Stronger?!?!?

The past few times of running I've really picked up the pace. Today was no exception. I wound up doing about a 10 minute mile with Amber. I don't think I've ran a 10 minute mile since freshman year of high school. We followed it up with alternating sets of jogging, walking and sprints which is only helping increase strength.

It feels so good to not only be seeing results on the scale but those milestones - longest run ever, fastest run ever, best feeling during running ever....

Fall purge

I love the changing seasons. It gives me a great chance to clean out my closet and purge things. I know I could have purged a lot more than I did (I have about 6 pairs of black pants, most of which are falling off me), but the few things I did toss already makes me feel better!

Today's plan was to deep clean the house. I heard on the weather that this is our last beautiful 70 degree day for a stretch so plans for deep cleaning have been relocated tomorrow and Friday. Now that the bedroom is clean, I'll be heading outside for some much needed work on the yard!

Tonight I'll be finishing my application for the bank and writing my thank you letter for delivery tomorrow morning.

I have 4 days off and I plan to really use them for personal gain -- applications, mending clothes, purging clothes, cleaning, working out...

Someone must have lit a fire under my bum this morning...

Because I ran and I ran the fastest I've run in a LONG time! I think I had some pent up energy just waiting to get out. We did 4.6 miles in 50 minutes. HOLY CRAP. The last time I did the double loop around that lake I did it in 56.5 minutes.

I'm totally riding the high off this run!

Pictured above: one of my photos from before our run

I can't help being in awe of so much this morning. My running buddy Amber has come so far in her running and in the 8 weeks we've been running together I've seen her go from being psyched to run 10 minutes to being able to keep up with me on a 4.6 mile run! I remember not so long ago I was in a similar boat and it's exciting when I see the changes both in myself and in her too!  When we run we discuss our milestones and it just motivates me so much to keep it up.

This morning, we were texting back and forth deciding whether or not to run. The reasons not to were stacking up:  less than 4 hours of sleep, drinking last night, the heavy amount of dancing I did last night.... We decided to just do it and be happy that we at least attempted. Little did either of us realize both of us were waiting for the other to call it off! HA!

I arrived slightly earlier than she did and had brought my camera along to grab some photos. It was one of those quintessential fall mornings, fog burning off the marshes as the sun rises higher in the sky, cool crisp air, clear skies. Crunching leaves below your feet. A couple more of my photos for your enjoyment:

I couldn't help but think to myself that I would have missed all of this if I hadn't gotten up, forced myself to put on my big girl pants and just do it! While waiting for Amber, I still didn't know how our run would go. We started on the 2.3 mile loop around the lake and it felt great. About 1/2 way around I realized we were running faster than normal and it still felt good.  A 2nd loop around gave us the 4.6 miles we were hoping to complete.

Even as I sit here, 3 hours post run typing this, I'm exhilarated and just thankful. Thankful for running. Thankful for finding people who share my excitement and desire to push ourselves. Thankful for great MN fall mornings... and just thankful in general.

Feeling better

The anticipation and guilt associated with planning to run and then failing is worse than anything. The dread builds  with each day I plan to go for that 4+ mile run and don't. It eats away at me making me more lethargic and therefore less likely to actually get out there.

Today I finally broke that pattern! Amber and I pounded the pavement this afternoon and what seemed like it could be a bust of a run (aforementioned lethargy + windy grey weather) wound up being an amazing run! We went for 3.9 miles! It was Amber's longest continuous run ever and a nice length for me. It's so weird that an almost 4 mile run feels "like a nice length".....

Some revelations during the run:

1) 2 weeks til 10K... holy crap.
2) Our days of 6:15 am runs are pretty much over. It doesn't get light out until 7am, she has kids to get up, our other running partner Sue Ellen can't go that late and getting up that early just isn't going to happen by choice for either of us. It's sad, but I'm ok with that. I'm looking forward to some afternoon runs with her.
3) I really do enjoy it and when I take time off my body misses it.
4) I'm getting a lot stronger.

Kind of a bum week

Rain. That's the story of the week. So much rain. After a manic few weeks of activities upon activities, I finally crashed. Sunday-Monday I was a zombie. I really did try to overcome my apathetic state and go running.... Really I did. I set my alarm for early each day AND... each day I hit snooze until later in the day. So it's been a week.

Plans have been made to hit the trail tomorrow.. Time to remedy this situation!

Wedding Stuff

We have decided to just keep our ceremony where we planned on.

Potential timeline:

10:30 picked up/drive to Noerenberg
11-11:30 some pictures @ the gardens
12p: ceremony
12:30 end of ceremony/receiving line -cleanup/exiting gardens
1-4:30: eat lunch with wedding party & parents, drive around, pictures @ a couple locations
    everyone else: hospitality suite for OOT guests, locals: relax somewhere.
3:30-5 cocktail hour with hors d'ourves for guests, parents, etc
4:30 arrival of wedding party

5pm -6: dinner with speeches and slideshow
5:30p: cake cutting
6:15ish 1st dance
6:15-10:30? reception/ dancing
10:30-11ish, we leave, pizza party in our room and crash?

It's still rudimentary but I'm trying to lessen the gap as much as I can without having to have an afternoon reception....

The to do list keeps growing...

Sigh....

The to-do list is at an overwhelming level. That level where i'd rather just curl up under a blanket, drink coffee and write about how much I have to do.... Which is exactly what I'm doing. I feel so disorganized which is only furthering the overwhelming nature of it. I feel like I can't find anything. The mental clutter makes me forget things. Its not a good place to be. I have 40 minutes of internet time. then I start cleaning/finding things.

This clutter does have me wanting to write down my goals. in order from pending to future

Running/fitness:

1. 10K on October 9th
2. Possibly one more race by November
3. Increase my strength training to make up for tapering off of distance running and keep those muscles developing/strengthening
4. Next year: 10K to Half Marathon!!!!  -- I'm officially crazy.
• I've decided that I should set my sights on the great half marathon! I'll start off the season with a 7K in March -- 4.5 miles (?) and hopefully by the end of summer, post wedding stress, be up to a half marathon level! This is quite a revelation to me but I like pushing myself to that next level. I still think marathoners are insane, but maybe I'll find myself among the ranks someday... or not. If I don't, I don't. 
5. Keep this weight off that I've lost

Wedding:

1. Figure out ceremony situation
2. Find photographer
3. Bridesmaid dresses
4. Engagement photos
5. Invites/Save the Dates
6. flowers, favors, piddly stuff
7. GET MARRIED!!!! :)

Life: --ongoing: this can't be broken down into near and long term goals

1. Research grad school? Potentially looking at a masters in regulatory affairs so I can work in the medical device or food industry.
2. job hunting. 

House:

1. Clean/find the crap I can't seem to find

Women's group:

1. Entertainment for Winter State Convention
2. T-shirts -catch up on entering orders
3. RSVP to all emails that need attention

Maybe my list isn't too bad, getting going is the hardest part!

a picture of my poor little car.... or speed bump to some C-UV driving suburbanite b*tch....

you can kind of tell its dented by the light's messed up refraction on the surface of the car....

There's even a little dent by my door handle.

It's apparently too much damage so yours truly will be getting a whole door replaced! Whoo. I hope something moves on this case and they track down this lady.

SRSLY?

F*CK ME!

no not in that way!!!.  In the "what else can life f*cking throw my way right now as I was finally returning to a sense of balance and quasi happiness" way.

Promotion at work: YAY!
Losing weight: YAY!
Feeling dare I say ok about money and not completely stressed out/depressed?: YAY!
Wedding planning back on! :: YAY

ok... Now let's have someone hit and run your car! Congrats!

Awww. Thanks life!. you shouldn't have. No, really... YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE!

Now I get to deal with insurance, fixing my car, and all this s**t I don't want to deal with.

I'm "trying" to be calm about it. I got the license plate number thanks to an amazing good Samaritan -- he single-handedly momentarily lifted my faith in the human race... I almost hugged him, but that may have creeped him out so I refrained -- I got their license plate. I also got to chat with a very... very very very good looking PD officer! At least I had come down of my glass of wine I had had, but I was on a bit of an adrenline rush and so he probably thought I was crazy none-the-less.... I, too, kinda wanted to give him a hug for helping me, once again, doubt that would have gone over so well.

Luckily: 1) I happen to know a GREAT autobody shop (thank you BETH!!!!) , 2) This is why I pay for full coverage.

Update: Something's going on with contact information. Before it sounded like they got a hold of them and they thought they just hit a bump -- YOU KNOW A TINY RED FORD FOCUS IS JUST A BUMP? F* U Cross over/SUV DRIVERS! Learn to F*ing watch where you're F*ing going. Just because you drive and SUV doesn't make YOU immune to the rules... (hello anger. Welcome to the party!)--Just got a call from the PD: its getting processed as a hit and run. sounds like charges will be filed.

UGH.

BMI changes

Even though I know I'm losing weight it never dawned on me to check what that's doing to my BMI -- you know that pesky little calculation that tells you if you're "healthy" weight, over weight or obese.

I just happened to check today and the healthy range for me is 97-132 pounds. I'm never going to be 97 lbs, nor do I want to be that. When I started this running thing this year, I was 148 lbs which gave me a BMI of 28. Overweight. (DUH?!). As of what I consider my last official weigh in of 140.4 my BMI has now decreased by 1.5 to 26!!!! I'm only a couple points away from being the healthy range!

A little story time:

When I was first starting at Mayo, they made me do a pre-placement physical. During that exam I was definitely over 150 lbs, but by no means that rotund. The doctor weighed me and had to classify me based on that and my BMI into one of those categories (healthy, overweight, obese) and I was borderline. He could have given me the benefit of the doubt, but he was kind of a jerk and said, "Well my form doesn't have the box for overweight so I HAVE to put you down as obese." Really? Did he just say that he "had" to classify me as obese? wanna blow someone's self esteem into 1000 little pieces, tell them you're classifying them as obese. That man was lucky he was a doctor. Any normal person might have gotten a swift punch to the nose for that one!

Granted it did motivate me. I managed to start going to the gym and lost 8 or so pounds. It didn't motivate me enough as I've been in that 8lb loop since then. I'm really hoping I can break free from that and keep the momentum going through winter. I never want to be referred to as "Obese" ever again!!!!

happy dance! Happy Dance

No, my friends, I have not found that elusive real job.

The big news is: for the first time in years, when I stepped on the scale it said "139.0"!!!!! OMG!!! OMG!!! Under 140 lbs is a milestone. I think I saw it last in COLLEGE! I know deep down that it was probably more of a fluke having to do with water weight but it still made me feel great today! Definitely proof I'm headed in the right direction!

And, if I am in fact below 140, I'll have to adjust the points I eat in a day as well as the points I assign my workouts, but that's a minor detail. :) I'm really liking this points system thing. I didn't know how I'd feel about it but it's flexible, there's the amount of control I crave. I have mixed results staying within range, but it definitely makes me more accountable for what I eat! That alone and the attempt to stay near those points is really helping this whole adventure. I currently get 22 points/day, but my goal for next week is to try to decrease it to 21/day. My other goal is to plan out my day instead of trying to retroactively make sure I stayed within range.

Other news:
10K in just over a month!

I'm a shift supervisor at work. Tonight was my first shift as lead! It went good in some ways, in other not so well. I was quite discombobulated as it was my first day back in 3 days AND I was closing (which I almost never did before now).

Wedding:
I've returned to being excited to plan! I hope over the next two months I can take a big chunk out the planning! On tap for this month:

1. Find Photographer !!!!!
2. Figure out ceremony situation
3. Bridesmaid dress shopping plans to be made for October
4. Did I mention figure out the dang ceremony situation??

On the radar:

1. Flowers
2. start talking to reception place regarding menu, timing, etc
3. invites
4. save the dates
5. favors.. if any (I went to a wedding this last weekend and they didn't have them and I never even noticed until someone pointed that out... proves just how unimportant it is...)

Can you believe I'm actually doing well at this whole planning ahead thing? 

Healthy life progress

I've been half attempting the weight watchers tracking and half training for this 10K. I've definitely scaled back the number of days I exercise. I've had some amazing runs over the past few weeks since I stopped training so hard. In fact, I've gone back to actually enjoying running and how my body feels during it. It helps that the weather is abating and sliding into Fall. Crisp mornings of running are way easier to stomach than "80% humidity 80 degrees already at 6am" mornings. The only ongoing issue I'm having is my right foot/ankle is bugging me a bit. It's nothing major. Just annoying that's all. It's fine when I run though. It doesn't help that I have an ingrown toe nail and a scratch on my other toe from the stupid cat. (TMI, sorry). Runner's aren't known for their immaculate looking feet....

Diet: It's not a diet. It's a lifestyle change. I'm trying to change now so that when fall deepens and turns into winter and my activity plummets (which I know it will) I don't gain all this weight I worked so hard to lose, back. I go in spurts with tracking. I'll do really well of writing it down and but won't get the looking up part done so I've had a few bad days in a row here. It definitely continues to force me to be more conscious of my eating habits and takes some of the fun out of going out to eat. Especially when its at a restaurant that doesn't publish nutrition information (I'm looking in your general direction TGI Fridays!).

Weight today was up but still at 143.2 that's post run, post eating breakfast. I will judge tomorrow morning when I step on the scale.