A New 'High' and Back to Day 1

Welp, after all my hard work to train for a 10K, I let it all slide, as you do. I had the best intentions, of course -- I even signed up for two more races to keep me 'going'. But, life being as it is, I fell so far off the wagon that I couldn't even find the wagon anymore.

I got to a point, very recently, where I was eating a chocolate bar for lunch. And sometimes breakfast. No exercise whatsoever. Wine almost nightly. It's the summer after all, and life is too short! Have that treat! Have another -- who cares?? Enjoy yourself!

Except, I really wasn't enjoying myself all that much. Sure, I'd get that initial 30 second rush and happiness (mmmmm chocolate!), or that buzzy feeling after a glass or two of wine, but then: crash. Guilt, bloat, blech. Exhaustion, dragging myself through the day, generally just yuck. So NOT fun. But, once you're down that rabbit hole, it can be very hard to see a way out again.

I couldn't fit into any of my summer clothes that fit me earlier this year when we went to Florida. I was blaming general bloat (ummm PMS 24/7 maybe?) and maybe our crappy dryer randomly decided to shrink things that have been washed and dried a hundred times before?

Yeah... it wasn't the dryer. But I was still in denial about the situation, ignoring it as best I could. Yoga pants are the best invention ever, especially if you want to lie to yourself about your body, because they never get too small. Sooooo stretchy!

I got a particularly sick feeling in my stomach recently one morning, when I'd just eaten yet another crappy meal, and then hopped on the scale in the basement that I'd sort of forgotten we owned. The number bowled me over. It was the highest number I'd ever seen on a scale when not 6+ months pregnant. Of course at first I assumed the scale just wasn't... calibrated, or something? Or maybe I'd done the conversion wrong from kg to lb? Forgot to carry the one?

Nope.

woh woh

And then, just to really drive the message home to me (since clearly I wasn't listening to all the other messages!), I went and threw my back out in the worst way. Doing nothing in particular, just moving in a certain way and *twang!*... you're done. I practically couldn't move for two full days. It was MISERABLE.

And, I knew then that I had to do something.

Lucky for me, The Hubs has a habit of buying exercise and nutrition programs on the regular, so I didn't need to go any further than his office closet to find a program that I thought I could stick to. I opted for the 21 Day Fix, as I've had friends who have had great success with it, and I didn't have to buy anything other than groceries (I'm not doing the shakes, just the meal plan and workouts). Ultimately, it's no different from every other program out there: portion control, choosing foods wisely, and exercise. It's not rocket science, but having a set program to follow is what I need right now to keep me on track and get going.

I have a plan. And, I'm already halfway through Day 1! Yay me! We spent the better part of the weekend reading through the meal plan and writing lists, shopping for food (I really need a bigger fridge yo!) and prepping meals. I feel fully prepared for the week ahead, and despite a sore back (still), I managed to complete the first workout - with modifications.

Here we go!

Fridge is filled to the rafters with produce!

Sweaty and out of shape: Day 1, Plyo

My Baby is Free

Today, Baby Girl, you turned free. Free years old! I can hardly belibe it.

Three years ago you came bursting into our lives, like the star of a play bursting onto stage, smiling and singing -- and you've managed to shine in your own spotlight ever since. Despite making us wait for your big entrance, we enthusiastically cheered your arrival on stage.

You are the missing piece that we didn't even know was missing until you filled it's spot, completing our family puzzle perfectly, as you do.

You do things your way, in your own time, just like how you came into our family in your own good time. Refusing to be told how and when, you basically potty trained yourself in a few days, when you were good and ready. In just the last week you learned how to dress yourself. It seems every time I turn around you are mastering something new, on your own (being the third child means fending for yourself a lot more). Rather than try to keep up with you, I find myself sitting back and just observing you, watching you grow your wings and fly...

You are fiercely independent and you have a mind of your own, which you love to share if people around you would just listen. I do love listening to your chatter and stories, except maybe at 8:30 pm, when it's time to sleep and you have to tell us just ONE more thing, or do one more thing, or read one more book, "I promise just ONE more and I'll NEVER ask again". Mm hmm.

You love to be our special helper, whether it's cooking (trying to keep your little hands off hot burners while you sample everything), or laundry (matching socks or throwing folded clothes in the air); if you see a job being done you're the first to say "Can I help?" while pulling a chair behind you, not waiting for an answer.

You are sunshine and thunderclouds. You give the BEST hugs and kisses, and the biggest smiles, even (especially?) at 6 am when it's still dark out. You can throw the most epic tantrums. Go big or go home, right? You may be the littlest but you won't let that stop you from making the biggest impression. You're tenacious, and spunky, and you give mommy more gray hairs than anyone. You've found yourself in plenty of sticky situations, but you just shrug and smile and hold out your hands (for mommy to wipe). You've got a sparkle in your eye that makes it impossible for anyone to be mad at you -- and I think you know it. ;)

I love you Lolo Bird. Thanks for letting me watch as you fly.

Love, Mommy Bird

Countdown to 10K: Fear the Pit of Despair

As many of you know I signed up to run a 10K this year. Next month, in fact.

Why? Why?? What would possess me to do such a thing? I have never in my life run more than 5K. Ever. I'm not a runner. I don't exercise. The whole thing is so laughable!

But, peer pressure -- and the promise of an EPIC meetup with some amazing ladies who I have known online for over 9 years but have never met -- led me to click "Register", and in that moment of insanity, I sealed my fate. My fate of possibly laying in a ditch in the middle of Epcot, crying.

But! BUT! ... I HAVE been training. Like actually training -- not just shopping. I have gotten on the treadmill a few times a week for the past few months and walk/run/walked a few kms. I have taken the runfies*. I have tracked my pace.

Fun fact: a 10-minute mile is not the same as a 10 minute km. Conversions (read: math) have never been my strong suit, as evidenced when I thought I was running a 7 minute km. Super fast! Then I realized my treadmill and running app weren't speaking the same language, and so I converted it all to km, and it told me my pace was a solid 10:00:00 and I was super happy about that, because balloon ladies.

Oh yes: the balloon ladies. They are these very scary 10 foot tall women (at least in my mind) carrying 10 foot tall balloons (ish), and they run a 16 minute mile way at the back of the pack of runners. If you fall behind them, you get swept. Into a pit of despair and lava. I'm pretty sure that's what I read.

Either way, the point is you need to stay ahead of these menacing creatures or you get thrown in the pit / swept off the course. It's all very scary, but seeing as how I can do a 4K run on the treadmill in 10:00:00 I figured, I'm good to go. No worries mate -- just need to add kms!

But no. Nooooo. Turns out, a 10 minute km is NOT the same as a 10 minute mile. In fact, it's a little over a 16 minute mile.

OMG OMG OMG I'm going to get thrown in the pit.

Let's go back to the distance issue. Again: I have never run a 10K anything. I once hiked 16 km in one day but I was like 16 years old and nearly died**.

**not really. I was super tired though.

So that's where I am. Lucky for me I still have plenty of time to train! A whole... what... 6 weeks?

............ 6 weeks. OMG OMG.

Okay... here's my plan:
- Treadmill 3x week, 2x 35 minutes, 1x adding another km each week until I'm up to 10. (I'm comfortably doing 4K now)
- Move from 3/1 (run 3 mins walk 1), to 10/1s. I can do this now but I think I have ITB syndrome now -- runner's knee -- which is kindof hilarious to me because I'm not a runner. All the lols.
- Hot yoga 2x/week. Because hot and sweaty and why not?
- ITB strengthening exercises on my days off
- Don't die
- Don't get thrown in the pit

Can I get it together in the next 6 weeks??......... Honestly, I don't know. My last runfie will likely be of me prone in a ditch in mid-February. Watch for it!

*Runfies. It's totally a thing!

      

These were obviously all taken before I realized about The Pit. Note the happy look on my face and the naive thumbs ups.