Monday Mix Tape

Hi! It's been a while since I've done a Monday post!

My weekends have turned into just another part of the work week lately - I still try to make time for the weekend-y things I like to do which leaves very little time for the weekend-y things I HAVE to do. Plus the weather has been so wacky it's really hard to plan much in advance!
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Saturday I did a freezing cold (22 degrees) 6 miler with a good friend followed by a yummy, warm breakfast. I'm starting to enjoy making plans with friends to run. I'm not a talker and I listen to music when I run but it's still nice to have someone to meet and hold you accountable - especially in the dead of the coldest winter we've had since the 70s. *disclaimer for my northern friends - the cold - it's all relative and I know that y'all have it way worse and I think of you every time I'm out there shivering. Chicago is my favorite city in America and there's a reason I don't live there :)
Cold run on the Atlanta Beltline! Shoutout to Darin :)

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Sunday I emptied out my closet for what I'm hoping will be the last time. Both my sisters are making out BIG on this round. I'm officially a 2 or a 4 depending on the brand and an XS on top. I'm not planning on getting much smaller than that and it's nice to buy things now I know I will have for a while. I did find this gem while I was at it....
I wish I had put some makeup on but this is REALITY people!
This shirt is from the 3rd grade - an homage to our championship men's and women's high school basketball team in Little Falls, MN. I remember getting it like it was yesterday - the iron on letters were a new thing back then! Luckily my mom held onto it all these years and gave it to me a few years ago - I'm sure never intending for me to fit into it!

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This morning was absolutely gorgeous out so I took advantage and did my standard neighborhood 10k route. I'm going that distance every other day right now and it's just amazing to me that running for a solid hour is "normal" now. I chose the worst winter to become a runner but it might have just toughened me up a little (*see disclaimer). Stuff that already hurts just hurts more in the cold and the constant nose running and spitting is not the part of the lululemon clad, bouncy ponytail, runner chick image I like to maintain :)

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So today in the high 50s and tomorrow is snow and teens. I'm extra thankful for hot yoga on my non-running days. I'm getting pretty darn good at it but yet there's so much room for improvement. I think that's what I love about it. I can really tell a difference in how sore I get from running if I haven't been to yoga at least twice a week!

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My dog Sophie who's 12, had to have a really large tumor removed from her chest. She's recovering very well but it's been an every other day visit to the vet for bandage changes. I'll be happy when this is done but she's going to be okay so it's all worth it. It's not a cancer that spreads but it may have to be removed again down the line. I could totally feel the blood drain from my face when the surgeon told me the price so let's hope we're done done with this!
They always take the time to make her bandage pretty! And yes, she's wearing a boys Hanes tshirt to keep it clean ;)

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FINALLY, this Wednesday is ONE YEAR since my surgery. Amazing how much can happen in 12 short months. I'm putting together an extra special blog post with pictures and updated measurements etc. I'm hoping to have it up on Wednesday but for sure by the end of the week!

Have a happy, healthy week everyone!

A first

I'm sitting in the bar at a seasons 52 while on a business trip to Cincinnati when I suddenly realized I walked in here and sat down by myself without even thinking about it. As much as I've traveled for work over the years, I have never eaten in public alone - I guess I never wanted to look like the lonely fat girl eating by herself even though I wasn't (well I was fat but not lonely)! I did happily eat whatever I wanted, alone in my hotel getting fatter by the minute. 

This is a new level of confidence for me that was kind of unexpected. I've always thought of myself as confident, even at 250 pounds, but as I experience this I realize that it wasn't real - I used it to try to fool myself into thinking I was fat and happy.  Some people are but I'm just not one of those people. 

My dad was a frequent business traveler and I just can't stop thinking about how proud he would be of me right now!

That's my lobster flatbread, beet salad and a glass of wine. Eating alone with a small stomach means lots of leftovers!

Heading home tomorrow! I have a feeling this year is going to be full of fabulous firsts!

Friday weigh in - 11 month update!

Happy New Year! And what a year it's been! At least once a day there's a moment where I can't believe I've come so far in 11 months.

So far, maintenance has not been easy but I wasn't expecting it to be. As you'll see by the weigh in, I overdid it a little (okay a lot) over the holidays and I'm posting my first gain in 11 months. I had too many cookies, a lot of alcohol and cheese and crackers were made a meal on more than one occasion.  My maintenance plan is to give myself a 5lb margin within my 125 so I don't obsess about it but keep it in check. There's no way I'm going back but I can see how it can happen and it's really scary.

This is the first New Year that I can ever remember where losing weight wasn't on the resolution list. I always put them in writing so here's the list for 2014
  1. Run all 12 track club races. (There used to be a prize for this but of course now that I'm doing it there's not but I'm doing it for me!)
  2. Read and write more (I want to stop watching Breaking Bad so I can blog more and read more blogs...and books)
  3. 4 minute plank (3 minutes is the most I've ever done)
  4. Practice yoga both on and off the mat. (i.e. be less judge-y with myself and others)

Okay time for the weigh in. I've put it off long enough!

Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
July 12 - 167 -0
July 22 - 165 -2
July 26 - 159 -6
Aug 2 - 158 -1
Aug 9  - 157 -1
Aug 23 - 154 -3
Aug 30 - 150 -4
Sep 6 - 149 -1
Sep 13 - 146 -3
Sep 20 - 146 -0
Sep 27 - 144 -2
Oct 4 - 143 -1
Oct 18 - 138 -5
Nov 1 - 136 -2
Nov 11 - 134 -2
Nov 18 - 131 -3
Nov 25 - 131 -0
Dec 6 - 131 -0 
Dec 13 - 127 -4  
Dec 20 - 125 -2 
Jan 3 - 127 +2
click to enlarge

click to enlarge
 Not too much difference in the progress pics from last month to this month but I continue to gain muscle and it's definitely showing. I officially feel tiny now when I put on an xs shirt or my size 4 lululemons.

In other news, I had my first under-an-hour 10k on New Years Day!
 
New years eve dinner. I learned early on in running that 10k's and hangovers don't mix!

Starting the new year off with my running heroes!


I love a finish line!

huzzah!

I NEVER thought I would see 9's in front of my miles. That is so amazingly fast for my little legs - so fast I almost threw up but whatever ;)

Hope the new year is off to a great start for everyone. As stated in the resolutions, I plan on being around here a bit more. I'm at the end of season 3....

Friday weigh in - Major milestone

Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
July 12 - 167 -0
July 22 - 165 -2
July 26 - 159 -6
Aug 2 - 158 -1
Aug 9  - 157 -1
Aug 23 - 154 -3
Aug 30 - 150 -4
Sep 6 - 149 -1
Sep 13 - 146 -3
Sep 20 - 146 -0
Sep 27 - 144 -2
Oct 4 - 143 -1
Oct 18 - 138 -5
Nov 1 - 136 -2
Nov 11 - 134 -2
Nov 18 - 131 -3
Nov 25 - 131 -0
Dec 6 - 131 -0 
Dec 13 - 127 -4  
Dec 20 - 125 -2  
GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Yep that's right! HELLO GOAL! My doctor and I chose this goal as it was exactly half my body weight and a normal BMI. 
 
I don't really know what happens now. The surgeon said not to be surprised if I got under goal with all the exercise I do and I'm not sure if what's left of my stomach is 5 more pounds I could lose or just loose skin. I'm starting to experiment with maintenance which is weird because there's never been a day in my life where I didn't need to lose weight. 
 
I have all the support I need from doctors office to the blogosphere so I'm ready to face this head on and live the rest of my life as this tiny, athletic person I've become - the one that was always inside of me.
 
THANK YOU for your unending support, cheers, prayers and friendship. I'm so happy to have shared this incredible journey with you.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Friday weigh in!

Yahoo!!! Some movement on the scale again!

Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
July 12 - 167 -0
July 22 - 165 -2
July 26 - 159 -6
Aug 2 - 158 -1
Aug 9  - 157 -1
Aug 23 - 154 -3
Aug 30 - 150 -4
Sep 6 - 149 -1
Sep 13 - 146 -3
Sep 20 - 146 -0
Sep 27 - 144 -2
Oct 4 - 143 -1
Oct 18 - 138 -5
Nov 1 - 136 -2
Nov 11 - 134 -2
Nov 18 - 131 -3
Nov 25 - 131 -0
Dec 6 - 131 -0 
Dec 13 - 127 -4  
2 POUNDS TO GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!

I celebrated my birthday and got through some sad days after losing my mother-in-law so I feel pretty good about the unexpected weight loss. I have been running an average of 25-30 miles a week so that helps - add yoga and training to that and I'd say I'm doing my fair share of working out :)
 
Birthday boots. My first pair of Frye's. I couldn't believe they zipped.

Birthday Baklava. Perfect portion!
The hospital where I had my surgery shot a video of my success story so stay tuned for another media blitz in January! They are planning some events around my surgery anniversary date (Jan 29th!) and I'm really excited and honored to participate.

Thankfully my friend let me borrow her house. Mine is torn apart from construction at the moment!

I will spend the weekend working and replacing our stupid, broken TV that's attached to the wall and is going to be a giant pain in the a$$. AT LEAST my husband comes home today! I hope everyone else has much more exciting plans!

Friday weigh in - 10 month update!

Can you believe it's been 10 months? I'm continually amazed at how quickly my life has changed!

Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
July 12 - 167 -0
July 22 - 165 -2
July 26 - 159 -6
Aug 2 - 158 -1
Aug 9  - 157 -1
Aug 23 - 154 -3
Aug 30 - 150 -4
Sep 6 - 149 -1
Sep 13 - 146 -3
Sep 20 - 146 -0
Sep 27 - 144 -2
Oct 4 - 143 -1
Oct 18 - 138 -5
Nov 1 - 136 -2
Nov 11 - 134 -2
Nov 18 - 131 -3
Nov 25 - 131 -0
Dec 6 - 131 -0
 
click to enlarge

click to enlarge
My body sure seems to like 131! I would still like to get to 125 but I'm not in a rush.
 
It's been a tough week - my mother in law passed away this morning and I've been stress eating the last few days. I've had a few more empty calories than usual and an extra day off of working out but I'm aware of it and doing what I can to keep busy and away from the kitchen. I'm also missing my husband who will be in Scotland for another week with his family. 
 
It's also my birthday this weekend (turning 44 on Sunday!) and there's been quite a bit of celebratory eating and drinking already - with more to come! It's okay. I'll get some running in this weekend and my free birthday yoga class!

Have a great weekend everyone!

13.1

I did it! I know ya'll had no doubts but I was beyond nervous!

 

The day before was one of the longest of my life. Normally I love long days but I was just ready to run and get it done!

It turned out to be the coldest Thanksgiving in 100 years. 22 degrees at start time. I was with my neighbor so we sat in the car for a bit but once we got out there it was the coldest I can ever remember being. I had on multiple layers and hand warmers in my gloves (and my bra) and was still frozen. It may have been a good thing because I felt nothing for the first 3 miles. Not my toes, fingers, legs, arms - nuttin. By the 4th mile the feeling started coming back into my toes and I was really in the groove. 


My husband and neighbor were there to cheer us on at about the 6.5 mile mark so I was able to shed  another layer and keep on keepin' on. The miles were ticking by really fast and I was still feeling awesome.
Somewhere around 8 miles I think?

At about the 11.5 mile mark, just as I was crossing the interstate and coming back into downtown, I had a mini anxiety attack and thought I was going to have to stop to walk. I just got a little tingly and a little dizzy so I called upon my mad yoga skills and did some deep breathing which made it go away in less than a minute.  It was probably caused by not breathing well and maybe a little vertigo from being up above the interstate under all those big buildings!

After that it was a breeze despite one really big hill at 12.5 (which is cruel!!) I finished strong and happy in 2:24:15. I cannot even begin to describe the joy and pride I felt running 13 miles through the streets of my city. I'm STILL smiling :)


The best part about running a half marathon on Thanksgiving day is the Thanksgiving part that awaits after the race...


It was an amazing evening, surrounded by love and laughter with my best friends in the world.  I have so much to be thankful for!

The photos from last years 5k are difficult for me to look at and I had a little bit of a hard time posting them. I can't really remember that girl - even though it was only a year ago - but I haven't lost respect for her and never will.


 I owe you a 10 month update but it was just too long to add to this post. Look for it tomorrow or Wednesday!

Monday Mix Tape

 
I can't believe it's Thanksgiving week already! I think it's my favorite of all the holidays and it used to revolve completely around food, this year it's all revolving around my half marathon. Times have completely changed.

The forecast for the start of my race on Thursday is 24 degrees and sunny. I tested out my cold weather gear on Sunday and was pretty comfortable. The waiting around to start will be the hardest part.

I'm so thankful to have the best friends and neighbors on earth to spend this favorite holiday with. We have a progressive dinner and we don't have to go further than a block away. Our house is out of the circuit this year because of the renovation but we'll hopefully be able to have the main course in our new kitchen next year. I will be making a few things to bring and I just keep have to keep convincing myself that I'm that person that can run a half marathon then bake a pie!

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Weigh in update - nothing much to see here this week!

Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
July 12 - 167 -0
July 22 - 165 -2
July 26 - 159 -6
Aug 2 - 158 -1
Aug 9  - 157 -1
Aug 23 - 154 -3
Aug 30 - 150 -4
Sep 6 - 149 -1
Sep 13 - 146 -3
Sep 20 - 146 -0
Sep 27 - 144 -2
Oct 4 - 143 -1
Oct 18 - 138 -5
Nov 1 - 136 -2
Nov 11 - 134 -2
Nov 18 - 131 -3
Nov 25 - 131 -0
 
119 pounds total. 6 more to goal!

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Because I was tapering for the race, I had time to do a lot more yoga. Imagine my surprise when I was finally able to do this! I've been able to do the tripod position for a while but was never able to get my feet up unassisted. Tuesday in class they just went up :) I couldn't believe it and I almost laughed out loud. I had to come home and repeat it for my husband to take a picture. I've been doing it once a day since just to make sure it really happened.

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I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving and I'll be back on Friday with a megapost which will included my 10 month progress pictures AND of course my first half marathon recap. I'm so excited and nervous but ready! Thank you so much to all of you for your constant support!


Monday Mix Tape

 
Hey all! I missed my Friday post again - Friday is the busiest day of my work week and it seems to get crazier as it gets closer to the end of the year!

SO I'll start with my weigh in!

Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
July 12 - 167 -0
July 22 - 165 -2
July 26 - 159 -6
Aug 2 - 158 -1
Aug 9  - 157 -1
Aug 23 - 154 -3
Aug 30 - 150 -4
Sep 6 - 149 -1
Sep 13 - 146 -3
Sep 20 - 146 -0
Sep 27 - 144 -2
Oct 4 - 143 -1
Oct 18 - 138 -5
Nov 1 - 136 -2
Nov 11 - 134 -2
Nov 18 - 131 -3
119 pounds total. 6 more to goal!
It's weird and wonderful and sometimes hard to believe that I'm almost in the 120s :)
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The weekend started early when the U.S. played Scotland in a friendly match and we were in the pub with all our friends by 3:00 on Friday. 
I found it really difficult to stick to just one beer but I HAD to --my official course run was getting me up at 6am the next day. Sometimes we have to do sh*t we don't want to do and that was just one of those times!
USA vs Scotland - A house divided! 0-0 was the score so they were both bad :)

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Saturday night I had a great nights sleep and bounced out of bed for the practice run. It was dark and foggy as I drove to the start and I was ridiculously nervous. Not sure why - I had already done 12 and this was only 10. I think it was the fear of the unknown hills!

I had set out with the 2:30 pace group and ended up coming in with the 2:15 group. It was easy for the most part and I felt great!
The sidewalks were tough - it's very hard on the joints to have to go up and down curbs and avoiding obstacles. I also felt like the worlds biggest b*tch running by the homeless shelter in my lululemons with my mouth covered. You forget how much downtown smells like pee until you're running through tunnels and your respiratory system is wide open. Still, I enjoyed every minute of it  - well maybe not that minute but you know what I mean! :)
I LOVE the Track Club. They take such great care of us!
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Saturday afternoon, because I worked all of last weekend, I wanted to do something fun with my husband so I told him we're getting in the car and going to Athens. We had seen on the news that an amazing little soul food place called Weaver D's was closing - they were made "famous" by inspiring the name for REM's album "Automatic for the People". That's their tagline at the place - that good service is automatic. Everytime you say thank you to Dexter Weaver, he says "automatic". He's truly a legend.

Some meals are just worth a splurge and this one definitely was. I was able to eat almost all of the chicken breast and a few bites of my mac and cheese and a few bites of the squash. 

I feel like it's important mention that I burned 1100 calories before I ate this :)

Totally worth it!
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Sunday I got up and did 90 minutes of Bikram in which I sweated out every last bit of that fried chicken and then some. I couldn't believe I wasn't even a little sore from 10 miles the day before but that's how I know I'm in good shape - when recovery is quick!

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For the week ahead, have to taper and have been told by 2 people to run 3 miles a day, every other day until the race. It's totally counter intuitive but I'm going to listen to the pros.  I will do some extra yoga and strength training to fill the void. 
I'm so excited and so ready for this race. Now I have to not get sick or step in a hole or something stupid.
Have a happy, healthy week!