Off With November, Onto December

Well today is the last day of November, which means the end of one calendar page and the beginning of another. I'm really liking this whole "earn that sticker" idea.

Here is my completed November calendar. It's being an asshole and only wants to load sideways. On the plus side I've finally used up those stickers from 1980 something!

I did pretty good on my pile on the miles challenge. I didn't make my goal of 60 miles but I did do 46.39. More than half. I got off my schedule a little bit so I didn't get a couple longer runs in that I thought I would.

New goal for December=70 miles.

I failed at the Slimmer By December Challenge. I kind of knew I wasn't going to work out every day after doing that in October. Sometimes you just need a day off! Judging from my calendar I took 5 days off. That's not bad.

I'm still in an Ab's Challenge but not focusing on that too much. I did ONE DAY of the Killer Abs and that was all I got in.

I've been running 3 days a week, the trainer 2 and that's enough that I feel like I have to spend a day being lazy and/or doing laundry & catching up around the house.

So here is my results in pictures for the month of November. From the left is October 1st, October 31st and November 30th. Not much difference over all but my clothes are fitting differently so things are shifting around! I

Here is my December calendar

I'm almost done with the 5k-10k program and I've decided to train for a half marathon (April 7th) so I have a bit of "in limbo" time on the calendar where I will be done with one but haven't started the other. I don't know how long I'm going to "run" for but I figure I'll just schedule those as run days for now.

AND that Double Road Race falls in the middle there too so not sure what to do to train more for that. Just "RUN" I guess!

Here's to a thinner December!

Throw Back Thursday & New Running Race

So today I did a little "throwback Thursday" picture. Who is this person on the right? I don't even recognize her anymore? That picture was taken at my mom's birthday party in January.

Surely that's not me?? But yes, yes it is. 

Just 10 months ago. I feel like a ROCK STAR looking at that! 

Isn't it amazing how we can change our bodies if we just put our mind to it? I thank God every day that friend Dee talked about Lose It  so much and got me to say "FINE, I'LL DO IT" one night. 

I don't know why this time I DID IT when other times I failed. I think because it was just so easy to log what I was eating and I had her watching what I was logging and commenting on it. Which sounds weird in a way, but having to be accountable to someone, anyone, and not wanting to let my friend down really did help.

Then of course I have all my weight loss friends in the Fit Camp who got me all into exercising. I remember not that long ago another friend of mine kept telling me I should exercise and I was like "eh, maybe later". 

Today I went to my work out with my trainer and she asked me if I wanted to do this Double Run at the end of December. I thought about it for a few minutes (and of awesome Arlene who just ran a half trail run in the MUD and rain!) and then I said "SURE, I'LL DO IT!"

That run is a 10k, followed by a short break and then you finish the race with a 5k. So basically it's a 15k with a break in it. I'm not sure if the break will be a good or a bad thing but I can always take it slow and walk if I have to (but who am I kidding, I don't want to walk!) 

I'm almost done with my 10K training program so I'll just keep adding time to it to work up to the 15k. I'm a bit nervous but I can do it! I have a month to get ready. 

I do feel kind of honored that my trainer thinks I can keep up with her and her friend who is a boot camp instructor. That fat girl up there could never do that. Good thing I got rid of her eh?

I'm exhausted.

Today I spent $60 on flea stuff for my cat because his constant licking and scratching is driving me BONKERS. Not to mention he thinks he needs to do that in my room, which makes it impossible to sleep.

Apparently becoming a mother has made me a super light sleeper. That's probably why I was wide awake this morning.

THREE AM.

I don't have a newborn so W-T-F.  I've earned my sleeping in time people. I have three kids, I've DONE the early morning all night crap. There is a reason I don't have more than three kids (mostly because I knew that one more and I'd definitely be living in the loony bin).

I got up and did the usual bathroom trip, which includes turning on the faucet so that the cat can get a drink. He SPRINTS in the bathroom when he hears me go in there so he can drink out of the sink. No idea how THAT little trick started.

Went back to bed, and a bit later Scott gets up. He proceeds to go in and out of the bedroom about ten times, opening and closing the door each time so that he doesn't disturb me.

closes door CLICK
opens door CLICK ERRRR
closes door  CLICK
opens door CLICK ERRRR

After the tenth time I was like FOR THE LOVE OF GOD JUST LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN.

While I'm awake I might as well check my Ebay auctions.
Instagram
Facebook

Ok, concentrate, go back to sleep!

4:30 he comes in to say goodbye, gives me my goodbye kiss.
Ok he's gone.

BLINK BLINK BLINK

Cat's scratching scratching scratching.

Fuuuuuuuuudddggggeeee (that's the Christmas Story version-freaking love that movie)

Next thing I know I'm walking up.
It's 6:00 am.

Ahhhhh I was sleeping so well. Of course now it's time to get up.
Just 5 more minutes....

Amazing!

Today, well tonight really, I ran for 55 minutes straight.

FIFTY FIVE MINUTES.

I never in my life thought I'd be able to run for almost an hour. Without stopping.

AND LIKE IT.

I feel like a butterfly spreading her wings as she emerges from the chrysalis. Like my body was just in a long sleep and now it's able to reach it's full potential.

This, surely, can not be MY body.

My body is a thick skinned muffin top carrying body. My body that has arms that I am ashamed of. My neck is thick and fat with many rolls.

Or is it?

No. Now my body is strong. My legs can carry me for 5 1/2 miles. RUNNING. Running without stopping. That muffin top is GONE. My arms are strong! My neck is no longer covered in thick skin and fat rolls.

I am truly amazed at what I have done for myself. I have done this. FOR ME.

Flying Over The Heads of Kids

Friday after my crappy run I threw myself on the couch to "take a nap". Scott handed me the TV remote (what? who is this  person? I never get to pick what's on TV!?). I was flipping through and saw The Coal Miner's Daughter was just starting.

"I LOVE THIS MOVIE"

I said and then we proceeded to watch it.

Except? I didn't hardly remember any of that movie. I must not have been too old the last time I watched it. I'm sure most of it flew right over my head as a kid.

Which brings me to this list of

Movies I Loved As A Kid (but really didn't know what the hell I was watching)

1. Coal Miner's Daughter 

What I remember as a kid from this movie? Her singing to the kids in their shack of a house, then taking them with them to the radio stations.

What I see as an adult? OMG she just left all her kids?? She couldn't even tell her kids apart?? She was only 13, THIRTEEN when she got married. How upset her parents were.

2. Grease 

What I remember as a kid? Singing to all the songs, getting in trouble by my Italian Step Dad for singing "Hey Fungoo" (apparently that translate to Fuck You" who knew?), acting out the movie with my friend Jenn in her front yard.

What I see as an adult watching it with my kid?
SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX

3.  Mommy Dearest

What I remember? Her beating the shit out of her kids. Over and over and over.

I actually haven't watched this as an adult but I wonder why my mom let me watch it? To make her look better? (just kidding mom if someday you ever read this!)

That's all I can come up with at the moment. Can you think of any movies that you just loved as a kid and then as an adult you were like OMG!?! I can't believe I used to watch that?

A Bad Running Day

Lucky for me I had Friday off of work. I was feeling kind of shitty for all the bad food I had ate and OMG! Scale is up 3 pounds! I know it's not a 3 pound fat gain, just my body holding on to the food. But still a bit depressing after that low number on the scale the day before.

After breakfast I decided I'd go out and conquer my next 5k-10k training run. I wore my leggings and a t shirt over my full running tank because it was cold!

Well cold when I started. It wasn't long before I tore off my t shirt and was wishing I would have worn shorts. It was hot! And the sun was over head beating on me.

I'm not used to running during the day. It's usually either early morning (hardly ever) or at dusk or after the sun has went down.

I was really feeling crappy. Just a whole BLAH. And I decided that I really hate interval runs. They suck big hairy donkey balls!! About a mile and a half into it I mentally gave in and did some walking. I haven't walked during a run in forever! I felt like such a failure but I just couldn't get my mind in the game. I alternated running and walking for the rest of my run. Surprisingly my splits weren't that disappointing for all the walking I felt like I did.

When I got home I just laid around for most of the day and my body was so sore. I think maybe I was just in exercise overload.

So my total for the week on Pile On The Miles is 11.92 miles. Not too shabby! My total for the month so far is 37.64 miles. My goal for the month was 60, which I probably am not going to make unless I throw in a few more runs next week. We'll see how motivated I get to do that!

Thanksgiving Re-Cap!

Our internet has been out for 3 days! It's finally back on. Maybe I should learn how to blog from my phone?

My Thanksgiving day started by getting up early and going to the "No Guilt Thanksgiving" workout at my gym. It was basically circuit training for an hour with about 15 different stations. My brother and sister in law drove over and did it too. I should have took a picture of us all but didn't. Booo

Scott prepared by riding his bike into town. (over 11 miles). He stopped at the gym parking lot and talked to us for a few minutes and then went on down the road to visit with his parents. Riding to town is something we've talked about doing a lot and he finally did it! He said it was super windy all the way to town which made it really cold and a hard ride. The way home was much better for him. Super proud of him for doing that!

After I got home from the gym I made us all some breakfast and then I went out to ride my bike a bit. I had hit an all time low number on the scale (150.4!) in the morning and I was really hoping to maintain it! Scott decided to go with me so he could round out his mileage to 30 miles that day (CRAZY!). 

I felt better after riding, fully prepared to take on the day!

That lasted until we got there and started eating! HA!

(I forgot my real camera so all pictures are from my phone)

I came prepared with this cute turkey veggie tray, super easy to make.

of course I also made spinach dip, delish! There was also deviled eggs, salami with cream cheese and peppers, celery with peanut butter, you get the picture. Oh and I brought this

Absolutely freaking delicious! It tastes just like a root beer float. I'm kind of surprised I actually came home with half a bottle.

Here's miss "don't take my picture" Adrian grubbing on some salami rolls

She is such a big girl now, her hair is so beautiful (her mom fixed her pig tails right after this) she has tons of ringlets.

Miss Ava is also getting so big!

My mom is holding her here while our friend Anna talks to her. Anna stopped by on her way to and from other places for a visit, always great to see her.

Here's Ava & her mommy. We had beautiful weather!

Zoe hanging out with us

My girls and I. I never saw Trevor after we got there until we ate dinner. He was so busy playing with his cousin upstairs.

Ava with her Grandpa

We took turns stirring the gravy. I think we added 1/2 a bag of flour AND corn starch by the time we were done trying to get it to hurry up and thicken up haha.

Here is my gorgeous sister in law.

Jess used the timer on her phone to get us all in at the table. Everyone got in but Scott (this is from her Instagram)

The one on the bottom right my brother and I were screwing around trying to get the sweet potato pie done without burning the marshmallows! Mission accomplished. We were cracking up and I had marshmallow goo all over those gloves.

Ava was being so cute with eating olives off her fingers and cracking up.

 Babies make everything more fun, don't they (except maybe sleep!)

Here's my fat girl plate. OMG soooo good. 

Jess & Ava

and another self portrait.

We had a great time but left to go home around 9:30 because we were all so tired! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. What's your family's favorite dish for Thanksgiving?

Pile On The Miles & Thanksgiving Plans!

I almost forgot to update the Pile On The Miles Spreadsheet. Are you still playing? Make sure you go put your numbers in!

After Monday's run I am 50% to my goal of 60 miles. My runs are just getting longer for the rest of the 5k-10k training so I should be able to hit that goal! If not I'll be running all night on November 30th. (kidding-maybe!)

Tonight's run was a 50 minute run, plus of course, the 5 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down walks. So I was out for an hour and ran/walked 5 miles!!! Farthest ever for me.

Does everyone have big Thanksgiving plans? We are going to my brother's house again this year. I am bringing a pumpkin pie from Costco, rolls and some appetizers. Guess I won't be using too many ideas off my Pinterest boards.

Although I could get creative and do a fun veggie tray

I remember one year my mom made some bird bread rolls like these. It took her HOURS. She got the idea from a magazine (remember those? pre-Pinterest ;)) I remember thinking that they didn't taste very good for all that time she put into them. What a little shit eh? I hope I didn't actually tell her that!

Thanksgiving morning I'm planning on going to the gym for a "No Guilt Thanksgiving" workout. My trainer said we'll burn like 1000 calories. I hope I don't die.

Bring on the sweet potato pie!! I'll be ready!!

Big Sur Half Marathon & Monterey Bay Coastal Trail Bike Ride

Sunday morning we got up and debated on driving or riding our bikes down to the Big Sur Half Marathon. Finally we settled on riding our bikes. It wasn't too far from the hotel (we actually thought it would be farther). We were riding along down a trail and found the starting area where they were already letting blocks of people begin. There were over 9000 people running in the race. THAT is a lot.of.people.

They just kept coming

and coming

We actually rode off before they all went down the street. 

It was so inspiring seeing everyone running. What impressed me the most is that they weren't all fit runners. There was fat people, skinny people, old people, a Marine who carried the flag for the whole race, teams, friends, serious runners, people in costumes, walkers and more!.  Totally amazing!

We rode down the trail a bit and followed the runners for awhile. We stopped on the other side of the tunnel that goes towards Cannery Row. There was someone playing bag pipes in the tunnel. Super cool. When the runners came out they were greeted by people cheering. This guy had the best sign. Runners were actually laughing and taking out their cameras to take a picture of it.

We sat on the little wall and watched for awhile, beautiful view.

(don't mind the hair, I didn't bother making it nice since it was misty and we were riding bikes)

We rode down farther and watched down by the Aquarium and actually saw the race leaders on their way back already. AMAZING.  We rode around a bit and then came back to the little wall and sat there and watched the runners as they made their way to the finish line. I could have stood there until the last one came in. They were so awesome!!

Even some seals came out to watch. (it's sitting on that rock)

We eventually decided we were hungry so we rode back to the hotel room and then went to Denny's for breakfast again. After breakfast we went back and checked out of the hotel and then we parked the truck at a Target and then went on a super long bike ride. 

We knew there were trails all over but we got turned around and ended up going the wrong direction up some GINORMOUS hills. Eventually we got to the trail by the bay. Talk about some amazing views.

 I never did use my phone or head phones, I could have left them in my bag. Scott used Mapmyride so we would know how far we went. 

He looks way more official than I do. I don't even have a helmet. I will definitely be getting one before we do this again though.

We rode all the way from Jessica's school to Cannery Row and back (plus some because we couldn't get across the highway and had to go back a bit). 

The trail we were on for a long time was called the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail

Here's a map from the website although we didn't do the whole thing. 

We did however manage to bike 21.6 miles, which is the most I have EVER biked. 

and it was freaking awesome.

I can't wait to do it again!

Aquarium & Sushi Monterey Trip Day 2

Saturday after the 5k and breakfast we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Jessica had a free ticket from her school so we just had to pay for Scott and I. It's $35 a person to get in so it's a bit expensive, but worth it to go if you haven't been before. We spent a few hours there. It's changed a bit since the last time I was there when Jessica was in 5th grade.

After a few hours I was done (and exhausted). I think I'm good for about 10 more years.

Everyone was hungry but me so we looked for somewhere to eat clam chowder and ended up at Louie Linguini's. I think I've ate there every time I've went to Monterey this year. 

Since I wasn't that hungry and I'd been craving cheesecake, I had raspberry cheesecake (and bread and butter, who can resist that?) Everyone else had clam chowder in a bread bowl.

 After that we went back to the hotel. Jess went back to the school and my friend left for home and I took a nap. Ahhhh naps are awesome!

When I got up we went for a ride to find brake pads for my bike. Scott was embarrassed of how crappy my bike was and was trying to clean it up. We ended up going all over and finally found some at REI. I got a travel size foam roller there too.

Hours later I decided we needed to go eat some sushi at a little sushi place across from the hotel so we went over there to check it out. It was called Sushi By The Bay. The building kind of looks like an old Taco Bell (funny how I can spot those everywhere-showing my age!) I liked their place mats with all the different kinds of sushi on them.

We decided on a Dragon Roll (left) and Spicy Tuna

The ginger was pink, which was new. I'm thinking they dye it? Everything was a bit different from Matsu Sushi but still very good. Best thing? $15 for dinner.

We went back to the room and watched TV for a a bit, set the alarm to get up early to go watch the Big Sur Half Marathon in the morning and crashed out.