Week 14 Weigh-in

Yesterday, I spent pretty much the entire day driving. I drove Joey to and from Lucky Puppy, his doggy daycare (three hours total); and I drove with a friend of mine to the boudoir photographer's studio to look at her pictures (two hours total). I also had to drive to get the kids from school, which is another 40 minutes or so. I had nothing to write about yesterday, because I spent so much time in the car ;)

Anyway, I had another awesome weigh-in this week!

I was 134.5 on the scale, which is down two more pounds from last week. My body fat was 22.9%, which is down 0.5% from last week; and my waist was 25.75 inches, down half an inch from last week. Every pound makes a huge difference in my body at this point, and it feels awesome (kind of strange, but awesome). For example, I have a couple of pairs of jeans that are too tight in the thighs at 138 pounds, but they fit well at 136-137 pounds. Then at 135, they are too loose in the waist.

My average daily calories for this week was 1457. I wasn't able to do a high-calorie day this week, which kind of threw me off. I planned to do a high calorie day on Saturday, but my lunch plans fell through, and I wasn't sure what else to eat to make the high-calorie day "worth it". Anyway, I plan to average 1500-1600 per day this week, and have a high-calorie day. Only 1.5 pounds until goal!

A lot of people have been asking me if I include my high-calorie day in my average daily calories--at first, I wasn't including it, but it was difficult to explain over and over; so from now on, I'll just include all seven days in my average.

My daily steps averaged just under 8,000... still not great, but up about 1,000 from last week. I did deliberately try to get in more steps, so I'm going to try and do that again this week. Maybe I can get in over 8,000.

I can't even describe how good it feels to be back at this weight! I went to the thrift store today to get a few pairs of jeans and a couple of cardigans (I'm on a cardigan kick right now--I like wearing a tight t-shirt and jeans with a cardigan). I probably tried on a dozen pairs of size 3/4 jeans, and all but one pair fit me. I feel like I did when I was losing the weight in 2009-2010... I would look at a pair of jeans and think, "Those are tiny! There is no way I can squeeze my butt into them!" And then I put them on. And I still didn't really believe it. When I was at the cash register to pay for the stuff I was buying today, the cashier held up my jeans and said, "Did you get these from the kids' section or the women's section?" Haha!

I've been looking for a goal 10K race for next year. As I mentioned before, I am going to keep my distance at or under 10K, but I am going to try and get faster--and if I could PR my 10K, I would be thrilled. Getting back to goal weight was the first step. Next, I need to pick a goal race and come up with a training plan specific to a 10K. I'm glad to have this goal to focus on, so that once I reach goal weight, I won't feel like it's "the end" and I'm done. If I keep working on goals, hopefully I can keep the weight off.

After a great weigh-in today, I'm feeling optimistic! :) Anyone else want to check in on how you're doing with your goals? I know there were several people who said they wanted to stay accountable on Wednesdays as well!

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Motivational Monday #129

Happy Motivational Monday! This has been another good week for me as far as calorie counting and exercise goes. I'm super close to my goal weight now, so I'm being extra diligent where I can. I'm hoping to see 133 before the end of the month!

This post is going to be super short, because I only got one submission this week for Motivational Monday. I almost decided to save it for next week, but it's super inspiring, so I figured one story is better than none. I'm sure you will find it as inspiring as I did! Enjoy :)

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This is an email from Jennifer:

"In August 2014, my doctor informed me that I was on the verge of being diagnosed with onset diabetes. I weighed 288 lbs, I was barely fitting into size 24 clothing, I had developed severe sleep apnea, and could barely walk around the block without terrible pain in my legs and back. I decided it was time to take my life back and dedicated the next year to improving my health and doing something I have always wanted to learn to do…RUN!!! 

With support and encouragement from my husband, daughter, family, and friends, I joined the Running Room in Ottawa. In September 2015, I ran my first 5K in the Army Run; and one month later, reached my goal of losing 100 lbs, fitting into a size 14! In 2016, I hope to run a 10K and reach my final target weight of 150 lbs!"

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Congratulations on your weight loss and your running accomplishments, Jennifer! You look amazing.  Make sure you update us when you run your 10K and reach your goal weight :)

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Kona Chocolate Run 5K

Jerry's employer pays the race entry fees to some races for employees (and/or their families), which is really great for a family of four! They had a sign-up at work for the Kona Chocolate Run, so Jerry signed the four of us up. He had to work last night, so he got home at 6:30 this morning and then we headed up to the race at 7:00.

The kids were both nervous, even though I told them there was no reason to be. Noah was hoping to run a good race (possibly even beat his time from the Halloween 5K last year) and Eli's goal was to run the entire race without walking. Since I ran with Noah for the Halloween race, and Jerry ran with Eli, we decided to switch this time; Eli and I would stick together, and Jerry and Noah would run together.

The morning started off on the wrong foot for sure. We were told that parking was going to be $5, and I wanted to stop and get some cash (I only had $3 on me). First, though, we had to go to the Middle School to pick up our packets. We had requested a men's medium jacket for Jerry, a women's small for me, and two men's small jackets for the kids with our registration. The registration said that if you sign up by a particular date, then the jackets were guaranteed, so I wasn't worried about getting to packet pick up yesterday.

Well, Jerry ended up getting the very last men's medium, which was good; but they didn't have any men's small jackets for the kids. So the race wanted to give them a women's small (which is cut for a woman--tapered waist) or a men's large... seriously?! At $200 for our family to do this race, they really should have "guaranteed" that we would get the sizes we requested several weeks ago. The kids ended up with the women's small jackets.

Trying to get from the packet pick-up to the starting line was a big mess, too. Jerry and I were both frustrated and said we'd never do one of these races again (we will, of course, but it was not fun until we got to the starting line! ha). We had to go find somewhere to get cash for parking, so we went to a CVS where I bought M&M's and got cash back. Turns out that we didn't end up needing any money to park!

There was a wave start, but we weren't told what wave to get into, so we just hopped in the middle of the crowd and hoped we were in the right place. Both of the kids were super nervous! I kept reminding them that it was just for fun, but I always get nervous before races, too, so I understood.

Once the race started, we split off from Jerry and Noah, and I let Eli set the pace. When we weren't even a half-mile into the race, Eli asked me, "How much farther?" Hahaha, I knew it was going to be a long race after that!

We knew there would be one water station at around mile 1.5, so I just tried to get him to focus on that. I told him that walking through water stations doesn't count as a walk break, and he liked that. So every time we turned a corner, he was on the lookout for the water station. At mile one, he said he wanted to do a walk break. I told him that we could if he really needed it, but that I knew he could finish the race without walking, as long as we went slow.

When we got to the water station, we walked through nice and slowly so he could drink a couple of cups of water. Then, we started running again, and he said he felt much better. He still asked me how much farther every quarter mile or so. I tried to take a selfie of us at one point, but he just wasn't having it ;)

I was trying to talk to him the whole time, to keep his mind off of the fact that he was running. I told him the story of my sub-50:00 10K, where I chased down the pacer in the last few miles and passed him just before the finish line. I reminded him of funny stories about Joey or the cats (I've never seen Eli laugh so hard as he does when Joey does something funny).

Finally, we had just a half mile to go, and he was really struggling. The course does a lot of turns, so you don't actually see the finish line until it's right in front of you. When we got close, though, he said he was thinking he might sprint to the finish line. I told him to go ahead, and I'd be right behind him. He took off, and ran as fast as he could at that point. He finished in 35:42, and I was right behind him in 35:43. He ran the entire distance without walking (minus the aid station, which, as I told him, doesn't count)--and he was super proud of himself!

We walked over to meet Jerry and Noah where we planned to meet up after the race. Noah wasn't feeling very well, but he finished in 30:32 (Jerry in 30:34). We got in line to get our chocolate goodies (hot chocolate and chocolate chip bagel slices from Panera, pretzels, and rice krispies treats to dip into melted chocolate, and chocolate milk). The kids wanted to sit down on the spot and eat.

When they were done eating, we headed out. It was a good race, and the kids really enjoyed it once they got over being nervous. Eli said that even though it was hard, he had fun.

The medals were pretty cute! They were shaped like a chocolate bar with a bite taken out of the corner.

I just looked up the kids' times from last year at the Halloween race (it was the same exact course as today's) and Noah had finished it in 30:31--just ONE SECOND faster than this year! He's bummed, because if he had known that during today's race, he would have picked up the pace just a little ;) Eli's time last year was 36:24, so he beat his time by 42 seconds.

I really like doing races as a family like this--it's a fun, active thing to do together and feel good about all day afterward!

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Don't forget, tomorrow is Motivational Monday, so if you have a submission, please get it to me tonight if possible. Hope you all had a great weekend!

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Michigan Beer Mile

First, I just want to say that the following is a very light-hearted post; but I am not trying to ignore what's going on in Paris right now. I'm just not sure what to say about it. I'm sad and tired of these horrible things happening. It makes me afraid for my kids and the world they have to grow up in. Each time something like this happens, it just plants another seed of fear in my stomach. So, while it may seem insensitive to go on like nothing is happening, I'm just not sure how else to react. My thoughts and prayers are with all of those people affected by the tragedy in Paris.

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I've heard of people doing "beer miles" before, but I'd never seen one or even knew of any around here. The thought is completely unappealing to me: Drink a 12-oz beer, run a quarter-mile lap; repeat three more times, for a total of four beers and four laps (one mile). No vomiting allowed ;)

My brothers are stupid crazy enough to do it, though. And of course, I had to go watch!

I picked up Nathan, and my mom drove Brian there. It was at Flat Rock Speedway, which normally has car races. I was surprised at how many people were there, because it wasn't heavily advertised. My brothers registered on the spot, and we stood around for 40 minutes or so while we waited until the race started (3:00 pm).

Nathan said his plan was to run his best, while Brian said he was just going to run for fun--and clearly, he wasn't planning to try and win the race, considering his choice of clothing ;)

Brian is in the jorts and boots

I was very curious about how the whole race would work. For the $45 registration fee (it was $35 yesterday, but when you register on-site, it's $45), you get a shirt, hat, a couple of beer koozies, and the four beers for the race. Not bad!

To keep all the runners' beers organized, they gave each runner a piece of paper with their bib number, so you could set your cans on top of that:

I think there were a total of about 25-30 runners. There was a 10-meter area just before the official start line, and that was the "beer drinking" area, that didn't count toward the quarter-mile lap. Everyone started just before that line, and then when the announcer started the race, everyone opened their beers, moved into that area, and drank them. Then they had to turn the beer upside down over their head, to prove that they drank the whole thing, and then they could start their first lap.

Nathan was actually the first person to finish his beer and cross the official starting line! I knew he'd be pretty fast, but there was a guy that blew past him in the first lap. The race was fun to watch! There were some people who took it pretty seriously, but there were also a lot of people that were obviously there just for fun. Brian was one the latter:

I watched a couple more people pass Nathan. He said he started feeling pretty crappy for the last two laps, and the hardest part was running with all that carbonation in his stomach. Brian was running at an easier pace, but he said it was harder than he expected it to be.

Nathan came cruising through the finish line in 8:07! (Drinking four beers AND running a mile in 8:07? That's really fast!) He placed fourth overall. The winner finished in around 7:30.

I'm not sure what Brian's finishing time was:

Both of them said the race was much harder than they expected it to be, and that the worst part was the carbonation of the beer making them burp as they started each lap. It was fun (and interesting) to spectate, but I still have no desire to do a beer mile!

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Memories and organizing photos

I spent pretty much all day yesterday organizing my photos on iPhoto. I went through and deleted a ton of pictures that I didn't want (pics of food or double photos, or whatever). I started with 22,000 and narrowed it down to 15,000. That's a LOT of pictures!

I still haven't gotten the hang of the new Photos app on my Macbook (Photos is different from iPhoto), so I haven't switched over to using it yet. It was a big problem for me when trying to do a Motivational Monday post, because while I could save photos from emails to Photos, they just disappear when I go to upload them on my blog. I hoped it was an issue that would eventually just fix itself, but it still doesn't work. So, I have been taking screen shots of photos in the MM emails, which is a really lame way of doing it, but I can't figure out any other way (there is no option to save directly to iPhoto). If Apple phases out iPhoto altogether, I will be totally lost.

Anyway, it was fun going through tons of pictures! I like looking at pictures of the boys when they were really young. Here are a couple of favorites:

Aunt Jeanie bought a skeleton and torso with removable
parts for Noah, because he LOVED learning about anatomy!
He could name all the bones and organs in preschool, haha.

Eli's adorable smile

Here is a video of Noah that is absolutely ADORABLE. We used to take videos to email to Uncle Nathan while he was in Iraq, and this one was for Halloween. I didn't quite expect what happened ;)

His voice completely melts my heart now. You don't even realize how much they change until you look back at pictures or videos and see such huge differences!

I have an iPhoto folder called "Motivation", which is full of pictures of when I was at my goal weight. They are pictures that motivate me to stay on track (that was the purpose of the folder, anyway). While going through them yesterday, I realized that I am the same size now that I was in those photos, which was kind of exciting. I also found some pictures from before I lost the weight that would make good "before" pictures ;)

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I had to drive up to Detroit today to go to the orthopedist's office, and I drove right by the hospital that I stayed at when I broke my jaw. It reminded me that yesterday marked five years since the day I broke it. There are a lot of things that remind me of November 2010... When I see Pumpkin Eggnog in the stores, I am reminded of all the quarts of it I drank while my jaw was wired shut; when I use bouillon cubes for any recipe, because I drank so much broth for a couple of months;  a pair of black pajamas that my mom bought me, and I wore a lot in the couple of weeks after coming home; and some other random things. Surprisingly, I have good memories of the whole thing. It was awesome to see my whole family together (my brothers and sister stayed for several days when I got home).

This was taken exactly five years ago today. I was trying to smile ;)

Tomorrow marks four years since I had my skin removal surgery! That anniversary feels even stranger, because I blogged about that whole experience--from the time I went to my first consult to the recovery and follow up. Maybe I'll have Jerry take some new pictures of my abdomen, to show what it looks like four years post-op. I'm still so happy that I had the surgery, and if I were to go back in time, I'd do it all over again.

Anyway, I love looking through pictures, and it feels so good to have them organized now. My next project, which will take a long time so I'm not sure when I'll do it, is to go through and pick out my favorite photos of each of the kids (probably 100 or so) and get them printed to make an album. When they were babies, I did scrapbooking, so they each have a nice scrapbook. But I don't do that anymore, and I can't even remember the last time I got photos printed.

We have a pretty low-key weekend planned, with the exception of Sunday morning. Jerry signed us all up for the Hot Chocolate 5K. I totally forgot about it until yesterday. It's one of the races that his employer pays for, so all four of us get to do it at no cost to us, which is nice (racing as a family is expensive!). Eli asked me to run with him this time (last year, for a Halloween 5K, I ran with Noah). Noah may be running solo, unless Jerry can keep up with him! haha. Hopefully we have good weather!

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Week 13 Weigh-in

I want to start by saying a huge thank you to those who have served or are currently serving our country in the military! I know what a huge sacrifice it is to leave your family (whether it's for a couple of days or a couple of years), and I am so grateful to those who allow us the freedom that we take for granted. I know that "thank you" is never going to be enough, but please know that I really am appreciative!

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Today's date is my favorite date: 11/11. Eleven is my favorite number, and I'm a big numbers person, so today happens to be my favorite day of the year ;) It was also Wednesday Weigh-in. I missed a weigh-in post last week, because I had just gotten home from NYC on Tuesday night and my days were all confused. But I had a great week, and it showed on the scale today!

I weighed in a 136.5, so I was down 3 pounds from last week. I didn't measure my body fat or my waist last week, so I'm not sure of the change there; but from two weeks ago (my last measurement), my body fat is down by 1.0%, and my waist was actually up a tad (less than 1/4 inch, so it may have just been where I was holding the measuring tape. I'm not worried about it.).

I definitely feel the loss in my clothes this week! I tried on all the jeans I couldn't wear two weeks ago, and they all fit now. Even my tightest jeans (they don't have any stretch to them at all) are wearable (actually, I wore them today).

My average daily calorie intake was an even 1600. My average daily steps were about 7,000, which isn't great--but not terrible, either. On the days that I don't run, I find it really hard to get in 10,000! I'm lucky to get in half that. Maybe I'll try and focus on that this week.

It's so strange to think that I'm only 3.5 pounds from my goal weight. It feels like it's been forever since the last time I saw 133 on the scale. I may even see it in the next couple of weeks, which would be awesome. I had a few challenging weeks lately--Thomas was visiting, then we went to Jeanie's house in Illinois, then I went to NYC for a couple of days. With all of those happening right in a row, I was worried about falling off track, but I managed to at least maintain my weight through it all.

I'm starting to think about a plan for maintenance, but I think I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. Counting calories works really well for me, so I can just experiment to see how many calories I need to eat to maintain my weight. Maybe I'll add another high-calorie day to my week, and see how that works. Regardless, I want to be prepared when I hit my goal weight so that I don't backslide.

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I went for a three mile run this morning, and true to my word, I let myself run at a very easy pace. On Monday, I had promised myself that if I hit three sub-9:00 miles, I could run easy for the rest of the week and not feel guilty. I really enjoyed running without purpose today. It was super nice outside, too.

I'm not sure if it's the recent weight loss, or the way things have been turning for me physically (running again, no injury), but I have been in a great mood lately! The weather has been fantastic recently, so I hope it stays this way for a while longer. I'm not ready for winter yet ;)

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A lesson from Chef Isabella

Yesterday, I decided to try and hit a newish running milestone: run three sub-9:00 miles outside. I hadn't done that since last Thanksgiving when I ran the Turkey Trot 10K. I watched my pace get slower and slower as I dealt with my stress fracture and weight gain. In the spring of this year, I had a hard time even hitting sub-10:00's for three miles.

Last month, I ran a sub-9:00 mile. Then, I ran three miles with a sub-9:00 average pace (one of the miles was 9:17 or something like that). And yesterday, my goal was to hit all three miles at an 8:something pace. It was pretty cold outside, so I wore running tights, long sleeves, and a jacket over that.

Yesterday's run reminded me of the old days, when I was always working on getting faster. I would play mental games with myself to stick it out to the end. During the first mile, I kept thinking about how hard it was and that I didn't want to try to do three. I was thinking of excuses to just do one. When I reached one mile (8:57), I told myself that if I could do just one more, then it would be okay to jog the last mile.

That whole second mile, I was tired and just trying to focus on completing it. That second mile felt like forever. As I got close to the end of that second mile, I started thinking, "Do I jog home? Should I keep going and try for three?" And I decided to aim for three. I knew if I *didn't* try then that little goal would be hanging over my head all week long. So I told myself that if I could do all three at a sub-9:00 pace, then I could do the rest of my runs at a very easy pace for this week. I knew I'd feel a big sense of accomplishment in doing it, so even though it was tough, I pushed through another mile. As soon as my watched beeped (about a block from home), I stopped the Garmin and started walking. I managed to hit all sub-9:00's AND negative splits.

Ideally, I will continue to push the pace until sub-9:00's are comfortable again (at least for three miles). I'd like that to happen by the end of this year. Then in January, I can start to increase distance ever so gradually until I'm running six miles comfortably (I don't have plans of doing more than a 10K distance for next year). I love doing these little short term goals (and mind games) to improve my running.

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This morning, I took Joey to Lucky Puppy (his doggy daycare). He hadn't been there in a couple of months, so he was super excited when we pulled up! I went from there to Weight Watchers, because I hadn't been there since late September. The time just keeps going by so fast! I could have sworn I was just there a couple of weeks ago.

For the meeting, Chef Isabella Nicoletti was going to speak. Chef Isabella is Florine Mark's personal chef, and she was hired by Weight Watchers to create dishes that are more WW friendly. Even though I'm not doing WW anymore, I found her absolutely delightful to listen to (that's an odd word to use, but it describes her perfectly). She's Italian, with a strong accent, and I could just listen to her talk all day long--she's hilarious in a sarcastic sort of way.

She talked about how you can make any recipe to work for YOU--by swapping ingredients, or playing around with different types of ingredients to personalize the recipe. She said that recipes are really just a guideline, but you should change things to make them how you want them. This is something I've been doing for years now; I rarely follow recipes exactly as written. Anyway, I was jotting down notes to write about on my blog later, so here are a few tidbits:

• When you first start swapping things out in recipes, you can make changes based on what you have in your house or what you enjoy, and swap things from the same category--protein for protein, veggie for veggie, carb for carb, etc. Even to make something vegetarian, just swap the animal protein for a vegetarian protein. 

• Look at the recipe, and if there are ingredients you don't like, just take them out and swap them with something you do like, in the same category. 

• Lean meat, which is what most people who are losing weight are eating, tends to be dry (she used the boneless, skinless chicken breast as an example). If you find that your meat is always dry, it's overcooked, and you should cut down on the cooking time.

• She emphasized that it's worth spending an extra point or some extra calories to eat bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, because they aren't nearly as dry and they are more flavorful. A lot of WW members sacrifice flavor for lower points values, and "that's boring". She also suggested trying chicken thighs for more flavor (even if it is a little higher in calories or fat).

• Around Thanksgiving, you can use turkey instead of chicken in all sorts of recipes. You don't necessarily have to roast a whole turkey for Thanksgiving--you can find pretty much any chicken recipe you like and swap out the chicken for turkey.

• She kept stressing how important it is to know the points (or calories) in everything in your kitchen. It make take a while to learn them, but once you do, you can make lower calorie swaps, and you can add up the points in a recipe while you're cooking. 

• This is a no-brainer, but she said if you're a volume eater, then to add veggies to your meal--you get to eat more volume, but without adding any points.

The meeting was really interesting, and it made me excited to try some new recipes! Here is a video of Chef Isabella if you want to see how delightful she is ;) If you happen to be a WW member in Southeast Michigan, she does a lot of meeting room demos, which you can find a list of here.

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Motivational Monday #128

Happy Motivational Monday! I've had a few NSV's this week (non-scale victories) that have really made me feel good. When I went swimming with the kids on Saturday, it never even occurred to me that my bathing suit would be too big... but when I put it on, I realized it was actually kind of baggy! Early this year, when I started doing deep water running, the suit was really tight, and I was afraid I'd have to get a new one. Now, it's really loose, and I do need a new one ;)

Also, today on my TimeHop was a photo of me before I did the Monroe Half last year. I had just gotten those clothes from Eddie Bauer to review, and I loved them. So today, when I was getting ready for my run, I decided to wear the same clothes. I was excited to see just how much roomier they are! Here is a comparison from a year ago and today:

Running tights are running tights, and they'll always look tight. But the shirt and jacket were very form-fitting last year, and now they are both baggy. I remember loving the zippered pockets on the jacket, because I could easily carry my phone with me during runs and not have to wear a belt. I didn't have any trouble with the phone bouncing around, because it was snug against my body. Today, however, the phone was bouncing all over the place! I'll consider that a win ;) It feels really good to be back here, where I feel really good about my body!

Here are a few stories to motivate you this Monday. Enjoy!

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Christina recently hit two major milestones: running a mile without any walk breaks, and completing her first 5K race! She started incorporating running intervals into her walks earlier this year, but wasn't following a specific schedule, so she wasn't seeing much progress. She decided to sign up for a 5K, and in mid-September, was able to run a whole mile without stopping! Her 5K was on October 31, and she and her husband ran/walked it together (with kids in strollers!). They had a great time, and she already signed up for another 5K next weekend. (Christina blogs at Love Yourself Healthy)

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Amy completed her first half-marathon! She did the Gobbler Grind in Kansas City, and crushed her goal of finishing under three hours, crossing the finish line in 2:26:27. She even wore a shirt that said "My First Half" on it--a great idea! You'd be surprised how many people encourage you when they realize it's your first.

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Julie's new year's resolution was to "be brave", and it's been her mantra all year. Last weekend was a huge test, and she nailed it--she got on a plane for the first time in 10 years, and ran her first half-marathon in a city she'd never been to! She trained hard for it, but actually going there and doing it was crazy for her. Julie reached a peak weight in December 2012, and is now down 80 pounds!

Congratulations on all of your hard work, ladies!! Keep it up :)

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Monroe Half Marathon Volunteer report

Jerry was off work today, so we had a few glasses of wine before bed last night. I woke up feeling, well, not my best ;) I was signed up to volunteer at the Monroe Half Marathon this morning, but thankfully, the race didn't start until 9:00. Since I was up by 5:30, I had plenty of time to relax before heading out.

Jessica signed up with me to volunteer (actually, it was her idea), so I told her I'd pick her up at 8:30. We had to be at our station by 8:45. Just as I was heading out the door, I had the idea to grab a small portable speaker so that we could play music for the runners. I tore through the kids' bedrooms, but couldn't find their speakers anywhere, so I wasn't able to bring one. I will definitely keep that in mind for next time, though! I did grab some cowbells and signs.

Our official volunteer position was "course marshal", which basically meant we just directed runners to turn, and we had to stop traffic for the runners at an intersection (the course was not closed to traffic). The traffic issue was terrifying to me, because I know that some drivers get really pissed when they get stopped or rerouted for a race. I've nearly been hit by an angry driver during a race before, for that very reason!

We were at mile 3.5, which was nice--we were early in the race, so once the last person passed by us, we were free to leave. There was a church on one corner of our intersection, which was a little concerning, because of the traffic when the service was over. But we just set up with our cowbells and signs, and waited for the runners to come through.

I had to come up with a sign on the fly, because the ones that I had didn't make much sense for a half-marathon. I brought a marker and just wrote on the back of one of the signs: "1,300 CALORIES BURNED... WHAT'S FOR DINNER?" Jessica and I were talking about what motivates us when we run races, and we both like to think about what we're going to eat later, so I thought something food related would be appropriate.

It was a GORGEOUS morning for a run--despite being 35 degrees, it was sunny, not at all windy, and  just great running weather. At around 9:15 or so, there was a hand cyclist that came through. Shortly after, the first runners started trickling through as well. This is a very small race (I would guess maybe 400 or 500 people?). Jessica and I rang our cowbells and cheered for everyone that went by. The sign I threw together last minute was a hit, too--lots of people shouted out what they planned to eat later!

I saw Stephanie and Meg, who were running together. Stephanie is my friend, of course, and Meg actually reads my blog--she and Steph met up at a race before, and made plans to run the half together today!

The traffic situation wasn't as bad as I imagined. I stood in the middle of the street, hoping that when cars saw me, they'd turn instead of trying to go straight (where the runners were coming from). When I saw them coming, I would just point to get them to turn anyway, and that worked well. I got a couple of dirty looks, but most people didn't seem to mind at all (we were in a neighborhood, so it wasn't a huge inconvenience).

When we were getting down to the last runners/walkers, there was an older man shuffling along, and Jessica and I talked about how we thought it was awesome that he was out there doing a half-marathon. When we cheered for him, he said that he was registered for the 5K, but mistakenly started with the half-marathoners, and didn't realize it until mile three. Yikes! He kept going, but I felt awful, and didn't know if he realized how long a half-marathon was. I chased after him, and then told him that he had almost 10 MILES left. I offered him a ride to the finish line, but he said he was sure he wanted to keep going. I just hoped he'd finish.

After he came by, the sweeper came through, so we knew there was no one left on the course. We packed up and headed out. It was super fun being a course marshal! It's basically just spectating, and making sure that runners know where to turn. I would definitely do it again.

I was really curious about the man who was supposed to do the 5K and not the half, so I tried looking up race results at home, but they must not be posted yet. I did find a post on the race's Facebook page that made me happy, though:

So, it turns out that he made it! Can you imagine planning and training for a 5K, only to mistakenly complete a half-marathon instead? I wish I could tell him congrats.

I am happy that I was able to participate in this race in some way, since I decided not to run it this year. Jessica and I had a lot of fun cheering on the runners!

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Tomorrow is Motivational Monday, so please send in your submissions tonight!

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A run on coffee

Remind me to never, ever drink coffee again.

As you may know, if you've been reading my blog for a while, I used to drink coffee every day. During my entire 20's, I would have two cups every morning. In 2011, when I was contacted by The Dr. Oz Show to be a guest on an upcoming weight loss episode, I was extremely nervous that whole week. I knew that coffee has a tendency to raise anxiety, and because I was so anxious about the show already, I decided to stop drinking coffee for the week prior to the show.

I never thought I was "addicted" to coffee; I only had two cups a day, and I didn't feel like I "needed" it to function. But that week was awful! I had a constant headache that I knew was from caffeine withdrawal. I hadn't been planning to give up coffee permanently, but when I felt the awful withdrawal symptoms, I decided I never wanted to feel that terrible again. So I quit for good.

At first, it was really difficult--I used to love the smell of coffee, so when Jerry would make it in the mornings, I was really tempted to drink it. I did drink some decaf coffee once in a while to help with the mental part of quitting. The mental part is the most difficult part. There is something so romantic about the idea of drinking a cup of coffee in the morning while catching up on the news or email. Eventually, though, I quit craving it altogether. And over the last year or so, I got to the point where the smell of it was disgusting to me.

So, I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to drink some this morning! I was going to make some tea, and when I opened the cupboard, I decided on a whim to grab the coffee instead. I brewed two cups, which was enough for one of my mugs, and added a couple of tablespoons of half and half. Took a sip. It tasted terrible, but I sipped it for half an hour anyway.

The caffeine made me feel really jittery, and I hate that feeling, so I figured going for a run would at least get it out of my system faster. I changed into my running clothes and headed out (it was great running weather, 48 degrees). I started running, and felt really good. About halfway down the street, I looked at my watch and saw I was running a 7:45 pace! I knew that wouldn't last long, but I was still happy with how good I was feeling.

By the end of the street, I started to feel my stomach cramping up. At first, it was just a few twinges; but it got worse, and a mile into the run, and I started thinking I was going to vomit on the side of the road. I was SO nauseous. I had been hoping for three sub-9:00 miles, and I did the first in 8:57, but after that first mile, I decided to just slow to a jog. I was really tempted to turn around and go home, but I kept hoping that the cramping in my stomach would stop any minute.

Second mile was 10:11. I wanted to slow to a walk, but then it would take even longer to get home, so I kept going. Mile three was 9:53. I sat on the porch for a couple of minutes, doubled over with stomach cramps. I'll spare you all the gory details, but I spent most of the morning making trips to the bathroom, cursing that coffee the entire time.

It's interesting how my body has gotten so used to not drinking coffee that just 12 ounces or so made me so ill. I have no desire to ever try it again. I love my tea! ;) I don't necessarily think there is anything wrong with coffee, but clearly my body doesn't love it.

I had no pictures for this post, so this will have to do. Love David's Tea!

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This afternoon, I took Noah, Eli, and one of Eli's friends swimming. My mom had a Groupon for a fitness center (not the recreation center one we normally go to), and it was going to expire soon. The pool looked like a lot of fun for the kids (waterslide, lazy river, and splash park). Thankfully, my stomach was recovered by the time we headed to the rec center ;)

I actually swam a bit with the kids. I did the waterslide (the only adult to go on it, which was a little awkward) and the lazy river, and then sat for a little while in the hot tub. The kids had a blast! I had a really lazy day at home yesterday (productive, but inactive... I was paying bills, working on a budget, etc.); so, it was good to have an active day today with the kids.

Jessica gave me a molasses cookie from the farmer's market to try (I'd never had a molasses cookie before), so I ate that for dessert tonight. Holy cow, it was so good!! I was totally missing out all these years, and I never knew it. Jerry is off work tomorrow, so we made homemade pizza for dinner and are going to have a movie night with the kids. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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