Funny how time just slips by. Hope everyone had a good holiday. I know I did. Last Saturday, I got in my longest run yet and 8.5 miles, the best part about the long run was how I felt afterward. Typically anything after 6 miles leaves me pretty hobbled. I have a bad foot and back that has left me confined to the couch for a couple of days at a time. My half marathons have been kind of brutal on my body :) but I felt great after my run. My muscles were tired but not broken. I took Sunday off then ran another 6.2 miles on Monday. My running partner injured her Achilles on our Saturday run and then on Monday realized it was worse than she thought, so I told her to take the rest of the week off and re-evaluate on Friday whether she can run on Saturday. This was not supposed to absolve me of running, alas I am lazy and ended up trying to rest my body as well. Not sure if that was good or bad, but it is what it is. It's supposed to beautiful day today, so I'm going to head over to the lake after work today and try to get 4 miles in.

My November running goal was 60 miles for the month. I'm super happy to report that not only did I meet that goal I exceeded it by 5 miles. I've already chosen my December goal and I'm adding 20 miles to it. I think 80 miles is pretty attainable. My long runs are now supposed to be 7,8, & 9 miles and I always seem to do just a little bit more than is expected of me. Now if only I could do something with my eating habits so this running thing translates into weight loss!

Monday run

I wasn't expecting to go as far as I did today. My only plan was to run my typical 3 mile run that my training program required. I was hoping to have one "fast mile" and then just finish the rest at whatever pace I did. I ended up doing 6.1 miles in 1:18 minutes. It felt so good to just keep going. And that's really surprising to me because I felt pretty sluggish for the first 3 miles. In the past, when I felt this sluggish I would have stopped and gave up. I'm pretty proud of myself right now and I'm feeling good!

On a side note, this is my second run in a row without music and I'm really liking it. I think because I concentrate on the run and my surroundings rather than what song and how many songs have played.

What's your take... Run with or without music and why?

Did I just do that?

Wednesday's run marked the 5th day in a row that I exercised. This is pretty big, as I spent every month since my first half in April, trying very hard to not exercise very much. i.e. I got lazy. So 5 days in a row is a miracle over here in Krissy-land. :)

My run. I got to the lake and wasn't sure I would even be able to run. Both my foot and my head were hurting. I knew i could survive the foot pain... the head I wasn't so sure about. See, how I tried to convince myself to just go home instead? I pretty much have these talks everyday, some days I win some days I lose. I ran anyway. My pace was slower than it has been, but I kept trucking along until I was back at my car 5.6 miles later. I did not stop once. I ran the entire way! It's been at least 7 months since I ran more than 2 miles without stopping to walk... once again I will repeat and say I am lazy. My goal for next week is to actually hit 6 miles without stopping to walk. For now I have a rest day, which for me means swimming laps at the YMCA so get a workout that is much easier on my body than running is.

I've been on this training regimen for 3 weeks now. The first 2 weeks, I did not see any movement on the scale. That was a little disheartening... to work hard and actually see a gain rather than a loss. But no more! I have lost over 6 lbs this week. I'm hoping to be down 4 more lbs before Thanksgiving... just so I can eat on Thanksgiving without guilt. :) I love me some mashed potatoes.

Last night, I made my first attempt at buffalo wings. My BF will not do fried foods, which is a very good thing, because it helps keep me in line as well. So I baked them instead. My sauce was a little sweet and will have to make that differently next time, but it was still good! I made boneless chicken for me and put in on a salad, rather than eating wings, since I refuse to eat meat that is still attached to the bone. I was pretty pleased with my first attempt at a new recipe. Have you tried a new recipe lately? Any good healthy suggestions for dinner tonight?

Funday Monday Recap

I've been running for 2 weeks now with my friend. Saturday was a 4 mile run, so off we went and completed 4 miles. Afterward, I couldn't help but notice that nothing hurt. Not one muscle. When I run by myself, I am usually in pain somewhere (or everywhere) when I am done. I talked to John about it afterward and he suggested that it might be because I am not running fast enough when I am with my friend. And it is true, my pace is about 4 minutes slower when I run with her than when I run alone. So yesterday, when we met up at Creve Couer Lake I suggested that I do the long course and she do the short run. We are still in the early days of training and are only required to run 3 miles, but I've been running more than 3 miles since day 1 program. She would get her 3 miles in and I would get just under 6 miles by going different ways. The plan was I was trying to catch up to her and she was trying to not let me.

So we split off in different directions and I booked it. Well for me anyway. The first 2 miles I was at 10:17 pace, that's like really good for me. I typically stay in the 12 minute a mile pace because I'm slow like that! Miles 3, without even realizing it did slow down to the 12 min pace, when I looked down at my watch, I was like "ouch" and sped back up. I never did get back in the the 10 min pace area but stayed steady at 11:20 for the last 2 miles. I never did catch my friend. She was warm and snug in her car by the time I finished. The good news that came out of it though, is that she only stopped long enough to get a drink at the 2 mile marker and that's it. She basically ran her first 5K. Her pace was almost 15 minutes a mile, but she didn't stop.

We came to the conclusion that I make her run faster than she is ready for, which is why she has to stop at least 3 times when we run together. We are going to try the experiment again on Wednesday and see if she can go faster. My goal is to try and keep my pace steady rather starting out too fast (for me).

Afterward, I headed home to eat dinner (which I did not take a picture of) but it was a recipe that I saw on Run Eat Repeat. I did however take a pic of dessert, which I ate before dinner :)

It's a Chocolate Peanut butter cupcake from Trader Joe's. So so good and I am looking forward to working out hard again tonight, just so I can eat another one of those cupcakes.

have a great day!

Wednesday run

I got in another 5.5 miles yesterday. It was cold. My first 2 miles were by myself and I ran those pretty good, but I felt a little off. The last 3.5 miles I ran/walked with my friend. She's still building up endurance and can't run for as long as me, even if she can keep up my pace.

When I was done with my run, I posted this on Facebook:

I love running! Except for the heel pain. And the shin pain. and the knee pain. And the tight back. Yep, I love running.

Everything hurt yesterday. It started with my calf, that twinge went away at mile 2, then everything else decided to hurt. Today, my heel is still killing me and my quads are a little sore. Everything else went away about an hour after I stopped running though. And really despite all the aches and pains, I really do think I'm starting to love running. It feels a little weird writing that, because I never ever ever...(I'm singing Taylor Swift in my head right now) thought I would say that.

Have you ever done something you that you never thought you would like, let alone love, and it turns you were wrong?

Managed to get in a 5 mile run yesterday. I not only felt great during the run, I felt fabulous afterward. It's funny how a run can make you feel so much better after a relatively ho hum day. I try to run at least 4 days a week. I'm still no where near being able to say that I love running. Most days I dread knowing I have to get out there and run, but it is starting to grow on me. Do you love running? If you do, how long did it take for you to love it?

Afterward, I went over to my friend's house and we did our weekly watching of How I Met Your Mother. I don't get to see Ann as often as I used to, something that happens when you are both in stable relationships. So our Monday night TV watching is the one thing we do, so we can stay connected with each other and is most likely the only time during the week that we see each other. What do you do to connect with friends?

Thursday Run

Today was Day 2 of running with my friend, Stephanie. I got to the lake about 30 minutes early and instead of just sitting in the car and waiting for her to show up, I got out of the car and started running. I knew I could get in at least a mile before she got there. So my plan was to turn my watch on and when I hit .5 miles I would turn around and go back to the car and meet up with her for the rest of the run. It turns out, she was running a few minutes late and I was feeling great. So I got 2 miles in and made it back to the parking lot just as she showed up. Total win for me. We walked a 1/2 mile warm up for her and then got another 3 miles in before it was time to head home. This run was so much better than my Monday run with her. We spent more time running than walking, kept a much better pace; Somewhere around 11 minutes a mile, and we both felt really good when we were done.

However, she thinks I'm crazy, because I do not warm up before I start running. I just go. I figure my first mile is my warm up. Where as she needs at least a 1/2 mile of walking before she will even consider starting her run. Which camp do you fall in?

No running on the agenda tonight. I am meeting my daughter for icecream and social time before she goes off and does her thing with her friends and then I am heading to a 90 minute Zumba class.

Wednesday Run

Yesterday I took a run around the lake by myself. Most days I will be running with a partner as she wants to complete a half marathon. Since it was Halloween yesterday she couldn't make it, so I trekked on down there and did it alone. (I have goals and they must be met!) According to the training program, I only had to do 3 miles. So no biggie. I decided to just knock out a 5k so can a starting time. I know where I want to end up with my 5k time, but I still didn't know what my starting time was. Now I do...

My time was 38:34 and I want to get to 30:00, so I need to knock off more than 8 minutes off my time. I'm nothing if not ambitious, with a dose of realistic. :)

The run itself was great. The weather was perfect and I ran the whole way. Which is a miracle in and of itself! I typically have no problem convincing myself it's time to take a breather and walk for a minute or two.

There will be another run today, but with my friend so I don't expect to break any records running. But running is running.

Weekend Recap

This weekend was a very full and busy weekend with my BF. Friday we went to the movies. I let him pick the movie this time around and his choice ended up being one that I am not sure I would have picked out myself.



Chasing Mavericks was pretty darn awesome. I think I cried at least 3 times in the film. I'm an not good at recapping or reviewing films, but as someone who grew up by the beach, the film seemed to capture the essence of surfers and the surfing community and watching the ocean/waves in the film made me miss my So Cal home. Has anyone else seen this film yet? What did you think of it?

Saturday, we ran the Gumbo Flats Pumpkin Run 10K. It was cold at 8 in the morning. In the mid 30's and I posted on my Facebook, that only crazy people run in this kind of weather. All 1500 of us.Here is a pic of John and I before the race:

The run itself was uneventful for me. I went out there and ran as best as I could. I ended up catching up to my BF at about the 2.5 mile mark, which is highly unusual. He was limping badly. He's been nursing an Achilles heel and a calf injury since late August. He was a little too confident in his ability to overcome the injury and managed to re-injure his Achilles; I ran on ahead of him (with his permission) but then I felt pretty guilty about it, so I ended up walking mile 4 with him (it was an out and back course so he turned around a little early to "catch up" with me. He made me go again, when he saw how frustrated I was getting at the people passing us :). So my time was not great, I finished the 10K 1:20:24 about 5 minutes off my PR. I did get to run on an airport runway though, so that was kind of cool.

John finished the race almost exactly 10 minutes after I did, which just goes to show you haw stubborn that man actually is. We left almost immediately after he crossed the finish line so we didn't get to enjoy any of the food or awards ceremony.

A couple of hours ofter the run, we decided to check out a bicycle store. I've been on the market for one, because of my insane desire to do whatever John does. In this case it would be a Triathlon, of course there will be other Tri's before that one, but you can't do tri's without a bike. Therefore, I bought this one on Saturday.

I am excited about my bike and I plan on getting a lot of use out of this thing. I will be fit in 2013.

Sunday, was a day spent in recovery. We went to church, took the dog on a 3 mile walk, and hung out at the house watching football and cooking dinner and just hanging out together. Which is a really nice thing to be able to do.

Swimming is hard, Yo!

The post title says it all. after my first half marathon, I was started feeling pain in my left heel. Mostly just a dull pain, so I ignored it and soldiered on. 6 months later that pain in my heel still exists and there are times when it is more than just a dull pain. I've come to the conclusion that it is Plantar Fascitis, but have yet to put my big girl panties on and go to the Doctor. So needless to say, my running has been sporadic to non existent since my 2nd half marathon in September.

I decided that I probably needed to start exercising again (those pants were getting tight again) and I thought swimming would be brilliant. I'm off my foot, working most of my muscles and doing cardio all at the same time! Well yeah, it does all that. You know what else it does? Makes you TIRED! I, who never goes to bed until my tv shows are over at 10PM, was asleep by 9PM last night after swimming 3/4 mile yesterday. It is more tiring swimming that length than running 5 miles. Crazy!

I'm going back again today. I'm determined to actually get to a whole mile of swimming. It's something like 33-34 laps in the pool. I'm not that far off from that. Maybe today will be the day I succeed.

So this week, I signed up for my next Half Marathon. John and I will be traveling to Kentucky this time to run in the Kentucky Derby Marathon in Louisville.

I am super excited about it. I almost signed up for the full... but I totally chickened out. Because really 26.2 miles is really far. I did however make the decision that I will run a full in 2013. Right now it looks like it will be the Air Force Marathon in September. So I have a year to train.

After, I signed up for the half, a friend of mine mentioned on Facebook that she was looking for a running partner. And, I am also looking for a running partner. So I offered myself up and committed to running with her 3 days a week, following a training schedule. After I agreed, she said "My goal is to run a 1/2 marathon." So after a little back and forth, I committed to running the GO!STL 1/2 with her 20 days before my Kentucky 1/2. That's a lot of running in April guys! I'm skerred, but also really happy because I want to get this last 30 lbs off me and kick those marathons in the behind!

That's my week so far.

So, I am going to try this blogging thing again and see what happens. I am famous for starting stuff and then not following through. Too much has happened since the last time I bothered to post on here, so I think it's just best to start off by just blogging whatever comes to mind. I haven't had a cigarette in 4 days. It's a cold turkey kind of thing this time. I don't know if it will last, but I would really like it to. So my mind is kind of like Nike right now, Just do it... so I am. I'm running a 10K in 2 weeks. I'd like to see what my race time is as someone who hasn't taken a puff. I'm thinking there will be some improvements. I've been running since January, even completed 2 half marathons this year, all the while I puffed away on cigarettes telling myself I was totally improving my health because I was running. So 2 weeks, until my first run has a ex smoker. Lord, help me make it that far without caving! My half marathons:

Go!St. Louis in April 2012 my time 2:46:19

Air Force Marathon in September 2012 my time 2:46:30 I was rockin' a serious foot issue that still is not resolved and I didn't train at all. This is the last marathon I show up unprepared for. I was in Vegas this weekend. Went hiking at Red Rock Canyon. Red Rock is very cool and my legs were nice and so after a 4.4 mile hike.

This is Red Rock

This is me somewhere in the Canyon :)

This is my main squeeze. He has made the last year of my life very interesting. Well that's all I got for today.

It's a crazy life I lead

I have been doing something crazy the last few months. I have been internet dating. I decided to give it a try because I was not having any luck with the men out in the real world. Men do not approach me... or rather men that I would even think about dating. Sigh. So I joined Plenty of Fish and decided to see what would happen. It has been as much of a disaster as real world dating has been. I thought for a minute there, that it would be easy. I met this awesome guy. Fire Fighter, good looking, charming, funny, fantastic Father, a little bit wounded. We got along great, hours upon hours of talking, our dates were filled with laughter... and then he just stopped. And I got stupid. I forgot that I was pretty and funny and deserved more than someone who only wanted me when he wanted me on his terms. It's been 2 months, and I still think about him. I have tried dating others from the site. I have avoided far more from the site though. Why do men who I would never be attracted to contact me and say such crude things? I have people as old as 70 and as young as 20 hit on me on there. I am beginning to think there just isn't someone out there for me... I have now been single for almost 13 years, I have actively looked for someone, I have given up trying, I have worked on myself, blah blah blah and still I am alone. every man, I have been attracted to (and I will admit I am picky, and I'm not looking for a Brad Pitt look a like either) has only wanted me for short term... and with the exception of my Fireman... have all tried to come back after I have gotten over them, but not a single one of them have ever wanted to stick it out with me. Maybe there is something wrong with me. I needed some place to put all these thoughts and my Facebook was just not the place. lol

And while I'm here, I might as well post a pic of what I currently look like as I have managed to maintain my weight loss for over 2 years now.

Weigh in results

After refocusing Midweek, I came in at a 2lb weight loss for the week! It's the first time in 10 years that I have stayed in Onederland for 2 weigh ins! It's a pretty damn good feeling, and I'm pretty excited about seeing that 1 again next week. So here's to staying focused, eating healthy, getting my daily workout in, and believe ing that this journey is doable!

It's Wednesday!

There is something going on in my head... It happens every time I get to Onederland. I don't know why I do this but I hit 1 something on the scale and it's like a free for all with food entering my mouth. *sigh* I'm a little frustrated with myself. I'm not sure how Saturday's weigh in is going to go. I've stopped with the over eating and even spent 2 hours at the gym last night. I usually take Wednesday off from the gym, but have decided to go in and spend some time with an elliptical machine, to try to undo the damage I did over the weekend. I only have 6 more lbs to go before I hit a mini goal, I need to start focusing on that rather than what the number on the scale says, because the number on the scale seems to freak me out.

Does this happen to anyone else?

Also, I've been getting several compliments the last week about my weight loss. I've been maintaining for so long (almost 2 years) everyone has gotten used to the pretty, slightly chubby coworker/ friend/Mom, that now that I'm actively trying to lose weight again, people are noticing... and by people I mean men. And maybe that is what has me freaked out. I must ponder...

Today's weigh in

I've been back at weight watchers for 6 weeks now. I have not been perfect at it. There have been times when I have wanted to just throw in the towel and say fuck it. Losing weight can be a frustrating process. I have goals this time now, before it was just to lose weight because the number on the scale was so astronomical. This time around, I have been far more realistic about losing weight. It's okay if the process takes a while. I'm okay with baby steps because I know in the end I will hit my goal weight.

With that being said this week I lost 2.8 lbs, for at total loss in six weeks of 14 lbs. Not too shabby. Another victory this week was getting on that scale and seeing my weight start with a 1!

Long time no post

It was been over a year since my last post. In 2010, I began to live my life rahter than watch just pass me by. I basically did nothing to Lose weight, but worked hard to maintain the losses I achieved in 2009. And I can say I succeeded in that wildly. I lost about 5 lbs in 2010. I got a new job, within the company, that I love! I travelledd to Israel and Sweden, as well as a few places within the states for work. I fell in love, wildly passionately in love, and got my heart broke. I regret nothing I did in 2010, because I felt alive for the first time in years.

2011,is about getting the last 30 lbs I need to lose off. I have already started the year off on the right foot. I have hit the gym 7 of the first 10 days of the year and plan to keep up the pace. I do travel quite a bit for work, but have a plan to hit the hotel treadmills on my regular workout days. I have big plans for 2011 and this weight is not going to hold me back anymore!

I hope to get back to blogging regularly, because it really helped me lose weight in 2009.

Big Changes and not so much changing

So on the weight loss front, I'm holding steady. No weight loss just maintaining. At this point that's a blessing. However there have been other bigger changes in my life that have has sginificant changes in my life.

The first of which is I have a new house guest. My cousin is an addict who was homeless about 6 weeks ago, when my Mom took put her on a plane and dragged her here to MO from CA. My Mom has a habit of taking in all the strays. eveyrone in my family, at one time or another, have lived with her as adults. My sister and her husband were also living with my Mother. A huge blow up happened between my cousin and sister and my sister lost all common sense and tried to (and kind of succeeded) in doing bodily harm to my cousin. It's not my story and I'm just so squicked out by the whole thing I don't want to talk about it. Besides the whole point to the build up is that I have let my cousin move in with me for the time being. It's a difficult transition, because she is an addict, she's trying to stay clean, she has no job, and she has a poor mee attitude. Before this week, I probably would not have let her move in, but I did because one other big thing happened to me this week.

I've been taking an Explorations class through my Church over the last few weeks. I've been going to this Church for almost exactly a year, and trying to figure out just how I feel about Religion and God. Monday's class was what they call BHQ, Big Hairy Question, night. I don't remember everything that was said, but I do know that I started crying and couldn't stop. After the class was over I talked to my brother, whi is a pastoral resident at the Church as well as a Pastor, and after speaking to them, well I prayed and accepted Jesus Christ into my life. It still makes me a bit uncomfortable talking about it, because I am not an expert, have no idea what I'm doing, and have no idea what the next step is for me. All I do know is that I'm feeling very zen this week. I'm more calm than I've been in a long time and I feel like I'm finally on God's plan.

Anyway, so no weight loss but still some life changing stuff. Tonight is Zumba, tomorrow is Zumba, and on Monday I'm getting the Coppola Keratin Complex treatment done on my hair. Straight hair easily and for free (my friend owns the salon and my hair is a training ground), I'm so there. Of course it also means that for 72 hours after that I can not exercise! Super bummed about that, but I'll jum right back on the exercise train the day after Thanksgiving. So that's my life this week. What does yours look like?

I suck

So I am a crappy blogger. I have absolutely nothing interesting to say these days. Mostly because I spend most of my time exhausted, which in turn has left me mostly off program the last two week. Imagine that. Right after I hit a new low, I completely reverted back to my old habits. Thank God, I haven't taken up smoking again, although I can't even say it hasn't crossed my mind once or twice in the last two weeks. The only reason I haven't is there is no way I could both crappy eating (i.e. fast food) and cigarettes. I'd be completely broke. I'm trying to figure my way out, and I'm beginning to think my only option is to return to my WW meetings.

I am still exercising three days a week, I need to add another day in because 3 days is not enough for my body to lose weight, even when I am on track with food. I have two more weeks in my Explorations class that I take through my Church (it's an awesome Church btw, and that's something I never thought I would say). Once I'm done with this class I'll have my Mondays back and I can start taking my Total Body Workout class again. I think that will go a long way in getting me back in the mode. I actually hate that class a lot. It's a lot of step aerobics, but I love what it does for my body. I'm still taking Zumba three days a week. With the right instructor Zumba is completely awesome, and I have two instructors that kick all kinds of ass.

And I need to figure out a way to incorporate more veggies into my diet. I did okay for a while but I'm lucky if I get vegetable every other day now. I think I might be in carb overload.

So anyway that's where I'm at. I think (don't know for sure because I've been unwilling to get on the scale today. lol) I'm up about 3 lbs. I'd like to lose that 3 lbs before I head to Vegas next week. I'm only there for two days and one of those days I'll actually be working, but I will get to have one night of fun.

This is actually a weigh in post...

I know, I know, it's been quite some time since I've done one of these, but since I actually have good news this week, I thought I'd actually post some numbers. I think the last time I posted my weight I was 206.8, since then I think I got back up as high as 209. This morning the scale said 205.4, so not only have I lost the weight I had gained, I'm now at a new low! I have 6 1/2 weeks until my birthday and it would be such an awesome "gift" if I could be under 200 by then.

I'm feeling pretty good. I'm happy with the food I've been eating and the exercise I've been getting and as a result I'm finally seeing the scale move in the correct direction. I'm about to go to my Sat. Zumba class! Have a great weekend all.