A fun zoo outing (and comparison photos)

On Saturday, we were invited to go to the zoo with the company Jerry works for. Once in a while, they'll host a fun outing somewhere, and this year, they chose the Detroit Zoo. They actually rented out the entire zoo just for employees and their families!

The zoo normally closes at 5:00 pm, and our event started at 6:00--so we had the whole zoo to ourselves. Usually (well, almost always), I regret going to the zoo. It's always miserably hot, the animals aren't very active (and I feel sorry for them being in a zoo in the first place), it's expensive to get in, and there are SO many people. It always sounds like a fun idea to go for the day, but then when we get there, I regret it.


This trip was entirely free to us--including parking, zoo admission, a huge dinner, and drinks. So, there was no reason not to go. Since it was in the evening, I hoped it would be cooler outside than when we usually go.

Anyway, the weather was nice--hot, but as the sun was going down, it was getting cooler. When we got there, they gave each of the kids a little stuffed giraffe, and Jerry a portable cell phone charger. We were all hungry, so we went over to the food tents right away. They had pulled pork, chicken breasts, hot dogs, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, salad, rolls, and probably a dozen other things. So much food! They had beer and wine, as well as tea, pop, and reusable water bottles.

The four of us sat down and ate, and by then, the sun was down enough that it felt great outside. We started walking around the zoo, and it was fantastic not to have big crowds to wade through. Nothing super eventful happened, so I won't bore you with details. But I did take lots of pictures, and today, I went through old pictures from the zoo to compare. It's crazy to see how big the kids have gotten.

And Jerry and I took our traditional binoculars photo. I have no idea why we started this--just being goofy, I guess--but now we take this photo every time we see these kinds of binoculars. I can't find ALL of them, but here are a few, in chronological order:

1999 (the photo that started the tradition)

2009

2010

2016

2017

Clearly, our weight has fluctuated as much as our hair in the last 18 years ;)  I think I actually like this year's photo the best, probably because I was in a much better mood than the other times at the zoo!

Here is a photo of the boys and me that we have started taking the last couple of years. It's cool to see them get taller.

2009

2016

2017

In 2009, I crouched down and used the kids to try and hide myself as much as possible, because I was embarrassed of my size. The kids have grown, so I obviously don't have to crouch down anymore, but I like to for comparison's sake. They are going to be taller than me soon!

Another picture I like to compare is of Noah and me. Again, I tried to hide my body as much as possible...

2005

2017

 Two more sets of pictures, and then I'll be done, I promise ;) These ones are just the boys:

2012

2017

2012

2017

They grow up so fast! Anyway, we stayed until 9:00, and we all had so much fun. We feel spoiled now, so it'll be hard to go to the zoo in the crowds again! But it was awesome that Jerry's company did this for the employees.

I did make a short video of the evening, so I wouldn't overload this post with photos of animals. I used the 1 Second Everyday app to compile several clips (nothing terribly exciting, however):

All in all, it was a super fun evening! We almost didn't go, because we were doing so much yard work and house work Saturday that we didn't want to stop. The kids weren't even sure if they wanted to go--but we were all glad that we went!

Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

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Hiking in central Oregon

(...continued from previous post)

Okay, despite what happened on my first day there, the rest of the weekend was spent hiking and appreciating a different type of gorgeous scenery that Oregon has to offer. In this post, I'll just share a ton of photos and caption some of them as needed.

Pictures never do scenery justice, particularly when taken from an iPhone, but this was the best I could do.

This was my view of Mt. Hood from the airplane--I couldn't believe
what a perfect view it was! Even my brother, who is a pilot and flies
past it often, said he's never seen it this clearly.

The Portland-green that I love! From the airplane.

I took this picture from the car window as we drove past. I just couldn't
believe how out of place the mountains looked--like someone just picked
them up and placed them in the wrong spot. It was amazing. 

The first stop, which was actually unplanned. We were
driving past, and Thomas said there is never parking available
there. He saw an open spot, so we pulled in, and I'm glad!
I love waterfalls, and this was amazing.

Our second stop was a hike down to this waterfall. When we parked the car,
I felt like we were in the wrong place; you would have NO idea that this
gorgeous waterfall was just waiting for us not too far away. (By the way,
it was about 85 degrees outside!)

This looks like a postcard, doesn't it?

I was so excited when we saw some random cows chilling in the road.
Of course, we waited for them to cross the road before moving on. Despite
seeing lots of cows where I live, I've never seen them in the road before!

This place was actually not even on the map as a "lookout" or anything.
Thomas was just looking on Google Maps for places to go, and he saw
something that looked like a spot to park and see water. So we stopped,
and it was breathtaking. My second-favorite spot that we went.

My favorite picture from the trip! I was actually just showing Thomas how
he could pose for a pic, and he said it was way too "girly", and took my pic
instead. I turned out to be a great picture.

This hike was SO challenging for me. It was nearly 90 degrees outside, and
shade was scarce. We didn't bring water, because it was "only" four miles.
I later learned that four miles of hiking in these temps with full sun
is nothing like four miles of running on flat streets.

I wanted to show how high up we'd hiked, but this picture
really doesn't show it well. We found a spot of shade to catch
our breath about a quarter mile from the top.

The ONLY town for miles and miles. This was Main St.! There was one grocery
store, two restaurants, a school, a gas station, and that's about it.
But it was SO cool! And I was surprised how busy it was. Lots of people
stopping for food and gas.

The only restaurant that was open (the other was closed on Sundays). We each
got a burger, and they were amazingly delicious.

The "Philly" burger and tater tots. I was starving after our hike, and I ate
almost all of this!

This place was called Painted Hills, which is one of the "7 Wonders of Oregon".
The photo doesn't do it justice. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen. The hills
were SO smooth and looked like they were painted with stripes of red.

Another photo I took from the car as we drove past. So pretty!

This place had hills that had the most unique texture. They reminded me
of a brownie with a crackled top--which is probably a terrible description,
but I don't know how else to describe it! I should've taken a close-up.

Our final hike, which ended up being our favorite. This was halfway up
Black Butte (pronounced like "beauty" but without the "y"). This hike was
extremely challenging for this out-of-shape Southeast Michigan girl! 

View from the top. It was nearly 1,500 feet of elevation gain in about two miles.
Considering I have no hills or elevation of any sort where I live, I felt like
I would die. But I brought water this time, and I made it!

Another view from the top.

Trying so hard to balance on the rocks for a good photo op. I am the
clumsiest hiker, and nearly fell off a cliff a couple of times in our 2015 hike.
This time, I was determined not to fall!

While I was standing there, I saw an antelope squirrel. I'd seen several the
day before, from the car. I thought they were birds on the road until they
all scattered. I wanted to see another so badly, and I was thrilled when I
saw this one. I held out my (empty) hand, hoping it would come closer. He
came up to me, realized I didn't have food, and ran off. A super nice couple
heard how excited I was, and offered me some nuts from their trail mix.
The squirrel came back and I gave him an almond. I was SO happy. (I was
later told several times on social media that I shouldn't feed wildlife--I had
no idea that giving him an almond was wrong--so I'll never do it again.)

Just a girl and an antelope squirrel, gazing at the beautiful mountains.

I asked Thomas if this was considered a mountain (I wanted to be able to say
that I hiked up a mountain); he said I could consider it a "baby mountain", haha.
But I say if there is snow at the top, it's a mountain, dammit! I actually
took a handful of snow and rubbed it on my neck and arms--it felt amazing.

On the way home, we went through the city of Detroit, Oregon. We needed
to get gas anyway, so I got a quick picture. A far cry from Detroit, Michigan!

On Monday night, we picked up Brandon (Thomas's "little brother" from the
Big Brothers Big Sisters program) and we went to Killer Burger for dinner.
I wish I'd gotten a picture with Brandon (who is now 14)--I couldn't
believe how much he'd grown since I saw him last year! He was about an inch
shorter than me last year (I'm 5'4"). He's now 5'10", just about as tall as Thomas!!

I got the "girly size" (which they started calling "pint size" recently, probably
because that's more politically correct. It's just a half-size burger) Peanut
Butter Pickle Bacon burger. Sounds so odd, but I'd had it a couple of years ago,
and it was fantastic!

Just before heading to the airport, we stopped for celebratory drinks (my
first Long Island Iced Tea, which was delicious). After the difficult hike
that day, it was SO refreshing! I wore a shirt that says "Happy" because
that's how I felt after a few days hiking in Oregon, which I basically
consider my "home away from home" now. 

It was a fantastic weekend! Someday, I'd like Jerry to come with and see why I love Portland so much. If we weren't settled here in Michigan, I would want to move there. Hiking and scenery is definitely more my thing than Jerry's, but I think he would love the actual city of Portland (when he goes on trips, it's usually to a city--breweries and baseball are to him what trees and mountains are to me, haha). I brought him back a couple of local beers from Portland, and he was thrilled ;)

Overall, my favorite hike was Black Butte, because it was so challenging (for me) and I felt proud when I made it to the top. Seeing the antelope squirrel was awesome, and the view was amazing. The people on the trail were super friendly. And I always love getting to hang out with Thomas. It was probably my favorite trip yet!

---

Since it's Wednesday Weigh-in day, I was actually surprised to see that I was down 0.6 pounds from last week!

Yesterday morning, I was at 136.6, probably from the sodium and water retention from exercise, but it was gone today. I was conscious not to go overboard on the food while I was gone, and I probably burned a ton of calories from hiking (on Black Butte alone!), so I'm happy that I didn't gain weight, like I usually do.

Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! My next trip is our family vacation to the upper peninsula of Michigan. I haven't been there in a very long time, and my kids have never been!

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Day one of my trip to Oregon

It's a quarter after ten, and I just woke up. I haven't slept this late since college!

I was in Oregon for the weekend, and I took a redeye flight home on Monday night/Tuesday morning (the flight left at 12:30 AM on Tuesday). I had a three hour layover in Minnesota, and then arrived home at about noon yesterday. I stayed up all day, and then finally went to bed at 11 PM. So, I was awake for about 37 hours before going to sleep last night. Definitely a record for me.

Anyway, the weekend was TOTALLY worth the lack of sleep on the way home!

As you probably know, Thomas, my best friend who I actually "met" via my blog in 2012, lives in Portland. I've gone to visit a few times, because during my first trip out there, I totally fell in love with Portland! Not just the city, but the surrounding areas. I am so amazed at how gorgeous the Pacific Northwest is. The trees are my favorite part--they are SUPER tall and lush green from all the rain they supposedly get (it's only rained once in my four trips out there). We went on a 14-mile hike in 2015, and that was the most beautiful place I've ever seen.

March 2015

I started going out there annually, and I look forward to it all year. Anyway, I wanted to go hiking again on this trip. I wasn't really imagining three DAYS worth of hiking, but most of them were simple and short with gorgeous views, so it wasn't like we were hiking 14-milers each day. Actually, the longest hike was a little over four miles, I think. Neither of us is in the shape we were before! (My weight is lower, but since I haven't been running, I'm not in the shape I was in 2015.)

To change things up a bit, we headed to central Oregon about three hours from Portland, and I couldn't believe the difference of landscape. It was almost desert-like, a far cry from the lush green of Portland. However, there were some really amazing views and lookouts, so it was very cool to see a different side of Oregon.

I wish I knew the names of all of these places we went, but I forgot to have Thomas write them down for me, so I will have to get them later. But we did a ton of driving, and even in the car, I just kept exclaiming, "Ohmygosh! Look at that! It's so pretty!" I'm sure he was so tired of hearing it even before we got to our first stop.

Instead of droning on, I'll just post (way too many) photos of the sights we saw, and caption them as needed. First, however, I have to share something terrible that happened just after I arrived in Portland. I didn't actually know what had happened until the following evening when I saw it on a local newsfeed.

When I arrived at PDX, I waited for my suitcase. Then I went and bought a ticket for the MAX. The MAX is a public transportation system that consists of small train cars that go all over the city. The guy in front of me spent SO long looking at the map and I had to wait until he finally bought his ticket before I got mine. I was planning to take the MAX to meet Thomas near where he worked.

So, I finally bought my ticket, and then hopped on the MAX. I was supposed to ride it for about 40 minutes or so. After several stops, our train was taking an awfully long time to start going again. The conductor announced that "there was an incident on the train in front of us, and we would be delayed". He wasn't sure of the details or how long the delay would be.

I texted Thomas to let him know, and he told me to just get off the MAX and he would come pick me up at that stop. So, I lugged my suitcase up to the street, and waited in a nearby parking lot. Fast forward to the following evening (after we'd been hiking all day), when I was scrolling through Facebook. I saw this headline:

I was absolutely STUNNED. This had happened on the train ahead of mine. I was literally one stop away from where it happened. I started thinking of the "What if...?" scenarios. What if I hadn't checked my bag? What if that man in line for his ticket didn't take so long? I could have been on that train, and that thought was terrifying. I was SO so sad for the men that actually lost their lives over this. One was an Army veteran, and the other had just graduated college last year. Another man was stabbed, but (thankfully) is expected to live. (Here is a news article with the details.)

Portland is a very diverse and accepting city in general, and for some man to be so hateful toward a young Muslim woman is not at all what I would expect there. In fact, I've been trying to convince my parents to go out there, because I know they would love and appreciate how pretty it is. This incident is not at all something that represents the city.

For these three gentlemen to step in and intervene is exactly what I would expect, because that's how people are in Portland! Everyone there is SO nice and friendly (another thing I love about the city). When they stepped in to try and calm the man down, the man quickly pulled out a knife and stabbed them, killing two and injuring the third.

Anyway, that was in the back of my mind for the rest of the weekend. I feel so bad for the men who lost their lives, their families, the girls that were targeted and had to watch as the men died while trying to help them, and all the other people on that train who had to witness it.

Well, despite what had happened, I was able to appreciate Oregon for what it is--a beautiful state with amazing people and scenery. I'm actually going to post my photos from the hikes in a separate post. It just doesn't feel right to post them here. So, I will share them in a post following this one...

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A "Finish Strong" Half-Marathon Training Plan

This plan is for experienced runners who want to run a half marathon and finish feeling good--not feeling like they want to keel over and die ;)

The key to feeling great throughout the race is building up a very solid base throughout training. This means running a lot of miles at an easy pace.

I implemented this running technique when I trained for the Chicago Marathon. I used the Hansons Marathon Method, which sparked my interest because the longest run was "only" 16 miles (rather than the usual 20 that most plans have). I expected the plan to be easier!

It was anything but easy. I was running a minimum of five miles per day, six days per week--and I had two months were I ran over 200 miles each! It was an insane amount of running (to me). But I never got injured, and I felt great. (Here is a link to my thoughts on the Hansons Marathon Method.)

The reason for running so many miles is to get your legs used to the cumulative fatigue. You run on tired legs frequently, and your body will get used to it. And then on race day, you will be totally prepared!

I have run three full marathons, and training the Hansons way was by far the best training plan for me.

When training for a tough 10K, I read a book called "80/20 Running" by Matt Fitzgerald, and I highly recommend reading it. I've written this plan based on 80/20 Running, while keeping Hansons Marathon Method in mind (a strong base).

If you follow this plan, I can almost guarantee that you will finish feeling good at the end of your half-marathon.

Click here for the printer-friendly PDF of this plan

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National Weight Control Registry annual survey

This morning when I checked my email, I saw an annual survey for the National Weight Control Registry in my inbox. I registered for the NWCR several years ago when I'd maintained my weight loss for a year or two. It's basically an organization that follows people who have lost a significant amount of weight (at least 30 pounds) and kept it off for at least one year.

They like to keep track of data and habits of these people, which they collect via surveys, and see if the findings give them any input on the habits of successful weight maintenance. Here are just a few snippets of their findings:

You can find more here

Of course, this is all based on the surveys that people fill out, so data may not be entirely accurate. But I have always filled it out honestly, even though it sucks to report a large gain in weight sometimes.

Today's survey came at a good time, because my weight is very close to where it was last year at this time. At the end of the survey, there is a spot where we can type in anything we choose to share that may not have been covered in the survey; so, on this one, I wrote all about my large gain and loss over the last year, my bipolar diagnosis, new medication, change in eating habits (no longer counting calories), change in exercise (no longer running for the last few months). They'll probably just toss that mess of a survey in the trash, hahaha.

You can read their published studies here. I have read several of them, and I have found that I am not the norm on a few. Several studies show that most successful maintainers eat a low fat diet. I tend to eat a very high fat diet. I use heavy cream in my tea, whole milk in my cereal, regular fat cheese, real butter, oil instead of cooking spray, etc. (all questions that are asked on the surveys).

One of the commonalities I have with other maintainers is that I increased my water intake significantly (prior to 2009, I NEVER EVER drank water--my only liquids were coffee, sweet tea, Dr. Pepper, and beer). Now, I drink probably 60-80 ounces of water per day! I also never used to eat breakfast; now, it's my favorite meal, and I never skip it.

Something that I found very surprising/interesting (although true for myself as well) is that the amount of exercise people do doesn't make a difference in terms of weight maintenance. According to the study, people with high levels of physical activity maintained their weight loss just as well as those with low physical activity. As I've shown over the last few months, I have actually lost weight and I totally quit running. I go for walks occasionally with a friend and/or Joey, and I became more active and busy in my daily life, but that's about it.

There was another study that showed that the difference in weight regain was the same in both the participants that lost weight using bariatric surgery as well as the participants that used non-surgical methods. Almost all of them experienced some regain (very common in people that lose a significant amount of weight) but the amount regained was virtually the same in the two groups. Interesting!

Anyway, there are lots of studies published on the site, which you can find here.

Today was my Wednesday Weigh-in, and I almost forgot again! I had already taken a shower and gotten dressed before I remembered to do my weigh-in. But, it was two weeks since my last WWI post, so here goes:

Two weeks ago, I was 137.2, so I've lost 1.6 pounds in the last two weeks. I'm happy with that! It's coming off slower this time, so maybe it'll be easier to maintain. Also, I'm learning to do this without counting calories/points, and just follow my instincts. Also, I feel much more stable on my bipolar medication, so I'm not doing emotional eating or binge eating. It feels nice not to obsess over food and weight!

I need to go for a walk with Joey before it rains, so I'm going to head out to do that. But I've been working on a walking training plan for a half-marathon (several people requested one after I posted about my six-month beginners plan to run a half-marathon). Since I've been doing much more walking than running lately, I thought it would be fun to write a plan for it! Hopefully I'll get that posted sometime in the next several days.

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Forget Me Not 5K race report

A few months ago, my friend Emma mentioned that she wanted to run a 5K in the spring, and she asked if I'd want to do it with her. There was a local one called the Forget Me Not 5K that popped up on Facebook, and we registered for it right away. We made plans to train together, because we both wanted to get motivated to run.

Well, as you know, the time passed, and neither of us trained! We each procrastinated, and we just never got around to actually doing it. So, on Thursday, I realized that the 5K was on Saturday, and I hadn't run in a long time. I sent Emma a text and asked her what she thought about it. She hadn't trained either, but we agreed to go anyway and try our best to finish! haha.

I honestly wasn't even sure if I could finish it--which sounds silly, considering a three mile run was always an "easy run" for the last 7 years. A no brainer. No huffing and puffing, unless I was trying to run it very fast. Thirty minutes, tops.

Well, since I've not been running, I knew it wasn't going to feel like an "easy" run. Emma assured me that her pace would be around 13-14 minutes per mile, so I just hoped I'd be able to stay with her and not slow her down.

Noah had a fundraiser for church camp yesterday (a car wash and bake sale) and my mom took him to that. Since Jerry was working, I brought Eli to play with Emma's son at her house (Emma's husband was home with the kids) while Emma and I went to the race.

I actually didn't even know where the race was until the morning of! Hahaha, that's how prepared I was. (It's kind of ironic that I forgot about the race, considering it's called the "Forget Me Not 5K".) I saw that it was at an airport, but I knew the airport was right next to a local park, so I guessed the race would actually be at the park. When we got there, though, I saw that I was wrong. The entire race took place at the airport, on the runway! It was actually really cool.

The packet pick-up was at the hangar, and the hangar was open so we could see a bunch of small planes. We'd gotten there about 45 minutes early, and it was SUPER windy in the openness of the airport, so we sat in my car until about five minutes before the start.

It was great to catch up with Emma! Usually, I only see her when there is a big group of us (my friends from high school), so we don't have one-on-one time to talk. She is married to Jake, who I was actually friends with (in high school) before I met Emma. They've been together as long as Jerry and I--18 years!

I was freezing at the starting line, because the wind was so strong. The race was a little late getting started, but finally, we lined up. It was a very small race (about 120 people), but I really liked the cause it was supporting. The 5K was a way to raise funds and awareness of the abused and neglected children of Monroe, Michigan, and to support the volunteers who are advocates for these kids. I like that there weren't any medals or even chip timing at the race, because 100% of our race sign-up fee went to the cause.

After the "Ready... Set... Go!", we started running. I use that word lightly, because we knew we wanted to jog as slowly as possible so that we'd be able to finish the whole thing. We could have walked, as there were several walkers, but we decided to try and jog it.

It went by pretty quickly, because we were chatting the whole time. Surprisingly, I felt okay--at that pace, I was pretty sure I'd make it three miles! ;) I really liked the course--running on the runway felt different from anywhere I'd run before, because it was so out in the open. I was glad it wasn't hot, because without shade, I don't think it would have been nearly as nice.

After an out and back part, I saw my mom's neighbor, Renee, who was walking with a friend, so I waved at her. And then later, I saw her son, who is Eli's age--he'd already finished the race and was cheering people on. If I'd have known that he was going to be there, I would have brought Eli!

The last 10 minutes or so of the race, my knee started hurting really badly. It was even causing me to limp a little. When that happened, it made me grateful that I'm not feeling pressured to run these days.  I still don't have any desire to train or sign up for races or anything like that. I had been putting pressure on myself, because of my blog name--I'm Runs for Cookies--of course I should run, right? But there have been so many changes going on in my life recently that this is just another thing I'm doing for myself.

I used to think that I would want to get back to running one day soon, but now I'm not sure I'll ever have the desire to get back into it. And I'm totally okay with that! I've mentioned that I want to change my blog name so it reflects the changes in my life, and I do hope to do that when I find a lot of time to work on it. But right now, I'm just doing whatever makes me happy. And if that means my exercise comes from riding bikes with my kids and going for walks with friends, then that sounds great to me!

Anyway, my knee hurting almost felt like a sign to me that my decisions are okay. We were close to the finish line, though, so we kept up our jog, and felt great that we made it when we finished! The race wasn't officially timed, but my Garmin read 42:41, which is about a 13:57 pace.

We got a few donut holes and a bottle of water, and we asked someone to take our picture in front of one of the airplanes before we headed home. I was really happy that Emma hadn't cancelled about going to the race (I had kind of hoped she would!) because it was fun to spend time catching up with her while getting some exercise on an airport runway of all places.

I took Emma home, and picked up Eli. After I took a shower and got dressed, Eli and I went out to lunch and then took the car to the car wash that Noah was working at. He's raising money for church camp, so they were holding a car wash for donations. Noah was acting so shy when we got there, and he pretended he didn't notice my bright yellow Jeep that people can spot from a mile away, hahaha.

Eli needed some supplies for a school project, so we stopped at Hobby Lobby, and then went back to pick up Noah before heading home. It had been a long morning and afternoon, so I was ready to get home and relax! I started working on a project that I'm hoping to do for my family as a surprise--it's kind of a lot of work, but I'll write about it more if I can pull it off.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! (I realized I forgot to do my Wednesday Weigh-in this week, so I will just catch up this week).

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