, or 9 per day. That's actually much more than I thought it would be. Now I've changed it to a goal of 12 per day (the highest it would let me), just for this week. Next week, I'll probably drop it back down to 9 or 10 per day.

I used an Amazon gift card to buy the Nike + Kinect Training game today. I've heard good things about it, and I really liked doing the Wii Active 30-Day Challenge last year. I'm going to try and do something similar this summer, and figured I'd check out the Nike + game.

Today was a great day--let's hope I can repeat it tomorrow!

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Travel day

I slept like a rock last night, and I think it was probably because yesterday was such a long travel day. My sister's house is about a six-hour drive away, but because I flew into Chicago and then took the bus to her house, it took nearly as long to get there.

Yesterday morning, Jeanie and Shawn took me to the bus station at 10:40, where I took the 11:00 bus to O'Hare. The bus took forever, and I was getting worried that I would miss my plane. My flight was at 2:00, and I finally got into the airport at 12:50. I had to pee really badly, but the security line was really long, and I wasn't sure if I'd have time to spare, so I suffered through the line.

Finally, I was through security and I headed to my gate. I had a couple of minutes to spare, so I was able to stop in the bathroom. Then, on impulse, I bought a bag of Twizzlers for the plane. Stupid! Those things are 1 PointsPlus each, and I can eat it in about 3 bites. Coupled with my nerves about flying, that 20-PointsPlus bag didn't stand a chance.

I was really nervous about the fact that I was stuck in a middle seat. I've always sat by the window, because I'm such a nervous flier, and it makes me more comfortable to be able to see the ground. I'd been checking the seating chart ever since I got my ticket to try and get a window seat, but the only seats available were middle seats.

It was a really bumpy take-off, and I felt really claustrophobic and panicky for about 10 minutes, because I couldn't see very well out the window, and I felt cramped between two other people. Thankfully, the flight from Chicago to Detroit is only 42 minutes (from take-off to touch-down). Pretty much as soon as we reached altitude, we were descending.

Because we lost an hour coming home (time zone change), it was 4:20 when we finally arrived at the gate. If I had driven home, I would have been about 20 minutes from home. Instead, Jerry was going to pick me up after he got off work at 6:00, so I had a couple of hours to kill at the airport.

I spent a lot of time walking around, but after walking past all these food places, I wanted to eat. I wasn't hungry at all, but I ended up eating at Burger King--my first time eating there since August 2009! It wasn't even good, so I have no desire to ever eat it again.

I worked on my blog post until Jerry picked me up, and then we went to the boys' baseball practice (my parents had taken them). I finally got home at 7:30 last night, and I was exhausted! I had a couple of glasses of wine and watched TV with Jerry for a little while before bed.

The weekend was SO fun, and I'm really, really glad that I went. It was awesome to be able to run with Jeanie, and then celebrate with Shawn, Jeanie, and Jen afterward. I don't regret the food choices I made while I was at Jeanie's, but I do wish I had given it more thought beforehand, and maybe planned it out ahead of time. The margarita I had with lunch? It was 43 PP!! To put that in perspective, I only earned 26 PP on during the half-marathon. (Although I have to say, it honestly was worth 43 PP... it was REALLY good!)

When I ordered it, I had no idea it would be that big. 

The scale was WAY up this morning, and (once again) I'm really not looking forward to my "official" weigh-in tomorrow, but I know that the gain is legit. I went over my PointsPlus by about 165 this week. No, that's not a typo.

I had a terrible week as far as food choices, but like I said, I don't regret it (well, I do regret the Twizzlers and the Burger King, but not the stuff I ate at Jeanie's). Mentally, I'm just going to wipe the slate clean and start completely fresh tomorrow. I'll still be in "weight loss" mode on Weight Watchers, because I'm sure my weight is going to be over goal (unless a miracle happens overnight).

I don't want this to sound like a negative post--I'm really happy that I went, I loved the Mexican food and drinks, and the Butter Pecan Blondie for dinner on Sunday. My weight is going to be up, but I can't complain about that, because I knew that when I ordered the food. I just have to reel it in now!

I think rather than focusing so much on getting my food back on track, I'm going to try and make this a 100 Activity PointsPlus week. The most I've ever earned in a week is 75, but I think that if I really focus on it, I could get 100. The point of that is not so I can eat more, but so that I keep myself really busy. If I'm constantly trying to earn PointsPlus, I won't be thinking about eating all day.

I'm also going to make a conscious effort to get in all of my Good Health Guidelines (5+ fruits/veggies, 2 tsp. healthy oils, 2 servings dairy...). I'm terrible with getting those in, especially the healthy oils and the dairy. I think by focusing on that, and the activity, I should be back on track without feeling too stressed about it.

We're still going strong on our no-grocery-shopping-in-May challenge... 10 more days! :)

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Motivational Monday #16

Funny story from this morning at my sister's house...

Shawn's friend came over to pick up Shawn to go to breakfast. While Jeanie went to get Shawn, I chatted with him for a minute. Making small talk, he said, "Oh, I met your other sister a few years ago." I must have looked confused (I don't have another sister, just Jeanie), because he started to explain, "She came out here to go camping; she brought her kids, and you all went camping for a couple of nights..."

Then it hit me. He was talking about ME, when I was still 253 pounds, and he just didn't recognize me now that I've lost the weight! Hahaha, I think I embarrassed him when I told him it was me, but that totally made my day :)

I'm working on this while I'm waiting for Jerry to pick me up from the airport, so I'm going to get right to the good stuff! I hope you all had a great week, and even if it wasn't so great, maybe you will find some motivation from today's stories...

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Amber just ran her second 5K race, and she says she was the last runner to finish, followed only by a couple of walkers. She said a lot of people were trying to console her by saying, "Hey, at least you finished!" but Amber says she just smiled and said she is very PROUD of her time. She says, "Three months ago, I would have been dead last, and four months ago, I would have been on my sofa!" She followed her training schedule and felt great through the race.

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When I read Colleen's e-mail, I really couldn't summarize it without cutting out a bunch of important stuff. So I'm just going to copy and paste what she wrote about this picture. It's a GREAT story, and the picture is awesome!

"I've been dying to send you this email. Today, I ran my first 1/2 marathon and killed my goal of sub 2 hours. Some background- when I lived in Chicago, I ran a lot. I ran the 2006 full marathon and various other Chicagoland area stapes (Shamrock Shuffle, etc.). When I moved to Denver, the elevation change was tough on my running. I've always struggled with getting my breath under control and I never felt like I could check out and just run because I was always gasping for air. Cut to living on the front range for five years and slowly building my endurance back up. 

When I started to get back into running last September, I found your blog and started to mimic your interval training and some of your work outs. It was really encouraging to see myself get faster and stronger. I ran the Running of the Green (7k) in March and attempted to maintain a 8:30 pace. Turns out, I ran it with an average 8:17. I was still afraid to take the plunge and sign up for a longer race until my work challenged us to do so. My boss, Vince DiCroce, is an avid marathoner/triathlete. He was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer 8 years ago, and made the choice to not only survive, but be better than before. He ran over 30 marathons and PR'd most of them. He also competed in Iron Mans. He's a super hero. Recently, the tumor came back and was more aggressive. We decided to Run with Vince to push ourselves to go beyond what we think we're capable. (http://www.9news.com/rss/story.aspx?storyid=332359 and  http://www.denverpost.com/running/ci_23235866/colfax-marathon-just-another-way-vince-dicroces-life)  He signed up for the half, but ended up running the full today because his last chemo treatment wasn't that aggressive (!!!). He finished in 3:57.40. I know. Superman.

"Anyway, I knew I could run 10 miles. I knew it wouldn't be that big of a challenge, so I sucked it up, and before I could change my mind, swiped my credit card for the 1/2 with a goal of sub 2 hours. I continued to do speed interval work and added in long runs all while reading your blog. Today, I crossed the finish line in 1:51:30. I've attached some pictures of my elated ass because I just couldn't believe that someone like me could be "fast." Thanks for writing and continuing to motivate your readers. I know some days it is hard to open up and be honest, but I appreciate it so much, and I know others do to. Congrats on your race today and for helping out your sis! I'm sure she has her own MM post to write. You go girl(s)! "

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Felicia has a shiny new 5K PR of 30:31, which also earned her third place in her age group! Over the past year and a half, she's lost a whopping 82 pounds, and has run at least one race each month since October.

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Jen and her 15-year old son just completed their first 5K! She has been training 3-4 days per week, and has a goal of running the whole distance soon. She finished about two minutes faster than her "practice" times! She's also down 20 pounds since January--she decided that slow and steady was the way to go, and she's seeing great results :)

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Jennifer just finished her first 10K. She's a few weeks into half-marathon training now, AND has lost 42 pounds!

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Julie's daughter (shown in the pic) just ran 6.5 miles in her school's jogathon... and she's not even nine years old! The kids have to be in third grade to participate, and she was very excited that she was old enough to do it this year. The jogathon lasts 90 minutes, and she insisted on running the whole time! (I love that proud smile on her face!)

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Katie surprised herself when she ran a 5K in 26:01! She's used to running 9:30-10:00/mi pace, but she gave it all she had and got a shiny new PR. She's also lost 35 pounds since January, and she credits that partly to teaching Jazzercise. Here is a comparison pic from November and from last weekend.

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After completing the Couch to 5K program, Kylie just ran her first 5K! Her boyfriend raced with her, and her parents cheered her on, despite the rain. Her goal was to run the whole distance, and she did even better than she expected, finishing in 33:48!

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Laura (in gray) ran a 5K with her sister, Allison, and finished with a 3-minute PR. She's lost 52.6 pounds since October, when she started running!

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Lesleigh just ran her second 5K, taking a full 10 minutes off of her first from August! She's come a long way on her journey, losing 55 pounds and lots of inches. She said her husband was folding laundry, and said, "How did one of the boys' skinny jeans get mixed up in our wash?" She looked at them and realized they were HER jeans he was talking about. ;)

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Sara just ran her first 5K race in 33:12... she says that last summer, she couldn't even ride a stationary bike for 15 minutes, and now she's getting ready to start 10K training! She's come a long way in less than a year.

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Jen ran her third 5K, and finished with a 2-minute PR! Her kids, Ryan and Liam, each ran the 1K after being inspired by their mama to run. Ryan got her face painted at the after party :)

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Don't forget to check out this week's Motivational Monday Facebook post, also! Here is a snippet:

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Rockford Half-Marathon race report

Today was so much fun! Everything went better than I could have hoped. Jeanie and I got up pretty early this morning to get ready for the race. Shawn had worked all night long, and was planning to run the half-marathon after work--crazy, right?! But he didn't really have a choice.

We went to downtown Rockford and had no problems parking or finding the starting line, or anything like that. We used the porta-potties before the line got too long, and took some pictures at the starting line.

Jeanie and I lined up behind the 5:00 marathon pacer, because she was planning to run about a 12:00/mi pace. She said the best case scenario would be 2:30, but that was really unlikely, so she was aiming to have a 12:00/mi average pace for the race. (Shawn lined up closer to the front, because he was aiming for "anything under 2:00" (but I figured he'd run between 1:45-1:50).

The race was pretty small, so when it started, it only took us about minute to get to the starting line. And we were off! The course was awesome--one of the best courses I've ever run. And the race was VERY well organized--I would highly recommend this race if you're looking for a half- or full-marathon in Illinois (Rockford).

Jeanie was doing REALLY well--her splits were faster than she'd expected, and she kept commenting on how good she felt. A few miles in, we saw an older man in front of us wearing a yellow shirt that said, "1000 Marathons Larry". Jeanie and I looked at each other with our eyebrows raised. I said, "Hey there, are you Larry?" and he was very friendly. We learned that it was his 1,020-something marathon in 13 years. Last year, he ran 157 of them! I really wished I could talk to him for a while, because I'm sure he has some great stories, but we passed by him and kept going.

At around mile four, Jeanie's friend Jen jumped in and ran along with us for a few minutes. She said she'd seen Shawn, and he was doing really well. Then she moved on, and said she'd run with us for a little bit at mile 10. Jeanie started getting faster, and she was feeling good. I knew in my head that she was very capable of reaching her "A" goal of sub-2:30, but I didn't want to push it, so I just let her set the pace.

I was expecting the race to feel like a walk in the park, because it was a much slower pace than I'm used to, but I was surprised that my legs were actually taking a beating. I was really enjoying the course, though, and even though it was hot outside, it wasn't that bad. Jen popped in with us again a little before mile 10.

When we reached mile 10, I was delighted to see something I'd never seen in a race before--ice cold sponges! They were provided by a heating and cooling company called Gough (I want to give them a shout out, because I was SO excited about the sponges!). I grabbed one and wiped my face, neck, and arms, then squeezed it over my head. It was heavenly, and very much needed at mile 10.

Jeanie was starting to feel a little tired at that point, but she was still going strong, and was even running some sub-11:00 miles. I knew we were on pace for a sub-2:30 time, so I was hoping she'd keep at it, because I knew she'd be thrilled with that time.

Jen left around mile 11, and then just after mile 12, we saw Shawn! He'd finished and come back to run with Jeanie as well. I shouldn't just say "finished"--he CRUSHED his sub-2:00 goal with a 1:48:07 finish, as I knew he would ;)  Jeanie was really starting to hurt around mile 12.5, but we were in the home stretch, and I knew she could get her sub-2:30 goal.

With about a quarter mile to go, Shawn left us to finish on our own. We could see the finish line from there, and as soon as I saw it, I got really choked up. I was afraid to say anything, because I would cry. It's funny, I didn't feel that emotional when I finished my own first half, but doing this with Jeanie made me feel SO proud of her.

We sprinted the last stretch down the finisher's chute, and crossed the finish line in 2:28:13--she'd killed her "A" goal! We found Jen and Shawn, and hung out at the finish line for a little while.

Then we went to the only place we could find that served beer at 10:00 in the morning ;) A cold beer sounded SO good after that race! Then we went back to Jeanie's showered, and headed out to lunch at this AMAZING Mexican restaurant in Rockford. It was honestly the best Mexican food I've ever tasted. I ate about a billion and a half PointsPlus there, and I don't regret any of it. I'm sure I'll complain about it on Wednesday, when I weigh-in, but right now, it was totally worth the PP!

After lunch, Shawn went home to sleep, and Jeanie, Jen, and I went to play slot machines at a bar. I never do slots! I just always assume that I'll lose all my money, and I really can't afford that. My sister really wanted me to play, so she insisted that she give me $100 to play with. Well, it's a good thing I took her up on it, because I won--a LOT!

I insisted on cashing out after that, and then I gave Jeanie $200 of it (the money I played with, plus the $100 she played with and lost). It was so fun to win that much money!

We planned to skip dinner after our huge lunch, and just get dessert later. After playing the slots, I still wasn't even close to hungry, so we went back to her house and figured we'd just go get a late dessert. Jeanie loves sweets as much as I do, and she adores the maple blondies at Applebee's, so we're going there. I've never tried them, but they sound like the perfect end to a perfect day :)

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A big surprise!

I have been sitting on a big secret for WEEKS and I have been dying to write about it... and today is the day I can spill the beans!

As I've mentioned a few times, my sister (Jeanie) is running her first half-marathon tomorrow. She only started running in December when I planned the Runs for Cookies Virtual 5K for my birthday. She made a goal to run the 5K, and she did the Couch to 5K program to get there. And she did it!

Then, she decided to keep going, and started doing 10K training. And then 12 weeks ago, half-marathon training. Jeanie lives in Illinois, and I thought about going to cheer her on at the finish line, but there were a few factors keeping me from that--money, time away, and the family reunion tomorrow.

When I mentioned to Shawn (Jeanie's husband) that I was hoping to see her finish, he told me that Jeanie would be thrilled if I was there, and even more so if I ran it with her. He said that Jeanie was worried about running it by herself. I knew this race was a HUGE deal to Jeanie, and I didn't want it to be a bad experience.

Shawn and I talked about the logistics, and we got it all worked out--he wanted to buy Jeanie a gift for doing the half-marathon, so he said it would be ME :)  Hahaha, so I booked a flight to Chicago, and registered for the Rockford Half-Marathon.

It was SO HARD not to say anything to Jeanie about it. Remember when we went for a run together a couple of weeks ago? She talked about how she was going to be running alone, because she's a slow runner, and didn't want to hold Shawn back (it's his first half-marathon, too).

Jeanie reads my blog, so I couldn't write anything about it--even though I was DYING to. I wanted to keep her from suspecting anything, so I wrote a few things that would throw her off. I mentioned going to the family reunion, doing my long run on Thursday, having a nice relaxing "rest day" today... nothing too obvious, but things to throw her off.

This morning, I got up at 4:30 to get ready for my flight. Jerry drove me to the airport, and I got on an 8:55 flight to Chicago. When I got to Chicago, I had to get on a bus to take me about another hour to where my sister lives. Shawn picked me up from the bus station, and Jeanie was at work until noon, so we went back to their house and waited for her to get home.

While we waited for Jeanie, I showed Shawn how to use the video on my phone. I wanted to get a video of the surprise. He even practiced it a few times to make sure he knew how to do it. Then we heard Jeanie at the door, and I ran and hid. Shawn told her that he got her something she could run with at the race tomorrow, and told he to close her eyes. Then I stepped out next to him, and he said to open her eyes.

She was completely surprised (and thankfully, very excited)! In retrospect, she thought of some things that seemed a little odd, but she hadn't thought much of them, and they all make sense now.

I was really excited to post the video here, because everything went even better than I'd hoped, but unfortunately, Shawn accidentally took a picture instead of video--and the picture wasn't even a good one! I thought it was hilarious, and I feel bad for him because he was so worried about messing it up. So you'll just have to use your imagination :)  Here is a pic we took afterward:

 So anyway, I'll be running the Rockford Half-Marathon side-by-side with my sister tomorrow!  I'm staying the night tomorrow night as well (we have to celebrate, of course), and then I'll head home on Monday.

Many thanks to Shawn, my mom and dad (for helping with the kids), Jerry (for being a stay-at-home dad for the weekend), and Jeanie's friend Jen (who made sure that Jeanie would have Monday off work, because she was in on the secret, too).

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Field trip

What an exhausting day! I got up at 6:00, so it was too late to get in a short run before getting the kids ready. That wasn't really a big deal, because I just figured I'd do it this evening.

I got the kids ready for school, and myself dressed to chaperone Noah's field trip. Since I was chaperoning, I drove the kids to school instead of putting them on the bus. When I got there, his teacher told me that Noah had to ride the bus to the field trip, but I could drive separately so that we could go home when we were ready. His field trip was at Greenfield Village, about 45 minutes away.

I left the school and went right there, then I sat in the car and watched the buses coming in, so I would see when his class got there. I waited for a long time, probably about 25 minutes. My cell phone rang, and it was his teacher. Apparently, they'd been waiting for ME for about 20 minutes, and Noah was worried that I wasn't going to show up. I had misunderstood where to meet the buses. I ran from the car to where they were, and felt awful that Noah thought I wasn't coming.

So many parents had volunteered to chaperone that it was pretty much a 1:1 ratio of parents to kids. Noah and I were on our own to walk around the village, which was actually kind of nice that we could do it at our own pace. Well, we learned that neither of us enjoy learning about history ;)  We were both pretty bored, so we only stayed a couple of hours.

He loved riding the train!

On the way out, Noah wanted to see the gift shop, naturally. They had fudge samples, and we each tried a piece. Yum! I somehow got talked into buying some (it wasn't hard), and Noah chose the Cookies & Cream flavor. We each had a piece (I was surprised to see that fudge is only 3 PointsPlus per ounce!), and it tasted like the inside of an Oreo.

I may have casually mentioned that we were down the road from La Pita, and Noah really wanted to go there for lunch. This was certainly not part of my plan for food this week, but considering the circumstances, I figured it would be great to have a nice lunch with Noah.

I've only ever ordered one thing from La Pita--the chicken kabob lunch, which you've seen pictures of a thousand times on my blog. Today, I was going to try and order something lighter, so I got the chicken shawarma sandwich (chicken shawarma and pickles wrapped in a pita). I also ordered a small side of hummus for the mini pitas on the table.

I was SO hungry that I practically inhaled three pieces of pita bread with hummus. I was expecting the small hummus to be about 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup at most; but I'm pretty sure it was about 1 cup spread out on a plate:

By the time my sandwich came, I really should have just put the whole thing in a container to take home, but I cut it in half and ate half of it. I learned that I don't like chicken shawarma. The sandwich would have been awesome if it were made with plain chicken tawook, but I won't be getting shawarma again. I don't like that there is dark meat in it, and it seemed kind of oily. I was surprised how well the pickles went with the chicken and pita, though. I never would have paired those together.

Next time, I think I will order the chicken tawook sandwich (same thing, only the chicken is plain grilled chicken breast chunks). The sandwich was the perfect size (if I hadn't eaten the pitas beforehand!), and only $4.

I ordered a large container of hummus to go, because their hummus is INSANELY good. Normally, I'm not a big hummus fan, but theirs is amazing. I figured I could eat it with veggies throughout the week. I paid our bill, and we left. As soon as I got home, I realized that I forgot the hummus at La Pita! I was so bummed. The hummus was $9, so I didn't want to just let it go. I called the restaurant, explained what happened to the manager, and she offered to send me a gift card in the mail. Perfect! Now I'll have an excuse to go back soon (not that I need an excuse to go to La Pita).

When I calculated my PointsPlus for the lunch (and fudge), it ended up being 30 PP. So much for eating a lighter lunch! But I was so full that it actually ended up being my lunch and dinner. I gave Jerry the other half of the sandwich, and he loved it.

I hate feeling really full, but that's how I felt when I got home. I decided to go for my run in the afternoon, hoping it would make me feel less full. I went outside and ran five miles. Running on a full stomach wasn't the greatest idea, because I felt sluggish, but by the time I got home, I felt much better.

Looking forward to a relaxing rest day tomorrow!

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