Winter Solstice Runs

I happened to join Smashrun just in time to try and earn the "Shortest Day" badge. The badge can be earned by running twice on the day of winter solstice: once starting before sunrise and finishing after sunrise; and the second run must start before sunset and finish after sunset. I have no idea how the creators of Smashrun came up with that badge, but considering I only have once chance per year to earn it, I wanted to do it!

Here, winter solstice started at 11:49 pm on December 21st--so I was a little confused whether to run on the 21st or 22nd. Thankfully, Smashrun clearly listed the date on the badge, so I knew that I had to do the runs on the 21st (yesterday). I asked Siri (on my iPhone) at least a dozen times what time sunrise and sunset would occur, so I could plan my runs.

Sunrise was at 7:57 am, and sunset was 5:04 pm. I decided to do a three-mile run for each, starting about 15 minutes before sunrise/sunset. I normally do a three-miler on Sundays, but I skipped it in order to do it yesterday instead. Since I had intervals scheduled today, I decided to do an interval run last night for the sunset run.

Of course, it would be pouring rain yesterday morning! I didn't want to do the solstice runs on the treadmill, so I decided I'd run in the rain, even if it was a total downpour. After I got Eli on the bus, I had about 10 minutes to kill before heading out. It was still raining--not a downpour, but not a drizzle, either. Once I started running, I was pretty soaked within a quarter mile, and my feet were squishing in my shoes.

I took a quick picture at 7:57 (the "official" time of sunrise). Then the rain slowed to a drizzle, which made the last mile much nicer. Once I got home, I saved the run and immediately checked to make sure that it "counted" toward the badge ;) One run down, one more to go!

I took a shower, even though it was pretty much pointless--I'd be running again later. What do people who work out twice a day do? Do you shower twice? Sometimes, I think I'd like to be an evening runner, but I like to shower in the morning, so it wouldn't really work out. I'm curious how other people handle it.

For my second run, I wanted to do the speed work that was scheduled for today. I decided to try out a different speed workout, just to shake things up a bit: 10 x 45 seconds, with recovery walks until my heart rate dropped to 136 bpm. I like the idea of recovery until reduced heart rate--sometimes, I feel like I don't get enough recovery after tough intervals. And running hard for just 45 seconds sounded nice! ;)

I headed out at around 4:40 for the second run. I didn't want it to be too dark when I finished. I ran a one mile warm-up before starting the intervals, and I felt really good--my legs didn't feel tired from running earlier in the day. Running fast felt good, too, and knowing that it was for just 45 seconds made it much less painful (mentally), haha. I was planning to jog between the intervals, but after jogging for about a minute, my heart rate still hadn't lowered enough; so, I slowed to a walk. Then a super slow walk. Still, my Garmin didn't beep to signal a run again.

I switched the screen to see my heart rate, and for some reason, my heart rate wasn't even reading! I pressed the strap to my chest, and then it showed up. The Garmin beeped to signal the next interval, so I started running hard again. It was interesting to see that the recovery intervals were growing longer (meaning it was taking longer each time for my heart rate to drop). I was walking very slowly to get it to drop faster.

It was kind of fun to see that I actually had some intervals in the 6:-something pace! Although, it was only for 45 seconds, so I shouldn't get too excited ;) I really liked this workout, so I will probably do some shorter intervals like this in the future, too.

I was thrilled when I got home, and saw that I completed the challenge and earned my badge!

The commentary that comes with the badges always cracks me up! Yep, I certainly didn't take the easy way ;)

Stephanie sent me a text in the morning to say that she had gotten up to run in the rain in order to earn the badge as well. She didn't realize it until afterward, but the Shortest Day badge is only available to "Pro" (paying) members of the site. I didn't know that, otherwise I would have mentioned it before! It's not one of the available badges for the free members--so if you were looking for it, and couldn't find it, that's probably why. Sorry!

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For Taste Test Tuesday this week, I tried a recipe for Crock Pot Cashew Chicken. I normally don't like crock pot recipes that require browning the meat before putting it in the crock pot, but this one looked really good, so I gave it a try. It was amazing! The sauce didn't thicken up as much as I'd imagined it would, but the flavor was really good. My kids even liked it (except they picked out the cashews--crazy kids!).

I made the recipe exactly as written, and divided it into six servings. Each serving ended up being 365 calories (not including rice). I will definitely make this again in the future!

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My pets are hilarious with my electric blanket. Ever since I brought it out of hibernation, I can't sit on the couch without this happening:

Today, I'm spending the day wrapping Christmas presents and watching movies! The kids' Christmas break starts tomorrow, so I may not get a chance to enjoy the quiet for the next couple of weeks ;)

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Motivational Monday #133

Happy Motivational Monday! Isn't it crazy that Christmas is THIS Friday? This year is almost over! Each year just goes by faster than the last.

I had a pretty fun non-scale victory this week that I wanted to share. I was looking for something in my closet when I came across this bridesmaid dress that I wore in my brother's wedding in September 2014. I'd been meaning to donate the dress, and just kept forgetting about it. I decided to try it on, just to see if it zipped much easier than it did on the wedding day.

I remember it feeling very tight the day of the wedding! I had just gotten home from vacation in Punta Cana, where we ate and drank all week long. I was actually worried I wouldn't fit into the dress--thankfully, I could zip it, and I squeezed into it for the wedding.

It was quite different a couple of days ago, however--not only was it loose, but I actually had to hold it up so it didn't drop to the floor! (Sorry for the bad pic, but I was home alone, so I couldn't have Jerry take a better one)

When I see the number on the scale, I can clearly recognize that I've lost a lot of weight recently. But it doesn't really register in my mind until I see pictures like this or try on old clothes!

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Here is a Motivational Monday story submitted by Jen. If this doesn't motivate you to get active, I don't know what will ;)

"Today, I completed the Hot Chocolate 15K for the third year in a row.  The difference this year is that in August, I got sick. I had severe joint pain everywhere that landed me in the ER when I crawled to the bathroom. Do you know how many joints are in your feet?! The pain was so much I couldn't walk. After many tests and many weeks of pain, I remain undiagnosed. I was sick for several weeks and was unable to even walk any distance for about 4-5 weeks, much less run! It was really hard to get back into shape. I signed up for the 15k well before I got sick (in May) and was really sad when I realized that I might not be able to do it. 

As I started feeling better I made it goal to somehow get across the finish line.  Luckily, I was able to start training and while the weather (unseasonably warm temps, wind and rain) wasn't what I'd choose, I shaved 52 seconds off of last year's time. My official finish was 1:47:06 (11:30/mile). And I want to share this because I want to encourage everyone to be proud of all your fitness accomplishments. No matter how big or how small... don't take your health for granted and be proud of every achievement. It doesn't matter if it's 1 mile or 10.  It doesn't matter how fast or how slow. There are people that wish they could do what you do, and there were many weeks when I was one of those people!"

(Jen blogs at I Like Warm Hugs) A huge congrats on getting back to running, Jen!

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Christmas Winers

Last night was my annual Christmas Winers meeting (if you don't remember, Winers is the name of a wine club my friend Renee and I started for our girlfriends). Christmas Winers has always been extra fun, because we do a white elephant gift exchange. Yesterday, my friend Melissa hosted, and made the theme an "Ugly Christmas Sweaters" party. I went to the thrift store and bought the only Christmas sweater I could find--thankfully, it was pretty hideous, even if it was ginormous on me.

It was kind of funny, actually... I had to drop Eli off at a birthday party at 6:00, and it was near Melissa's house. I had an hour to kill, because Winers didn't start until 7:00, so I planned to just pick up a couple of things from the store or maybe just browse before going to Melissa's. I could have sworn that I grabbed my coat when I left the house, but I realized that I hadn't; and it was FREEZING outside. All I was wearing was a long-sleeved t-shirt with the hideous Christmas sweater over it! I was too embarrassed to wear it into the store, so I just hung out in the car until going to Melissa's ;)

It was fun to see my friends--it's been a while since anyone has held a Winers meeting (we used to do it every month, but now it's been just a couple of times a year). Unfortunately, I couldn't drink any wine! This is so odd, but I have turned into a total lightweight. The recent weight loss, combined with the fact that I usually only drink once a week or so, has lowered my tolerance so much that even one glass of wine would have been too much to responsibly drive home. Jerry had to get up early to work today, otherwise I could have had him pick me up. But anyway, I was happy to be able to chat with my friends!

Amanda, Jessica, me, Renee, Shawna, and Kerri (there were actually 12 of us total,
but we didn't have anyone to take a group photo, so we did two separate ones.

The white elephant gift exchange is always fun. We draw numbers to determine the order we choose gifts. The first person chooses a gift and opens it, and then the second person can either steal that one away, or open a new one. Then the third person can steal one that's already opened, or open a new one. And so on. Then, at the end, the first person can steal any of the gifts.

Renee ended up with my gift, which was this wine glass that says "I love my cat" on it (and Renee is actually allergic to cats, so she doesn't have any!). I also threw in a wine trivia game.

The last person to take a gift ended up stealing mine, so I ended up being the last person to choose. I could either open the last gift, or I could steal someone else's. I decided to open the last one, and I nearly died when I saw what it was.

First, the back story: Several years ago (I believe 2009?) I wound up opening this gift of some ceramic bunnies. Everyone cracked up at how perfect a white elephant gift they were, and I decided to hold onto them for a year and then regift them at the next Christmas Winers. Somehow, I managed to get them AGAIN, so they spent another year at my house. Eventually, I gifted them away, but they still made an appearance each year at Christmas Winers!

So, it was hilarious when I opened the gift and saw bunny ears sticking up:

Why yes, I do have shoulder pads in my sweater!

Now the bunnies will be taking up residence in the Foster household until next Christmas Winers ;) Super fun Winers!

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This morning was my long run. I wasn't feeling confident after my failed tempo run on Thursday. It actually snowed yesterday, and the roads in my neighborhood were icy, so I decided to run on the treadmill. The best part about 10K training (versus half marathon or full marathon training) is that my long runs are short--so the most I'd have to run on the treadmill is eight miles or so. Today's run was a scheduled 6 miles, but I decided to go for 6.2 so that I could earn my 10K badge on Smashrun. (When you join Smashrun, all of your previous runs don't "count" toward the badges... so everyone is on the same playing field.)

I set the treadmill at 6.5 mph, and left it there the entire run. Almost immediately, I started getting those weird ab muscle cramps again. I have no idea what those are from! But I have realized that when I breathe deeply, they ease up, so I spent all of today's run breathing in for four steps, and out for three steps. My legs and lungs felt great, but the ab cramps made the whole thing a little uncomfortable.

I did earn two new badges on Smashrun, though!

I'm going to try and earn the Shortest Day badge on Monday... to get it, you have to run during sunrise and sunset on the shortest day of the year (Winter Solstice). The runs have to start prior to sunrise and sunset, and finish after sunrise and sunset. It only happens once a year, so I am looking forward to doing it! Any of my fellow Smashrunners going to go for it?

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Don't forget to send in your Motivational Monday submissions this weekend!

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Dinner date with Eli

This morning, it was just Eli and me at home; Jerry and Noah had left the house at 3:30 AM! For weeks, Jerry and Noah had been planning on attending a Star Wars movie marathon--all seven of the films--at the theater. It's been fun to see them get so excited about it! Every morning, Jerry would write a note to put in Noah's lunch box, saying things like, "15 more days until the force awakens us". It's been a special little bond between the two of them. Last night, Jerry presented Noah with matching Star Wars t-shirts for them to wear today.

When I got up at 6:30, they had already finished watching the first movie! Jerry sent me some pictures between movies (they had a short intermission between each movie).

I knew Eli wouldn't be able to sit through all those movies, and he's not as much into Star Wars as Noah and Jerry are, so I made plans to take Eli out to a special dinner tonight after he got home from school. 

I had a hard time getting moving this morning after I got Eli on the bus. I didn't sleep very well, and my stomach wasn't feeling too hot. I had a tempo run on the schedule, and I decided to go to the State Park to run. I set up my watch for a 5-minute warm-up, 16 minutes at tempo pace, and then an indefinite cool down. 

Once I got there and started running, my stomach was feeling even worse. I was putting pressure on myself to hit a better pace than last week (last week, I ran 14 minutes at 8:10/mi), and I didn't want to psych myself out. I ran slowly to warm-up, and then when I hit the half-mile mark, I picked up my speed. At first, I thought it was going to go well, especially when I glanced down at my watch and saw a 7:-something pace.

It didn't last long. I was really struggling, and I could feel myself getting slower and slower. My stomach was really bothering me, and I started getting those weird abdominal muscle cramps that I was dealing with a few weeks ago. I started taking deep breaths, to hopefully ease the cramps. Eventually, I just thought, "I can't do it anymore!" and I looked down to see that my pace was 8:50, which is much slower than it should be for a tempo anyway. I took a short walk break, breathing in deeply to ease the cramping, and then started running again.

It was then that I realized I'd accidentally set the Garmin to 14 minutes at tempo, instead of 16. So, I knew that my tempo portion would be two minutes shorter. At first I was mad that I made that mistake, but with the cramping, I honestly doubted I'd make it through 14. I ended up taking two more walk breaks during the tempo portion, and then another during the cool down. 

Overall, it was NOT a good run today, and it made me feel bummed out. I know that I have bad runs once in a while, and it won't be the last time; it still just causes me to doubt my training! Looking at the splits, though, I still managed 14 minutes at 8:42/mi, which was including three walk breaks. My goal pace for tempo is 8:23-8:36/mi, so I wasn't too far off. It just felt like it was because of last week's pace being 8:10. Hopefully it'll go better next week!

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Eli was so cute this morning when we talked about our plans for tonight. I told him that I would take him to Olive Garden, which, when I was a kid, we thought of as the fanciest of restaurants ;) He said he wanted to come home after school so he could change into nice clothes and do his hair. Before I picked him up from school, I made sure to dress up a little, too, so he would notice the effort I was putting into our "date". 

We came home so that he could change clothes, and then we were ready to head out. He looked so sweet!

I hadn't been to Olive Garden in YEARS, so I had no idea what I was going to order. I looked at the menu online, so I could try and come up with a plan, but I ended up just winging it. I ordered the Ravioli di Portobello (portobello-stuffed ravioli with some sort of cream sauce). It was insanely delicious! I was actually really surprised at just how good it was.

There were 7 ravioli for a total of 820 calories, but I only ate 4 of them. With my salad and three bites of Eli's dessert, my total for the meal was only 655 calories. Well worth it! Eli loved his dinner, too--he got the Five Cheese Ziti Al Forno--but we ended up taking most of it home, because he filled up on breadsticks ;)

It was really nice going out with just one of the boys at a time. I didn't have to break up fights between the kids or provide entertainment while we waited for our food. It was just Eli and me, so we were able to talk and enjoy each other's company. I'll have to make sure to do something like it with Noah, and Eli can do something with Jerry.

The kids only have three more school days until Christmas break! It feels like they just started this school year. Crazy!

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Calories vs. Weight Watchers SmartPoints comparison

Last week, I weighed in at Weight Watchers and got the materials for their new Beyond the Scale: SmartPoints plan. It definitely did not sound like the right plan for me (especially when I saw that my beloved dried cherries were 8 "SmartPoints" for a quarter cup!), but I was curious as to how many SmartPoints I'd eaten each day this week. I used the new Weight Watchers app to calculate my SmartPoints at the end of each day, just out of curiosity.

For reference, if I was doing Weight Watchers, my daily target to MAINTAIN my weight would be 36 SmartPoints per day, plus 28 SmartPoints per week. If I was trying to LOSE weight, my daily target would be just 30 SmartPoints per day, plus 28 SmartPoints per week.

I did not calculate the SmartPoints each day--I only did it after the week was over. I'd eaten the foods I normally eat, and I counted calories like usual. Note that this was a crazy week with Jerry's ER visits and all that, so my calories were rather low on a few days; but even on my low days, I was shocked by the high number of SmartPoints I'd eaten.)

Here is the result:

W: 1,681 calories; 65 SmartPoints
T: 1,239 calories; 51 SmartPoints
F: 1,972 calories; 63 SmartPoints
S: 1,442 calories; 57 SmartPoints
S: 1,354 calories; 58 SmartPoints
M: 1,240 calories; 44 SmartPoints
T: 1,578 calories; 65 SmartPoints

Totals for the week: 10,506 calories; 403 SmartPoints
Averages each day: 1,501 calories; 58 SmartPoints
(Weight Watchers recommends 30 SmartPoints per day for someone my size to lose weight)

That means, in this week, I would have gone OVER by 123 SmartPoints in maintenance, and 165 SmartPoints if I was trying to lose weight!! (Yet, I lost 2 pounds this week.) Shocking, right?

(Important Note: Since I count calories, and I'm not actively following the SmartPoints plan, I wasn't trying to get the most out of my SmartPoints. If I was trying to follow the SmartPoints plan, I could have made different choices about what to eat--trying to fill up on fruits and vegetables, and eat less sugar and/or processed foods, so the SmartPoints counts would probably have been lower. This is NOT a review of the new plan, nor was it an experiment as a week on Weight Watchers' new plan; all I did was calculate how many SmartPoints I'd eaten for a week, out of curiosity.)

Anyway, here is a sample day, based on things that I would typically eat:

Breakfast: Larabar (which is just dates, nuts, and dried fruit) with 8 g. peanut butter; tea with 1/2 tsp. sugar and 1-1/3 Tbsp. half and half (13 SmartPoints; 301 calories)
Lunch: Panera lunch date with a friend- 1/2 chicken caesar salad, 1 cup tomato soup, piece of baguette, unsweetened iced tea (25 SmartPoints; 680 calories)
Dinner: Homemade roasted red pepper and turkey sausage pasta (11 SmartPoints; 394 calories)
Snack/treat: homemade fudge (9 SmartPoints; 198 calories)

Total: 58 SmartPoints; 1,573 calories

This is a very typical day for me--not super healthy, not super junky, just average. I'm not going to bash the new Weight Watchers program, because I understand what Weight Watchers is going for--when "junk" foods are super high in SmartPoints, people will be more likely to make healthier choices. That's a good thing!

However... I find that the opposite happens with me. The more restrictions I have, the less likely I am to stick with the program. I get frustrated while trying to find a compromise between foods I enjoy and that fit in with the plan.

My Thoughts on the New SmartPoints Plan...

Weight Watchers used to be pretty simple when calculating Points values: there was a formula that used calories, fat, and fiber. That was the plan that I used to lose most of the 125 pounds I lost in 2009-2010.

Then they came out with a new plan, the slightly more complicated PointsPlus system, that then used carbs, fat, fiber, and protein to calculate PointsPlus.

Now, they are using calories, saturated fat, protein, carbs, fiber, and sugar to calculate SmartPoints. Instead of getting simpler, which is what you want when trying to get people interested, the plan is getting much more complicated and overwhelming.

As a newcomer to Weight Watchers way back in the day, the biggest appeal to me was that I didn't have to eat a super healthy diet to lose weight.

If I was able to stick with a very healthy diet (lots of fruits and veggies, very little sugar, etc), then I never would have been 253 pounds!

I'd tried making healthy choices God-only-knows-how-many times, but I was never able to stick with it. When doing Weight Watchers (the Winning Points plan), I was able to eat the foods that I wanted (in smaller portions) and still lose 125 pounds.

In August 2009, at 253 pounds and living off of pizza, Oreos, ice cream, and Dr. Pepper, I was looking for a weight loss plan that I could stick with. I didn't want to go from pizza and ice cream to salads and grilled fish overnight. I was willing to compromise, though, and Weight Watchers (as the program was back then) allowed me to do that. I could still eat pizza, just not half a pie. I could eat Oreos, just not a whole row in one sitting. And I started adding fruits and vegetables because they were low in Points, so I could eat more food.

With this new plan, it would be very hard to fit in even a small treat. I typically eat three meals a day, plus one treat in the evenings (a piece of fudge, for example, like I mentioned yesterday).

That 198-calorie piece of fudge was 9 SmartPoints--exactly one fourth of the SmartPoints WW would allow me to have per day on maintenance! 

And for a special occasion, like a birthday? A piece of carrot cake (my favorite) is 28 SmartPoints, which would use ALL of the 28 weekly SP allotment.

Again, I understand what Weight Watchers is trying to do in getting people to eat healthier--I just know that, for me, the new plan would make me feel like I was on another complicated diet and I would eventually binge on all the foods I couldn't fit into my daily allotment.

On one hand, Weight Watchers is responding to the trend in pushing more protein and less carbs; but on the other hand, it doesn't even feel like Weight Watchers any more.

I think the new SmartPoints plan is great for people who already eat a pretty healthy diet, and are just having a hard time losing weight. I also think it would be good for someone who has health issues, and has to cut back on sugar and/or saturated fat.

If you spend most of your SmartPoints allowance on lean protein, fruits, and vegetables, you could probably still fit in a small treat now and then. For people (like me) who are otherwise healthy and enjoy carbs, daily dessert, or eat processed foods, and who want to keep things as simple as possible, calorie counting seems to be a better fit.

I'm not suggesting that people don't give the new program a chance. When WW first rolled out the PointsPlus plan, I really didn't like it! That's why I used the old 1-2-3 Success Points plan to start with. Eventually, when I was ready, I really embraced the new plan and it worked out well for me.

As of now, I recently lost almost 30 pounds by calorie counting, and I'm 134 days binge-free (woo hoo!)... so I don't want to mess with that by trying something new, even as an experiment.

My recent weight loss from calorie counting

My friend Andrea did great her first week on the new SmartPoints plan, losing 9 pounds(!)--but she said that she wouldn't be able to do that plan for maintenance. She's hoping to get back to goal and then find a different maintenance plan that isn't so restrictive. My sister switched from Weight Watchers to calorie counting this week, because of the new SmartPoints plan, and she lost 2.8 pounds--which she was thrilled with.

There have been tons of mixed reviews of the new WW plan on social media, and it's been an interesting read! If nothing else, it seems to have caused a heated discussion among Weight Watchers members ;)

I know I'm always saying this, but everybody is different, so we all just need to find what works for us. Maybe it's Weight Watchers, maybe it's calorie counting, maybe it's macro counting, maybe it's intuitive eating, maybe it's something else. It's interesting to see all the different ways to accomplish one common goal!

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So, today was my Wednesday Weigh-in, and I can't say I was disappointed when I stepped on the scale this morning ;)

I was at 130.5, which is down 2 whole pounds from last week; and 2.5 pounds below my goal weight. I wasn't actively trying to lose weight this week, but I had a lot going on with Jerry being in the hospital 4 out of 5 days in a row. My average calorie intake was 1,501, which is on the low side for maintenance; but, considering the circumstances, it makes sense. (Next week, it'll probably be back up, and I'm fine with that).

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Treadmill Tuesday

It felt so good to get caught up on stuff yesterday! I did a ton of laundry, went grocery shopping, responded to email, and cleaned up around the house. It's been really nice to spend some time with Jerry, too--after the kids left for school, we curled up on the couch with the electric blanket and watched Bad Santa. With all that was going on with Jerry, it was nice to laugh and just relax. I wasn't even thinking about Christmas all this past week; and now Christmas is just 10 days away!

The kids spent a lot of time with my parents over the last week, since Jerry and I were at the hospital, so we wanted to do something fun (yet low-key) with them last night. We decided to make fudge (I rarely bake or make sweets, because it's hard not to go overboard and eat the whole batch; but the kids love baking, so they get very excited when we do it). We made Rocky Road Fudge (with walnuts and marshmallows) and it was delicious!

After we each ate a piece of fudge, we all went for a one-mile walk around the neighborhood in the dark. The kids thought walking the dark was a lot of fun ;)

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This morning, I woke up with ZERO energy. I have no idea why I was feeling so tired, but I really wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep some more. Usually, I'm wide awake in the mornings. I had intervals on the schedule, and I was really considering rescheduling them because of my lack of energy. Interval workouts are tough! But I don't want to get behind on my 10K training, so I got dressed to run and went out to the garage to run on the treadmill.

We had another warm morning--I think it was about 45 degrees. I actually wore capris and a tank! I am loving this odd December weather. Last week, I did my intervals outside; two weeks ago, I did 5 x 400's at 8.2 mph and 1% incline on the treadmill. Today, my plan was to do 6 x 400 at 8.3 mph and 1% incline.

First, I jogged for half a mile, and then I set the speed to 8.3 mph. Once I started running hard, I felt my energy level rise a bit, thank goodness. The first two intervals went by just fine. On the third, I was starting to get tired, and I wished I had more rest between intervals (one minute is ideal for me to take a break and recover, but not so long to where my heart rate goes back to the resting rate). I was really tempted to pause my Garmin and take longer during the recoveries, but I had done five intervals last week, so I knew I could keep going.

The last interval was extremely difficult to get through. I felt like I might not make it, and I would have to either drop the pace or quit. But, I just started counting (anything to take my mind off the running) and I pushed through. Six intervals, done!

The last couple of interval runs on the treadmill, I felt like I probably could have pushed myself a little harder; today, however, I definitely pushed to the max and I was totally spent when I was done. My legs felt pleasantly sore all day after that.

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For Taste Test Tuesday this week, I made a pasta dish called One Pot Roasted Red Pepper and Sausage Alfredo (another recipe I found on Pinterest). This one was interesting, because it took three days to actually make it ;) I was in the middle of cooking it on Wednesday when Jerry's original headache started. I turned off the burner and took him to the emergency room, just leaving the pot on the stove.

I called my mom when we were waiting for the doctor, and she came to the ER to get the kids, while my dad went over to my house to get Joey. While he was there, he put the pot in the fridge so it wouldn't go bad. I figured I may be able to salvage it, because the residual heat had probably finished cooking the pasta. The next day, we wound up in the emergency room again; so, once again, we didn't get to eat it for dinner. Finally, on Friday, I took the pot out of the fridge and heated it back up on the stove. I threw in the spinach and parmesan cheese, and called it done.

It ended up being really tasty, and Jerry even said that it's his favorite dinner I've ever made!

I made a couple of modifications to the original recipe--I eliminated the goat cheese entirely, because I don't like goat cheese (I had planned to use cream cheese instead, but totally forgot to put it in there); I used turkey Italian sausage; I also added more pasta (16 oz total), which made it less calories (because I was able to get 8 servings out of it instead of 6). For one serving, it was 394 calories. It was very good! Jerry requested that I make this again often. Hopefully it won't take three days to cook it next time ;)

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Blood patch

Well, I guess I spoke too soon yesterday about Jerry being better. After I'd scheduled yesterday's post, and we were just talking about whether to go to the party, Jerry had another horrible headache--the worst one yet. It was another spinal headache from the spinal tap he'd had on Wednesday. When we went to the emergency room on Thursday for the spinal headaches, the doctor told us that if they didn't stop on their own by Monday, to go back in there and get a "blood patch". Well, yesterday, the pain was unbearable, so we went back to the ER to hopefully get the blood patch.

Here is the basic idea of what it is (at least how I understood it from what the doctor said): When Jerry got the spinal tap, the hole made from the needle didn't close, and his spinal fluid was leaking out of the space where it belongs (it surrounds the spinal cord and brain). Because of that, the spinal fluid level wasn't able to build back up to what it should have been. Spinal fluid surrounds the brain and acts as a cushion, and without it, the brain doesn't have that "shock absorber".  That's what was causing the horrible headaches.

To fix that, an anesthesiologist can draw blood from the patient's arm, and inject it near the original spinal tap site--the blood will then quickly form a clot over the leak, and the spinal fluid can build back up to a normal level again. When I asked why they don't just do the blood patch immediately after the spinal tap, I was told that ER doctors can do spinal taps (which are used for diagnoses), but they cannot do the blood patch; and usually, an anesthesiologist is not at their beck and call to do a blood patch whenever needed.

Anyway, yesterday evening, Jerry and I spent several hours in the ER again. They ended up admitting him to the hospital so that he could get the blood patch first thing today (and keep his pain under control in the meantime). Once they admitted him, I went home for the night.

I couldn't sleep at all last night, and I got up early to go for a run before heading back to the hospital. It was still dark outside, but because I wanted to go to the hospital early, I decided to go run in the dark. It's something I'd been wanting to do anyway. It was really warm this morning--55 degrees at 6:30! I wore a reflective vest and my super bright headlamp, and headed out for three miles.

It was creepy--there is something different about being outside at night versus in the morning, and I definitely prefer the nighttime. I kept seeing the glow of little eyes, and imagined scary beasts (they ended up being cats, haha). My imagination went crazy with all sorts of scenarios. Next time I run in the dark, I'm going to do it at night, and see if I like it better.

Anyway, I finished the three miles at a pretty slow pace (it felt like I was going much faster, but I think that's because it was dark and harder to gauge my pace). Then I took a quick shower and drove to the hospital. Jerry said his blood patch had been scheduled for 9:00. When they came to take him to the pre-op area, I went downstairs to the lobby and had some decaf coffee while I waited. I was told it would probably be an hour or so.

Jerry sent me a text when he got back to his room, and he was already feeling much better. He still had a mild headache, but within the next hour, it was completely gone (and without using pain meds). His back was slightly sore, but that was normal because of the blood patch. He was discharged at around noon, and was feeling a million times better than he had been over the last five days. The whole way home, I kept asking him, "How's your head?" because I was worried the headache would come back; but it didn't!

He still has to take it easy for a day or two, but the doctor said he should be fine to go back to work on Wednesday. I'm SO relieved! If the blood patch hadn't worked, I didn't know what we were going to do. Thank you all again for all of the thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes for Jerry.

With everything going on over the past several days, I've gotten super far behind on everything from laundry to email. I'm going to try and get caught up tomorrow, so I won't be posting a Motivational Monday post. If you have a submission, please send it anyway, and I will save it for next week!

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Three years since reaching goal

Thanks so much for the well wishes for Jerry! The results of his MRI came back normal, so we are relieved about that. We still don't know what caused the initial symptoms that brought him to the emergency room, but it was probably "just a headache". Unfortunately, the lumbar puncture test brought on a whole host of problems afterward. (Several people mentioned it may have been a migraine, but for a headache to be diagnosed as a migraine, it has to be accompanied by sensitivity to light and/or sound; and/or it has to cause nausea/vomiting. He didn't have those symptoms, so it wasn't a migraine.)

He's had a post-lumbar puncture headache since Thursday afternoon. I wrote about what happened Thursday--he said that headache/backache was the worst pain he's ever felt in his life. After getting home from the ER on Thursday night, he's still been having bad headaches/backaches from the lumbar puncture, but they are progressively getting less painful. He's had to lie flat on his back for most of the past two days. He actually had to call off work for the first time in 13 years yesterday. He was able to get FMLA time approved, though, so he stayed home today as well. He's hoping to go back tomorrow, so we'll see how he's feeling. This whole thing has been rough!

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On Thursday morning, before Jerry's post-lumbar puncture headache started, I had an awesome tempo run. I was scheduled for 14 minutes at tempo pace, and I was hoping to be able to do my tempo pace as fast as last week (last week, the pace was 8:23/mi for 12 minutes). I started with a five-minute warm-up, and then picked up the pace to what felt difficult, but a pace I felt I could hold for the full 14 minutes.

I didn't want to look at the pace on my Garmin, but I kept looking at how much time I had left, and I couldn't help but see my pace. I was surprised to see I was running about an 8:15 pace! It didn't feel like I was running as hard as last week, but I was actually going a little faster. That's progress!

As soon as the timer hit 14:00, I pressed the lap button and then walked for full minute before jogging home. It was a tough 14 minutes, but I was thrilled to see that my pace was 8:10! Soon, I may start seeing my pace dip into the 7:00's--I haven't seen a 7:something mile in a very long time.

Yesterday, I spent the day taking care of Jerry (every time he tried to sit upright or stand up, his head would start throbbing again). I bought him the new Star Wars game for the Xbox, so he was able to lie down and play that most of the day.

This morning, I had plans to meet up with Stephanie for my long run. She's not training for anything in particular right now, but she still likes to do a long, slow run on Saturdays. Five miles isn't super long, but she agreed to do it with me, and I love having company on my runs!

My alarm actually woke me up at 6:00 (normally, I wake up on my own at around 5:00 or 5:15). I was SO drained from the past few days. Also, I had taken a Xanax last night before bed, because I was worried about Jerry (Xanax makes me very tired). So, when I got out of bed, I was kind of regretting agreeing to meet so early (7:00), but once I got dressed, I woke up a little.

I wasn't expecting it to still be so dark at 7:00! I take Noah to the bus stop at 6:45, but it's usually just starting to lighten up after that. Today was a very foggy morning, so it was extra dark. Neither Steph nor I had brought a headlamp or flashlight, so the first 20 minutes or so of the run was a little difficult to navigate. I know a perfect five-mile route at the park, but I actually missed the turn onto the bike path because it was so dark, and I didn't realize it until we'd gone about a tenth of a mile past it. So, we had to turn around, but thankfully I'd realized the mistake before we'd gone too far.

We talked a lot about the new Weight Watchers program (Stephanie also counts calories now, but she is tracking both calories and SmartPoints to see how the new WW program compares to the old one out of curiosity). I'm doing the same thing this week--tracking my calories as usual, but also inputing my food log into the WW app. I'll share the results of that on Wednesday. Steph and I shared a lot of the same thoughts about the new WW plan.

Because of our little detour early on, we ended up running 5.23 miles total. It was great to have her company, and I loved getting my long run done before 8:00 this morning! It was fun to check out Smashrun afterward, too. I earned my "5K badge", which made me laugh when I read the commentary:

There were also a ton of Notables for this run:

I think the "hardest hills" part is funny, because I think the only "hill" at the state park has an incline of about six feet ;) But, it's more than any of the routes around my house!

Other than my run, Jerry and I have had a lazy day. He's been trying to get up and move around a bit, but when the headache returns, he has to lie back down. He's getting really frustrated about not being able to do things. Tonight, we are supposed to go to our friends' house for an ugly Christmas sweater party. We both would really like to go, and we've been looking forward to it for weeks, but we'll have to see how he's feeling later on. We may just go for an hour or so to see everyone.

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I just realized when I was scheduling to publish this post that today is the 12th. I hit my goal weight exactly three years ago today! It was an easy date to remember: 12-12-12. That was when I reached 133, and I stayed within a short range 130-136ish for nearly a year. While I struggled from 2014-2015, I'm very happy to be back at my goal weight today, three years later.

When I first started losing weight, the odds were stacked against me that I would even reach my goal; and then, once reaching goal, the odds of staying there were (are) even slimmer. I've learned SO much over the past six years, both from losing and then maintaining (and gaining and losing again). I'm hoping that the lessons I've learned will help me to figure this maintenance thing out ;) So far, so good!

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The worst headache ever

The last couple of days have been kind of crazy! I wasn't sure if I wanted to write about this, but it was pretty scary and it has taken up a lot of my head space for two days now, so it's hard not to write about it.

Yesterday afternoon, I was in the kitchen cooking dinner, and Jerry was there chatting with me. He suddenly got this horrible headache--he grabbed his head and was moaning. He's never very dramatic when it comes to stuff like that, and I have a hard time even getting him to take a Motrin when he gets the occasional headache, but he was clearly in a lot of pain and he took two Motrin right away.

I told him to go sit on the couch while I finished making dinner, but something about the way he looked and the way he was acting had me really worried. I remembered Dr. Oz saying on his show one time that an aneurysm in the brain would feel like "the worst headache you've ever had" (or something to that effect). Jerry said he'd never felt pain like that, and he was having a hard time even focusing, so I mentioned going to the emergency room (knowing that he would decline).

He was in so much pain that he actually said he thought it was a good idea to go. He said he was also having a hard time taking a deep breath, and the roof of his mouth felt odd. On the way to the hospital (it's about a 30 minute drive), he said his left arm was going numb and felt really cold. When he said that, I feel really panicky.

When we got to the ER, he was seen right away. I felt kind of silly going there for "just a headache" (Jerry did, too), but I would rather have been safe than sorry. When Jerry described what was going on to the doctor, the doctor ordered a CT scan. I was totally unprepared when the doctor came in and told us that there was an abnormal spot on the scan. He said it could either be a small stroke, or it was just normal brain tissue that happened to look abnormal on the scan--and we would have to do an MRI to find out which. The word "stroke" actually took my breath away. It was even more concerning because the spot on the scan was the area of his brain that, if damaged, would possibly affect his left arm.

First, though, because of the severe headache, the doctor wanted to do a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to check for pressure or bleeding on the brain. The words "spinal tap" scare me to death--it sounds absolutely awful. Jerry was scared, too, but because of his symptoms, agreed to it. So, the doctor performed the lumbar puncture, and that (thankfully) came back normal. He said that if the CT scan had been normal as well, he would have probably just sent Jerry home; but because the CT scan had that abnormal spot on it, he wanted to find out what that was.

He wanted to transport Jerry by ambulance to a different hospital, because the emergency room where we were didn't have an MRI machine. Jerry would have to stay the night there and then get an MRI the next day (today). After talking about it for a minute, we asked the doctor if we could just go home and then have our family doctor order the MRI (the ambulance cost plus hospital stay would be very expensive). He would have preferred we just went right to the hospital, but he called our family doctor to check on getting the MRI order, and she said she would do that. Jerry really didn't want to spend the night at the hospital, so we went home (by this time, it was already 10:30 pm). Meanwhile, my mom had come to the ER several hours prior to get my kids; so thankfully, she and my dad were able to take care of the kids and Joey while this was going on.

This morning, Jerry was feeing much better. The headache was gone, his back was a little sore from the lumbar puncture, but he was actually feeling like the trip to the ER was a big waste of time. I went for a run this morning (had a great tempo run!) and when I got home, Jerry said that his MRI was scheduled for 2:00 today. I was shocked that they got him in right away, but that was awesome!

We went to Sam's Club to pick up some stuff, and then stopped for lunch. When we were getting in the car to head to the hospital, Jerry's headache started again. He said it felt different this time, though, and was likely due to the lumbar puncture (the doctor had warned him that he may get a headache).

We went to radiology, and once we got in the waiting room, Jerry was hit with SO MUCH PAIN in his head and his back. I didn't know what to do--he needed the MRI, and we were already there; but I thought maybe we should go back to the ER. He was sure the pain was from the lumbar puncture, though, and he wasn't having any other symptoms, so he decided to stay for the MRI.

While we waited, I felt absolutely terrible. I've never seen him in so much pain, and I felt really helpless. We were in the radiology department, and there weren't even any doctors there (I asked if he could get pain meds, and they said they aren't allowed to do that, and he'd have to go to the ER). So I asked if they could let Jerry lie down on a bed, and I walked as fast as I could to the other side of the hospital to the pharmacy. I bought a bottle of Motrin, and rushed back to radiology. He looked even worse than before. I've only seen him cry a handful of times in 16 years, so when he does, it totally breaks my heart.

I gave him three of the Motrin and some water, and I just kept asking what I could do to help. He told me to call our family doctor and tell her what's happening, and ask if we should go back to the ER. She called me back right away and said yes, we should go to the emergency room as soon as the MRI was done.

When Jerry went back to the room for the MRI, I just went outside and started crying and crying. I had been trying not to cry in front of him, because I didn't want to freak him out more, but I just felt so awful seeing him in that much pain.

When he came out of the MRI, he was doing MUCH better. He said that lying down had helped a lot (the ER doctor had told us that he should try to lie down flat). Each time he sat up or stood up, the headache and backache would return. We walked out of radiology and right next door to the ER.

The doctors in the ER weren't at all surprised about the pain from the lumbar puncture--they said it happens that severely in about 10% of patients. Jerry was lying flat, and feeling better by the minute. They gave him an IV for fluids, pain meds, and caffeine. Apparently, caffeine really helps the headache, so they gave him 500 mg(!) of caffeine through the IV.

We stayed for what felt like an eternity, but was actually about four hours. The pain meds and caffeine combo really helped him, and he was feeling good by the time we left. We are still waiting for the results of the MRI, but the ER doctor took a look at it and said that there wasn't anything grossly abnormal from what he could see (but he reminded us that he is not a radiologist, so we should wait for the actual report).

So, we basically spent this afternoon/evening (AND yesterday afternoon/evening) in the emergency room. I was worried sick today, but I feel a lot better after seeing the doctor in the ER, and hearing him explain that it's not going to kill him, and the headache/backache that he was experiencing today was just from the test yesterday.

We still don't know exactly what happened to cause the initial symptoms, but it very likely could have just been a very bad headache. When I fainted and broke my jaw, it was totally out of nowhere--I'd never fainted before, and I haven't fainted since--so it was just a freak thing that happened one time. I told Jerry that maybe his "worst headache ever" was just his "freak thing". Of course, we still have to wait for the MRI results (hopefully by tomorrow), but right now, I'm just glad that Jerry is feeling better!

I don't have any pictures to go with this post, so I'll just share one of my favorite pictures of Jerry. (This was his first time ever tasting a Big Mac!)

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Smashrun and Week 17 Weigh-in

A couple of days ago, I told my friend Gigi (who blogs at Running on Candy) that I would write up some speed work plans for her to work on getting faster, and I emailed them to her yesterday. Afterward, she said that as a "thank you", she wanted to give me a premium membership to a website called Smashrun. It's basically a site that tracks all of your running stats (which could be uploaded from Garmin Connect). It has all of the basics that Garmin Connect gives you, but it also has a about a trillion other numbers to geek out over. (You can upload info from several other sources, and not just Garmin, but I don't know anything about those.)

The website is free, unless you get the premium version, which has some extra options. As soon as I signed up and clicked around for all of seven whole seconds, I was totally hooked. There is so much fun information! For example, as soon my Garmin Connect info was uploaded, a fun fact popped up that I tend to run 52% shorter distances when the temperature is below freezing.

My favorite part of the site is where, on each individual run, there is a section called "Notable". There, it gives you fun facts about that particular run... things like, "This was your fastest 5K in a month", or "This was the most elevation gained in 6 months", or "This was your first run in Oregon", or "This was your highest average heart rate in 3 months", etc. There are SO many different notable facts! It's really fun to look through some of my old runs (dating back to 2010).

You can quickly glance at fun facts and data based on the year, the month, the week, or the day (of any time frame you choose). For example, with one little click, I can see that in 2010, the day of the week that I most often ran on was Monday, with an average of 6.1 miles, 44 times throughout the year; and the day that I ran on the least often was Saturday, average of 8.3 miles, 9 times.

Another click, and I can see that in 2013, my average overall pace was 9:09/mile; my average run length was 5.8 miles; my average number of days per week that I ran was 5.1; and that 92% of the time, I ran in the morning.

Here, you can see at a glance for the entire year (any year) the distances run. You can then click on those little boxes to pull up the individual runs:

(The big chunks of grayed out boxes are where I was taking time off for injury this year.)

The site also has "badges" that you can earn, and ordinarily, that is not something that motivates me. But once I started looking through the different badges, I was thinking about how I wanted to work on earning them! Here are just a few examples:

Run 75 miles in any calendar month.
Run a total of 858 miles (the distance from NYC to Chicago)
Complete 10 runs in a month slower than 10:00/mile pace
Complete 10 runs in a month faster than 8:00/mile pace
Run at least 10 days in March
Run 10 runs that start before sunrise and end after sunrise.
Do 10 runs after sunset on a full moon.

And LOTS of others. Pretty crazy, right? I think it would be a lot of fun to work on getting the badges--it's a different sort of running goal than just aiming for a PR. As I train for my 10K, I'm going to start working on some of the badges.

There is one coming up that has to be done on the shortest day of the year:

Since that opportunity only comes up once a year, I'm going to make it a point to do it on the 22nd!

Something else that is fun for each run is that it gives you a food equivalent for the amount of calories you just burned. For example, after an 18-mile run I did in April 2012...

(You could choose to see a healthy food equivalent instead, but where's the fun in that?)

Anyway, I have had way too much nerdy fun with this website (thank you SO much, Gigi!), so I just wanted to share it. Here is a link to join, if you're interested (I get "badge" credit for referring people). There is so much to share that this is only a tiny part of it. If you're a numbers nerd, like I am, you will probably love the site!

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Anyway, today was a good weigh-in! I maintained from last week...

My calories were pretty high this week--my average calorie intake per day was 1,949. I didn't plan to do that, but it's nice to know that I can eat that much and maintain my weight, at least. Because I've been focusing on going for a walk every single day, even if it's just a short one, my steps were higher this week, too (just under 10,000 on average per day).

Two weeks down on maintenance and it's going well so far :)

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