Mousie and Ella

I woke up today feeling completely drained. I thought about Mark all night long, and even though I spoke to him via FaceTime yesterday, I just kept hearing him saying that he wants to go home. I knew my parents were going to visit him after church today, so I hoped that they would tell me good news, that Mark was feeling better.

I had intervals on the schedule today (7 x 400), and I planned to do them on the treadmill. I got dressed to run, and the treadmill all set up. I ran a short warm-up, and then set the treadmill at 9.0 mph for the first 400-meter interval (the same setting as last time). However, as soon as I started running, something just felt "off".

It was only the first interval, but I was having a hard time getting my legs to move quickly, and I felt clumsy and awkward. I only ran about a tenth of a mile before I decided to forget the intervals, and just run a tempo run, so I dropped the speed to 7.5 mph. After about a half-mile of that, I dropped it down to steady-state pace, about 8:30/mi. And finally, I dropped it to easy pace, 9:30-ish.

I think that yesterday just drained all of my energy. Right now, I feel like I do when I'm going through bad bout of depression; I just don't have much energy at all, and I have a pit in my stomach. I finished out three miles on the treadmill, but it was hard, even at an easy pace.

When I was done with my run, I turned on the Wii Fit U to go through my strength training routine. After the first time I did it, I was super sore! It actually hurt to run the next day, because my shoulders and chest were sore. But I am committed to doing it twice a week, and hopefully I won't get so sore this time.

I can't really say that today felt much easier, but it felt like it went by faster. I still like doing the games the best, but the yoga is definitely the hardest for me! My muscles shake so badly when I try to hold each position.

While I was finishing the strength routine, I got a text from my mom, who was at the hospital with Mark. She said that one of the nurse's aids went way above and beyond her job to display a whole bunch of Mark's cards. I was speechless when I saw the picture:

That was SO nice of her. She stapled as many cards as she could fit to a bed sheet, and then hung the sheet on the divider curtain. I'd been trying to think of a way to display his cards, so he can look at them more easily, and this is awesome. I'd like to bring her a small thank you gift or something tomorrow when I go visit. My mom said that all of the nurses were coming in to check it out, because they'd never seen someone get so many cards!

Speaking of gifts, Jerry and I decided to give the boys their gerbils yesterday, instead of waiting until Christmas. We tried to get creative in how we were going to present them, and first, we asked the kids to take out the recycling. There were lots of boxes in there from the gerbil supplies we bought, and we thought it would interesting to see if they noticed it, and discussed among themselves why there were gerbil items in the recycling bin. They took the recycling out, but didn't even notice all the gerbil stuff! So then we went with Plan B.

We put one of the gerbils in the clear plastic ball to let it roam around the house. The boys were in their bedroom, so I put the gerbil in the living room, and it was running around on the floor (inside of its ball). Then Eli came out, and it took him a while to notice, but then he started giggling and sneaking glances at me to see if I was going to say anything. I just acted like I had no idea that there was a gerbil on the floor. He called Noah in to see, and then they got really excited and gave us hugs. Jerry brought out the cage with the other gerbil, and the kids spent some time getting to know them (the cats were locked in my bedroom to avoid disaster).

Noah named his gerbil Mousie

Eli named his gerbil Ella

Jerry and I voted to name the gerbils "Duck" and "Chick" but the boys didn't go for it ;)

I thought Estelle would go NUTS for the gerbils, but she hasn't shown much interest at all. She's terrified of the gerbils when they are in the ball, wandering around the house, so she runs and hides--haha! Chandler, believe it or not, has shown more interest than any of the cats. We had the cage set up in Jerry's and my bathroom until we gave the gerbils to the kids, and Chandler squeezed himself onto the counter and just sat there, terrifying the poor gerbils watching.

Thankfully, none of the cats has even tried to mess with the top of the cage. Paolo has no interest in the gerbils at all, Estelle is scared of them, and Chandler and Phoebe just like to look at them. The gerbils are actually really interesting to watch!

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Don't forget, tomorrow is Motivational Monday! I hope to see some great stories to boost my mood :)  If you have a photo you want to share about a health/fitness accomplishment, you can email it to me at SlimKatie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com, subject "Motivational Monday", with a short description, and I may include it on tomorrow's post!

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An emotionally draining day

Jerry and I ended up having so much fun on our little date night last night. My mom had told us about a Mexican restaurant in Wyandotte that she and my dad really liked, so we decided to go there for dinner. I like downtown Wyandotte, because there are a lot of little shops along the street, so it's entertaining to walk around and window shop.

We went to Angelina's for dinner, and I ordered flautas--my favorite thing to order at a Mexican restaurant. They were really good, but my favorite thing was actually the side of refried beans. They were amazing! We were feeling kind of Christmas-y and just very happy, so we ended up leaving a 100% tip for the server... that was fun :)

When we left the restaurant, we walked down the street to a candy shop, that had "nostalgic candy" printed on the sign. I knew there had to be some cool finds in there, so we browsed around the shop and bought some stocking stuffers for the kids. They had a lot of really interesting candy!

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Jerry and I had a pretty relaxing morning, and then at around 10:00, I remembered that the post office would close at 11:00, and I wanted to go pick up Mark's mail. So Jerry and I hurried and got ready to go to the hospital, and then we stopped at the post office on the way.

You guys. I am SO SO SO appreciative of all of the support you've sent Mark in the form of cards. The P.O. Box was packed full today with 109 cards for him!! I was speechless, and my jaw dropped when I opened the box. I was so excited to bring the cards to the hospital. Thank you so much!

We stopped at Long John Silver's on the way, because Mark had requested fish and hush puppies from there. When we got to the hospital, we decided to take the stairs to Mark's room, instead of the elevator--he's on the 10th floor, so it wasn't just a flight or two! I wanted to get some "altitude" for my Wii Fit U Challenge. I've run three marathons in the past couple of years, but I was huffing and puffing by the time we got to the tenth floor!

Mark was REALLY happy to see us, and thrilled that we brought him Long John Silver's. He ate his lunch while Jerry and I took turns reading his cards to him. We went through all 109 cards, and Mark loved every single one. Every time a nurse or someone would come into the room, he would say, "I have SO MANY people that care about me! So many people!"

After we read the cards, the pain in his legs became really bothersome to him. He has tumors in his legs, brain, lungs, and spine, so all those spots hurt. I asked the nurse if he could have more pain meds, but the nurses were taking SO long to respond, and they said that he couldn't have more for another hour at least, which was frustrating. A doctor came to check on him, so I asked if they could give him something else, and the doctor put in a request for morphine, but he said it would take a while on the pharmacy's end.

Mark kept talking about how much he wanted to go home, and this time, he wasn't talking about Heaven. He said he wanted to back to his group home. It was heartbreaking.

My mom called and asked about Mark, so I stepped outside the room, because I'd been on the verge of tears the whole time I was there. I told her what was happening with his pain, and then I pulled myself together to go back in. When I walked back in, Mark was talking to Jerry, and crying. He was really upset, saying he wanted to go home, and he kept apologizing for crying. It was awful. We told him not to be sorry, that it's perfectly normal to cry and get sad or angry about all this, but he just kept apologizing and telling us, "Thanks for coming!".

We'd been there for nearly four hours, but I didn't want to leave until after they'd given him the pain meds. The nurse finally brought in his morphine, and gave that to him, so I knew he'd be feeling better soon. We chatted a little longer, and I showed him again what buttons to push to turn on the TV and his CD player. I could tell that the morphine kicked in, because he got a little loopy, so I told him he should get some rest, and we said good-bye. He was so grateful that we'd come, and just kept thanking us. I felt awful leaving, but my parents had had the kids for nearly 24 hours, so we had to go pick them up.

We walked to the elevator, and when it opened, Kim (a friend of our family) stepped out, on her way to visit Mark. I was so grateful to see that she was there to visit him, because it was so hard for us to leave! I couldn't even talk to her without crying. Jerry and I went to my parents' to pick up the kids, and while we were there, Kim FaceTime'd my mom's iPhone, so that I could see that Mark was doing really well. I chatted with Mark via FaceTime for a minute, and he seemed MUCH happier, which was a relief.

This whole thing has been so much harder than I ever could have imagined. Mark is just so innocent, and has always been so happy; seeing him break down today broke my heart. But I just want to let you all know how excited he was to get the cards, and how loved it made him feel to know there are so many people pulling for him. (A few people have asked me if it was too late to send a card; of course not! I would love to see him get cards for as long as he's battling this cancer. The address is on this post.)

My parents are going to visit him tomorrow, so I think I'll go on Monday, and then again on Christmas. Today, he mentioned a bunch of old TV shows that he liked to watch, so Jerry and I are going to look for some on DVD that we can bring him for Christmas. I wish we knew how long he would be in the hospital, but there really isn't a plan for what happens next, so we'll see.

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Dreary day

Today was the dreariest day ever. It rained all day long, melting the snow so that the snow got all gray and slushy, and it was really foggy outside. Naturally, it would happen to be my long run day, giving me the torturous decision of whether to run outside or on the treadmill.

After I got the boys off to school, I procrastinated for a bit, and then finally decided I needed to get it done. I went outside just long enough to throw the cat litter in the trash, and decided that it was definitely a treadmill day. Running through slush is more difficult than running on ice or snow! So I picked a new show on Hulu to watch for the next hour and forty minutes or so. It was a show called Twisted, a teen murder-mystery that I hoped would keep me interested through 11 miles.

I used my foot pod, since the Garmin was so inaccurate when I used it on the treadmill. My sister sent me a link to an article that explains about the issue--the Garmin 620 and 220 are NOT meant to be used indoor without a foot pod after all. Garmin didn't make that very clear in their description of the watch, and a lot of people (including me) have been disappointed/confused by it. The purpose of the accelerometer inside of the chest strap is just to measure cadence (steps per minute), oscillation (bounce), and ground contact time. It does NOT give you pace or distance, which is why the foot pod is required. Here is a link to the article.

I set the treadmill at 6.4 mph and tried to forget I was running (haha). At first, the time was just crawling by, especially because I wasn't that interested in the show I was watching. I felt just fine physically, though, so I knew I'd be mad at myself if I quit just because I couldn't handle the mental part of treadmill running.

I ran at 6.4 until the last mile, when I bumped up the speed by 0.1 mph every minute until I was done. The second episode of Twisted finished right as I was finishing my run, so it was perfect timing.

After my run, I had to go get a couple of groceries, and while I was at the store, I picked out a long run treat: ice cream! I got a tiny container of Haagen Dazs dulce de leche. I used to love this ice cream; I forgot just how good it is! The container is pathetically small, though--3.6 fluid ounces--for 240 calories.

Today was the boys' last day of school before Christmas break. They're off school now for two weeks! For the past couple of years, I took them to a day camp at an ice arena during their break, but they aren't doing the camp this year. The kids are so disappointed. We'll have to come up with some creative things to do for the next couple of weeks.

My mom went to visit Mark today, and she sent me this picture of him:

She said that he was having a blast while handing out candy to all the nurses :)  I'm hoping that Jerry and I will be able to go visit him tomorrow. As long as Mark doesn't have any testing or anything going on, we'll go see him in the afternoon, and I'll bring him some more cards.

It REALLY does not feel like a Friday night... maybe because I don't have my pajamas on before 6 pm? Hahaha, I think Jerry and I are going to have a date night tonight, because the boys are at my parents' house!

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A visit with Mark

I've had a super busy day today! It's 7:00 pm, and I'm just now sitting down at home. This morning, my dad asked if I wanted to go visit Mark, and I was feeling a lot better, so I said sure. He told me he'd pick me up at 8:45 (which was in an hour). He came over to walk the kids to the bus stop, and the second they left, I headed out for a four-mile run.

I knew it was going to be a busy day, so I wanted to get it done before heading to the hospital. I ran four miles and then hopped in the shower to get ready. I scarfed down some oatmeal for breakfast just in time for my dad to pick me up.

We stopped at the post office on the way to the hospital so that I could check the P.O. Box. I was delighted to see that there were a ton of cards in there for Mark. On the way to the hospital, I counted them, and there were 52! I was really excited to give them to him.

When we went up to his room, Mark was really happy to see us. I showed him the cards, and explained that they were ALL for him. I opened each card and read it out loud to him, then passed it to him to see. He kept saying, "Oh, that's a nice card!" to all of them, like it was the best card he's ever received.

And they were all so nice... I honestly can't thank you enough for all of the thought that went into those cards! Mark kept saying, "So many people care about me, I have all these people that care about me." I didn't want to cry or get upset in front of him, because he's just so HAPPY, so reading the cards was really hard for me. I get emotional while watching Hallmark commercials, for goodness sake!

Every once in a while, out of nowhere, he would tell me just how excited he was to go "home". I felt bad about that, because I know that he's not going back to the home that he's known for nearly his entire life. When I mentioned something about "home", he said, "NO, not 'home'... I mean 'HOME home'." When I asked further, he explained that he is excited to go to his real home, to Heaven, to see his family.

He talked about "HOME home" a lot while I was there, and I have to say, it was really comforting to hear him be at peace about it. It would be so hard to hear him talk about fear of dying or something like that, but Mark will be happy whether he miraculously beats this cancer or he goes "home". I learned today that Mark's brother died of lung cancer a few years ago, their father died of lung cancer, and their grandfather died of lung cancer.

After I read all the cards to him, his nephew showed up. His nephew is his only living relative. My dad chatted with his nephew, so I talked to Mark some more. I asked him if I could bring him anything next time I go visit, and he said his usual response, "Oh, any old thing." But I pressed him harder, and said, "Mark, is there something you REALLY love that you would like me to bring you? Anything at all?" and he started to come up with a few ideas. He loves junk food--so much so that we are probably soul mates ;)  He said he wants hush puppies and fish from Long John Silvers; Cheetos; cheese popcorn; candy bars, or any kind of chocolate; and a milkshake. So I'm going to bring him some goodies the next time I go, probably on Saturday.

My dad and I stayed for a couple of hours, and then we had to head out because I had to go to the school for the kids' Christmas party. I'm so glad that I got to go visit Mark! He's positive and happy, and it just radiates off of him. He kept thanking the nurses for everything--even after they gave him an injection, he'd say "Thank you!" I was feeling so sad about his situation last night, during a long talk with Jerry about it; but today, I feel a million times better after seeing how happy he is.

(Here is the P.O. Box address again, just in case you missed it, if you'd like to send Mark a card:
Mark P.
c/o Katie Foster
P.O. Box 405
South Rockwood, MI 48179

He REALLY loved seeing a couple of post cards. He's never been outside of Michigan, so a post card or photo of where you live is interesting to him. He also really loved a card that played music when you opened it.)

When I got home, I had about 30 minutes to eat lunch and then head out to the school. The kids had their Christmas parties, so I was there to help, although it really wasn't needed (lots of parents there!). Right after school, we went to my Aunt Mickey's house so the kids could decorate Christmas cookies with her grandkids. It's something that we do every year, and the kids really look forward to it.

My Aunt Mickey always cooks dinner for everyone, and every year, I don't eat there because I'm trying to "stay on track". After visiting Mark today, I was just thinking about how dumb it is to skip out on things like that. My aunt makes really great food! So I took a plate, and ate what she made, and I enjoyed every bite. I even had a couple of cookies that the kids made for me. Tomorrow, I'll be more careful, but I'm glad that I ate dinner there today. Mark having cancer has made me stop and think (more than a few times) about what is really important!

Eli showed me his plate of cookies when he was done, and they were totally unappetizing...

The one on the left even has a huge bite out of it, haha. Despite being a super busy day, it's been a very good one!

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Wii Fit U 30-Day Challenge

In a nutshell, my first week of Weight Watchers' Simply Filling plan was a success! I got on the scale this morning for my Wednesday Weigh-in, and saw that my weight was definitely down from last week:

My last "official" weigh-in was Thursday, so it was actually the day after I started Simply Filling, and I was 142.5. So today, at 140 even, I am down 2.5 pounds from 6 days ago. I'm very happy with that!

I was a little nervous about using all of my weekly and activity PointsPlus (on top of all of the Simply Filling foods), but I know that if I want to be successful with this plan, then I need to make it work for me. Using those PointsPlus on foods that I really wanted, but weren't SF-friendly, made it much easier to stick to the plan.

The hardest part was coming up with snack ideas, especially for the afternoon. At night, I've been eating popcorn, but afternoon snacks are tough. I had to think outside the box of what I normally ate, and had oatmeal or cottage cheese with peaches. I missed having a Clif Bar, though! Today, I made some of those banana oatmeal cookies to have in the afternoon; those are Simply Filling (without any add-ins), and they're similar to a bar. Perfect with a cup of tea!

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I started a 30-day challenge today. A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a woman named Justine, who works with a firm that does marketing for certain brands. She asked me if I'd like to do a 30-day Wii Fit U challenge with some other bloggers. I love the Wii Fit, and this was right around the time I was thinking of starting strength training, so it was perfect timing.

The only video games I use are Wii Fit Plus and Wii Active, so I didn't really know what the difference was between Wii Fit and Wii Fit U. I thought that the Wii U was a game or plug-in for the Wii, but it turns out that it's a new console (as explained to me by my 9-year old, hahaha). After a chat on Skype (my first time using Skype--I know, I'm very technologically advanced), Justine sent me the stuff I'd need for the challenge: the console and two Fit Meters.

The Fit Meters look like this:

I was really excited to use the Fit Meter! It clips to your waistband and tracks your movement (similar to the Weight Watchers ActiveLink). It tracks distance, altitude, and intensity. Then you sync it with the Wii Fit U game, and you can see on a map how far you've walked/run. I chose to follow the Chicago route first, so it shows a map of the Chicago running route, and then your Mii moves along the map to show the distance you've gone. It adds to your distance each time you sync the Fit Meter.

Jerry and I have been having a little friendly competition to see who can finish the routes first. I thought, being a runner, that I would beat him quickly; but Jerry gets in a LOT of walking at work, so we've been neck and neck whole way.

The 30-day challenge that I started today is going to be on the Hawaii course:

And I'll also be tracking vertical distance with the Grand Canyon:

The vertical one is going to take a LONG time for me, because we don't have stairs at our house, and everywhere I run is totally flat. So I'll be on the lookout for anywhere that I can add a little bit of a climb.

Justine asked me what my goals were, and I said that I wanted to start a strength training program to help me stay injury-free while running, and help me get stronger/faster. I was surprised that they wrote out a personalized workout for me!

I have to admit, in the entire time I've used the Wii Fit Plus, I've never done the yoga or strength training stuff... I only use the games. But today, I did this routine on the Wii Fit U. It didn't take long, and I didn't get bored with it, because each exercise goes pretty quickly. I certainly wasn't expecting it to be as hard as it was! My muscles were really shaky by the end, especially from the yoga. I think I'm going to like this!

So anyway, for the next 30 days, I'm going to be tracking my distance walked/run, and my altitude climbed for this challenge. I'm also committing to doing the strength routine at least twice a week. Ideally, I would do it three times, but I don't want to commit to that. My main goal is to make strength training a habit, so I'm starting small. I noted all my starting scores for the exercises I did, so I'm hoping to improve them at the end of the challenge!

(Disclosure: Nintendo supplied me with the equipment for the 30-Day Challenge, but I was not paid for this post, or even asked to write a post. All opinions are honest, as always.)

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I got a call from the post office today about the PO Box I just rented. She said that they made a mistake, and gave me one of the small boxes, when I paid for a larger box. She told me that the number should be 405, not 194.

I panicked. I've had the address up since Saturday, and lots of people have sent cards to Mark! She said that there were several cards that arrived today, which is when they noticed the mistake. She said it was no problem, that they would just forward the cards from that box to the new one, but that I should make sure to change the address on anything else from here on out.

So, if you've already sent a card, he'll still get it. If you haven't sent a card yet, but would like to, the new box number is:

Mark P.
c/o Katie Foster
P.O. Box 405
South Rockwood, MI 48179

I'm going to go pick up the mail tomorrow, and I'm hoping that I'll be well enough to go visit Mark by Friday, so I can bring the cards to him then!

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Lunch with the family

This cold I have is driving me crazy. The hearing in my left ear is really muffled, which bothers me more than the congestion and sore throat. It really started to bother me yesterday afternoon, on the way home from La Pita.

Lunch at La Pita was fun! Jerry, the kids, and I went, along with my parents, my sister and her husband, and my older brother and his fiancé. It would have been perfect if my little brother was able to make it, but we couldn't get a hold of him. I was a little nervous about eating out while on Simply Filling, because you never really know how things are prepared. So I ordered my favorite meal there--the chicken kabob, which comes with rice pilaf, hummus, salad, and garlic sauce (I subbed baba ghanoush for the hummus).

I counted the chicken and salad as Simply Filling (0 PP--even if they used a little oil, I can use 2 tsp. of oil a day without counting it). I ate half the baba ghanoush, and skipped the rice and garlic sauce. I also had a small pita bread. I felt satisfied when I was done, and not super full, like I usually feel when I leave there, so I'm happy with how I did.

Almost as soon as I was done eating, though, I got a pounding headache. My throat was really sore, too. The whole way home, I was feeling pretty miserable, and couldn't wait to get into some comfy clothes and lie down. I could really use a decongestant, but I hate taking them, because they make me super jittery. So I just took ibuprofen for my sore throat, and that actually helped me a lot last night.

Yesterday was the first day since starting Simply Filling that I really had the munchies. I kept going back and fourth from the fridge to the pantry, looking for something to snack on, even though I wasn't hungry. I kept it under control though, and I'm glad. Yesterday's food log:

Breakfast: Peppermint Patty protein shake
Snack: cottage cheese with peaches (and string cheese, not pictured)
Lunch: La Pita chicken kabob and salad; baba ghanoush (4 PP), pita (3 PP)
Snack: granola bar (3 PP) and an orange (not pictured)
Dinner: oatmeal with cinnamon raisin peanut butter (5 PP)
Snack: popcorn and beer (2 PP)

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Today, I spent most of the day in my pajamas reading my book. I thought about skipping my run, but my cold isn't in my chest at all, so I knew there was no real reason to skip it. (As a general rule of thumb, I'll still run if the cold is from the neck up, but if it moves to my chest, then I'll rest).

I had a three-mile tempo run on the schedule. The roads are still totally covered in snow and ice, so there was no way I could run for speed outside. I just decided to do the treadmill. Surprisingly, it didn't feel too difficult today, even with my head cold. I managed a sub-8:00 pace for the whole run.

Now, if only it felt that good outside ;)

Today's eats:

Breakfast: oatmeal with Justin's Maple Almond Butter (6 PP)
Lunch: grilled turkey and cheese sandwich and an orange
Snack: single serving bag of Twizzlers Nibs (6 PP) and a latte
Dinner: mahi mahi, peas, and a baked potato
Snack: beer (2 PP) and popcorn

Today is the last day of my first week on Simply Filling, so we'll see what the scale says tomorrow. I used all of my weekly PointsPlus and all of my activity PP. I didn't do any bites, licks, or tastes of things and not count them. I followed the plan the best that I could, so hopefully I get good results, because I REALLY like the plan so far!

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Thank you for the continuous comments, well wishes, and prayers for Mark! I am so excited to go check the PO Box and bring him the cards. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to wait until I kick this cold, though, because I wouldn't want him to get sick.

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Motivational Monday #45

Happy Motivational Monday! I've felt a cold coming on for a few days, but today it really hit me hard. My throat is very sore, I'm congested, and I have a horrible headache. But I've been doing really well on Simply Filling, and I feel great about it. I had a couple of temptations this week--my family Christmas party, and lunch today at La Pita--but I've stuck to the plan and I've made it work into my life, so it's easier to do.

It's been very cold lately, and we got a ton of snow! I got out my IceSpikes and ran with those in the snow, which was actually pretty nice. Running helps clear my sinuses, so even though I didn't feel like going out there this morning, I was glad I did. I didn't realize it until I got home, but today's run was probably the coldest temp I've ever run in!

It was 3 degrees, with a "feels like" temp of -7. If I had seen that before I headed out, I don't know if I actually would have gone ;)  Running through the snow was kind of tough, so even with that pace, which is slower than I'm used to, my heart rate was up quite a bit and I burned almost 100 calories per mile.

Anyway, I hope everyone else is staying active, despite the cold that has hit most of us! :)

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Jen just completed her longest distance race--a 15K! She made a wise choice for her first: The Hot Chocolate 15K :)  She had hip surgery a year ago, and after she was cleared by her doc to get active again, she decided she wanted to run this race. The participants had to maintain a 13:00/mi minimum pace, and Jen was a little nervous about that pressure. Based on her training, she estimated a 12:30-ish pace. She was overjoyed, then, when she crossed the finish line in 1:48:26, an official pace of 11:38/mi!

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Kerry finished her first 5K race! She ran with her best friend Liezl, who, oddly enough, has the same maiden name as Kerry, and both of their husbands are named Daniel. They finished the race together in 37 minutes, and now they're planning on training for a half-marathon!

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Patricia is proud to have run her first 5K race in several years! She plans to sign up for one 5K each month in order to stay motivated to continue running.

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Rachel ran her first official 5K on Saturday--the Christmas Light Run! It was an evening run, and the cold temps almost kept her from going, but her family supported her by bundling up and going to cheer her on. She's already looking forward to the next one!

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Don't forget to check out the Motivational Monday Facebook post for more stories, and to share your own accomplishments!

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Snowy Winers and Family Christmas

Thank you all SO much for the comments on yesterday's post! I know Mark will feel very special to get lots of cards. He's having a biopsy tomorrow, and when we get the results from that, we should know more about his prognosis, and his options as far as making him comfortable. (If you haven't read yesterday's post about Mark, please do!)

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We got a TON of snow yesterday. It snowed hard all day long. I shoveled the driveway a few times, and I'm pretty sore from it today! My wine club meeting was last night, at Jessica's house, and I was worried about driving there. I'm a pretty nervous driver in bad weather, and I even had my mom drive me to the post office to rent the P.O. Box yesterday (my Jeep doesn't handle the snow very well at all). I was so relieved when Stephanie sent me a text asking me if I wanted her to pick me up, because my house is on the way from her house to Jessica's. 

I took out the cute suede coat that I'd bought at a garage sale a couple of years ago, and bundled up in that before heading out into the snow for Winers. I love the hood of this coat, because it has a TON of faux fur.

Stephanie picked me up right as Jerry got home from work, and she surprised me with a bottle of my favorite wine--Kendall Jackson Merlot! She said it was for pacing her during the Monroe Half-Marathon. Completely unnecessary, but I'm excited to drink it :)  She also gave me a jar of her county-fair-award-winning strawberry jam--yum!

Christmas Winers is always fun, because we do a white elephant gift exchange. It was fun to see everyone, because I haven't been going to Winers every month. I'm glad Steph drove me, because otherwise I may have backed out due to the snow-covered roads!

Traditional group photo

Jessica, Steph, me, and Renee... a few of my favorite friends/running buddies!

I had a small taste of each wine, totaling about 6 oz., for 5 PointsPlus. I didn't eat any Simply Filling food while I was there, but I spent some weekly PointsPlus on a few treats. I had a rum ball, a small shortbread cookie, a couple of bites of ginger-walnut bark, and a couple of bites of eggnog cake. The shortbread cookie was fantastic! 

I stayed on track with Simply Filling, and it wasn't as hard as I thought. I ate the things I wanted, knowing I'd have to count them against my weekly PointsPlus, but I just had a small amount and felt good about it. My food log from yesterday:

Breakfast: Peppermint Patty protein shake

Lunch: Quinoa with spinach, feta, garlic, and chicken; marinated cucumbers

Snack: light English muffin with peanut butter (5 PP)

Dinner: Keema with brown rice

Snack (at Winers): 6 oz. wine (the wine photo was from the day before, but I forgot to take pics at Winers); rum ball, cookie, couple bites of eggnog cake, couple bites of ginger-walnut bark

After Stephanie dropped me off at home, I saw that Jerry left a message for me in the snow:

He had taken green food coloring and water, put it in a spray bottle, and sprayed "I LOVE YOU". I love it when he does stuff like that! :)

Today was my family's Christmas party at my parents' house. This is probably the hardest day of the year for me to eat well and stay on track. Everybody brings really yummy food, and rather than sitting down for a meal, everyone just snacks the whole time. There was buffalo dip, buffalo mac & cheese, a baked potato bar, soups, chips and dip, and all sorts of things to eat. I ate some (Simply Filling friendly) leftover keema and brown rice just before everyone got there, so that I wouldn't be tempted to go way off plan. I did have a piece of German Chocolate Upside Down Cake that my mom made. It was SO good.

It was a small piece, so I counted it as 5 PointsPlus. Throughout the rest of the day, I ended up eating another piece and a half, so I counted 13 PP. I stayed away from everything else, except for a couple of chocolate covered cookies (very tiny, I guessed 2 PP each). For dinner, I had brought over lentil chili (which is Simply Filling), so the only PointsPlus I spent today were on the cake and cookies. I am really happy with how I did, considering the circumstances!

It was nice to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins today, because it seems like we only see each other once or twice a year these days. We did a white elephant gift exchange, which was fun. Once everyone left the party, we did our private gift exchange with my parents; my sister, Jeanie; her husband, Shawn; my brother, Brian; his fiancé, Becky (yes, they just got engaged!); my little brother, Nathan; and of course, Jerry, Noah, Eli, and me.

I got a couple of running shirts (including Under Armour Cold Gear, which I can certainly use right now!), a gift card, some Bath & Body Works stuff, and some smelly-good stuff for my house. 

A little while later, Noah called me into the kitchen and handed me something wrapped in tissue paper. When I opened it, it was $5 (some of his Christmas money from my sister). He said it was because he got a lot more gifts than I did. Of course I gave it back to him, and I told him that I got a lot of stuff, it was just wrapped up together instead of individually. He is such a sweet boy!

After we opened gifts, we watched Spaceballs (an old family favorite movie) for a little while, but I was feeling super tired, so we left halfway through. I was dying to get into my pajamas! I hadn't planned to write today, but I just had so much to write about. Don't forget, tomorrow is Motivational Monday, so if you have a picture of a health/fitness accomplishment that you want to share, just email it to me along with a brief description, and I may include it on tomorrow's post!

I'm super tired, and not going to proofread this... g'night!

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Sad news

My family received some devastating news yesterday, and it's all I've really been able to think about. I've written a few times here about Mark, a friend of our family who has special needs. He's been pretty sick, and went into the hospital a couple of days ago. Well, he just found out that he has lung cancer, and it's terminal. It spread to his liver, his brain, his spine--basically all over.

Until I was 15 years old, my family lived in a small town about 20 minutes away from where we are now. There is a group home for adults with special needs there, and one of the residents, Mark, could always be seen out walking through the neighborhoods, getting some fresh air. My dad befriended him (about 35 years ago), and several times a year, picks him up from the group home and takes him fishing, or to Cabela's, or just to my parents house to hang out. His birthday is on Halloween, so every Halloween, we have a small party for him at my parents' house, and then he sticks around to help pass out candy.

Jerry, Mark, and me, this past Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, mainly for the fact that it's also Mark's birthday. Mark is the very definition of the word "grateful". Whenever we ask what he wants for his birthday, he just says, "Oh, any old thing, I don't need anything. I got everything I need!" In terms of possessions, he really doesn't have much of anything, but he is SO happy. It's such a joy to give him a gift, because he is just so grateful, and will thank you a dozen times, like it's the best thing he's ever gotten.

Unfortunately, Mark only has one living relative, a nephew who he only just met recently. He was orphaned when he was very young (I believe he was eight years old). That was also the extent of his education. He was passed around to different homes for a while, and then was placed in his current group home. He's been living there for nearly his entire life, so it's really the only home he knows. Which makes this whole thing even harder, because Mark will have to spend his last days in the hospital, or a nursing home, which could be for a year! From what my dad told me, they can't take him back into the group home, the home he loves, because they aren't equipped to handle his cancer.

When I heard the news of his cancer, I was so heart-broken. I think it's so unfair that it had to happen to him. He's only his his mid-50's, and he's so content with his very simple life. I wanted to do something for him, and since he's so happy with what he has, giving him things isn't going to help.

I decided to rent a P.O. Box, and ask for your help in making him feel cared about. I'm not asking for donations, but I am asking all of you to please send him a "get well soon" card. We know that, short of a miracle, he's not going to get well; but I think he would be overjoyed to get cards from all over the world, wishing him well. He has no idea what a blog is, so he doesn't know about Runs for Cookies; but I'll explain to him that you're my friends, and I told you about him.

Here is the P.O. Box address where you can send cards. I'll collect them, bring them to the hospital, and read them to him (he's not able to read).

(Update: I've removed the address. Mark passed away in March 2014. Thank you all SO VERY MUCH for every single card, drawing, picture, letter, gift, and well-wish you sent! Mark really cherished them, and his bed was surrounded by the cards and pictures you sent.)

I would absolutely love for him to receive hundreds of well-wishes, and I thank you in advance for doing this. It means so much to me! If you pray, please say a prayer for him; and if not, please send some positive thoughts his way.

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My brothers and sister are going to be in town this weekend, so I probably won't get a chance to write tomorrow. I'll resume with Motivational Monday, if I don't write tomorrow. Have a great weekend!

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A bitterly cold long run

I've noticed that ever since the Chicago Marathon, I've really started to dread my runs. Sure, I'll never be one of those runners that can't wait to get out the door and go for a run, but I haven't dreaded running like this in a long time. So I've decided to make some changes to my running schedule.

I enjoyed running six days a week while training for Chicago, but I think I'm burnt out on it now. I'm going to go back to five days a week, and maybe just four down the road. Also, I'm not going to have target paces for my runs. There are some days that I just want to go out for a nice, long "jog", without much effort. And some days, I really want to push the pace and run hard. But it's kind of unpredictable, so I'm just going to aim for a certain mileage and run whatever pace feels comfortable that day.

I am, however, still going to have tempo runs and speed work. I'm not going to aim for a particular pace during those; I'll just run by effort level, and see what happens. This is what I used to do last winter, and I got a lot faster. I also enjoyed it, which is most important. I'm still hopeful that I can reach my new running goals for next year but if not, at least I won't dread trying ;) So, based on that, here is my revised schedule:

I like the repetition during the week. The only days that vary are Fridays and Sundays, but that is just a slight variation as well. I don't plan to do BOTH of the half-marathons that I have listed; I just have the second one on there as a back-up, in case I don't reach my goal on the first one. I'm much happier with this schedule, and I won't dread the runs like I have been.

So today, I did a 10-mile long run. It was very cold again today, a "feels like" temp of 8 degrees when I headed out. I wore my Cold Gear tights with a thin pair of yoga pants over them, a long-sleeved tech shirt with a fleece jacket, ear warmer headband, and gloves. I also put Aquaphor on my face to protect it from the wind.

The actual temp was 19 degrees, but it was pretty windy, which made it feel like, well, 8 degrees. And naturally, I had a headwind on the way out. The only positive thing about that is I knew I was going to have a tailwind for the last five miles; but that first five was BRUTAL. A couple of miles in, I was really rethinking if I should even finish it. But I kept focusing on how much better I'd feel after I turned around at mile five.

I kept hoping the sun would come out, to make me feel a little warmer, but it was completely overcast. The shoulders of the roads were very icy, so I ran on the road itself when I could, but I kept having to dodge ice patches. Once I turned around, it was so much nicer. I was still cold, but I felt a lot warmer than I had on the way out. The last five miles felt like they went by a lot faster, probably because I was more comfortable. I even took off my gloves for the last mile. My splits were ridiculously even, despite the fact that I wasn't aiming for any particular pace:

I felt really proud that I stuck it out in that cold! And, because I didn't feel pressure to keep a certain pace, I really enjoyed it (well, minus the freezing cold part).

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Today was Day 3 of Simply Filling, and I did great! I earned 17 Activity PointsPlus on my run, but I wasn't sure how to spend them. Nothing really sounded very good! I developed a horrible sore throat (probably whatever Eli had), so I finally settled on ice cream, which sounded soothing. I got one of those mini containers of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia, for 6 PP. Here is today's food long:

Breakfast: scrambled egg + egg white, roasted sweet potatoes
Lunch: tuna salad sandwich, orange, pickle
Snack: cottage cheese and peaches
Snack: light English muffin with peanut butter (5 PP)
Dinner: Greek chicken sandwich (1 PP), marinated cucumbers
Long run treat: 1/2 cup B&J's Cherry Garcia (6 PP)

So I spent 12 PointsPlus total today; everything else was Simply Filling. I'm really liking the SF plan so far! I haven't been hungry, and I haven't had cravings (particularly sweet cravings). And I'm surprised that I've managed to do well with portion control, even though I don't measure things out. It's kind of liberating :)

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