One Month Anniversary

My marathon was exactly one month ago today. It makes me sad to think that it's been that long! I miss you Marine Corps Marathon!!!

You were all probably hoping you were done hearing about it, but TOO BAD! Let's recap the experience with some official race photos. :-)

Entering Runner's Village

I was lifting my shirt so the camera could record my number, not just to be weird and lift my shirt, haha. It was chilly out so I still had on some extra layers. This will probably sound strange, but I think of all the pictures, I am most proud/inspired by the girl in this picture. She had a dream, trained for it, and is just about to see it come to a reality... she doesn't know what will happen, but she's going to give it all she's got and try. I'm pretty inspired by me!

The race begins!

I will never forget the energy, the excitement, or the emotion I felt at this moment. It was really really cool.

Mile 10-ish

Andy and I ran most of it together. I was SO glad to have him by my side.

Mile 18-ish

I love how the guy next to me is giving a definite thumbs down, and that my poor running form makes me look like I'm giving a thumbs up!! It's an accurate reflection of how I was feeling... pretty good. :-)

Mile 23-ish

I won't lie, this section was tough. Thankfully the festive atmosphere of Crystal City was somewhat distracting. Notice how the guy next to me is walking? I'm happy to report I ran the whole way! Amazing!

Finish Line!!!

That is a truly happy smile on my face. :-)

Finisher!!!

Thanks for indulging my trip down memory lane. I wish I could relive this experience everyday. Even though it's over it has definitely changed me. Whenever I am doing some sort of exercise that is hard, now I think - if I can run for 5 hours straight, I can do "fill in the blank" for a few more minutes. I'm more confident trying new challenges and less down on myself if I'm not that great at them, because hey - I ran a marathon. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Wanted: Motivation to Work

Look at me trying to be a good little updater! Sadly I don't have much to say, haha.

Monday I scratched my eyes out at work. Honestly I've had next to no motivation to be productive at work this last month, which is not good because, well... I actually have things I need to do. Somehow I managed to make it through the day and then it was off to Zumba! After class I went to... Zumba! Haha. I got a little extra psycho/stalker-ish and followed Sarah to both of her classes. I mean... she knew I was following her. I wasn't really being a stalker, lol. I had nothing else to do so why not! Plus after my summer of super duper long runs, an hour of exercise sadly doesn't seem like enough anymore... It was a fun way to spend my night. :-)

Less than 12 hours later Sarah and I were back in action for partner personal training this morning. Today Vinny had us play games, like playing "tag" while in the push-up position (I did not win) and tossing a ball back and forth while standing on one foot (that's harder than it sounds). It was very fun, which is a relief because I was tiiiiired when I first got to the club - I've been having a lot of bad dreams lately and haven't been sleeping well.

And now I'm at job number one. Determined to get out of my lazy-work-funk I went through all of my papers and post-it notes and created a master work To Do List!!

Festive!

I put post-its over the phone numbers just in case any of you had the urge to give Alice Pratt or Barrie Rabson a call - however if you had decided to call Barrie, the joke would be on you. ;) But clearly since I am updating my blog at work, I am not getting things crossed off my list. I better get to that...

Tonight is job number two. Tomorrow is more job number one and then boxing! Oh, plus I need to buy a lottery ticket. 425 million?!?! If I win I am taking everyone on a Lululemon shopping spree and then we are all going to the Biggest Loser Resort. Now you really hope I win, don't you!

Weekend Wrap Up

Well it's Monday and I'm back at work. :-(

If you'd asked me a week ago, I would have told you I was worried that I would be bored and lonely over my holiday weekend since Andy was playing 8,000 Nutcracker shows. I figured I'd clean the apartment, maybe go through my closet and get rid of some clothes, and hopefully work on my running scrapbook to keep my hands busy and out of the kitchen cupboards. Friends... there was no need to worry. I was so busy I didn't have time to do any (mostly) of that stuff!

Thanks to some quick shift switching I was able to go to MXT on Saturday morning with Sarah. It was so much fun and now I'm extra sad that I normally work while that class is going on - at least I got to try it though! For you non-locals, MXT is "extreme training"... kind of like bootcamp mixed with cross fit, disguised to look like PE class in elementary school (think stations). While it wasn't my favorite station, I do wish I had video of Sarah and I trying to flip one of those gigantic tires. Those things are heavy... and extra hard to lift when you're laughing. ;-)

After class I went home to shower and eat lunch, and then it was time to head back to the club for job number two. The people that work in the afternoons have a cush job! It wasn't nearly as hectic as my morning shift, which was nice, but also made the time go by pretty slowly. Once my shift was finally over I resumed my Sarah-fest and headed to her parent's for dinner. I love her family! I'm glad they've adopted me. :-)

Sunday morning I got up and headed off to a Weight Watchers meeting. I give myself a gold star for going because I was tired and had a headache, plus I mean... who wants to weigh-in in front of someone on Thanksgiving weekend? While it wasn't a ton of weight, I'm happy to report that I lost another 1.2 pounds this week, bringing me to 162.8 - almost where I was for the marathon! Now I'll let my crazy come out a bit... I was actually a little let down that I didn't lose more. I know I know it was Thanksgiving blah blah, but I worked out a lot more than I normally would (since I had time off of work). Oh well. I still feel like this is a good program for me. Not weighing myself everyday has definitely helped my attitude throughout the week. And now for the details about the meeting:

Once again I went to a different meeting, and I think this is going to be the one that works for me. The day/time work well with my schedule, the people that attended were a little younger than the others I'd been to, and after talking to her afterwards I realized the leader and I are probably going to be friends - she struggles with binge eating handfuls of dry cereal and searching for things she can dip in Nutella (sound familiar?) and she also has done 3 half marathons! She even gave me her email address so I could send her the training plan I use. :-) It was meant to be!!

In the meeting we focused on "holiday survival." Katie (the leader) suggested we print out a calendar and only write down the special events we have for the month of December - that way we can get a visual of what days we will need to plan for, rather than saying "I have events all month, why bother trying?" because the truth is... you don't have events all month. Sure, you have more than normal, but there are a decent number of days that have nothing going on, so it's important to recognize those and stay on track whenever you can.

Why are my Mondays and Tuesdays so busy?

She also prompted us with these questions (I took notes on my phone like a geek):
1) What tempting foods are hardest to control? Could you avoid them? How?
2) Which everyday foods could you lighten up?
3) When could you add extra activity?
4) How do you want to feel January 1st? (think of that answer when you're faced with a challenge)

Not exactly mind blowing questions, but I do think taking the time to think about them will at least make me more aware.

Friends - do you have any advice for surviving the holidays?

My biggest challenge is always all of the baddies that people bring into job number one and number two. They always look good, and at some point at work I get irritated and stressed out and just want to shove my face in the middle of a tray of cookies (I love cookies...). WW Katie suggested I bring extra snacks to the office during the holidays. Even though I might eat more than I normally would, at least the snacks I would bring would be healthier than the garbage that gets brought into the office. I suppose I could also use Alyssa's tactic and just imagine they all baked the treats without washing their hands (maybe they sneezed in the dish too... you never know!).

Ok I got carried away with my WW meeting recap so I'll rush through the rest of my Sunday. Went to Zumba (fun) and then spent the rest of the day driving Andy back and forth to the Nutcracker so he wouldn't have to deal with parking, doing laundry, doing dishes, and watching Downton Abbey Revisted on PBS - sort of a sneak peak of season 3 that starts on January 6th!!!! It made me so excited!!!! Let's get these stickin' holidays over so Downton Abbey can start, haha.

All in all it was a super fun Thanksgiving weekend. :-)

Thanksgiving Festivities

Hello (insert your name here). I am thankful for you. :-)

I'm not doing so hot on keeping up with regular blog updates. Time to catch up!

Wednesday (day before Thanksgiving)
The office was open so I went to work, but this was basically a big joke. Aside from some people doing last minute Nutcracker preparations, NO one was in the mood to be productive. I don't even remember what I did, I just remember that I was happy to be wearing jeans since it was the last work day of the week. Oh, if only I could wear comfortable clothes to work everyday...

Wednesday night meant boxing with Rebecca! We went to the girls only class again - the basic format was the same, but "Coach Dana" mixed it up and Rebecca and I were pretty much dying. Sorry Rebecca if I overstated your level of exertion, but if that's true, I think I was dying enough for the both of us. :-) Thankfully we had enough energy at the end to document our hardcore awesomeness with a sweaty picture.

Doesn't it look like I don't have teeth? Like I took out my dentures
or something? Gross. Also, why does my head look so small?

We had a good time, and I'm glad I had Rebecca to go with because I really wasn't feeling like going - but you know what they say... you only regret the workouts you don't do (or something like that).

Thursday (Thanksgiving!!!)
Obviously Thanksgiving started with an intense need to burn some calories, and I must say I did it in my favorite way possible... running and Zumba with friends!!! Andy, Anna, Alyssa and I started off with a 5 mile run. The weather outside was perfect for a fall run. Our pace was good (around 9:30) and we had fun trading off who we ran with and catching up with each other. I freaking love running with friends!!!

We run marathons (just in case you forgot lol)

Lady Runners!

You'll notice Anna and I are holding zip lock bags - Alyssa made us very cute (and very delicious) turkey cookies! Andy got one too but I think his had already been consumed before we took these pictures.

We said goodbye to Alyssa, then Anna and I ran inside the club to get ready for Zumba. Get ready? Yes friends. What better way to kick off Thanksgiving than with 80's Zumba!! Sarah traded in her cheetah status for the day... with her crimped hair she looked more like a lion. It was awesome! And thankfully the yoga class for the day was an hour and a half instead of an hour, so Lisa bailed on yoga and joined us for Zumba (I only  wish we had extra 80's attire for her!).

Babs, Lisa, and Anna - check out our leg warmers!

I'm sad I didn't get a picture with Sarah's hair down,
but working out in sweatshirts and leg warmers makes a girl hot!

Our pyramid attempt was an epic fail

While the ladies got their 80's on, Bipul and Andy manned-up and lifted weights. So recap: I got to spend my morning with Andy, Anna, Alyssa, Sarah, Lisa, and Bipul. The only person missing from the puzzle was Katie, but she was too busy kicking serious butt at the Webster Turkey Trot! Friends - Katie averaged an 8:02 pace over 4.4 miles (strangest race distance ever). She is from the same Cheetah tribe as Sarah and Anna! I will try to work on becoming a Cheetah too. Maybe a three-legged Cheetah with a limp and ADD, but a Cheetah nonetheless.

After the fitness extravaganza, Andy and I stopped at Starbucks for some holiday latte action. I love those skinny peppermint mochas! Then it was time to get cleaned up and the hit the road - we were on our way to Buffalo. Side note: on the drive we listened to Alec Baldwin interview Dr. Robert Lustig on "Here's the Thing." The whole podcast was about sugar and obesity - very interesting although a little silly considering we were on our way to eat lots of pie. ;-)

Thanksgiving dinner was spent at Andy's Aunt Carol's house. It was nice to see everyone again, especially Andy's sister Ali who I think was most definitely meant to be my sister - she liked my spinach and kale greek yogurt dip from Trader Joe's and likes Lululemon. What more can I say? Anyway, I was very pleased with how I handled food at Thanksgiving. I let myself try everything I wanted, but kept my portions reasonably sized and didn't go back for seconds. Victory! I was even controlled with my desserts, which was not exactly easy since I had all of this to choose from...

Wall o' Pie

Andy and I both crashed as soon as we got back to our apartment. It wasn't even 10:00pm, but I suppose our morning of exercise and our full bellies were too much to handle. There aren't too many nights when I'm in bed before 10, but that was definitely one of them.

Friday (aka Black Friday)
Since I went to bed so early, I woke up early on my own. Well... might as well go shopping! I hit up two stores before it was time to head home to change for Zumba. I love not having to work and being able to go to Sarah's class on Friday. If only I could quit my job... haha. Anyway, then it was time to shower, eat lunch, talk to my mom on the phone, and then... MORE SHOPPING! It was another short trip because I had another workout date planned with Katie at 5:30. Admittedly I was late (but it was for the sake of a deal, I swear!). The class we were doing was called "Cycle and Core" = 30 minutes of spinning and then 30 minutes of core. I missed about the first 10 minutes of spinning, but it was still a good workout. The core stuff was hard!! It was worth suffering through to get to hang out with Katie for a bit. :-) Then I went home for dinner, hung out around the house... I figured the day's excitement was over. WRONG!

Happy Birthday Jackson James!!!

Congratulations to Elizabeth and Andy (not my Andy haha)!!!! At around 10:30pm I got the text from Elizabeth that JJ had arrive and was 8lbs 11oz. Wow! I'm so happy for them. :-) And I know this isn't the important part, but doesn't Elizabeth look great?? Yay Elizabeth!!

So much has happened and the weekend is only just getting here (of course I have to work job number two as always). Stay tuned for more!

Not Thankful for Faux Thanksgiving

Happy day before Thanksgiving! Today is a great day because 1) it is my last day at the office until Monday!! and 2) I get to go to boxing tonight!

Since nothing of note has happened yet today, I will tell you all about my super busy day yesterday - I was exhausted by the time I got home from job number two... my excuse for not posting last night.

Tuesday started bright and early for partner personal training with Sarah! Definitely the highlight of my day. Vinny took us back to the Kinesis room, but he mixed it up with some other things too. I like how every session is different, although I've not been even close to as sore as I was after the first time when we used the TRX straps. It's still a good workout though, and the best part is it forces me to do weights, which I never want to do on my own.

Job number one was a massive headache. The first hurdle was "Office Thanksgiving Lunch" - everyone brought a dish and we all tried to wedge into our conference room to pretend we like each other. :-)

Can you guess which plate is mine?

The office lunch caused a lot of anxiety for me. For starters, everyone brought baddies - I knew that would happen, which is why I signed up to bring a salad. I was very proud of myself for sticking to my plan: salad with turkey. But of course people couldn't resist making comments. WHY DO YOU CARE??? Andy said they just comment because my choices make them realize they should think about their choices, but they don't want to. Could be. But I still don't get it. Keep your thoughts to yourself and mind your own business. Or be glad that I'm not eating all the baddies - that means you can have more!! The reality is, I just don't need to eat two Thanksgiving meals two days apart. Enough said.

Then I had a meeting that will rekindle serious rage if I think about it too much so we'll just say it happened and it was miserable. The meeting made me 30 minutes late to job number two - bring on the next dose of anxiety. Plus two of my coworkers weren't able to come to their shifts at the very last minute! I thought I'd be in for it when I got there (frankly I should have been for being so late) but amazingly my boss was super nice and kind. Job number two can be tough sometimes, but after such a miserable day at job number one, it was almost nice to go there because the people there are really good people and I genuinely enjoy spending time with them, even if some of that time is spent reserving tennis courts for the rich folk.

So that was my day. I will say I am SUPER proud of myself for sticking to my weight watchers points despite the waves of frustration that kept crashing over me all day long. Go me. :-)

I'm a sucker for a sticker

Woohoo! I started my morning with a trip to Weight Watchers to weigh in and...

I got a 5 pound star sticker!

Looks like it works so I'll keep with it. Of course I don't expect to lose five pounds each week - according to the program you will level out to losing 0.5 - 2.0 pounds each week fairly fast. Even still, it was encouraging to see that it's possible to lose weight while not starving and not having to weigh lettuce. :-)

This is a short work week thanks to Thanksgiving, so I tried extra hard to be productive today. I got a lot accomplished, which helped the time pass. After work it was back to Weight Watchers for a meeting - since I had my race the day before I wasn't able to go to the same meeting I went to last week.

The theme of the meeting was Thanksgiving. Obviously! I really liked the meeting leader - she was well organized and I felt like we covered a lot of stuff (I wish I had taken notes because I can't remember it all now). But the general ideas were...

1) Try to set some boundaries before the day comes - it can be anything, as long as you've made a plan like, only one plate, or only seconds on the "special" dishes... or even half your plate veggies, one quarter turkey, and then the last quarter for sides (that way the bulk of your meal is veggies and lean protein).

2) What dishes can you live without? What dishes are must haves? These were good questions for me to think about. Our leader reminded us that we're adults and can get most food whenever we want. Like a dinner roll. If I don't have one on Thanksgiving, it's not like I've missed my chance for the year. But stuffing? I'm probably not going make that or even see it on a menu for another 365 days.... so I'll enjoy my stuffing and try to skip the rolls. You get the idea.

3) Fit in some extra activity. This should be easy enough for me to do. I realized while listening to everyone talk that I am quite a bit more active than the average meeting attendee. At first I felt a little uncomfortable, wondering what they would all think if they knew how much I actually exercise... but then I just decided to consider myself lucky that I've got that part of the puzzle solved.

4) And last but not least she made us write down what OTHER events we had going on this week. I was so focused on Thanksgiving that I realized I wasn't planning how to navigate the other events during my week (like tomorrow's office Thanksgiving lunch). The meeting leader reminded us that while Thanksgiving is only once a year, we'll have little events pop up left and right every week. I think I'll handle Thanksgiving a lot better if I make it through the rest of my week successfully. If I fail to plan for the smaller events, I'm likely to throw in the towel and shove my face in a sweet potato casserole and wash it down with a can of spray whipped cream once the holiday arrives.

I guess I remembered more than I thought. ;-) Week one of Weight Watchers was a success. Now I'm off to bed - Sarah and I have partner personal training tomorrow, I have office Thanksgiving lunch that I have to bring a dish to, I have a really big meeting (that I still need to prepare for), and then I have to work job number two. Yikes. See you tomorrow!

YMCA Turkey Trot - 5 Mile Race

Runner Babs is back in action!

Andy and Babs go back to the races!

Clearly we weren't scarred for life by the marathon because this morning Andy and I headed out to do a 5 mile Turkey Trot benefitting the YMCA. Over the last two years we've tried doing different turkey trots on Thanksgiving morning, but those turned out to be a huge headache. When I found out there was a turkey trot  the weekend before Thanksgiving we decided to go ahead and give it a try.

The weather was beautiful - crisp but sunny. The course had a few hills but nothing too terribly bad. Andy and I lined up pretty close to the start line with Marcia (she was the one that told me about the race) - not necessarily a mistake because I didn't get stuck behind any strollers, but... I couldn't resist trying to keep up with all of the cheetahs. I know better than that!!! Ugh. Andy was able to hold the pace better so he was gone after about three minutes. I finished my first mile in 8:30. Yikes. I paid for that fast start and felt pretty nauseous by the end. Even still, I managed to push myself and finished in 45:23 - a 9:05 average pace!!! My best 5 mile race time by FAR!! :-) :-) :-) I love starting my day with a PR!!!!! Did I mention I was 6th in my age group?

Andy kicked butt and finished in 44:10 (8:50 pace). Way to go Brown! Speaking of people who killed their races today.... Cheetah Sarah ran a half marathon with her brother in Philly and killed it in 1:51:56. Amazing!!! I signed up for text message updates for Sarah's race and had a lot of fun following her progress - especially hearing the text come in that she had finished while I was running my own race!

So what else is new? It's been about a week since I've posted and a lot has gone on. Here are the highlights:

- Partner personal training #2 w/Sarah was a success. This time we used the Kinesis machines... a good workout, but not quite as challenging as the TRX. I'm glad he's going to mix it up for us though!

- Boxing class with Anna, Katie, and Kristin! We had a different instructor who was more informative and also gave us a great workout. Super fun.

- Andy and I saw the James Bond movie... so good!

- Finally bought a 26.2 magnet for my car!!! 

Also I was a perfect follower of Weight Watchers this week. It was kind of "fun" to track my points (especially my activity points) all week long. Unfortunately my race was at the same time as my normal meeting time, so I will hopefully be attending a makeup meeting tomorrow. 

After the marathon, I took the first week off of life. The second week after, I got back into exercising. This last week I got back on track with food. So this week... I'm going to try to get back to regular posts on my blog! Lucky you!! I guess I'll just write about what goes on each day since I don't have anything specific to focus on... unless any of you have ideas of course. :-)

Confession

You know how the food part of the puzzle hasn't gone so well for me lately? Well I need to come clean with my latest adventure. I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting yesterday morning.

I wasn't going to write about it here. In fact, besides my Mom and Andy, I wasn't going to tell anyone because for whatever reason, I am super embarrassed about it. Why? I'm not sure... I guess partly because I don't have a major weight problem so I was worried people there would think, "Why is she here?" and also because people in the rest of the world probably look at me and think I look like a normal person so I probably have a normal relationship with food. Well... you all already know that I struggle with what I eat, and I really have tried to be very open and honest while writing this blog. So. There it is. I'm on day two of Weight Watchers.

Here's what happened at the meeting:

The meeting was different from what I expected. For starters there were a LOT of people there. They ranged from their 20s to probably their 70s. There were some pretty overweight people, but there was also a lady that was really tiny and ripped, and honestly everyone else looked... pretty normal. It just goes to show you just never know what people are dealing with. There were some men, but it was mostly women - and these women were feisty! They had no problem speaking up, making jokes, etc. I was honestly expecting it to be a bunch of sad people (I probably thought that just because that's how I was feeling) but it was the exact opposite. That was one confident crowd. :-)

When you first get there, you weigh. I have admittedly gained back almost everything I lost while training for my marathon (I know that's disgusting because it's only been what... two weeks?). In an effort to be really transparent, I'll just come out with it. My starting weight with Weight Watchers was 169.8. Now of course I was wearing clothes so I'd like to think maybe it's a teensy tiny bit less. ;-) I'm going to try really hard not to weigh myself again until the next meeting. I think taking a break from my scale at home might be the best thing to come from this entire experience. We'll see if I can do it - you all know I'm addicted to the scale. Once I had my weight I was given how many points I'm allowed to eat each day. In Weight Watchers, every food is given a points value. The healthier the food, the lower the points (that's an overly simplified definition) - so no foods are off limits, it just makes you think twice to decide whether or not you're willing to spend all of your points on a piece of chocolate cake. Makes sense... The thing I'm most interested about with this program is that in addition to the points you get each day, you get 49 extra points each week - so if you want ice cream every night, you can divvy the extra points up over the course of the week, or if you want to go out to dinner or to a party, you can use those extra points for that.... basically the extra points teach you how to indulge in moderation, something I am TERRIBLE at doing.

Ok back to the meeting. After weighing in, the meeting starts. The meetings are short so honestly not a lot is covered. The leader started by asking if anyone had tried any new foods this week - some woman had spaghetti squash. Boring... I can't think of many foods I haven't tried (except tuna, haha), but it actually turned into an interesting conversation because people started talking about different ways they prepare it, different recipes they use it in... I actually got a few good ideas. Then the focus shifted to activity and she reminded everyone that going to the gym every day doesn't make you an active person - it makes you active for an hour of your day. Good point. In the grand scheme of things I spend the majority of my day sitting at a desk, so I should focus on ways to move more when I'm not specifically exercising. Not rocket science, but it was a good point. And finally she talked about choices. She suggested if there is a food you can't go without, don't. Plan to have that food and then figure out how many points you have left to work with for the rest of your day. Seems simple, but I've never thought of it that way before. Usually I'd be like... ok I'm being good... no more peanut butter. But now I can say, you know... I really want peanut butter. Then I can have it. And then it just means maybe having my sandwich with only one piece of bread, or making some other sort of compromise that really doesn't bother me all that much. Oh and speaking of planning to have certain foods, she also recommended that we plan our dinner the night before - otherwise if we wait to figure out what we're having for dinner after work, well it's a lot more likely to go downhill. Good point!

Here are my thoughts so far:

It's kind of a hassle to look up the points values of each food, but I'm sure I will memorize them quickly, just like I've memorized the calories in most foods. Fruits and vegetables have zero points. Yesterday afternoon I had some grapes, and it was so nice to just eat them and not worry about how many grapes/calories I was eating. Same with a smoothie I made for breakfast this morning. I measured the yogurt and milk, but when it was time to add frozen berries, I just got to dump them in without measuring! And it was a lot easier to make a salad for lunch today because I didn't have to weigh my lettuce to know if I was having 7 calories of lettuce or 12 calories of lettuce (I told you I have issues...). Of course, each time I've had a fruit or vegetable willy nilly, I do wonder... is this really going to work? It's hard to give up control, but I'll know next week when I weigh-in if it's working or not. Besides - eating fruits and vegetables willy nilly is a lot healthier than randomly eating handfuls of cereal and scoops of peanut butter!

In closing - I promise not to turn my blog into a Weight Watchers adventures blog. But I wanted to let you all know what I'm up to, and I'll certainly highlight interesting things I learn. And hopefully report back a happy weigh-in next week too. :-)

Pump You Up

New fitness adventure #2:

"I am Hans." "Und I am Franz." "Und ve just vant to pump... (clap) ...YOU UP!"

PARTNER PERSONAL TRAINING WITH SARAH!!! Sarah had this genius idea just before my marathon, which was great because I knew I'd have something to look forward to once the race was over. We had our first session with Vinny on Friday morning and spent the majority of the time using the TRX straps - I was very excited because even though I've only used them twice before, I think they are really "fun." Our session was an hour long, and it was both fun and very challenging - I'm glad we are doing it, especially since I am not one to do strength training on my own... ever.

Well, now it is Saturday, and I can honestly say that Vinny managed to destroy every muscle in my body, haha. I knew I was in trouble last night when I woke up at 3:00am - I tried to roll over in bed, and my sore muscles woke me up! You know you're in trouble when it hurts to sleep... Anyway, throughout the day, I've felt relatively crippled. I thought once the marathon was over those feelings would go away! Wrong. This is a different kind of soreness though. It's a good feeling because it means I definitely did something, but it's also more of a total body soreness which makes everyday activities more of a hassle. It shouldn't hurt to put a shirt on, lol.

This week definitely restored my faith that exercise-life is not over now that my marathon has ended. I've had fun doing zumba and actually being able to jump around for a change while in class (since my knee hasn't been hurting), it was fun to do the elliptical and stair machine again, and then boxing and personal training are totally new and very rewarding in their own way. I still haven't gone for a run outside since the race and I do miss it. I was hoping to go tomorrow, but I'll have to see how sore I am when I wake up in the morning!

So recap for this week - exercise: 10 points. food: -1,000 points. I've put half of the puzzle back together - it's time to work on the other half. Which I've said a few times now... so I really need to do it!

Sting like a butterfly, float like a bee??

New fitness adventure #1:

"Lights Out" Larson

BOXING!!! Rebecca, my friend on her quest to become a world-famous conductor, was recently instructed to take up a sport by one of her conducting tormentors/teachers. Instead of picking a nice sport like, oh... tennis or golf, Rebecca went all out and chose boxing. Lucky for me, she asked me to go to her first class with her.

The boxing place was in the hood. The bathrooms were dirty. The mirrors inside were cracked and taped together. I am very proud of us for staying and not running away (you can get a feel for the place by looking at how dirty the walls are behind me...). We started with 15 minutes of jumping rope. I am not very good at that... Next we did stations, one of which involved hanging from ropes that were coming from the ceiling - hard but fun. Then it was finally time to hit stuff!!! We wrapped our hands with our newly purchased hand wrap things and then we put on incredibly stinky boxing gloves. I learned the ol' one-two punch. We spent the rest of the class hitting a heavy bag. I must have looked scary because I was really beating the crap out of that bag, but I was also smiling the whole time... It was so much fun! Who knew I'd enjoy hitting things so much?

Our class was a 'level one girls only' class. It was a great intro to boxing, but I want to try a coed class with Andy because I think he'd like it - and I also think he would be very impressed with my skillz, lol. I haven't had a chance to talk to Rebecca yet today to hear if she is too scarred by the experience or not, but I would definitely do it again. :-)

On the other hand, the quest to be a healthy eater is not going well at all. At least I'm staying active - I'm not sure how to turn the food part around, but I've gotta figure it out soon!

Moving on

The blog lives!!!!! I don't have anything specific to write about anymore, but I had so much fun writing my blog that I want to keep it going. Plus I think there are maybe 3.5 of you out there that still like to read it. :-)

So now what? The marathon is over. My week of freedom (aka no exercise and eating whatever I want) is over. Time to get back into the swing of things. Here's what's coming up...

This week: I have two new fitness adventures I am very much looking forward to. The first is happening tomorrow so you'll have to stay tuned to find out what it is, mwa ha ha. Andy is also in town this week, so on the whole, I'm a happy girl.

This month: Thanksgiving! So delicious. Soo many baddies. I'm hoping to remain reasonably healthy the rest of the month - it's no fun going through the holiday season feeling huge.

Next month: I'll be running the Reindeer 5k with Sarah! I'm not sure if the weather will cooperate, but if it does, I'm hoping to channel her cheetah speed and be extra fast - as long as my reindeer antlers will stay on. That's right. We'll be wearing antlers. I'm psyched!!!

Next year: Ok you guys know I can't go that long without another big race planned. As of today I'm registered to do the Seneca7!!! The Seneca7 is a 7 person relay where you run the perimeter of Seneca Lake, which just happens to be 77.7 miles. So cool! A few years ago I watched Hood to Coast and I think this will give me a real-life mini preview of what an event like that would be like. I can't wait to plan the trip!!

Thanks for sticking with the blog. It might lack purpose (for now), but hopefully it will be somewhat entertaining. :-)

Looking back...

"A marathoner is a marathoner regardless of time. Virtually everyone who tries the marathon has put in training over months, and it is that exercise and commitment, physical and mental, that gives meaning to the medal, not just the day's effort, be it fast or slow. It's all in conquering the challenge."

You have to sacrifice a lot to do a marathon.

1) sleep - no more sleeping in on Sundays, plus extra early mornings for weekday training

2) weekends - 16 weekends of long runs means 16 weekends of watching what you eat/drink, what time you get to bed, etc.

3) time - not only while running, but the extra showers, the extra laundry, mapping routes, planning runs, etc

4) freedom to socialize/be spontaneous - if you don't put your runs first, you won't do them

5) feet - they get pretty nasty

6) skin - I had a scab from my sports bra for 3 months straight

7) pants - thanks to chub rub, I'm going to need to replace almost every single pair of capris I have

8) mobility - between my knee and general soreness, I struggled going up and down stairs more than I'd like to admit

9) freedom to do other exercises - at some point, you can pretty much only handle running

10) zip-up boots - my calves got too big...


But what you gain is so much bigger than all of those combined one hundred times over. At first I was hoping to lose 25 pounds (yeah I know...huge goal). That didn't happen, but you know what? I don't hate my body nearly as much as I have in the past. I am PROUD of my legs. I am PROUD of my feet. I am PROUD of my butt and hips. They all have taken me so much further than I ever thought I'd be able to go. I'm proud of my stomach - it might not be flat, but it stays calm during my runs, and that is MUCH more important than being supermodel perfect. I am proud of my arms - they carry my iPod, they carry my water bottle, they give hugs to all of the people who love and support me. And speaking of those people - never in a thousand years would I have dreamed that I would have such an amazing group of friends. They listen to me with enthusiasm even though it might be the thousandth time I've talked about running, they calm me down and encourage me when I freak out, they give tough love when I want to skip a run, they say it will still be ok if I manage to ignore the tough love and still skip it...

A marathon is a journey of love. It starts with a love for running, and in the process you learn to love yourself and realize how much you are loved by others.

I'm so lucky.

Day 112 - MARINE CORPS MARATHON!!!!

It's finally here!!!!! 2+ years of dreaming, 111 days of training. I can't believe I'm actually going to run a marathon.

I have never woken up with such a feeling of panic as I did that morning. It was one of those, "Holy cow this is really going to happen," feelings. But after the initial shock of waking up to my alarm clock and realizing what day it was, I pretty quickly calmed down and just tried to keep focused on whatever I was doing - washing my face, getting dressed, etc.

6:00 AM - ready to leave

We had about a half mile walk to the shuttle stop - they had tons of shuttles (charter buses) lined up to take everyone to "Runner's Village" which was in the parking lot of the Pentagon. Even still, we had to wait in line for about 20-30 minutes before it was our turn to go.

Waiting for the bus - at least it's undercover

Check out my awesome tear-away jacket!

Shuttles to Runner's Village

It was nice to be on the bus because it was warm and dry - while Hurricane Sandy hadn't hit yet, it was still sprinkling and very windy outside. The bus ride was actually pretty short, and before I knew it, we were at the Pentagon. Before entering Runner's Village we had to go through security, which meant getting patted down by a Marine and then having your bag searched. Since it was still dark outside, they were using flashlights to search... it added a dose of creepiness to the process.

Once we were in Runner's Village we made our way over to one of the many tents that were set up and sat down on the ground - I was quick to take the chance to get off my feet, and hoped huddling in with all the other runners would block some of the wind... it was windy and cold! Then we ate our pre-race breakfast: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich plus a banana. Once we were done eating... it was time to use the bathroom.

Porta Potty lines to the left....

... and lines to the right

I came prepared with my our toilet paper!

It took forever to wait in line for a porta potty. While we were standing there, 2 planes did a flyby overhead to kick off the marathon celebration.

Andy with the planes in the background.

At 7:41am it was finally my turn to use the porta potty. When I went inside I saw one of the worst things I've ever seen before. A giant gob of liquidy poo was ALL over the toilet seat. The "contents" of the porta potty were also incredibly full and on the brink of cresting the lip of the seat. I know. I know! So incredibly gross. But when the alternative is having an accident in your pants while running 26.2 miles, well... I made it work.

With ten minutes left to get to the starting line, Andy and I hustled to get there. The race started on a highway, and the closer and closer we got to the starting line, the more and more clothes were laying on the side of the road and in the median. It was almost comical to see how many things people were willing to ditch - I count myself in with those people... I left behind a nylon drawstring backpack and one of my favorite long-sleeved running shirts (I was sad to say goodbye to it). The highway got so crowded, we weren't able to wiggle our way up to the sign that marked our estimated finish time, so we were lined up with people slower than us, but there really wasn't an alternative. We decided to stop fighting our way forward... then it was only a matter of minutes until it actually happened.

The Start of the Marine Corps Marathon

I can't even begin to describe how it felt to be standing at the start of the Marine Corps Marathon. There were THOUSANDS of runners. The music was blaring. The announcer was getting everyone excited. All of those months of training were about to pay off. I knew I put the work in, but still... I couldn't help but feel amazed that I had actually made it to that point. I was about to be a marathoner.

The race started!... and we stood there, haha. There were SO many people that it took us 15 minutes to cross the actual start line. And then we were running. The pace for our first mile was pretty slow (10:40/mi) but the roads were so crowded you simply couldn't run faster. Amazingly... it never thinned out. Ever. I mean, it did a little bit, but I was weaving through people for 26.2 miles. I wonder if we had been able to line up closer to the start line with people from our real pace if it would have made a difference, but who knows.

Honestly the whole race was a bit of a blur, but I'll do my best to recall the things that stuck out to me. The first part of the course was rather hilly, and by hilly I mean it seemed like we were always running UP hills, never down them. In fact, the course didn't level out until around mile 10. What happened to the flat marathon course I though I had picked?! Almost right away I saw a "runner" dressed in one of those heavy duty bomb deactivation suits... helmet and all. And about two minutes after that I saw a blind woman running surrounded by 4 guide runners. If they can do it, so can I.

I'm sad to say Andy never felt good during the race. He described his legs as feeling like stumps and his feet like clubs. Those times definitely happen, but I was so sad for him that it happened on race day. I was lucky in that I felt great - no real issues from my knees, ankles, back, hips... it was a miracle!

We stopped after about 3 miles for Andy to readjust his knee strap. It was so crowded that it was difficult to find a hole to jump back in the race! After a few more miles, we were in Georgetown where we stopped again so Andy could pee (I needed to go too, but there weren't any porta potties). I've never seen more people peeing outside before in my life - people didn't even make much of an effort to find cover... even some of the girls!! Running through the Georgetown area was nice (except the hills). There was one part of the course that was an out-and-back so I was able to catch a glimpse of all of the speedies. Wow they are fast! There were also a couple of bands playing along the course, including a bagpipe band!

By mile 10 we could see the Lincoln Memorial, which was very cool. My parents were by it holding up signs. I was so excited to see them! We stopped, refilled our water bottles with water my parents brought with them, and then we were off again!

You'll get this if you've ever driven through South Dakota

"Beauty knows no pain" - one of my Mom's favorite sayings!

The next stretch was not my favorite. We did several miles going alongside a river. There were no spectators and the course was pretty narrow, which made getting around slow people more frustrating. At this point my positive attitude and patience were wavering. One girl ran by with her iPod playing out loud instead of through headphones. I wanted to punch her. Sidenote: I ran the first 20 miles without music. Anyway, the one good thing about this stretch was that there were REAL bathrooms every so often. Around mile 15 I couldn't stand it anymore... I had to go! Thankfully Andy was willing to wait for me. He stretched while I stood in line. My bathroom trip killed a lot of time, but I felt sooo much better afterwards, so I'm glad I went.

My parents were at mile 17 again, this time with different signs!

This is a good one!

My favorite sign of all!!! So fitting for me ;-)

We briefly stopped for more water and then were off again. Now we were running around the Mall in DC. I thought running by the monuments and all would be motivating and exciting. By this point, I honestly didn't care about them at all, lol. Around mile 18.5, Andy was really hurting. I really wanted to stay with him, at least until mile 20 (to "beat the bridge" - where they pick up all the slow people and don't let them finish), but he told me to go on. I know in previous races when I've told people to go on, I really want them to go on... misery doesn't always like company, haha... so I left him. It was hard to do, and I was really worried about him, but I just had to keep going.

I saw my parents one last time at mile 19 - I told them Andy was right behind me and to make sure he was ok. I knew the next time I'd see them would be at the finish line! Once I made it to mile 20 I put in my headphones and just tried to focus on my music and not pay too much attention to my body. I never felt awful, but I mean... after a certain point you sort of just want to stop. Miles 20/21 were over a bridge on a highway. The scenery was boring, there were no spectators cheering, and by that point the majority of the runners were walking. That was a tough stretch. But I kept running. I didn't want to stop to walk because I knew I could do it - plus Emily told me not to stop running because I would never want to start again if I did. Good advice Em!!!

Miles 22 through 24 were in Crystal City. This part was pretty fun - the streets were lined with colorful flags and there were speakers blaring music through the streets, plus lots of spectators...some were even handing out beer and candy! I took my headphones out to soak up the energy of Crystal City. I even sang along to "I Love Rock n Roll" which was playing at one point, haha. And then it came... the last water station, where they were also handing out donut holes. Friends... I did NOT have a donut hole! My stomach was feeling a little iffy and I decided it was best not to chance it. Instead I ran straight to the water.

Water Stations: These were every 2 miles and always had Gatorade first and water second. Every single cup was handed out by a Marine. You would not imagine how many cups were covering the ground at the water stations. And because you would run through those cups...some which had Gatorade in them... you're shoes got sticky. It is a really weird feeling to run with sticky shoes. At two different points they also handed out orange slices. After running (and trying not to slip and fall) through all of the orange peels, then your shoes got REALLY sticky!! And because there were so many people, the water stations were so crowded, it was impossible to "run" through them. You basically moved to the side of the road and had to walk through each water station. I drank at every single one of them, even the first one at mile 2. I'm glad I did too. :-)

Ok, back to the last water stop. So I grabbed a cup of water from a Marine, looked him in the eye and said, "I can do this." And he yelled back at me, "YES YOU CAN!" Ooo!! Ok! And I was off. It was a really emotional feeling to know I wouldn't stop again until I crossed the finish line. The last two miles weren't that bad, simply because I knew it was all about to be over. In the distance I could see a group of runners (turns out there were 7 of them) running with full-sized flags (one American flag and then a flag to represent all of the branches of the military). I locked my sight on those flags and just tried to keep up - I ended up crossing the finish line shortly after they did. While I was running that last mile, my watch actually hit 26.2 miles. I believe it too - the course was so wide that I definitely ran more since I was weaving in and out of people so much. I threw a fist in the air (I must have looked insane) and just kept going. I had to cross that finish line to make it official! (By the time I was done, my watch actually read 26.68.)

26 Miles - that's a sweet sight

The final .2 miles of the course were by the Arlington Cemetery and took you up a hill towards the Iwo Jima Memorial. I eat hills for breakfast. It was probably more for myself than the people around me, but all of a sudden I became one of those obnoxious people... I started cheering on the runners, "Come on! We're almost there! We can do this!!" I was just so excited, I couldn't help it! I gave it a solid effort at the end... I didn't sprint all out, but I definitely pushed it. And then it was over! I crossed the finish line and gave the first Marine I saw a big hug. :-) Poor guy... I know I didn't smell very good, haha. My final time: 4:56:14!!! Slower than I thought I'd be, but hey - I finished and can say I ran the entire distance!

My official times

Once you crossed the finish line, the runners were separated into different lines to get your medal. A Marine put a medal around each person's neck and then saluted them. I didn't know if it was appropriate to salute back so I just smiled, waved, and said thank you, haha.

Runner Marathon Babs!!!

 Then I stood in line to have my picture officially taken in front of the Iwo Jima Memorial. But once that was done, I decided to take a silly one of my own.

Very bad "Usain Bolt" pose

The Marines gave you a "Mission Accomplished" jacket to wear afterwards (it felt really cold once you stopped running) and a snack box! Once I had my loot, I began the mile long walk to the family link-up area. Are you serious?!? Because 26.2 just isn't enough... now you get to walk a mile! Sheesh.

About an hour later, I finally found Andy and my parents. Andy toughed it out and finished - I cannot tell you guys how PROUD I am of him. I've run my fair share of races not feeling so great and I know how miserable it can be. I can't even imagine feeling that way for 5+ hours. He is my hero.

We did it!

Mission accomplished indeed!

Now it was time to stand in line for the shuttle that would take us back to Crystal City (where our hotel was). The line was sooo long. We tried everything - getting a shuttle from a different Hyatt, getting a cab - eventually we just sat on a street corner and ate our snack boxes.

Happy to be sitting down!

We didn't get back to our hotel until 3:00pm. Since we left at 6:00am, it meant the entire event took us 9 hours. Wow! We quickly showered (the chafing was bad.... that's all I'll say), got dressed, and then it was off to celebrate! Andy, my parents, and I headed to a sports bar where we ordered drinks and the least healthiest stuff we could find on the menu. Hello sweet potato tots, onion rings, and nachos!!! After we finished at the bar we headed back to our hotel... it wasn't long before this happened.

Andy passed out around 8:30pm

October 28, 2012 was one of the best days of my life. To have a dream, work towards it, and accomplish it was such a wonderful experience - and to do it with Andy and have my parents there cheering me made it all the more special. I'm still in shock that I actually ran a marathon. I still just feel like little ol' me. But that little ol' me did something really incredible. 

Total Miles Run: 415.41 WOW!!!

Day 111

I slept like garbage. I woke up wide awake and ready to go - and it was 4:50am. So much for getting a good night's sleep the night before the night before. If only the race had been today... the sky was sunny, the temperature outside was cool but not too crisp. It was the perfect day for a run. But no. Better to let the storm get closer. :-(

My morning started off with a carb-filled breakfast.

Oatmeal and raisins

Carb-loading is fun! Then it was time to take the Metro to the expo.

On my way to the expo at the stadium

TONS of people were going to the expo - the Metro was packed with runners. It was here I learned that I made my first marathon rookie mistake. It is NOT cool to wear normal clothes to an expo. You should wear running shoes/bottoms and your most impressive race shirt you have - most preferably a shirt from a different marathon. Lesson learned.

The expo was split into two sections. First you went into a large tent to get your race number. It was so well organized - there was no question that this was a military operation.

Bib number booths armed by Marines!

Picking up my number!!

Once you got your number, you had to stand in a super long line to get into the main part of the expo. With 30,000 runners and an estimated 100,000 spectators, standing in lines became quite the common occurance throughout the weekend.

Welcome to the expo!

Now this is what I call an expo!

The expo was huge! It was also crowded and hot. The first stop was picking up the mock turtlenecks each participant got. Not exactly my top fashion choice, but they could be worse. Then my parents and I fought our way through the Brooks section, looking for anything left in either mine or Andy's size. Good luck! It was so picked over, which was kind of disappointing, but we managed to come out with a few treasures. And once again... the lines were looooong. Thank you Dad for standing in line while Mom and I kept shopping! I picked up an extra stick of Body Glide and then found this booth selling "rain gear." With the threat of running in a hurricane, I was quick to pick up a jacket and pair of pants for myself and Andy - they promised to block both wind and rain, and supposedly you could rip them off when you didn't want to wear them anymore... ideal for undressing on the run (literally). In addition to all of the shopping opportunities  there were lots of fun/funny photo ops too.

Probably the only time I'll get to touch a finish line tape

Gel tasting party! Finally!!

This was a motivation wall at the expo. :-)

With my bib number!

This forecast is soooo wrong.

Once we were finally done at the expo it was time for lunch. Bring on the carbs and salt!

French Dip Sandwich

After lunch it was off to get the last few things Andy and I would need for the next day - mainly breakfast food and some saran wrap to wrap iPods/watch if it was raining a lot. The entire outing took almost all day, which meant spending all day on my feet. As soon as we got back to the hotel I tried to relax until it was time for dinner. Last chance for carbs!

bread :-)

Last bowl of pasta for awhile!

My parents and I had dinner at this really delicious place called Kora - it was nice to eat out in a real city for a change! Back at the hotel I started laying out my race clothes and making PBJ sandwiches for the morning. It wasn't long before Andy's flight landed and he made it to the hotel. I ordered him some pasta room service and showed him our expo treasures. We finally went to bed around 11:00pm - not so bad considering his flight got in around 9:00pm.

Only a few hours left....