I RAN A 5K

It happened!  I woke up on Sunday morning and was so nervous, and anxious, and excited, and totally ready to go.  I just kept imagining the sense of accomplishment I was about to experience, and it happened.  I ran 3.1 miles without stopping.  And it felt amazing. 

The race I did was an annual event to raise money for The Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester.  I love that all of the money raised (which the news said was over 20 thousand dollars!) stays right here at home.  I went to pick my registration stuff up on Saturday. The cancer Supporters got a light pink bandana, and the Survivors got a dark pink one.  I was totally psyched to put my stuff on bright and early on Sunday morning, but my friend told me that I absolutely COULD NOT wear my race shirt to the race.  She told me I'd look like such a rookie.  (Duh, who would want that??)

So instead, I wore this:

That lovely guy I'm married to bought me a brand new running outfit for Mother's Day.  I felt so legit. He used to actually be a real runner who broke records and stuff, so his support was awesome.  I've never in my life owned real running clothes, and now I do.  And yes, I posed for pictures instead of, oh, I don't know, stretching or something silly.

Of course, the first thing I had to do as soon as I got out of the car was go to the bathroom.  Unfortunately, so did everyone else.  This is just a tiny portion of one ridiculously long line. There were about 6 lines of the same crazy length.  I decided I didn't really have to go that badly after all.



So finally it was time to line up.  I might be somewhere in that crowd.  

Or maybe I'm in this one.

Wow, look at all those rookies.  (And do you see that one lone GUY?  Yeah, he must have missed the memo that this was a women's only race.   Seriously though, that sea of pink was so energizing, motivating, and inspiring. 

I hope my feet don't fail me now...

That thing on my shoe was my time chip.  Cool, right?



And then we were off.  And it was exactly at this time that I realized I had made perhaps my most fatal ROOKIE mistake. When it was time to line up, there were little markers down the path with numbers on them.  You were supposed to line up according to how fast you were going to run. Since I was planning on finishing in just about 30 minutes, I stood with the 10-minute crowd. 

People kept telling me to just plan on going slowly at first since I'd have to weave in and out of a lot of people.  Once the crowd thinned out, they'd said, I'd be able to get in my zone and just go.  Well, the crowd was literally so thick that not only could I not weave anywhere, I also couldn't get in my zone.  There were about 4 thousand runners there, and I'm pretty sure that 3500 of them were also planning on finishing in 30 minutes.  I WAS SO ANNOYED!!!!  The clock was ticking away and I was seriously stuck for about a half a mile in a painfully slow moving crowd. So note to self: next time, stand with the 7-8 minute group. Wear your legit clothes again and act like you belong. They'll never know the difference.

So I finished (with my friend Jessica, who I found at the turn!) with an official time of 32:34. That totally should have been 28 or 29 something, but that brutality at the beginning completely messed me all up.  But the most important thing here is that I FINISHED!  And I didn't walk at all, and I didn't die at the end. 

(My mom ended up running it, too.  I wish I had remembered to get a picture of us after we finished, since it was Mother's Day and all. But I'm kindof an idiot sometimes).

And then it was time to go eat!  My brother, sister and I made lunch for our mama.  This was one of my contributions to the table:

 

oooohhh, I'm so crafty.  Too bad it tipped
upside down on the way over there.
Husband told me it was due to my
crazy driving.  I told him he wasn't holding it well enough.
We love each other.



And in case you're wondering what else we made her:











Missing from this picture is my brother's contribution
of pizza logs and Doritos.

And cupcakes.  We ate cupcakes.  How delicious do these look?!
They were from an all-natural bakery.  I could have eaten at least 5.

Oh, one last thing.  I'm pretty sure I received better gifts than any other mother on this planet.  I mean, seriously. 

A beaded necklace, a bird with pink sequins (it's a pin!) AND hand painted flower pots??!?  Wow, I must be really loved.  I hope your day was as wonderful as mine was.

Have a healthy day,

J

Goal Setting Monday (GSM)

 Are you a "lister"? I'm a wannabe. I work so well and efficiently when I make lists.   When I was working full time, I was a major lister.  Every afternoon before I left for the day, I would jot down 5 action items for the following day. (I heard somewhere a long time ago that a to-do list should never contain more than 5 items.)  Being able to cross them off as the day went on gave me such a sense of accomplishment!  My problem is that I (for some unknown reason) don't make lists when I'm home.  Instead of crossing things out throughout the day, I end up cramming a bunch of random chores in right before I go to bed.  I get some stuff done, but not nearly as much as I would if I would just write it down.  Additionally, I never feel a true sense of accomplishment.  So here it is- goal number one for this week is to write a to-do list for each day of the week. Pretty easy goal, right?

Goal number two is to get 4 good workouts in.  After taking Friday off (yeah, I totally didn't even walk like I talked about), I tried to make it to yoga on Saturday morning, only to get shut out AGAIN.  Ugh!  I tried to power through a workout anyway, but I was pretty irritated (and I was wearing the wrong pants for cardio), so after 20 minutes on the elliptical I just packed up and left.  And I never make it to the gym on Sundays.  Needless to say, I'm jonesing for a good workout today.  I'm teaching tonight, and I'm really hoping for a class full of good energy.  We're gonna get this week started on the right foot!

  

And Goal number three will probably make me sound like a total nerd, but I'm going to tell you anyway.  I need to finish the book I'm reading.  I've been reading Mockingjay for so long now.  It's not that I don't like it- I do!  I'm super excited for the Hunger Games movie to come out, and I need to have this book finished before I can go see it.  What happens is that I spend way too much time Facebooking, Pinning, and watching reality TV after the boys go to bed at night and not enough time reading.  My Kindle is telling me that I'm 30% finished with it.  So this week- get OFF the internet, and READ! 

 

So there you have it.  Starting today,   I will no longer hate Mondays.  I will instead see them as a great way to start fresh, to set new goals, and to make new progress.  HELLLLOOOOO MONDAY!

What are your goals for the week?

Have a healthy day,

J

Plateau

So I've hit a major plateau.  My progress has totally flatlined.  (Actually, it wasn't really on the move at all, now that I think about it.)  I've been drinking tons of water, eating a bunch of little meals throughout the day, not eating at night, cut waaaayyyyy back on the snacks and sweets, working out every day, and so on and so on and so on. SO WHAT THE FREAK IS THE PROBLEM?!?!?!?!

As I'm sure you can imagine, (and maybe you've even lived it), this is beyond friggin' frustrating.  And the way I see it, right now I have two choices.  I can either stop focusing on the end goal, or I can kick my fat booty in to high gear and get past this.  You see, for me, this journey is about more than losing a few pounds.  I mean, yes, of course I'd love to see a smaller number on the scale when I hop on 50 times each day every morning, but more than that, I'd REALLY LOVE to have my clothes fit the way they used to; to exude a higher level of confidence; to be overall happier with the skin I'm in. 

It'll happen.  Right?  It has to. (RIGHT??) Quitting is absolutely not an option.  It can't be.  So I'll drink MORE water, I'll track my calories CLOSER, I'll go to the gym MORE and hit it HARDER.  And I'll meet ya at the finish line. 

Have a healthy day,

J