Checking In

Every now and then I look at my blog and I think, "I should post more often"... and then I usually get distracted and forget. But then I'll have something to say that's too long for a Facebook post, and I'll think, "Ok, I should blog that." Well, here I am, blogging infrequently, not making any promises to be consistent or anything...

Weight Loss
I can't remember what my weight was last time I blogged, but since December 2015 I have officially lost 30 pounds. At my heaviest, around Christmas, I weighed 165. I was pretty hopeless. Yesterday I weighed on my scale at home and I weighed 135.2. I'm pretty proud actually.

I made this collage. I can really tell a difference in my arms.

Here's me last Sunday after a run. I just can't smile for some reason.

I credit Thrive, weight watchers, running and lifting with helping me lose the weight. Of course, now that I'm practically at my goal, I am not at the body I thought I would have. Does that make sense? I'm going to just keep doing what I'm doing. I think the lifting will help.

Running
Speaking of running, it is going AMAZING right now.  I ran a 5K almost a month ago. It was at the end of the day after a full day at work. I had to take some walk breaks. But my time was still 33:50, even with the walk breaks, so I'm pretty happy with that. Since then I've been consistently running longer than that, so I'm certain my next 5K time will be even better.

I started the half marathon training program put out by the same people that did 5K and 10K runner. I'm on week 2. I'm starting way ahead of my December 11 race date because I want lots of time to repeat weeks if needed and be really strong at the 13.1 distance.

Sunday I started week 2. The scheduled workout was a run (nonstop) of 45 minutes. I felt good so I ran 50 minutes. You guys! I have never run that long in my life! I was pretty proud. This week's "long" run is a run of 54 minutes and I'm pretty confident I'll do it. The only issue is I've pretty much moved inside for the summer because I can't do heat, and the treadmill only goes 60 minutes, so as the runs get longer, I'm going to have to split them up. Whatever, it still counts. Around October I'll start doing my long runs outside again, so I'll be ready for an actual outdoor race.

Team Momentum
Some of you may know the story of my brother. I call him Facebookless Jerry because he's one of the few people I know in the world who does not have a Facebook account. This was a problem while I lived away from this area for about 8 years. But, having recently moved back, I've had the opportunity to spend more time with him.  I help him a lot, taking him to doctor's appointments and doing his laundry, getting him groceries. It's one of my favorite things about being back in my hometown.

So Jerry has a form of Muscular Dystrophy called Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT). In the 8 years that I didn't see him regularly, his condition deteriorated dramatically. He is no longer able to get himself in and out of bed, and most activities are hard to impossible for him. It really breaks my heart which is why I try to help him as much as I can.

I decided in conjunction with the Dallas Half Marathon to fundraise for Team Momentum. This is the Muscular Dystrophy Association's charity. It is a small way I feel like I can honor Jerry, who really is my hero. Every time I have a pity party, or feel like something in my life is hard, I think about Jerry, and how *everything* is a challenge for him.  I hope this in some way can help give him some hope.

You can visit my fundraising page here, and make a donation if you like. My fundraising goal is $1000, and of course, I would love to exceed  that if possible.

So that's the update. Maybe I can blog more often than once every 3 months. I actually plan to chronicle both my half marathon training and my fundraising efforts, so here's hoping I can keep it up!

Friends with Running

So, running and I are friends again at the moment. I had a chance to do over Monday's terrible run and I think I did pretty well.

Source

I think my biggest mistake in Monday's run was going too hard too soon. So, I put the incline at only .5 (the very first level after "flat") and slowed from 5.6 to 5.4.

I always divide runs into 5 minute intervals. I just think "I only have to get through 5 minutes". Somehow that makes it easier.

I made it through the first run and then walked for 3 minutes.

The second run was hard, but I did it. I told myself first "I just have to get through 5 minutes", then "I just have to make it halfway", then once I hit 15 minutes, I knew it was too late to stop and I was going to make it.

And let me tell you the feeling of making it was so great.

I was so sweaty my arms were dripping everywhere. So for the first time ever, before I cleaned off the treadmill, I wiped my arms with paper towels. #gross

Do you know why this picture is blurry? Because my phone was covered in sweat.

Here I am after the workout. Somehow I managed to clean myself up and librarian successfully the rest of the day after looking like this.

Friday the scheduled workout is *almost* the same- 2 20 minute runs- except the walking interval is 2 minutes instead of 3.

I took Friday off to finish our taxes, because I love the stress of doing things at the last minute. So after I drop off the kids at school, I'm going to go run at the lake. I'm looking forward to a run outside. I know I'm stuck on the treadmill for the lunchtime runs until October sometime when it cools down again, but the mornings are cool, so I'm going to take advantage of it.

So Tuesday was our weigh in with Weightwatchers. The week before, I weighed in at 151, so I was super excited to hopefully get back into the 140s again this week. Well, I weighed in at 152.2. Because I'm a big baby, I left right away and planned to sob at my desk.

Luckily, I pulled myself together and instead went for a 2 mile walk. I didn't bring any workout clothes or shoes with me, so it was interesting. But I'm glad I did it. I felt better.

I had my Weightwatchers settings set to swap activity points. But I'm earning 9 or 10 activity points a day. I definitely wasn't using them all, but I think I was using some. So I decided to change the settings so it doesn't swap activity points. If I have an extra long run or something I'll just use some of the weekly points. So far so good.

Source

By the way on my home scale this morning I was 149. So take that, Weightwatchers scale.

I'm going to a conference next week so I'll miss the weigh in, so when I next weigh in it will be 2 weeks. Surely I'll see some significant weight loss during that time (if I can manage to behave during the conference...)