Fitbit and a bike ride

As someone who loves gadgets and numbers, I'd been thinking about getting a Fitbit for a couple of years. A Fitbit is an activity tracker, like the Weight Watchers Active Link that I wore for a while. It keeps track of steps, calories burned, and some other stuff, depending on what model you get. I liked the WW Active Link, but I didn't like that it automatically gave me activity points (there was no override). I also didn't like the fact that there was a $5 fee per month to use it.

I'd looked into Fitbits for a long time, but just never really felt the need to have one. I used the Active Link, and, more recently, the Wii U Fit Meter. The Fit Meter is a fun little gadget, but the distance and calories burned aren't at all accurate (the step count was the only thing that I found accurate with it). 

When Garmin came out with a Vivofit activity tracker, I was really intrigued. I love my Garmin running watch, and the Vivofit has a lot of cool features. However, I am very unhappy with Garmin's customer service. Every single time I've tried getting in touch with them in regards to a question about my watch, it has gone unanswered. I would have liked to stay true to the brand, but after researching some more on the Fitbit, I decided to go ahead and get one!

There are three different models: the Zip, the Flex, and the One. After checking out the features on all of them, I surprisingly decided to go with the simplest of the three--the Zip. The Flex and the One track sleeping patterns, which doesn't interest me, and they track stairs climbed (I don't have stairs, and can't see myself going out of my way to find stairs to climb for that purpose). So, the Zip it was. And I was even able to get it in one of my favorite colors:

I like being able to track my steps. It pushes me to move more during the day when I'm not running. I was tracking steps with the Fit Meter, and it really did make me move more on a day-to-day basis, especially on my rest days. The Zip also tracks distance, calories, and "very active" minutes (intentional exercise). It gives me a goal to reach toward each day, which I like.

I've only had it for a couple of days, so I won't comment too much on it just yet, but so far, I really like it. I find the step count, distance, and calorie count to be pretty accurate. Jerry got one, too, so we can continue to compete with each other in our steps each day. I'll write a little more about it once I've used it for a while.

This morning, my mom sent me a text to ask if I might want to go for a bike ride at the Metropark. It was really nice outside, and I decided to forgo my interval run for a leisurely bike ride with my mom. It ended up being a great decision! 

We drove to the Metropark with our bikes, and we rode on the path that I usually run (the one I just did for my long run Sunday). My bike hasn't even seen the light of day for a couple of years, because I just don't like to ride, but I'm glad I took it out today. My legs were definitely feeling the workout, because I was using muscles that I haven't used in a while. 

We were riding at a leisurely pace, and at first, I felt like I could go on forever. But we rode out about 6-7 miles, and by then, my butt bones were killing me from the seat! We turned around and headed back the same way we came. We had a headwind on the way back, which made it a little more difficult, but we managed.

I'd never had to change gears on my bike before, so I was really clueless what the different gears were for. But I remember someone (probably a reader!) telling me that you shift gears to go uphill, and I tried that while riding up the overpass. It was awesome! I couldn't believe how much easier it felt. My poor mom had to ride up on her cruiser bike ;)

Yeah, it was a little windy, too

I should've taken more pictures, but this was the only one that I took--at the top of the overpass. 

When we got back to the car, we'd gone 14.6 miles. I don't know that I've ever gone that far on a bike before! We were riding for about two hours. My butt bones were really hurting by that point, and I have a feeling I'm going to be a little sore tomorrow ;)

Still going strong with my no-sweets challenge for May. Yesterday was REALLY difficult. We went to the kids' school for an open house/bake sale/raffle type thing, and as soon as we walked in to the cafeteria, I smelled a (very familiar) scent--Monica's doughnuts! They had a ton of them for the bake sale, along with all kinds of homemade baked goods. The kids each picked out a cookie, and I was thisclose to quitting my challenge, but I stayed strong. That was a big test of willpower!

Tonight, Jerry has two softball games--the first games of his season--and the kids and I are going to go watch him play. I can't believe it's softball season already! This year is flying by.

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Motivational Monday #61

Happy Motivational Monday! I hope everyone has had a great couple of weeks. I missed Motivational Monday last week, because I was super busy with my family (oh, and helping my sister through her first marathon!)

As you know, I gave up sweets/desserts for the month of May, and it's been really hard. I have cravings every day, and it's not getting any easier, but I'm managing. I want to prove to myself that I can do it! That's why I like doing little challenges like this sometimes--I would never want to give up desserts forever, but it really does strengthen my willpower when I can complete a challenge like this.  It's only 31 days, so I know I can do it.

What have you done this week to make you feel proud? Here are some submissions for Motivational Monday--and they are definitely motivating!

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Maggie (on the left) started running in 2010, and has since gotten several of her friends to join her! In 2012, Lauren (on right) did the Couch to 5K program, and the two of them did the Color Run together in Philadelphia. Last Sunday, they both ran the Nike Women's Half Marathon in Washington DC! Maggie works with Girls on the Run, a program that helps build confidence in elementary and middle school aged girls while they train to run a 5K. She said a lot of the GOTR groups are looking for women that can be "running buddies" to the girls during their first 5K. You can get more info at gotr.org.

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Carol has been running for five years now, and in the fall, she was featured on Motivational Monday because she ran a 5K without any walk breaks. Today, Carol is very proud to say that she PR'ed her half-marathon time by five minutes! It was a very hilly course, and she'd just recovered from a sinus infection, but she managed to finish in 2:46 (previous PR was 2:51). She included this picture of her at a race--do you recognize who she's standing with? That's Meb Keflezighi, the winner of the 2014 Boston Marathon! Meb was also at the half-marathon she just PR'ed.

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For the past couple of years, Katie (far right) and her mom, Claire (far left), have gotten together for Claire's birthday to do something active. The past two years, they walked half-marathons together in Nashville and Louisville. They live hours apart, so they have to train separately, but they enjoy the challenge of doing the events together. For Claire's birthday this year, she traveled to visit Katie in Columbia, SC, to do a 5-Mile race with a couple of Katie's friends. They had a gorgeous day and a great race!

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After Tori's sister (left) told Tori (right) that she hates running, Tori did what any good sister would do: she entered them both into the lottery for the Nike Women's Half-Marathon in Washington DC. Tori was thrilled when they were selected, and the pair trained together. Last weekend, they crossed that finish line holding hands!

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Kathryn just had an incredible month of races in April! She ran the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler on April 6th; on April 13th, she ran the George Washington Parkway Classic 10-Miler, and PR'ed the previous week's race by over 2 minutes; and then on April 26th, she ran her first half-marathon! She ran the Ocean City Island to Island half-marathon in 2:23. She started running in the spring of last year, which has helped her keep off 40 pounds!

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Tomorrow, Nancy will be 50 years young, and she wanted to get in shape for her special birthday. She started taking Zumba classes, counting calories, and even signed up for a 10K walk in Portland. And yesterday, she completed it! It was her first race event, and she walked the 10K in 1:53. Her son walked with her, and really helped her through the last mile.

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After losing 90 pounds and keeping it off for FOUR years, Melinda is proud that she just completed her first 10K--placing first in her age group, too! She finished in 57:01, and the little guy who is hugging her completed the 5K in just 28 minutes. He then offered her water and a butt massage ;)

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Christina just ran a race called the Bolder Prix, which is a qualifying run for the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day. The Boulder Boulder has about 50,000 race participants, and the start is organized in waves. The "F" wave is the slowest qualifying wave, and then the waves slower than that are "non-qualifying". Christina ran the Boulder Prix several years ago, and when she finished, she was handed a card that read: "You finished! Sign up for any non-qualifying wave". Basically, she didn't qualify. So on Saturday, she ran the Bolder Prix again, and was handed her card at the finish line: "Congratulations! You qualified for the F wave!" She said that seeing that card was better than any medal that's been put around her neck :)

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Don't forget to check out more stories on the Motivational Monday Facebook post! There are lots more race photos there, too :)

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Cyclists

The kids stayed the night at my parents' house last night, so I planned to run as soon as I got up this morning. I wanted to get my run done before 10:00, because I was hoping to stalk Thomas during his second marathon (using live tracking). His marathon started at 7:00 (Pacific time), which was 10:00 for me(Eastern time).

I couldn't stand the thought of running the same old routes that I always do around here, so I decided I was going to drive somewhere for a change of scenery. I ended up parking at the high school by the Metropark. Usually, when I park there, I end up running into the Metropark; but today, I chose the opposite direction, just for something different. It didn't seem very windy outside, so I just hoped it stayed that way. I was comfortable in capris and a t-shirt. I ended up getting a late start, but thought I could still be done close to 10:00.

Within seconds of the moment I started running on the bike path, I saw a huge group of cyclists coming toward me. I never see that many people on the path, even spread out through the whole route, let alone in a pack. We exchanged "Good morning"'s as we passed each other, and I kept running. And the bikes kept coming.

I noticed that they had numbers pinned to their backs, so I assumed it was some sort of race or cycling club or something. (I later did a google search, and discovered it was the Metro Grand Spring Tour put on by the Downriver Cycling Club.) Seeing the cyclists made the time go by so fast--there were probably about 120 of them total?

It also made my pace a little too fast! I'm supposed to do my long runs at a 9:53/mile pace, and I was definitely going faster than that. In the second mile, I had to run on an overpass, which, to me, felt like a mountain. I'm not used to hills! I did an out-and-back route, so I had to do the overpass twice.

I like this route, because there is a little bit of everything to see. I went over the overpass, and then through the woods, and then along a pretty busy road. Once I saw the first couple of splits were 9:16 and 9:15, I decided to try and keep my pace under 9:30. But each mile, I ended up doing a bit faster than that. I started to do the math in my head, to see if I could finish my run before Thomas started his marathon at 10:00 (EST). It would be close, but it would be a fun challenge to try.

I was almost expecting to crash, especially when I saw splits of 9:05 and 9:06. But I kept on running, and seeing the cyclists pass was making the mileage fly by. A couple of the cyclists were looking at a map, at an intersection, and they were really confused about which way to go. So I helped them figure it out, and then I was only a mile from my car.

Because I was greeting the cyclists who were passing me, I wasn't paying much attention to my pace, and I finished mile 9 in 8:58. Then I realized that I had about 9 minutes until Thomas's marathon started, so I decided to go for another sub-9:00 mile. I got to my car just in time, at 9:59 ;)

I finished with a 9:08 pace, which (if I were running a half-marathon) would have been a sub-2:00 finish time. I feel really good about that! I feel more confident that I could probably pull off a sub-2:00 if I wanted (NOT for the Heartbreak Hill Half, though--I'll be lucky if I hit 2:15 for that one!).

I was super thirsty, and a diet root beer sounded SO good (there is an A&W near where I parked). There were too many cyclists along the road for me to turn into the A&W (safely, anyway), so I just drove home, skipping the root beer. My legs felt a little bit sore, so I am definitely going to take it very easy on tomorrow's run.

When I got home, I took a quick shower and then checked the marathon website to see how Thomas was doing. He hadn't hit the first checkpoint, which was 8 miles in, so I thought, "Oh no! What happened?" It wasn't until THEN that I noticed the race didn't start until 8:30 (Pacific), NOT 7:00, like I'd thought. Oh, well, at least it lit a fire under me to run faster today ;)

This afternoon, I went to a fundraiser for my friend Sarah's children. She's the one who died from melanoma in March. There was a craft show/bake sale/raffle today, and the proceeds would go to her kids. I went with Noah and Eli, and we bought a bunch of raffle tickets. The kids loved choosing where to place their tickets--hopefully, they win something! The fundraiser seemed to have a great turnout, so I'm happy that Sarah's kids will benefit from it.

The past couple of days have seemed SO long. It's been really, really hard to not have any sweets. Normally, on my long run day each week, I get some sort of treat--a big cookie, or some ice cream, or something like that. Today, I felt disappointed that I couldn't get anything. I had been planning to get a hot pretzel from the mall, but once I finished my run, a pretzel just didn't sound good; I wanted ice cream! May is going to go by so, so slowly ;)

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Dip-netting

What the heck is with all this wind we've been getting?! It's finally warm enough to NOT have snow, but it's still not even enjoyable to be outside because it's been so windy. I just feel like after the winter we've had, we deserve to have some nice weather.

This morning, I watched a movie with the kids, and then was trying to think of something active we could do. I decided to take them to the Metropark with their bikes, so that they could ride bikes while I got in my five-mile run. I can't fit their bikes in the Jeep, and we don't have a hitch to be able to carry them on the back, so I hoped that my dad would let me use his truck.

The boys rode their bikes to my parents' house while I followed in the car. My dad said I could take the truck if I wanted, but he had been planning to take the kids to the Metropark at around noon to dip net. (Dip-netting is where you drop a big net off of a bridge into the water, and pull it up once in a while to catch fish. I used to do it all the time when I was a kid, and my kids love it now, too.) I like dip-netting because it's more humane than fishing with a hook. The fish don't get hurt, and it's fun to pull up the net to see if you got anything.

The wind was really bad, and I wasn't even sure if the kids would enjoy riding their bikes in the wind like that, so I decided to just go for a run and then go dip-netting afterward with the kids. The kids stayed with my dad while I ran around the neighborhoods to get in five miles at an easy pace.

Five miles is my shortest run of the week, but it felt SO long. I just felt really fatigued, and my legs didn't want to move. Running into the wind wasn't exactly fun, either. I even had to run right past my house (I started the run from my parents' house), and it was tempting to call it quits there. But I finished.

I just really hope that tomorrow's long run feels better than today's run. It's supposed to be windy tomorrow, too, so I may wind up on the treadmill.

After I went home, took a shower, and ate lunch, I headed back over to my parents' house. I decided to drive to the Metropark separately, because I don't like to stay nearly as long as my dad and the kids do. I met them at the park, and instantly wished I'd brought my winter coat and gloves. And a hat. Thankfully, I'd grabbed Jerry's jacket as I was leaving the house, but I wished it was warmer. It was overcast, and the wind had picked up even more, and occasionally, I felt a few raindrops.

They caught a few fish, but didn't keep any of them. My dad brings two nets--one big one for catching fish, and a mini one for catching minnows (to use as bait on a couple of poles). My dad has been dip-netting for his entire life, and he's never caught anything but minnows and tadpoles in the mini net; but today, he managed to catch a huge carp.

Aside from that one, he caught two more in the big net. I thought he said those were carp too, but they look different, so I might be wrong. I'm not a fisherman!

I completed Day 3 of no desserts/sweets. Today was much harder for me than the first two days. I was starving at about 1:30 this afternoon, even after eating lunch, and I kept thinking about ice cream. The day felt like it went by so slowly, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to stick to my challenge today. But I did it--no sweets.

However, I ended up eating way too many almonds! I was feeling really snacky, and kept going back to the pantry and taking a handful. Tomorrow, I'll have to make sure they're locked in my Kitchen Safe, but I feel really full right now from eating too many of them. On a positive note, almonds are healthier than ice cream, and I surely would have been eating ice cream if it wasn't for this challenge ;)

Three days down, and 28 more to go!

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Busy morning

I was really looking forward to using today to catch up on everything I'm behind on--namely, e-mail, laundry, and writing a new training plan for my sister. I didn't have any plans today (other than a six-mile run), so I was ready to get stuff done. And then today ended up being super busy, and I didn't even get a chance to sit down until now (almost 7:00 pm).

We've been having some issues with Eli, and after poking around online, I decided I wanted to take him to the doctor today. He has a pretty bad snoring problem, and I was thinking that the snoring meant he didn't get any quality sleep, and therefore, was very irritable.

Before taking him to the doctor, I had to take care of an issue with our health insurance. I wanted to get this done today, because I didn't want to be thinking about it all weekend. I took the kids to the bus stop, and then right after that I went to the office where I could speak with someone about the insurance. Right after that, I sat in my car in the parking lot and called the pediatrician to see if I could get Eli in today.

They said they could see him in an hour. His school was about a half-hour away, so I immediately went to the school to pick him up. I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, and I was starving, so I stopped at a gas station and got a granola bar. Then I picked up Eli, and drove another half-hour back to the doctor's office. Eli was due for a regular check-up anyway, so they did all of that poking and prodding along with checking him out for his snoring issue.

The doctor said that his left nostril is completely blocked, so he can't get any air through there, and that was likely the cause of his snoring. His tonsils weren't too large, so she didn't mention removing them or anything. She gave him a script for a nasal spray to try for a couple of weeks, and if that doesn't help him breathe better, she'll refer him to an otolaryngologist (wow, I spelled that right on the first try!).

He had to get blood drawn, so I took him to the lab, which is next door to the pediatrician, and then I took him back to school. I realize this is a very long and drawn out story, and there really isn't a point to it--I just ended up having a very busy morning ;)

I ate lunch, and then did my run in the afternoon. I just did a six-mile out-and-back route. During the last mile, I decided to throw in some strides, just for the heck of it. Strides are very short (about 50-100 meters) bursts of speed. My legs felt springy, and it felt good to run hard just for a moment at a time. I looked at my Garmin and actually saw a 5:22 pace for one of them! Granted, it was for all of 10 seconds. And then it took me a good 3-4 minutes to recover from it, haha.

I took a little detour on the way home, because there was some traffic and it was hard to cross the street where I normally do, so I just kept going straight. I ended up doing almost an extra half-mile.

My splits were super consistent until I did the strides. I didn't even realize it at the time, because I was trying not to look at my watch.

This afternoon, I was putting away some clothes when I realized that a lot of the clothes in the kids' closets are too small now, and that led to me sorting and organizing their dressers and closets. I wound up with a few garbage bags of clothes to donate. It always feels so nice to get rid of stuff.

I never did end up getting to my email, but hopefully I'll catch up this weekend. Day two of no dessert went well. I was tempted to get an ice cream cone from McDonald's while I was out (I love them, and they're only 5 PointsPlus); then after dinner, I (once again) wanted something sweet. I've realized that after dinner is when my sweet tooth starts nudging me to have dessert. I decided to clean out the litter box--which never fails to make me lose my appetite! Phoebe was grateful...

I just love it when the cats roll onto their backs and practically beg me to pet their bellies :)

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Pushing through the nausea

I woke up after having the strangest dream this morning, and I was so sure that it was real. I dreamed that I had to match my running clothes to my pajamas for my morning run, and it was really important to get it right! When I woke up, I felt very anxious about it, and kept trying to remember exactly what the instructions were. After a few minutes, I realized it was, in fact, a very weird dream ;)

Today was Day 1 of no sweets, and it went pretty well! I ate a banana right when I got up, and then after I got the kids off to school, I made breakfast. I was craving Brussels sprouts (yes, Brussels sprouts), so I had them as a side with cheese grits. I normally wouldn't have eaten so much before a run, especially a tempo run, and it came back to bite me later.

I had plans to get together with Jessica at noon, so I knew I had to start my run by 9:30--not much time to digest my breakfast. Today I had a half-marathon-pace run on the schedule: 1 mile warm-up with 5 miles at half-marathon pace. Last week, I had the same run, and my splits (after the warm-up) were: 8:55, 9:01, 8:57, 8:54, and 8:51. Today, I wanted to see if I could do them a little bit faster; not much, but enough to improve a little.

It was so nice outside! I wore capris and a t-shirt, and felt great. Unfortunately, it was really windy, which made me feel like I was working much harder than I was. I ran a mile to warm-up, and then picked up the pace. I was trying to keep my pace under 8:55-ish. Running into the wind was hard, but I kept reminding myself that once I turned around, it would be a breeze (literally).

It did feel a lot better, and I didn't feel like I was working so hard. But then, at around mile four, I got really nauseous. My stomach felt awful, and I knew it was from my large breakfast. My pace slowed to about 9:10, and I almost decided to take a walk break (something I never do!). But I told myself that I was going to push hard through this run, and I would either A) throw-up, and then give myself permission to walk home, or B) push through the nausea, and make myself hold pace.

Thankfully, the nausea only lasted about a quarter mile, and once I felt a little better, I was so glad that I pushed through it! I would have been really bummed about the run all day if I'd quit early. I managed to pick up the pace a little more for the last mile, and I finished feeling good--but totally wiped out. I can't believe how hard this pace feels now! My long run pace was faster than this a year ago. For a 1:50 half marathon (my goal for November), I'll have to run an 8:24 pace. Yikes!

My splits were faster than last week, but my heart rate was also quite a bit higher--probably due to the wind. I always feel good after my runs on Thursdays, because I don't have another "hard" run until Tuesday. Getting my Tuesday and Thursday runs done always feels like a big accomplishment! It feels kind of like crossing a mini finish line.

I took a quick shower, and then got ready to go meet Jessica at Panera for lunch. I used to get together with Jessica and Renee quite a bit, but this winter was so rough, I didn't really see my friends much. I've missed them! Hopefully I'll get together with Renee soon, too.

At Panera, I ordered a bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup, with 2 oz. baguette, and a cup of fresh fruit--8 PointsPlus total. I was going to take a picture, but I realized that I'd left my phone at home. The soup was really good! Normally, I get Black Bean, but the Chicken Noodle sounded good today. Jessica and I chatted for a couple of hours, and it felt really good to catch up.

I stayed pretty busy until dinnertime, so I didn't have horribly cravings for sweets or anything. I made a frittata for dinner, and immediately afterward, I wanted something sweet. Normally, I would have had a couple of pieces of chocolate, or a lemon bar or something. Instead, I decided to sit down and write my blog post, and Jerry made me a cup of tea. Jerry decided to give up coffee (along with sweets) this month, so he had a cup of tea, too. He enjoyed the tea (David's "Coffee Cake" flavor), but he said he missed his coffee.

One day down, and just 30 days to go without sweets! ;)

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May challenge

I was pretty much expecting to see a five-pound gain on the scale this morning, after the weekend I had. I ate out a few times, and I went WAY over my points on Sunday at Jeanie's party. At best, I expected to have gained about two pounds, but five was more likely.

I think maybe the extra mileage I've been putting in has helped out, because I was very surprised to see that I didn't gain anything this week. I didn't lose, but I didn't gain, either.

After getting the kids off to school, I headed to Weight Watchers. I knew I wasn't anywhere near goal, so I just weighed in with my shoes on. I used to always weigh in with shoes, but I stopped doing it when my weight got very close to goal, because I didn't want to be over goal.

Anyway, I was disappointed to see that Glenda (my leader) wasn't there today. She was home sick, so there was a different woman who led the meeting today. She was very nice, and I felt bad for her--shortly after she started the meeting, a woman walked in, looked at her, and rudely said, "OH, Glenda's not here? I'm leaving then!" The leader (I forget her name) just said, "Glenda is great--I would probably choose her over me, too!"

I find myself really looking forward to seeing the "regulars" at the meetings each week. There are a few Lifetime members, which is nice; I like to hear how they do with maintenance, and all the ups and downs that go with it.

Today, the meeting topic was about plateaus. I've never really experienced a genuine plateau. If my weight stays the same, it's always been because I didn't measure my portions, or I went over my points or calories, etc. I think a plateau is when you're doing everything RIGHT, and the weight stops coming off for a while.

One of the things that the leader mentioned, which I whole-heartedly agreed with, is that when things are feeling stale, it can really help to go back to square one and pretend you're a new member. Set fresh goals and go back to measuring food to make sure you're getting the right portions. I've had to do that lots of times, and it really does help to change my mindset!

Speaking of goals, I decided I am going to go ahead and give up sweets for the month of May. I'm not giving up sugar altogether; just desserts/sweets. No cakes, cookies, candy, etc. But I put a teaspoon of sugar in my tea every day, and I don't consider that a dessert, so I'll still have that. I also won't give up items that contain sugar, but aren't dessert--like ketchup, jam, and cereal.

It's going to be really difficult for me--I love my desserts! But I really like focusing on one particular challenge. In February, I challenged myself to get in 10,000 steps per day, and that was at the forefront of my mind. Since it's "just" 31 days, I should be able to give up dessert for the month of May!

I decided to go for another goal of mine, too--I'm going to train for a sub-1:50 half-marathon this fall. It's definitely shooting for the moon, but I'm hoping that by writing it, I'll follow through and push my hardest to do it (or at least come close) ;)  My goal race will be the Monroe Half Marathon on November 9th--that's my hometown race, and it's very small--which is good for a PR. My current PR is 1:52:07, from 2013. I was about 131 pounds when I ran that half, and losing this extra weight would definitely help me get back to that sort of speed again.

Once I complete the Heartbreak Hill Hat Trick on June 7 & 8, I'm going to take a a week or so off, then do a few weeks of easy training, and then start with the training for a 1:50 half marathon. It's going to be tough, but I feel ready to push myself hard again! I'm actually looking forward to it.

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Spring has sprung! (finally)

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain pouring outside. It wasn't a light rain, either. I had been hoping to do my strength run outside today, because last week, I did it on the treadmill. I like running in the rain, but not when it's coming down ridiculously hard--and not for 8.5 miles, which was on the schedule today.

The kids got up a little too early, so we watched Cutthroat Kitchen before they had to start getting ready for school. I'd never seen that show until just recently, but it's a great show! I really like Alton Brown, so I love that he hosts it.

Anyway, after I got the kids off to school, I had to hurry and get on the treadmill. I had plans to meet my friend Andrea at 10:00, and I knew my run would take an hour and fifteen minutes or so. Today's plan:

-1 mile warm-up
-3 repeats of the following:
    -2 miles at 8:45-ish pace
    -1/2 mile recovery jog

I set the treadmill at 6.0 mph for the warm-up, and then decided to do the intervals at an 8:34 pace instead (7.0 instead of 6.9 mph). I ran at that speed for about a half mile before I decided to switch it back. Not that it made a huge difference, but I wasn't feeling as good today as I was last week.

I really wanted to quit early--just do one or two repeats and call it a day. But quitting early would have made me feel bad all day about it, because I knew I was perfectly capable of finishing. It wasn't until five miles in that I started to feel pretty good. Still, I was happy when I was done!

I took a quick shower, and then headed over to my friend Andrea's house. We used to get together for tea sometimes, but it had been over a year since we'd done that. We made some tea and chatted for a couple of hours. She's been through quite a bit over the past year, and it was nice to catch up.

By the time I left Andrea's, the sun was shining and it was really warm outside! It finally feels like spring around here. I love being able to open up the windows in the house. Estelle has been loving the sunshine, too. She knows better than to get up on the dining table, but today she figured it was worth sneaking up there.

Tomorrow, I have Weight Watchers in the morning. I wish I could say that I'm hopeful for a great weigh-in, but I went way over my points on Sunday. I also went out to eat a few times this week, just because of my sister being in town and going to Toledo for the race. So I'm not sure where my weight will be tomorrow, but if it's up, I know it's because of the weekend. I don't have anything else going on until June, so hopefully I can keep it together ;)

I was thinking about coming up with some sort of goal for May. I actually like challenging myself to something for a short amount of time. I'm toying with the idea of giving up sweets for the month--that would be the hardest thing I could do! But I think I could probably do it for a month. I'll give it some thought tomorrow and hopefully come up with a plan. If not the sweets challenge, maybe I'll do a no-eating-out challenge. We've been eating out a little too often lately, so it would be good to quit that. I think this nice weather lately has been making me feel ambitious!

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Glass City Marathon Relay race report

I feel much more refreshed after a good night's sleep last night. I had such a busy weekend with my family! It was so much fun, and I didn't even have a spare moment to write a blog post. If I don't post on my blog, I still usually post on social media--Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram--because that only takes a second. But anyway, I will recap the weekend here, which could end up being a pretty lengthy post!

Friday:
My sister, Jeanie, and her friend, Jen, drove in from Illinois. We, along with my mom, Jerry, and the kids, went to La Pita for dinner. Jeanie always likes to eat there when she's in Michigan for a visit. On Friday evening, Jeanie, Jen, and I went to a local bar to play Keno. The only time I've ever gambled has been with my sister! It was a fun, low-key evening.

Saturday:
I did my long run Saturday morning, 12 miles, because I knew I wouldn't be able to do it on Sunday. When I got home, I took a shower and packed up my stuff for the race, and then headed down to Toledo with Jeanie, Jen, Audrey, and Debbie (Jeanie's friends). We met up with Cathy (another of Jeanie's friends), Jerry, and Nathan (my little brother).

We went to the Glass City Marathon race expo to pick up our packets. Jeanie was running the full marathon, and there were five of us running the relay at her pace--Audrey, Jen, Debbie, Nathan (who took Cathy's place on the relay team because Cathy injured her back), and me--so she would have one of us by her side for the entire length of the marathon.

Jeanie had booked hotels in Toledo for us to stay on Saturday night. The race's start was going to be bright and early at 7:00 Sunday morning, so we didn't want to have to fight traffic or anything trying to get there. We checked into the hotels, and then headed over to an Italian restaurant called Biaggi's for dinner, where we met up with some of Shawn's family (Shawn is Jeanie's husband, my brother-in-law).

I've been SO excited for Jeanie to run this race! She started running in November 2012 in order to run the Runs for Cookies Virtual 5K on my birthday in January 2013. Once she ran the 5K, she decided to keep going on to train for a 10K, since she was already halfway there. And after that, she ran her first half-marathon (I went out there to surprise her and run it with her, which was so fun!). Eventually, she made the big decision to go for a full marathon--the 2014 Glass City Marathon in Toledo.

I helped her train through it all, and hoped that she'd have a great experience with it. My first marathon sucked, so I wanted hers to be completely different. She had the idea to put together a relay team to run with her, which worked out really well! She would run the entire course, and each member of our relay team would run a leg of the course with her. After 18 weeks of marathon-specific training, she was as prepared as she was going to get for this race.

Sunday:
I got absolutely zero sleep in the hotel, and was ready to hit the road at 6:00 Sunday morning. Jeanie was a little nervous, but she was handling everything very well. She was just anxious to get started. We got the relay team ready to go, and then Jeanie and Audrey went to the starting line (Audrey was doing the first 5 miles with Jeanie). The rest of the team went to the first checkpoint--to cheer on the runners and to wait for Jeanie and Audrey to show up.

I made a couple of signs to hold up at the exchanges while we cheered:

Jeanie is a big Breaking Bad fan... hence the "Yeah, B*tch!" reference ;)
I swapped out the pink number at each exchange to reflect the actual number
of miles left.

Then we started watching the runners come through. I was on the lookout for Dean, from my Ragnar SoCal team, because I knew he was aiming for a sub-2:00 half-marathon. We saw him go by, and I saw he was right on pace for his goal. I also hoped to see Jessica, because I knew she was running the half. I wasn't sure what pace she'd be running, but she she must have been just behind Dean (she ended up finishing in 2:02). I missed seeing her, though.

Just after the 4:40 pacer (which is who Jeanie planned to follow for the first two legs), we saw Jeanie and Audrey. Audrey handed off the relay belt to Jen, while Jeanie, in great spirits, waved to us.

I felt much less nervous after I saw Jeanie go through, because she looked fantastic! She seemed like she was feeling really good, and everything was going well. Of course, she still had 21 miles to go at that point. ;)

We drove to the next exchange point to wait--Jen's leg was 6.1 miles, so we had a little over an hour. Jeanie and Jen followed the 4:40 pacer, and when we saw Jeanie at mile 11, she was looking awesome. She even said that she hadn't even started running yet (my friend Ty had told Jeanie once that marathoners don't even "really start to run" until after mile 10. Jeanie didn't really understand what she meant by that, but during marathon training, it clicked for her).

Jen handed the belt to Debbie. Debbie was really worried about running with Jeanie, because her pace is about 11:30/mile, and she didn't want to slow Jeanie down. But Jeanie told her it was completely fine, and they would run at Debbie's pace. So they let the pacer get a lead, and Jeanie and Debbie ran together for her leg, which was 4.4 miles. Jeanie technically didn't have a time goal, but she hoped for sub-5:00 (and, secretly, sub-11:00 average pace).

Meanwhile, the rest of the team went to the next exchange to wait, and Nathan got ready to run. He looked awesome in his (oh so manly) tutu ;)

We saw the 4:40 pacer come and go, and then we started looking for Jeanie and Debbie. My parents showed up with the kids, so there was a pretty big group of us at each exchange point on the course--the relay team, my parents, my kids, Jerry, Cathy, Shawn, and Shawn's family.  It wasn't too much later that we saw Jeanie and Debbie--Debbie was SO proud because she ran sub-11:00 miles! Jeanie knew she'd be behind the 4:40 pacer, and she was totally okay with that. She was still on course for a sub-5:00 finish time.

Once Nathan was running his leg with Jeanie (5.1 miles), I got ready for my leg--the final leg--of 5.3 miles. I knew that around the 20-mile mark, Jeanie would start feeling really tired and run down, so I had warned Nathan of that, and how to handle it. Jeanie's pace slowed a little, but not by much. She never stopped running! They had some really strong wind through those miles, but she pushed through it.

At the final exchange, I was getting really nervous. I just hoped that Jeanie was still feeling good. I kept looking around the bend, hoping to see a glimpse of Nathan's tutu. I saw the 4:40 pacer come and go, and a few minutes later, I saw them...

Nathan was obviously very shy in his tutu, and didn't ham it up or anything ;) Nathan passed me the belt, and I fell into step beside Jeanie. She was listening to headphones, but I asked her quickly how she was feeling and I did a quick once over on how she looked. She said she was getting tired, and her pace had slowed, but she didn't have any major issues--no real pain, no stomach problems, etc.

Jeanie was extremely organized in how she planned to handle fueling during the race. She followed every bit of advice I gave her, and it had worked out really well (to my relief! haha). She stuck with her plan for the Gu/ShotBloks/Gatorade. I passed on the water stations, because I didn't need it for a five-mile run, but there were some people who set up a makeshift beer station with PBR in Dixie cups. I was definitely game for that! ;)

I glanced at Jeanie every so often to see how she was doing. Her pace was around 11:15/mi at that point, so I knew she'd finish sub-5:00. She never complained, or said she was tired, or stopped to walk, or anything. I was completely shocked at how well she was doing during the last five miles! With two miles left, I sent a quick text to Jen to let her know how much longer. About a mile out, Jeanie took off her headphones, and was maintaining a really steady pace.

We started to talk about the finish line, and I didn't want her to get photobombed at the last minute (I hate when people sprint the last few yards and wind up right in front of you for a finish line photo). I wanted her to have a very clear picture of her crossing that finish line! She said she wanted us to hold hands and raise our arms as we crossed.

When we saw the finish line, and ran in that last tenth of a mile, Jeanie started to tear up, which made me start to tear up. We raised our arms and had a great finish!

Jeanie immediately started crying, and almost forgot to accept her medal ;)  It was so emotional to watch her hug everyone--everybody was so proud, and there were lots of tears all around.

We took some pictures before heading home for the after party.

I took a quick shower at home, and then went to my parents' house where we were having an after party. Dean, and his wife, Mandy, came up there, too, so it was fun to get to spend time with them.

Dean crushed his sub-2:00 goal, by the way--finishing in 1:57!! My dad made fried fish, and we had a bunch of other food and drinks there. I'd also gotten a cake from Monica's:

It was too cold to be outside, so we just sat around and talked inside. My older brother, Brian, came in from Minnesota, and it was awesome having all three of my siblings in one spot. That only happens a couple of times a year. My mom wanted to get some pictures of us together, and they ended up turning out so great!

I wish the marathon had been Saturday, instead of Sunday, because we had to make it an early night to get the kids in bed for school today. We hung out over there until 8:30, and then we came home. It was an awesome day to cap an amazing weekend!

My sister's results:

She finished in 4:47:41! That's faster than my SECOND marathon. She did so awesome--she really couldn't have had a better race experience, I don't think. She said she highly recommends choosing a first marathon that offers a relay option, so you can have your friends by your side to help you through it. It made the time and distance go by so much faster. I'm going to ask my sister if she'll write a guest post about the race and her training.

I'm SUPER proud of my sister for all the sacrifices she's made in training for this race. She followed her running schedule right to the tee, and was extremely dedicated to her training. Tomorrow, she's off to vacation at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico--the perfect reward for all her hard work!

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Uber busy weekend

I'm so sorry that I've been MIA for a few days. I've been super busy with my family, and haven't had a single moment to write. I planned to write a post tonight about the Glass City Marathon (my sister did the full, and I did the relay), but I feel really stressed out about getting up a post (lots of people have been asking if I'm okay because I haven't posted). The whole thing was amazing, and I don't want to rush through the post, so I'm going to save it for tomorrow, and hold off on Motivational Monday until next week.

I did post a lot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram this weekend, so I'm okay--promise! I just need a moment to catch my breath from a busy weekend. Thanks for thinking of me! ;)

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