Back on the Bandwagon!

Wow, time sure flies.  Especially when you aren't blogging, tracking food, or even exercising.  If anyone still happens to read my blog, you can see that I haven't posted in a week.  And guess what?  I haven't officially worked out in over a week.  Yuck!

I guess I've just been in a completely unmotivated funk for the last few several days.  I haven't completely fallen off the bandwagon, but I've definitely indulged in more treats than normal, including beer and sweets.  Now, I do have to say that March is birthday month in my family.  Yesterday was Dustin's birthday, my dad's is today, mine is next week, as well as SEVERAL other family members.  Pretty much it's like Christmas all over again in March.

That being said, it is no excuse.  I need to get back into working out!  I don't want to lose the good base I've worked for in mileage, and I'm in love with the results I've already seen in/on my body.  So it's time to get back on it!!!  I started tracking again today, and while I probably won't get a workout in tonight (family birthday dinner...surprise, surprise) I will workout tomorrow.  I'm going to get back into running and Jillian Michaels will again become my best friend.  Here is my thinking:

I've got almost two full months before I "officially" start my training plan for my half-marathon in August.  So until then, I'm going to focus on keeping my mileage base where its at or increasing it a little bit.  However, I'm also going to focus on strength and cross training, such as Jillian, until then.  I really see results when I combine running and cross training.  While I don't plan on giving it up after that (it's part of my training plan), I will devote most of my workouts to RUNNING once May 17 rolls around.

Also an update on my last week:

• I don't know if I mentioned it, but I got a new boss last week.  She's great, and I have actually been really busy since she's been here!  Success!
• I went and tried on my wedding dress last weekend.  IT WAS TOO BIG!  I'm so glad I tried it on this early because I just exchanged it for a smaller size instead of having to do TONS of alterations.  I may still have to do some alterations if I lose any more, but that's better than having it not fit me completely!  Yay!
• Because we're having the wedding at our house (Dustin's family ranch), we have A TON of work/cleanup to do before that special day.  We invited my fam and a ton (notice my trend...word of the day apparently) of our friends out for a work day.  The girls worked on cleaning up the yard, raking leaves that haven't been raked in YEARS, and burning piles.  The boys took down a barn that was falling in.  It had been standing for over 100 years, and it had a lot of history and memories left in it.  They worked all day without stopping for lunch, but by the end of the day it was all down.  We BBQed and drank by the GIANT bonfire we created.  That was my only form of exericse for the week, and I was SORE!  I love getting in hard work and seeing the results!

Hope everyone had a good week!  I've been keeping up on everyone else's blog, just not writing on my own.  Funny how that works!  Hold me accountable!

Three Things Thursday

 Here it goes:

1. I got my hair cut last night after work.  It's hot!  I totally (like, valley girl?) had a run planned after I got done at the stylist.  But she straightened and fixed my hair!  I don't do that very often, so I had to take advantage of the fact that my hair was pretty, and I skipped my workout.  And when I showered this morning I didn't wash my hair, and it is still pretty.  Anyone else ever do that?
2. I'm SO close to sending out my save-the-dates!  We're reaching the point where it's almost pointless to send them out, so I've been working my butt off getting them finished.  Minus a few printer problems I'm having, they're coming along nicely!
3. I have 6 miles planned for today's run.  I'm going to do it tonight after work, and I don't have any excuses this time.  Especially since I'll have to wash my hair tonight, because it won't look as pretty tomorrow if I don't.

Weigh-In Wednesday

160...no change

Feeling kind of blah...I'll post more tomorrow!  Have a good day!

Blah Tuesday

I'm having a little trouble coming up with something good to talk about today.  In fact, that's pretty much how my whole day is--boring and blah!  I've been working hard at the office all afternoon (so glad I was actually busy today!) and now I'm getting off work and catching an early dinner with Dustin.

After dinner he's heading over to a friend's to pick his winners for the college basketball practice....I'll be heading over to the gym to get in a "last chance workout" before my weigh-in tomorrow.  I've got a lot of good exercise planned, and I'm really looking forward to kicking my butt!  Hopefully my inner Jillian voice will come out when I'm thinking about giving up!

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I guess I never updated about the rest of my weekend.  It wasn't really that exciting, but here goes.  I got home on Saturday after my 5k and an afternoon of planting hanging baskets at Dustin's family's greenhouse.  He had told me one of his old college buddies was coming down because he had a bachelor party that weekend.  Well, his friend's bachelor party made their way to our house, where they shot squirrels and blew things up like only men can do.  After that, six random (ok, five because we knew Dustin's buddy already) people came over for dinner (thank goodness they brought it) and ended up drinking beer at our house all night long.

After that, they proceeded to stay at our house, which at the moment is not set up for one or two overnight guests, let alone six, so they all slept on the hardwood floor or wherever they could find some couch space.   Dustin and I got up Sunday morning and cooked them all breakfast, and after that they all headed out to shoot some more stuff ALL FREAKING DAY LONG!  I wouldn't have minded so much, but it was a gorgeous day and Dustin and I have A TON of crap to get done before the wedding.  Once they finally left around 5 that evening, they had fed Dustin enough alcohol to last me a lifetime, rendering him useless to me for the rest of the day!  Love it when my weekend plans get spoiled!

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine!

ShamRun 5k: Girl Scouts, Snow, and Prizes!

I get to do my first race recap today!!  Yay!  Prepare for a long-winded approach to a not so exciting race!

I woke up Saturday morning feeling pretty good.  I've been sick for almost a week, but I knew that I could ignore that fact for a few hours because nothing was stopping me from doing this race.

There was a skiff of snow on the ground at my house.  Translate that into town weather (I live about 26 miles from "town") and add a inch or two.  This made me a little nervous because I haven't ran much outside, let alone on snow/ice.  I packed myself up for a day in town and made the lovely drive in.  By the time I got there I was starting to get nervous, which made me mad, because I kept telling myself that "it's only a 5k."  Well, once I thought about it, it was my FIRST 5k and a chance to show myself that the hard work I've been doing has paid off.

Once I got to the high school track, which is where the race started (and finished), I felt better about the whole situation.  There weren't too many people, and I knew almost everyone there because of the small town atmosphere.  About 3 minutes after I arrived, several Girl Scouts started to come, and I learned that a local troop was doing the 5k walking portion.  Great, I get to hang out with the little kids all day.

So after a quick quarter mile race for some little kids, we got to the starting line.  The race director explained the course to us and then the Grand Marshall of the town's St. Patrick's Day Celebration started us off!

I started my iPod and was on my way.  Because of the snow and ice, they changed the course up and it was just going to be a out and back race.  It started with about 300 meters around the track and then onto the pavement.  Even though my feet were a little numb and I had some lovely phlegm building up, it felt good to RUN! 

Me and another lady I know only as an aquaintance started out pacing each other.  I was glad to have someone with me for the first half mile or so, but then she took off ahead of me.  I ran by myself for about the next mile and passed her when she decided to walk before the halfway point.  Not that I was in any way trying to spite her, but it felt good to know that I was able to run that whole way, as that was one of my goals for the race.

After turning back from halfway point, I began to have some doubts.  I knew I could run the whole thing, and I just kept telling myself to keep going and be proud of what I was accomplishing!  With about a half a mile to go I just kept my pace up (which for most is just a step ahead of a shuffle) and cranked up my tunes.  I got to the track, which was the last leg of the race, and pumped myself up to step up my game to pull out a great finish!  I made it about halfway around the track when I thought I was going to puke my guts out!  I was pushing myself, but I didn't think I was pushing THAT hard.  I quickly realized that it was probably from the cold meds I'd taken that morning.

The feeling passed just as quickly as it had came and I cranked it up for the last part of the lap!  It felt so good to finish!

STATS:
3.1 miles (I don't have a cool Garmin so I can't post multiple stats)
30:58 ~ 9:50 min/mile

My goal was to do it in 30 or under, but I just couldn't pull it out.  However, that is my first and only PR, so it will be something to beat next time!

I came in first in my age group!  I should let you all think I'm bad ass, but I was the only person in my age group.  Period.  I live in a small town, what can I say?

I came in first in the women's category.  Remember the other lady I was running with?  She was the only other woman to actually run the course, so I beat her.

I waited around because they were going to give out prizes.  My prize for winning my age group?  A box of store bakery cookies.  Pretty exciting, huh?  All in all, a great day!

More to come later for the rest of my weekend recap!

Exciting plans!

It's FRIDAY!!!  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!  I've got so much planned for tonight...want to hear it???


Dustin and I are going to park our butts on the couch and eat pizza and watch loads of TV!



We're so exciting!!  We aren't married yet, and we're still about as exciting as an old married couple can get (no offense to anyone for that comment).  A few years ago I would have been itching for something to do on the weekend, whether it be going out and drinking with my friends, BBQing and drinking with my friends, oh yeah, and drinking with my friends.

Don't get me wrong.  We still do this, probably more often than we should.  What I think is funny is that now we couldn't imagine doing that every single weekend!  How tiring!  I savour the weekend, I crave the weekend!  It's my time to clean the house, catch up with family, and just be generally lazy.  And now, it's my time for weekend long runs!!!

I just set my training schedule for my half.  I'm going with a 12-week program that technically won't start until the middle of May.  I'm going to use my two months before that to work up my mileage and see if I could switch to a harder better plan by then.  This all depends on how well I do from now until then.

And tomorrow is....the ShamRun 5k!  Yay!  I'm going to go home and put my outfit together!  After the race I'm going to shower at my parents and then go plant flowers at my soon-to-be-in-law's greenhouse.  Bet you never knew I worked at a greenhouse!  Of course you didn't, because I've never talked about it.  I worked there last year for a few months before my temporary job started up.  Even though it can get mundane, I love planting all the flowers and hanging baskets to sell!  I learned so much from that experience.

Plus, that is where I'm getting most of my wedding flowers from!  I picked out all sorts of annuals in colors for my wedding so that we can plant them around our house and in planters.  So much fun!

To everyone racing this weekend:

GOOD LUCK!

Three Things Thursday

I'm going to copy everyone else in the blogosphere and do a "Three Things Thursday".  Sorry to anyone who might get offended, but let's face it, everyone does it!  So I'm going to do it too!

1. Dustin is still sick.  I thought I was going to outsmart the cold, but I'm pretty sure that my lingering slight sore throat is soon going to become a full-fledged raging sore throat monster soon.  I'm not saying that because I want it to happen...it's just going to happen!  I hope I'm wrong because....
2. My first real 5k is on Saturday!!!!  I'm pretty excited, and sore throat be damned, I'm going to run that race.  I'm a little nervous about what to wear, because I am quite the fair-weather runner, and it's probably going to be colder than sin that morning.  I'm hoping that my current running gear is sufficient enough, because otherwise I'm going to have to come up with some makeshift cold weather gear that might make me look like a dork.  I'm used to that, though, so I don't know what I'm worried about!
3. I've won two giveaways in the bloggy world in the last 2 weeks!  Now I'm going for 3 for 3!!  Check out the right side of my blog for current giveaways that are happening.  I'll try to keep it updated.

Hope everyone has a great Thursday!