Disney Princess 1/2 marathon 2/24/13

Well last Sunday on 2/24/13, I started & completed my first 1/2 marathon. It was the Disney Princess 1/2 marathon. It was a very well organized race, with water & poweraide every 1.5 miles, frequent medic tents along the race, & cliff shots at mile 8.5. There was also lots of spots to stop for pics along the way. We only stopped for 1 pic though. At the 1st of the race I was really enjoying myself & the magical feeling of running through Disney. However about mile 8 my left foot really started hurting. I had been nursing back an injury of tendinitis in my left heel for the past few weeks, not even able to really run or walk prior to the race. I did keep up with my other cardio routine though. So I had bought compression sleeves for my legs, to save my calfs & shins. I do believe they helped a lot because my tendinitis didn't start to flare till about mile 11. So I was feeling pretty good other than left foot pain (felt like a rock in the ball of my foot), & I could feel a pulling in my right knee. So I finished with my aches & pains. We still did 2 Disney parks after the race on Sunday, & sun night I realized I had 1 massive blister on my right foot. I guess it was my battle wound! Lol. I was even more sore on Monday, hobbling around like I was 80 yrs old. It's fri now, & I'm still a bit sore, but it's getting better. I took this entire week off from the gym, with school all week & being sore I didn't wanna push myself too hard. I had a sports massage on wed afternoon, & he said my glutes, lower back, & feet were all still very swollen. I joked with him saying "yeah I think I almost put my body in shock on sun." My feet are still very swollen, can only wear my running shoes. But most importantly I have already been doing my research to see which race I wanna tackle next. I do want to do another 1/2 marathon. I'm looking at maybe the Diva 1/2 in myrtle beach for 2014 or the rock & roll 1/2 in savannah for 2014. Next on my agenda is the cooper river bridge 10k in April. I did this race last year for the 1st time. Since I only work weekends now, I probably will not have any more big races the rest of the year. Gotta focus on finishing school, & getting a RN job in the hospital, then I can regain at least every other weekend back! In the future though I will deff do another Disney race!

Time to be more positive!

I am as guilty as anyone else. I tend to put too much time & effort into picking out what I don't like about my body image. You know how it goes. For me my big negatives are my stomach, my flabby arms, & my love handles. Well I have decided to try, & have a more positive body image. Even if that just means picking out what I like best about my body! What I like the best about my body is my legs! My legs are pretty awesome in my opinion. I took dance for many years so I have always had muscular looking legs, & now that I have picked up running & working out well they have only toned up more. My next fave feature would probably be my hair. Lol. I have a harder time picking out what I like about myself, but I am going to work at this in 2013. It's another goal I have for this year, to like my body better. I tend to think I'm more critical on my body now, than I was when I weighed over 300 lbs. So I encourage you to do the same. Pick out your best feature, & be proud of it. My legs tell a story, because I wasn't born with muscular calfs! :)

Weak moments

Well I had been doing really well with my clean eating, until about 2 nights ago when I came home with a sore throat & wanted some "I feel sick" comfort food. Searched the pantry for chicken noodle soup, because it usually soothes my throat. Well we were out so I ate some saltine crackers, big mistake. Well the next day I went, & bought some chicken noodle soup for myself, to help sooth my throat. So now we are on the winding path of destruction. Today I wanted some more chicken noodle soup for lunch, & of course I needed saltines for it. So tonight when I get home; I'm tired, exhausted, & I ended up letting my self have a little binge. Ugh, I'm sure I'll pay for this tomorrow, because it generally tends to wreck havoc on my body & makes me feel terrible. In my binge I ate, 12 Doritos, said chocolate pudding cup, a chocolate bar, & then needed to cleanse my palate with an apple. I'm always do disappointed in myself when I let myself loose control, & let food control me. I have got to come up with better strategies to steer clear of this mess! So I ask you, what are your methods for preventing your weak food moments?

Tomorrow starts it all....

I start school back tomorrow....nursing school. It appears that pretty much every day this week I will be at school from 9-2, & then will drive an hr & have to be at work @ 3. Not sure when I'm gonna find time this week to work out, but I'm gonna pack my clothes & hope to get out of class early some days I guess. Now I drive approx 1 hour each way to school, therefore I will have to take all 3 meals for the day with me. So I have spent the last several hours tonight prepping my food as much as I could for this week. Because not only am I eating healthy, I'm eating for the most part clean, so I can't just run through subway or something like that. It will be a challenge this week to get it all fit into the week. Also I plan on somehow running 3 days this week at least. I have a new goal, to transfer from treadmill to outdoors I'm gonna run the local park at least once a week, & run out in the country at least once a week. If you haven't ever run out in the country, around here well it's a bit of a challenge. There is normal curves & dips in the road, but the road also slants to the right. So after my sat morn jaunt I felt like my right leg was longer or something & my right hip was a bit sore. However that Feb 1/2 marathon is approaching very quickly so I gotta keep at it. Also gotta get my costume together for my race. We finally booked a resort to stay at in FL, now to get the extra gear we need...I'm thinking a hydration belt of some sort, & get our costumes together & purchase our theme park tickets & we are set. Whitney & I are very scared, & excited all at once!!!! So goals for this week are to keep up with school, get my workouts in, get my runs in, & stick to my clean eating 12,000 calorie diet! As Sunday night comes to an end, I'm already looking forward to next weekend! :)

No gimmicks, tricks, or surgery needed!

Well today I was reflecting back on the year of 2012 today, & I decided it had been a pretty good year! Also I most certainly determined 2013, will be even better! A few accomplishments I made in 2012 are; did my 1st 8k, my 1st 10k (cooper river bridge), did the color run (soo much fun), started back to school to finally get my RN, started trying to run, & signed up for my 1st 1/2 marathon which is in Feb of 2013! These are just a few of my milestones for the year, oh & I reached loosing over 100 plus lbs in total!!! So I say to 2013, bring it on....I am ready! In 2013 I will for the 1st time in my life have held a gym membership for 2 straight years (this will be true in just a few days), I will complete my 1st 1/2 marathon (I'm terrified but in a good way..I think), I will be getting closer to finishing my ADN, I will be working full time as an LPN & trying to remain some balance in the rest of my life. It will be a bit of a challenge to manage school, work, & working out but I'm up to the challenge. Not to mention I found out about a week ago I am moving to Baylor (just working 2 12 hr shifts on the weekends), so I'll have no weekends but I will have 5 days a week! I'm excited about this because I'll have more time for school, my husband, & the gym (might even work out twice a day..who knows)! I am still a constant work in progress, but I am solid proof you do not need gimmicks, tricks, or surgery to loose weight! You honestly need a driving goal, determination, healthy eating (most of the time), & willpower to get off your ass & do something about your weight if it makes you unhappy! My weight loss goals keep evolving. At 1st I started eating right & working out because I didn't want to look "fat" in my wedding pictures & regret them the rest of my life. Now my goal has evolved to try & be the best & fittest & healthiest me, I can be! When I finally finish school, I want to have children & by no means do I wish to teach them my old bad habits! I have accomplished so many different types of things now days, that my old over 300 lbs self never would have thought possible! I can honestly say now at 28 years old, I am in better health than I was in high school & maybe about the same weight. Lol. So if your unhappy with something in your life, join me in 2013 & try your best to improve that something & make your self happier! I used to think I was living & enjoying life @ 300 plus lbs, but I was only short changing myself on what life could be like! I honestly enjoy working out now days, it sort of gives you an euphoric high when your done! Now I can't say I've reached the point of enjoying running yet, because I still dread that but hope to reach that point 1 day too!!

Well it's gone

Well my little toenail finally came all the way off. I'm still a bit freaked out about it, but I have decided to face the nail salon with pride tomorrow. And when one of those people ask me "what happened to my toe", I will reply back with pride "I am a new runner"! My sweet husband has embraced my new past time as well. Tonight he gave me my early Christmas gift, & it was a Nike Fit GPS watch! So excited to start using it! Does anyone have this watch? Just wondering!

Welcome to the Running Club

So about 6 months or so ago, I really started trying to work on my running. Because up until that point, I could only really do short distance sprinting. The sacrifices I knew I would be making to get into running was logging miles on the treadmill, race entry fees, some sore muscles, & my dreaded runs....because I still have not reached that point where I find running enjoyable! I have reached the point where I am able to tolerate running. The only problem is between school, work, & life was sometimes I would be slack, & then I would have to build up my endurance all over again. Well about 2 months or so ago, I signed up for my 1st half marathon, which is in the end of Feb. in FL. So I have really been trying to keep reminding myself of this up coming race lately & trying to cut out being slack. Little did I know when I started running was that I could injure my toes & possibly loose a toenail or two. Omg, does that not sound awful...loosing your toenail. Well the other night after work, I am sitting in the bed getting ready to go to sleep, & I barley touch the side of my toenail (2nd toe) on my left foot. The entire nail just lifts up! Here I am sitting in bed completely horrified at what had just happen!! So the very corner was still attached on one side so I just lay it back down, & put on a sock & attempt to go to sleep. The next day I continue to worry about my toenail, & all the other 9 toenails that appear to be ok still. So I call the doctor, do a google research, & consult with friends. The conclusion is apparently this is a very common running problem. Also I'm told since I have lost my 1st toenail now, that I am officially a runner now. Woohoo, I think. I mean as bad as I want to achieve being a runner, & getting to a point where I even like to run. At what price? Not sure how ok I am about loosing my toenail(s). I mean I have cute little toenail, & now I'm down to 9 healthy nails now. :(. If I had it all to do over again, I'm not sure I would have signed up for a 1/2 marathon, but since I have made it this far I plan on seeing it through. Now, not to completely freak you out here, not ever runner looses toenails & I have been reassured they will grow back. The doctor recommended I wear thicker socks when I run, so I'm trying that now, & just waiting for my nail to completely fall off (as I tried to assist it & it hurt, so I left it alone). However this all being said, I have continued to workout & run since this happened, & luckily my toe doesn't hurt too much!