A run with Joey

I am having such a hard time believing that it's November--the weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS for the past several days. It's been in the 60's and even the low 70's and sunny! A couple of weeks ago, it was snowing at the starting line of the Detroit Marathon. Go figure ;) #PureMichigan

This morning, the kids were ready for school pretty early, so I found a documentary on Netflix to watch while we waited to head to school. It was called "Fed Up", and I could have sworn I watched it before, but once I started it, I realized I must have been thinking of something else. It was a really good documentary! It's about the food industry and how the changes in ingredients are making Americans fatter--the use of sugar, in particular. I'm glad my kids found it really interesting. Watching it made me want to cut back on sugar (not eliminate it entirely, but at least to be more conscious about how much I'm eating).

After the kids went to school, I got ready to head out for a run. Joey always gives me "the look" when he knows I'm going for a run:

I used to take him with me, but he still doesn't do well on a leash (he zig-zags in front of me), and it was really irritating to my injury when he would pull on the leash during a run. I decided to take him with me today, because that look he gives me is too much to resist sometimes ;)

He was SO excited when he saw me pick up his no-pull harness. We drove to the State Park to run the 5K loop there. First, I let him get all of his sniffing and peeing in, before we started the run. As soon as we started the loop, he began his zig-zagging, and I thought, "Oh, no, why did I think this would be a good idea?!" But I hoped that he would get in a rhythm after a few minutes.

Thankfully, once he realized that we were running and not doing a start-and-stop walk like usual, he did much better. The first mile was hard (physically) for me, because I was working on controlling Joey, but after that, it got easier. He was so excited to there!

Mile 2; we stopped for a picture. What were we looking at?
I have no idea!

When we hit the three mile mark, I stopped the Garmin and we walked to the water. I let Joey off his leash for a couple of minutes so he could swim and cool off, and then we walked back to the car. Our pace was 9:31, but it felt so much harder than that!

Taking Joey with me was fun today; I don't plan to run with him all the time, because it is a big mental and physical challenge, but once in a while is okay.

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Sunday is the third annual Monroe Half Marathon (my hometown race). I ran it in 2013 and 2014, but this year I'm not going to be doing it (for fear of injury). Instead, I'm going to volunteer! Jessica asked me if I wanted to volunteer with her, so we are going to be course marshals at mile 3.5. The race changed the course this year, and it doesn't go through the State Park anymore. I'm not crazy about the new course, so I don't feel too bad about not running it.

I don't think I know anyone that's running the race, but I'm excited to volunteer. The temp is actually supposed to drop this weekend (high of 50 on Sunday), which will be good for racing. I'm glad that it will feel like fall weather!

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NYC and Purina's Better With Pets Summit

Well, I have to start by saying that I totally forgot to do my Wednesday weigh-in this morning. I got home from New York last night at around 10:30, and was completely exhausted. My alarm woke me up this morning, and I hurriedly got the kids ready for school, forgetting that today was Wednesday. I did hop on the scale though, like every morning, and I was the exact same as last week: 139.5. On Monday, before heading to the airport, I was 138! I overdid the Halloween candy on a couple of days this week, so hopefully I can get it back down this week.

On Monday, I got up at 3:00 am to head to the airport--why I chose a 6:00 flight is beyond me! ;) I had plans of meeting up with my friend Mike, who lives in NYC (Jerry and I spent the day with him when we were there in July). The Better With Pets summit wasn't until Tuesday, so I had all day on Monday to do whatever I wanted in the city.

I really didn't want to spend $50 on a cab to get to my hotel from the airport, and Mike told me that I could take a bus and subway, for a total of $5.50. We all know I'm terrified of trying to figure out public transportation, because it's incredibly intimidating to me; but Mike actually showed up at the airport at 8:00 on Monday morning to go with me! That was super nice of him. We took a bus to a train to another train, and then walked to my hotel, where I just dropped off my bag (all I brought was a backpack, because it was just for one night). Then, we headed out into the city.

I've done a lot of the touristy stuff in NYC, so I ended up spending the day "shadowing" Mike--he's a music composer/pianist/singer/songwriter/DJ/producer all rolled into one, and he does a little of it all to earn a living. We went to a recording studio, which was in a really nice building (I can't remember where in the city it was, though). We also walked to Tribeca, where Mike had a piano lesson with a five year old boy. "Upscale" is an enormous understatement when describing the massive, beautiful apartment where this boy lives. I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped when we went inside. His mom was super friendly, and it was cute to watch the piano lesson.

We did a LOT of walking, which was great--28,520 steps--and Mike taught me what he could about the subway system. I felt confident enough that I decided to use the subway (and bus) to get back to the airport on my own Tuesday night! Mike's wife, Renee, met us for a beer around dinnertime, and then I headed back to the hotel. After I'd showered and gotten into bed, a couple of the friends I've met through Purina texted me and said they were going downstairs for a drink, so I threw on my clothes and went down to meet them. It was a busy (but very fun!) day.

Tuesday started bright and early with the Better With Pets summit. It was at the Brooklyn Expo Center, and rather than take the shuttle to the venue, I ended up braving the subway--to "practice" for when I went to the airport later. I made it! I even had to transfer trains, and I didn't get lost. Google Maps is the greatest invention ever.

The main focus of the summit this year was about how our mental health is better with pets in our lives. The venue was amazing! Purina did a really nice job getting it ready for the summit.

I spotted a few people that I got to know at the Meet Purina event this summer, so I sat with them.

Left to right is me, Melissa, Dan, Phil, and Lindsay. Melissa and Phil have an adorable vlog on YouTube (they are really one of the cutest couples ever!); Dan coordinates the blogger events for Purina, and is an all-around super nice and fun guy; and Lindsay blogs at Life of Mulligan about her adopted shelter dog. Lindsay also runs a non-profit that raises money for shelter pets with medical needs to make them more adoptable.

There were three panels in the morning, each speaking about a topic related to mental health and pets. I never realized just how strong of a correlation there is between pets and lower rates of depression and anxiety, which was interesting to me, in particular. One of the things I learned (that I found very interesting) is that pets can be used to help kids with reading disabilities, autism, or developmental disabilities.

When kids have a stutter, for example, it can really help them if they read to a dog instead of a person; dogs will just sit and listen, without getting impatient or judgmental, and kids feel more comfortable--which improves the stutter. Also, kids who have anxiety or depression can make serious progress when they have a pet to confide in or just having a pet as a constant in their lives. If kids have high stress, like parents who are divorcing, or they are moving to a new school, or something like that, pets are one thing that is always there for them and not judging them.

After the panels, we had lunch, and then there were several interactive sessions we could check out. The first place I visited--and where I spent the majority of my time--was the cat room! It was a room that was designed for cats' best interests, and there were lots of cats in there.

A little play house with a huge rug made of rope for scratching

There were lots of kittens with tons of energy to play

I want one of these in my house! Estelle and Phoebe would love it.

So many places to scratch!

I sat on the floor and played with the kittens for probably an hour. They had endless energy, and then one of them plopped himself right on my lap for a short break. My heart melted.

LOVE the wallpaper!

That was my favorite part of the whole day. I love kittens, and I can't even remember the last time I got to play with or hold one!

After the summit, Lindsay and I headed to the airport. She had never been on a subway before, so I was a little nervous about getting us lost (or missing our flights!) but she wanted to come along for the adventure. We took one train to another and then transferred to a bus, which took us to the airport. I didn't make any mistakes getting there ;)

The security line was pretty much non-existant, which was odd, but I ended up getting to my gate with 90 minutes to kill before boarding. I walked around the airport for a while and ate a piece of pizza. When I got to Detroit, I had to take a shuttle to my car, and then drive home. I was SO exhausted from two very busy days. It was a great trip, though! The Better With Pets summit was a lot of fun, just as I knew it would be. And having figured out how to use the subway made me look forward to going back to NYC again someday. I used to hate going there, because it was way too overwhelming for me; but this trip, and the last, were really fun!

(In full disclosure, Purina covered my airfare and hotel expense, but I was not compensated for this post. All opinions are honest, as always.)

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Motivational Monday #127

Happy Motivational Monday! As you know, I am in New York City right now for the Better With Pets summit tomorrow. It's been a super fun trip (although very short--I just arrived this morning, and I leave tomorrow night). Despite being in NYC, I am doing my best to stay on track and not go overboard with the food!

I won't be home until late tomorrow night, so I won't have a blog post until Wednesday. Hope everyone had a great Monday! Here are a few motivational stories. Enjoy!

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Des has been playing on local tennis leagues each season, and when she was asked to join a mixed doubles league as a relatively new player, she jumped at the chance. She feels like her game has improved quite a bit since playing with these men and women, and over the course of the summer, her team actually went undefeated (10-0) in their local league. They went to the Sectional Championships in Chattanooga, and ended up making it into the finals! (Des blogs at Finding the Skinny Geek Within)

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Sharon (on left in photo) recently completed her first double digit race! Michelle, her daughter, wrote in the accomplishment because she is super proud of her mom. The two of them worked together to create a training plan, and over the last 12 weeks, Sharon learned all about distance running--long runs, fueling, discovering what works for her body. Michelle said that when Sharon crossed the finish line of The Perfect 10-Miler, she was glowing. She had such a great race that she is now thinking about tackling a half-marathon in the spring! (Michelle blogs at The Slow Sheep)

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Cathy recently completed her first marathon! The five hour time limit was intimidating to her, but she finished in 4:38:04, which earned her third place in her age group. Her entire family was extremely supportive, and leap frogged her the whole length of the race (she never had to run more than two or three miles without seeing them). Because she was so worried about finishing the last four miles, her 17-year old son even joined her! (Cathy blogs at Running the Dream)

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A year and a half ago, Sarah and Lauren (friends for 15 years!) decided to get healthy together. They joined a gym, started using the My Fitness Pal app, and started attending Zumba and Body Combat classes together. Since then, they've lost a combined 175 pounds!! Taking on the challenge together has made the entire journey easier and more enjoyable.

In May 2014, Amanda ran her first half-marathon--she didn't train, and it was painful. She decided to start training after that, and eventually, she started following the Hansons' Half Marathon Method. Recently, she decided to try again, and totally smoked her time goal! She wanted to finish in 2:20, but was secretly hoping for 2:10. She ended up finishing the half in 2:00:18! Needless to say, she is incredibly proud of her two-hour half-marathon time.

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Rebecca recently ran her first full marathon! She just started running two years ago, in order to get healthy. She lost over 140 pounds and became literally half her size! During the marathon training, she was tempted to quit; but she took it one day at a time (not looking any further ahead than that). Before she knew it, it was race day. It was a difficult race, but she was thrilled to have finished in 4:48:37. Her husband met her several times along the course to cheer her on!

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A new comparison photo

As much as I really wanted to have a very lazy morning today, I knew that I would probably be eating some candy later, so I'd better get in a run. My mom took the kids to my brother's house to help him work (Brian and Becky bought a foreclosed house in Michigan, and they are renovating it in order to move in!). He "hired" the kids to pull staples out of boards ;)

After the kids left this morning, I decided to dress for Halloween for my run. I have orange and black striped socks and a couple of Halloween shirts that only get used once a year, so I figured I might as well get a little use out of them. I used the timer on my camera to try to get a picture, and Joey was just dying to get in the photo ;)

Anyway, I ran the three mile route I used to do all the time when I first started to run. I wasn't aiming for a particular pace, and didn't look at my Garmin at all. I hardly EVER come across people when I'm running, but I saw several people out for a walk this morning. I actually came up behind a couple of women who were walking, and they were dressed for Halloween as well. One woman had the same socks I did (only they were tights as opposed to my knee highs), and the other woman was wearing a Halloween shirt from a local race. We exchanged a few words about dressing for Halloween, and then I kept on my way.

Today was a great morning for a run--kind of cold, but no wind. Maybe I should have pushed the pace, but I really didn't want to.

Later, when I was looking at pictures on my phone, I came across one from May that took me by surprise. I didn't realize just how noticeable the extra weight I'd put on was until I did a side-by-side comparison with one of today's pictures!

May 2015 vs. October 2015

On the left was from Memorial Day, when I volunteered at the Wins for Warriors 9K race; and on the right was from this morning. What a big difference!

Something I've noticed the past couple of days is that I have to sleep with a pillow between my knees again, because my knee bones are pressing together. I remember when this happened for the first time a few years ago, and I actually had bruises on the inside of each knee. I discovered it was from sleeping on my side, allowing my knees to press together. It's just one of the odd things that happens when I get close to my goal weight, I guess!

I'm looking forward to passing out candy tonight. I think if we were going to my parents' house to continue our usual routine (but without Mark), I would be sad and not able to really enjoy it. But since we've changed up our Halloween routine, I'm excited about it. The kids are going trick-or-treating with Jerry's mom, and Jerry and I are going to pass out candy at home. Since we have a garage now, we're going to sit on the couch in there and have a glass of wine while we wait for trick-or-treaters. As long as it doesn't rain, it should be a nice night!

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Halloween plans

Since cross country ended, I feel like I have so much extra time on my hands! It's been an odd feeling for the last few days. The cross country recognition night on Wednesday went really well. The kids were excited and proud of their accomplishments, which was the whole point, so it was successful. When we got home that night, and the kids were getting ready for bed, Eli said to me, "I'm so proud of myself." When I asked why, he said, "Because I earned the M.I.R. Award" (M.I.R. was for "Most Improved Runner). It was cute :)

Yesterday, it was ridiculously cold and windy in the morning. It was 36 degrees outside, which wouldn't have been too bad, if not for the wind. I walked Noah to the bus stop, and we waited for 25 minutes! Finally, we walked back home and I drove him to school. There were eight other kids (at three stops) who were also waiting, so I know we didn't miss the bus. The bussing system has been really screwed up this year, and it's frustrating. Anyway, we were freezing at the bus stop, so after I got both kids to school, I really had no desire to run outside.

I dusted off the treadmill (it's been a long time since I used it) and decided to run three miles on the 'mill. Instead of watching a show (I'm not currently watching any series right now, so I didn't want to spend forever trying to pick something to watch), I listened to a podcast while I ran. I decided to see if I could set the treadmill at 7.0 mph and run the entire 3 miles at that speed. I can't even remember the last time I used that speed setting on the treadmill, haha.

It was tough, but it didn't kill me, and I actually did it! I was really tempted to lower the speed, especially after the second mile, but I knew I was physically capable of sticking it out to the end. It felt good to do a hard run like that!

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It's hard to believe that tomorrow will be the second Halloween without Mark. I used to love Halloween, and I looked forward to it every year, mainly because we celebrated Mark's birthday. For thirty years, Mark always told us his birthday was on Halloween--and it wasn't until he was in the hospital, and we saw his hospital bracelet, that we discovered it wasn't until November 1st ;)

Last year, none of us felt like doing "the usual" for Halloween, because it felt wrong without Mark. Instead, my parents went to the movies; I handed out candy at my house; and Jerry and his mom took the kids trick-or-treating. Earlier in the day, we brought the stuff for ice cream sundaes to Mark's group home for the guys to enjoy on Mark's birthday.

Today, I decided to get cupcakes to bring to the group home. I'd like to continue to bring something each year, in Mark's memory (he would be 60 years old this year!). When I dropped the cupcakes off today, the woman who was working said that if Mark were still here, he would have driven them all crazy by this time of the month. He looked forward to celebrating his birthday at my parents' house every October, and according to her, talked about it non-stop all month long ;)

In addition to the cupcakes, I decided to get some $5 gift cards to McDonald's to pass out to parents tomorrow during trick-or-treat, in memory of Mark.

I made eight of them. I don't get a lot of trick-or-treaters where I live, so I bought full size candy bars to hand out to the kids (I always used to get so excited if someone was giving out full size candy bars when I went trick-or-treating! haha); and I'll give the gift cards randomly to some parents. I think Mark would have liked the idea of the McD's gift cards!

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Week 11 Weigh-in

I just realized this morning that this post never went live last night. Oops!

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Well, it seems that the extra calories over the last couple of weeks did catch up to me. When I weighed in today, I had my first gain in 11 weeks.

This week's weight was 139.5, so I was up by a pound from last week. My waist measurement was the same, and my body fat was only up by 0.1%, so I'm not too concerned. I had a lot of sodium yesterday, which could be why my weight is up; but it also could be because I ate more calories this week.

My average calorie intake was 1854 per day (last week, it was 1721, and prior to that, it was usually just over 1500). This week, I'm going to try and get it back down to around 1500 a day, so that I can get moving on these last 6 pounds! I would love to be back at goal (133) by December 12. I chose that day because I originally reached goal on 12/12/12. It would be nice to be back there three years later.

Even though my weight was up a little, I wouldn't change anything from this week. I felt I made good choices based on the situation, and if I hadn't been counting calories, I would have eaten MUCH worse. One thing I've been slacking on is drinking water, though. I'm used to drinking 2-3 quarts a day, but when I was at my sister's house, I hardly drank any at all. So, I'm going to focus on that this week.

On Monday, I'm going to NYC for Purina's Better With Pets summit. I attended the summit last year, and it was probably my favorite blogging event I've ever been to. They have experts do presentations about how our lives are better with pets, and it's really interesting! It was at that conference that I was inspired to get a dog, and I started researching dogs as soon as I got home. We adopted Joey in February, thanks to that summit, and he has truly made my family's life "better".

I arrive in NYC on Monday, and then the summit is on Tuesday, and I leave Tuesday night--a super short trip. Since I've been to Purina events before, I know what to expect as far as food goes, so I'm just going to plan my best for it. I had originally thought about going on the 31st, so that I could spectate the NYC Marathon on the 1st, but after having so much going on in October, I opted against it. I'm glad now that I decided not to go early--I want to get back into a nice routine. Someday, however, I would like to spectate that marathon!

Tonight is our recognition night for cross country. Renee and I made certificates for each of the kids--things like the "Cheetah Award" for the fastest boy/girl in each grade, the "M.I.R. Award" (most improved runner), the "Awesome Attitude Award", etc. It took some creativity, but we came up with an award for each and every kid on the team ;)

The school said we could use the cafeteria for our recognition night, so we're providing pizzas, and several of the families are bringing side dishes to share. Since we have 29 kids on the team, and many of them are bringing families, there are going to be upwards of 60 people there! I'm a little nervous, because speaking to a room full of people is outside my comfort zone, but I think the kids will be thrilled to be recognized for their running achievements. Should be a fun night!

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Home again

This month has been SO busy. Normally, we don't have so much stuff going on, but October just happened to be packed full. We drove to my sister's house on Friday (in Illinois) and stayed there until yesterday morning.

I won't recap the entire weekend, but basically we went bowling a couple of times, and went into Madison, Wisconsin for an evening. Jeanie was running a half-marathon on Sunday in Madison, so we drove there on Saturday for packet pick-up and to have dinner. I went with her to pick up her packet, and I was so jealous when I saw the race shirts! I wished I had signed up, just because of those shirts ;)

Jeanie said she never wears her race shirts, and gave hers to me. I wore it today for a run:

It has a spiderweb on the front shoulder, and a big spider on the bottom. And it glows in the dark! When you put it in the dark, the name of the race (Haunted Hustle) is the only thing you can see. Normally, I don't like to wear race shirts of events I haven't participated in, but I really liked this shirt. (Jeanie said this was a very well-put-together race, if you're looking for a fun Halloween race next year. They have a 5K the night before, then a half-marathon, and full marathon.)

I did really well with my eating while I was at Jeanie's. We ate out a few times, but I only really "splurged" on one meal, which was at a Mexican restaurant called Mexico Clásico. They make fresh guacamole right at the table, and it's amazing. I also had a margarita.

My calorie count ended up being over 3,000 that day, so I just counted it as my high-calorie day and moved on. Other than that, I managed to stay under about 1700 per day, which isn't bad while being out of my usual routine. Not sure what my weigh-in will have in store tomorrow, but again, I wouldn't change anything and I feel good about my choices.

This morning, I had a meeting with Eli's speech teacher at school, so I only had time to squeeze in two miles. For some reason, I felt a little guilty for not doing three, but I only promised myself that I would do 2-3 miles for each run, so I have no reason to feel bad for doing two.

Running felt hard today. My last run (not counting the run I did with Jeanie at her house), I felt great and did a sub-9:00 average pace. Today, I thought it would be a piece of cake to run two sub-9:00's. Halfway down the street, I saw I was doing a 9:15 pace, and it felt hard! But I still pushed myself to try and hit that pace.

I ended up doing the first mile in 8:55, and then the second I pushed a little harder toward the end and managed an 8:44 mile.

That's a screen shot from the new Garmin Connect app. They updated it, and I love it!

I met Andrea for lunch at Panera, and I was thrilled to see that they had black bean soup today. That's my favorite (after broccoli cheddar, which is higher in calories) but they never have it anymore. I assumed they just stopped serving the black bean soup there, but when I saw it on the menu today I got a little too excited ;)

Not the prettiest soup in the world, but it's very filling and tastes delicious. I had a bowl of that with a baguette portion, which was 410 calories total. Not bad!

Tonight, I decided to go through all my running clothes and get rid of a lot of them. I have way too many, and I don't wear even half of them. Since I've cut back on running, also, there is no reason to have so many options. The first things to go were the clothes that were too big on me. I bought some shirts when I gained weight last year, and they were baggy in the stomach area (which I was happy about then, because it hid my belly that had gotten bigger). Looking at those shirt now, though, gives me a bad feeling. I realized that I don't ever want to wear them again. Here is one, for example:

June 2014

I hate that shirt with a passion! I liked it when I bought it, but looking at it now just makes me feel bad about myself. Do any of you have clothes that you just associate with bad feelings? It's kind of like music, or a particular scent--they can make you feel good or feel bad. Anyway, I am glad to be rid of this shirt, as well as several others. I was also happy to try on a bunch of shirts that I stopped wearing because they were too small, and see that they now fit me. And I got rid of a bunch of race shirts that I know I'll never wear. I love my race shirt quilt, but I don't know what to do with the race shirts that I continue to acquire. Anyway, it felt good to clean out that stuff!

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Motivational Monday #126

Happy Motivational Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I was at my sister's house in Illinois all weekend, and it was fun to visit. I hadn't been there since I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2013 (which actually feels like it was very recently, and not over two whole years ago).

I managed to count all of my calories while I was there, and I didn't go overboard. I ate more calories than usual, because we ate out a few times, but I still kept it under 2,000 each day. I went for a run with my sister, and we stayed fairly active all weekend. She bought bowling balls for the kids recently, and we ended up bowling eight games during the weekend. That's probably more than I've bowled in the last three years combined! Haha

I'm used to weighing myself daily at home, so it felt weird not being able to check in while at Jeanie's house. I was just hoping that my weight wasn't climbing up! I feel like I made good choices, though, so hopefully the scale will be kind for my "official" weigh in on Thursday.

Here are a few motivational stories to kick off your Monday... enjoy!

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Renee ran her sixth half-marathon last weekend, and set a personal record by over 10 minutes! It was her best half-marathon to date, and during the race, she even decided that she is ready to tackle a full marathon next year at the same race. (You know you're having a great race when you're already planning future races while you're running!) Renee blogs at With Brave Wings She Runs.

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Mia flew out from Connecticut to run the Detroit International Half-Marathon! She finished with a personal best of 3:14, shaving 4 minutes off of her previous best time. She said it was the best race she's ever run, and she loved the vibe in Detroit. She's already thinking about doing the full marathon there next year! Mia has actually lost 112 pounds over the last three years, and started running a year and a half ago. In February, she's going to be running the Florida Keys Ragnar Relay with a couple of my From Fat to Finish Line teammates, Rik and Carly!

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Do you all remember Jared? I wrote about him in Motivational Monday #117. He's been continuing to send me updates on his progress--he's been losing weight and walking a LOT of miles inside of his house. He has never once used being blind as an excuse not to exercise, and I find that incredibly inspiring. Anyway, he mentioned that his shoes were completely worn out (having walked 1,000 miles on them), so I decided to reach out to Altra and ask about getting him a new pair of shoes for all his hard work. (He has very wide feet, so I thought Altras would probably be comfortable for him). Altra was so kind to send him a pair of shoes! He's continuing his weight loss, and has now lost a total of 88 pounds. He's also still walking inside of his house, and has walked over 1,000 miles since June! The thought of walking that many miles doing laps inside of the house is mind-blowing to me--the very definition of "no excuses"! ;)  (Special thanks to Altra for their generosity! Jared was thrilled with the shoes.)

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Congratulations to Renee, Mia, and Jared! Hope everyone has a fantastic week :)

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A visit with my sister

Thank you so much for the kind comments on my previous post! I love the way my photos turned out, and I am really glad I did it.

The kids missed school today, and we left at 7:00 this morning to head to my sister's house. She lives in Illinois, about an hour west of Chicago. We used to visit pretty much once a year, but we didn't come out here last year for some reason. The last time I was here, I ran the Chicago Marathon! The kids always love to visit Aunt Jeanie, so they were really excited about it.

Originally, Jeanie was going to be running a marathon on Sunday, which is why we decided to come out here this weekend (to cheer her on at the race). About a month ago, she injured her hip, and ultimately decided to switch over to the half marathon instead. I'm still going to watch the race, though--I love spectating races. Hoping for good weather Sunday!

We brought Joey with us, which makes me a little nervous. I just hope he behaves himself. He'll be thrilled to have another dog to play with (Jeanie has a basset hound named Remy). He did really well on the whole car ride here. He sat in the back seat between the kids, and took a nap on their laps. That was his longest car ride by far.

The colors in Michigan are really pretty right now! I love all the reds, oranges, and yellows. Not a great photo, because I was in the car, but you get the idea.

Right when we got to Jeanie's house, I was curious to see what Joey would do with the doggy door. Jeanie has a doggy door for Remy, and Joey had never used one before (as far as we know, anyway). It took some enticing him with treats several times, but eventually, he got the hang of it. And now, he's loving the fact that he can go in and out as he pleases--it's like he just can't make up his mind. He wants to keep going in and out, just to use the door ;)

Jeanie gave Noah a bowling ball (drilled to his fingers) for his birthday. So, she made plans for a private bowling lesson for Noah to do today right when we got here. Tonight, we're all going bowling so Noah can practice and show off his new skills.

Tomorrow, we're going into Wisconsin, where the race will take place (on Sunday). Jeanie is going to pick up her packet, and we'll spend the afternoon there. I think we're going to be near Madison. The last time Jerry and I went to Madison, we had so much fun! It was a fun little college city, and we enjoyed walking around and checking out little shops. We had an amazing pasty from a place called Teddywedgers that a reader suggested we try. Jerry has been talking about it ever since! ;)

I'm a little worried about making food decision while I'm here, but I'm just going to treat it like I did last week--eat the stuff I want, but keep the portions small and log everything. Tonight, I am going to go for a three-mile run with Jeanie. I don't have plans to do more running while I'm here, but I imagine we'll stay active and walk the dogs and stuff like that. Again, I'll be happy if I can just maintain my weight this week!

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If you have a Motivational Monday submission, please send that to me as soon as you can. I'm going to try to get it done on Sunday, because we're driving home on Monday. I have a Prudential post going up on Sunday night, so I won't be able to post a reminder then. Here is the info to submit a MM post! Hope everyone has a great weekend :)

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Week 10 Weigh-in

Whew! I am so glad that I made it through this whole week without letting it phase me (or make me stop calorie counting or get back into old habits). Thomas was in town from Thursday until Monday, so Jerry and I wanted him to try some of our favorite foods. Unfortunately, my favorite foods are not things like grilled fish and vegetables ;)

My main focus was on portion control. I knew I could eat whatever I wanted, but I would have to be careful of my portions and make my best estimate as to the calories I was eating. I wasn't too concerned about going over my typical number of calories--one week of going over wasn't going to cause TOO much damage--but I didn't want to turn the whole week into a big food fest, either.

I did end up going over on most days, and my average calorie intake was 1721 (rather than the 1500-ish that it usually is). I was really hoping not to gain weight, but I wouldn't have minded just maintaining this week, either. Anyway, I was very happy to see a loss on the scale this morning!

I was 138.5, so that means I lost a pound from last week. My body fat percentage was 24.3, so it was down by 0.7% from last week. Waist measurement was 26, which was down by 0.25 inches. Woot!

I'm thrilled with that. I was able to indulge in food and drinks while a friend was visiting, but not go completely overboard and gain 10 pounds. It wasn't easy, because there were several times where I just wanted to eat more than necessary, but I knew that eating half of a huge sandwich was just as satisfying to my tastebuds as eating the whole thing ;)

Yesterday, Jerry and I went to Catherine Kellie Studios to look at my boudoir photos. I was actually more nervous about viewing the photos than I was for the photo shoot itself! I think it was kind of like walking into your own surprise party--everyone is waiting for your reaction, and you don't want to give the wrong one. Does that make sense? I had no idea what to expect, so I just hoped that I liked the pictures.

Catherine set up a slideshow of all 70 photos, and then told us we could go through and rate them. I was stunned when I saw the slideshow! The pictures looked absolutely amazing. Catherine said she didn't do much editing (as far as my "imperfections" go) because she didn't think I needed much. It made me a little nervous when she said that, because I was expecting to see glaring stretch marks and loose skin; but she did a lot with positioning my body and angling the camera in a way to hide the areas that make me self-conscious.

In looking through the photos, I could see a hint of my stretch marks on some, and while Catherine would have edited them out had I asked her to, I decided to leave them as they were. The stretch marks are a part of ME, and without them, it wouldn't really feel like me in the photos. I'm glad they aren't glaringly obvious, but I'm also glad that I chose not to eliminate them completely.

I would love to be able to share all my photos here, but I don't feel comfortable with them being online for the world to see, so I'll just share a couple of the modest ones. Jerry LOVES Star Wars, and I found this R2D2 corset at a Halloween store, so I thought it would be fun to do a couple of pictures with it as a surprise for Jerry. Dressing as R2D2 isn't exactly "sexy", but somehow, it looks very cute ;)

Here is another "cute" picture that isn't too revealing (this was actually one of my very favorite pictures):

And finally, here is a picture that I thought was just gorgeous:

Those are the only ones I feel comfortable sharing online--hope you understand! Jerry was THRILLED with the pictures, of course; but more than anything, I am so glad that I did this photo shoot because it made me feel really good about myself. I'd never actually felt "sexy" in my life (Jerry always says I am, but I feel silly when I try to be sexy).

When I was obese, I never felt feminine, either. I wanted to be girly, but being heavier than my husband, I just didn't feel it. When I lost the weight, I vowed to be more girly by painting my toenails, wearing form-fitting clothes instead of boxy ones, and things like that. This boudoir photo shoot, however, made me feel beautiful, sexy, girly, and powerful. Looking at my photos, I am very proud of my body, and I'm so glad that I have pictures to remind me of that feeling, should I ever forget it!

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