A tale of two blogs

I will be posting over at my old blog www.xanga.com/jacquiandroy until I start up with training again for the Las Vegas Half marathon! Check me out over there!!

Team in Training

Okay, I need to make a very hard decision in the next day if I want to do Team in Training this fall, running the full (yes, that isn't a typo) Nike Woman's marathon in San Francisco. My partner in crime and former team teaching partner, Michelle, has asked me to do it with her. She is signed up and ready to go! Me on the other hand, I am having a hard time filling out the registration form because I am not 100% sure if I can do this. The kick off is this Saturday and I need to make up my mind tomorrow. I have always wanted to do TnT because it is an amazing opportunity to help those with LLS. I know I can do the run, but the fundraising part really scares me. I have the same friends/co workers as Michelle so it is going to be hard to ask each one to double dip. I know my family will pledge money and I know some friends will help out. I need help with thinking of ways to fundraise almost $4000!! Any help or suggestions on fundraising ideas would be helpful. I am trying to think outside of the box to ease my nerves about fundraising!!! I am not one to quit once I get started at a new challenge. Thank you!!!

Get out and Run...

because it is National Running Day!!

After work, I am going to the gym to do a quick 5k on the treadmill to celebrate!

Happy Running!

The world's worst Blogger

Yeah. I have been MIA for awhile.... really nothing has gone on here besides Roy's dealership closing down last week. He is collecting unemployment for the meantime. We are fine with money thanks to my teacher salary and being extremely lucky at the casino. More on that later. But we have good news for our 1 year anniversary!! We are going to MAUI!!!! I got an unbelievable flight from Vegas to Maui for only $353 round trip. We booked our vacation with Costco again. I think we got an amazing deal with hotel, the Sheraton at Ka'anapali which includes breakfast daily(food prices there are CRAZY expensive so free anything will help), convertible rental car and flight!! We leave the end of June!!!



pics from my friend's site YoungAloha.com of where we are staying in Ka'anapali


Have you ever been to Hawaii??

Week #3:

Well, I gained a pound this week. I thought it was going to be more because I haven't worked out since the half due to this head cold. I am not one to workout when I am sick. My body was ready to run again on Tuesday this time around!!! I was very excited about because it took me a month to recover from Vegas(I developed 2 stress fractures in my right foot). YEAH!! I only had mild stiffness in the knees when walking down my stairs and 2 rather large blisters, but that's about it.

Now I have started to think about "What's next??" along the lines of another half. (I have the fever!!:) I know I have Vegas in December, but that is 8 months away.

I was thinking the RnR Seattle on June 28th, giving me 11 weeks to train. I trained only 8 for the Havasu half. I need to talk to Alison to see if she will be around for a visit. She is my teacher friend, who is getting married here in Vegas and then moving to Seattle where her fiance is from :). She is a runner too and we have been talking about doing the RnR Seattle half together in 2010 so I will eventually get to run this race if it doesn't work out in 2009.

Another option: This race sounds fun: E.T Full moon half marathon in Rachel, NV. The race starts at Midnight in the middle of the desert near Area 51.

images from Flickr

funny thing is I found this picture when I googled ET Half marathon, a Flickr photo set showed up. I was looking through the pics when I came across this one. The girl in the FDNY is my friend Alison. LOL!!! Pictures were taken during the Catch the Gobble 5k in November.
One more option is a new, local race called the Hoover Dam Half Marathon on Halloween. Again, that's so far away, but I wouldn't have to spend money to travel.

Any suggestions?

Havasu Half Race Report

I ran my second half marathon this past weekend in Lake Havasu, Arizona.
Here is my review:
Course: Nice views of the lake. You get to run over the famous London Bridge not once, but twice since the course is a down and back.
Entertainment: None except for the National Anthem before we started.
Weather: The forecast said clear with highs in the lower 70's. The winds were 10mph with gusts to 30. FUN!
Amenities: Water and Gatorade every 1.5-2 miles, Port a Pots I think I saw 5 along the way.
Expo: I was in and out in less than 5 minutes. Well organized, but very small.
Size: SMALL. I think there were 350 runners total for the half?
Good for out-of-towners?: Definitely!
Post-race entertainment: Not sure, I walked back to my hotel.
Post-race food: There was a lot of food and drinks. 3 kinds of Gatorade, plenty of water, bagels, bananas.
Chip timing: No, they used a timing company. The results almost matched my Garmin dead on!!
Medal: See below.
Race shirt: White cotton T-shirt.
Race Day: The night before, we were in bed by 10ish because we knew we had a busy day ahead of us. Roy was going to watch the start of the race and then meet up with Bobby(my brother in law) to fish. We had the alarm set for 5:30am so I could get ready and eat something before leaving the hotel for the short trip to the park for the 7:10 line up. Well, for some reason-the phone rang at 4:30AM and woke us up! I tried to go back to sleep, but some drunk people next door wouldn't shut up!! UGH!! Spring breakers. Don't you know I am running 13.1 miles in 2 hours??? Man I feel 0ld saying that!! I think I fell back to sleep for a short bit and before you knew it, the alarm went off. I got up, got ready and was off to have the free continental breakfast the Hampton Inn offered us. I ate a bowl of oatmeal and a blueberry muffin. I had 2 GU ready for later.

It took us all of about 10 minutes to get to the starting line from the hotel. It was cold outside though. Maybe around 50 degrees hence the picture with my hoodie on!

A few minutes later, I got myself ready: Garmin, ipod, water bottle, gum, GU.
me ready to run

Lined up. The marathon offered several pacers during the race. I thought 2:30 would be a little slow since I wanted to PR. So, I stood by the girl with the 2:15 pace sign. That would be about a 10:15 minute mile pace which would beat my 10:55 pace at Vegas!

Off we went.

First mistake of the day happened during the first 5k: I started out too fast, but I was feeling good.

Mile 1: 9:51 (WOW)

Mile 2: 9:56

Mile 3: 10:17

Mile 3 is when the wind really started to hit us head on. I was still with the 2:15 pacer at this point. Good job so far. Mile 4 was another story.

Mile 4: 10:44 I started to get tired of the wind and my legs were already feeling it. Maybe it was the lack of sleep? Maybe I wasn't ready for the race. The 2:15 pacer left me in the dust. Then, people started screaming by me, like I was running backwards. I looked behind me to see the 2:30 pacer right on my heals. OH NO!! I though. There goes my PR and hopes for finishing a somewhat decent time. I have 9 more miles of this or atleast until the 8.5 mile turn around. I decided to have a Gu then for a pick me up. I knew we were closing in on the London Bridge and I wanted to take that part of the race in.

Mile 5: 10:42. We ran over the bridge and started a very hill and long down and back portion of the race. We ran by our hotel-it took a lot for me not to bow out and go back to bed. But I know once I saw the hotel again, there would only be 1.5 miles left in the race.

Mile 6: 11:24 The wind was blowing me head on which didn't make the hills any easier. I was starting to lose it.
Mile 7: 11:27 I took a walking break to compose myself. Just then, I saw my first runner running towards me. AHHHH!! The turn around is coming. I could do this-only 1.5 miles until the wind is at my back.
Mile 8: 11:39 I reached the turn around and walked a bit again. I took some Gatorade and Gu/water to regain some energy I lost in battling the wind.
Mile 9: 12:01 The course was not marked with mile marker signs, only spray painted mile numbers on the ground. It was hard to determine where you were at on the course. I thought I was at mile 10 this part of the course until I read my Garmin. SHIT- this is only mile 9!! Second mistake.

Mile 10: 11:51 At this point, I wanted to finish under 2:30 so I picked up the pace a bit. This section was mostly downhill and nice.

Mile 11: 12:34 I could feel a rather large blister forming on my right foot's big toe and along the side. It was starting to really hurt.
Mile 12: 11:29 I passed our hotel and thought only 1.5ish to go. I picked up the pace again and sucked up my blister pain. I would be done in 20 minutes if I run this fast. What is 20 minutes after running for over 2 hours?? Ah, the London Bridge again...almost done!

Mile 13: 11:24 I saw the turn for the finish line. Yeah! I am going to do it under 2:30.

13.1: 2:25:19

Offical Havasu Half Results

It is official.... I ran the Havasu Half Marathon in 2:25:19. Not too shabby considering I ran into a 15mph-25mph head wind for the first 8.5 miles until the turn around, plus there were pretty killer hills. More on that later. I started to feel a cold coming on yesterday and it is full blown today. Thank goodness we have spring break this week! I plan on writing a full race report later!

No change

on the scale that is. 133 this morning. I think that is a good thing since I didn't really watch it last week.

Update on the wind: It has been very windy overnight and is suppose to gust up to 40mph by the time we leave for Havasu. I am concerned because taking our boat with us! We are traveling through open desert to reach Havasu and I am hoping we aren't blown all over the road.

Here is the forecast for tomorrow: at the start 7 am 54 degrees with 10 mph winds. Perfect running weather!!

I have all of my running gear packed and ready to go. I charged all of my electronics: phone, Garmin, ipod, and camera. I have my 2 Gus ready to go thanks to my friend Alison, a teacher who works at one of my schools. She gave me a beautiful good luck card and my favorite kind of Gu yesterday. She is so sweet! Thanks again Alison. Have a great trip. :)

I leave you now with some pictures from my Las Vegas half. Passing mile 13! I am in the pink.

the ultimate end- the finish line!!

Happy 8 month anniversary!

pictures taken by The Cohens Photography

I loved my peonies!!!

Final Run before Havasu

Yeah, I know, I was bad this weekend. I was totally lazy and didn't do my long run. However, I did get my dress rehearsal in today after school. I tested out my marathon outfit and new play list I made for Havasu and ended up running 4.25 miles on the treadmill today. I felt really good. I hope I feel just as good on Saturday. The only thing that bothered me was this guy running next to me-FLAT FOOTED. Don't you hate it when people stomp on the treadmill? I tried turning up my tunes though I could still hear his big feet hitting the treadmill!!Then, I give him the teacher stare but it didn't work either. UGH! So annoying!
Only 3 more days of work and it's Spring Break!!! YEAH.
Havasu here I come...

the famous London Bridge I will be running over!

Random post of the week

I was reading a random blog today and discovered that Nutella, the creamy and dreamy, hazelnut spread Giada always uses on Everyday Italian is made in my hometown of Somerset, New Jersey. How crazy is that??

1 Week until my next Half!!

I can't believe I have one more week until my half marathon on Havasu.

Here is the plan for the week:

Saturday: 5 miles outside

Sunday: off

Monday: cross train for 35 minutes

Tuesday: Run 2 miles easy

Wednesday: walk 45 minutes

Thursday: easy 2 miles

Friday: stretch (I am taking a flex day off from work)

Saturday: Race

Week 1 Weigh in:

I am dowm 2.4 pounds!! I am 133.0!!!Yippee!!!

Hello Lover

I mean Garmin 305!!

I never did post any pictures from my birthday 2 weeks ago.

Better late than never

Step 5: Before picture:

I have an apple body type as I carry my weight around my middle.

Super Sore and Step 8:

Man-I am feeling my 10 miler today. Mostly in my hip area when I cross my legs at my desk. I am thinking I will On Demand a yoga video when I get home and stretch my legs out. I probably should have done some walking yesterday to ease the tightness a bit. I did walk through Costco, does that count? lol
I am really glad I did my 10 miler on Saturday becasue the weather here has been horrible outside. I am offically in taperville for my half marathon in 2 weeks. Yeah! I am so excited for spring break it isn't funny. I need a vacay because I haven't left Las Vegas since the honeymoon in August. I am glad to get out of here for the weekend. Roy is excited as well since he will be fishing in a new lake.
Step 8: Health Snacks
We went to Costco and Wal-Mart to stock up on healthy snacks for the house.
Today, I brought with me to work:
morning snack: 15 Kashi crackers(130), a cup of strawberries(the ones from Costco are delicious! 50)

Lunch:

yogurt (90)

Fiber One bar (140)

afternoon treat: Jello sugar free creme brulee rice pudding(70)

Totals: 480 calories! It is a ton of food! I still have around 500 for dinner. Now, the hard part is to log this information I just wrote into sparkpeople. lol
I WILL post my before pictures tonight so I can have done all 8 steps for the challenge!

10 miler-Done!

Yes, I was able to sneak my long run in this morning before the weather turned bad. The forecast was for 20-30 mph winds developing this afternoon and continuing on until tomorrow. Roy had to get up at 7 to be work for 8 so I was up anyways. I looked outside and saw the wind wasn't too bad and decided to get my run done asap. I laced up, grabbed my Garmin/iPod, water bottle and was out the door at 8. My first 10k was great. My legs felt great. I averaged under 10 minute miles with the wind aiding me from behind. I made my right turn onto WS. It was all downhill for the next 1.5 miles until my right town onto S. Street, back towards home. Then, smack...the wind hit me dead on. I slowed my pace a bit to 10:20, ate my Gu. Today, I tried Cliff Shot in the Mocha flavor.

It was gross. I prefer my Chocolate Powerbar Gu and will use it for the half marathon.

The next 3 miles averaged10+ a mile. The wind was really getting to me. It was blowing probably 15-20mph the whole way! I made my last right turn onto C Road and the wind was there again. UGH. I couldn't win. My last 1.5 miles was good, with my legs feeling okay, but my head started to hurt because I was running out of water. My 10 mile run took me 1:42 with an average pace of 10:17. I am on pace to PR in Havasu if I hold on to that pace. Here is a break down per mile:

mile 1: 9:52

mile 2: 9:37

mile 3: 10:11

mile 4: 9:52

mile 5: 10:44

mile 6: 10:00

mile 7: 10:44

mile 8: 10:00

mile 9: 9:04

mile 10: 9:26

.5 walk home.

Total distance: 10.01 miles

Average pace: 10:17

Calories: 1082

I love my Garmin!!

Weigh in Day and a contest

Today, I weighted in at 135.4! I still need to get those pictures posted and I think it will happen tomorrow when my DH is at work.

For all you runners out there, check out this blog for an amazing blog giveaway geared towards running!! Good Luck everyone at both the 20/20 and the blog giveaway.

Step 7:

I know I am doing the steps out of order and I will post my before pics tomorrow on the official starting day.

Step 7 is to the educate yourself. Ash is Fit suggests going to the library to familiarize yourself with health and fitness information that is out there. I usually go to the library once a week during my summer vacation. One nice thing about our libraries in Vegas is the online book reservation ability. You search the catalogue, find a book you like, and reserve the book and pick it up at the nearest library. It is so nice!

The other way I get health and fitness knowledge is by subscribing to magazines. I am a magazinoholic.

I get:(these are only my health and fitness ones :)

Fitness

Self

Shape

Runners World

Cooking Light

Everyday Food

Food Network magazine

I cut out the articles/recipes I like and put them in folders.

I also use Sparkpeople.com to calculate my caloric intake. I read the Fitness board on thenest.com to get new ideas on working out.

I am super excited to get this extra weight off me! See you all tomorrow!

So proud of myself!

I think today was the first time in awhile that I actually recorded and measured everything that I ate. I am using Sparkpeople as my food journal because it is easy and I can get it at school on any computer since it is not filtered. I thought I should get started a couple of days early, just to get into the routine before Friday. Roy is taking my before pictures later on tonight and I will post them tomorrow.

Step 6

I have been watching the Biggest Loser now for the past 6 seasons it has been on TV. I find the show very inspiring and moving, except when all they do is cry. lol Last night's show was awesome. The contestants ran a half marathon-2 of them ran the marathon in around the same time I did for Vegas and they are 200 pounds+. That bummed me out a bit, but it is just more motivation to PR at Havasu.

Back to Step 6. I am sure if you a Biggest Loser Fan, you have seen the commercials on the Pound for Pound Challenge. Our next requirement for the 20/20 Challenge is to sign up for the Pound for Pound Challenge. All you have to do is sign up and then visit the site again by May 5 to show how much weight you have lost. For each pound of food you lost, a pound of food will be donated to a local food shelter to feed the hungry. I quickly signed up this morning-took all of 3 minutes to do!! Sign up today!

Step 3 and 4

Food planning: start keeping track of what I put in my mouth and don't eat because Roy is eating.
I am going to start keeping track of my food intake in a food journal. This has always been hard for me-I love to eat and hate being hungry. I should start using Sparkpeople to calculate how much I am eating. I had success using the 3 month journal from WW because it was small enough to fit in my purse. I am not sure what I am going to do. I have to decide fast and stick to it because I sometimes forget or miscalculate what and how much I have eaten. This time, I have all of my measuring cups ready to go. I think I have have 4 different sets: one from Pampered Chef, one from Ikea, another from Wal-mart and the last one is from William Sonoma. There is no guessing this time around. hee hee
Working out: 3-4 days a week
This is the easy part for me as I am training for my second half marathon. I have only 3 weeks until the marathon and I will be tapering starting on Monday. I generally run 3-4 times a week, 1 run being my long run outside. I haven't been lifting weights as I have in the past. I think am going to start lifting again after the marathon. Also, I am going to start going back to yoga. I have been having sciatica back pain so I think the yoga will help.
What is everyone else doing?

135 UGH!!!

I know I am a couple of days early to put my weight out for everyone to see. Yup, I have officially gained 7 pounds of love chub since the wedding in August. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but I can really feel it in my pants and my clothes, especially in my jeans. It is starting to get warmer here in Vegas and I need to be able to fit into my capris for work. I haven't tried them on since last summer and I am beginning to worry.
I am so glad this weight loss challenge is here to put some accountability behind my weight loss. I was even thinking about joining WW again though got discouraged about paying all that money to weigh in every week. At least this is free. :) Bonus!! I know will do well because I don't like to fail in front of people. I am really excited to start and see how everyone else is doing out there.
Today, I am going for a 45 minute run after school. I don't have a route planned, just going to play with the Garmin 305 and see where it takes me! :)
Tomorrow, I am going to go to the gym and do some cross training. Thursday, I am back outside to run again for 45-60 minutes. I have my last long run of 10 miles this weekend, of course it is going to be windy. I have no choice but to run in it!

Step 2

Here are my goals for the 20 in 20 Challenge.
5 pounds: New Bare Escentuals makeup



7 pounds: White House Black Market dress


10 pounds: nice dinner out at the M resort
Goal weight 125 pounds: Spa Day

8 miles instead of 10

I had a 10 mile run on the schedule for either this weekend or next to do before the marathon. I was only able to do 8 today in 1 hr and 16 minutes. I probably could have banged out more but I was so hot due to the fact that I overdressed. I wore my long sleeved Under Armour cold gear and I overheated by mile 2. It sucked. I should have known better with it being 55 degrees at 10am and the high today in Vegas was suppose to be 75. I got 2 blisters on my right foot and had a bloody sock once I returned home. I have to, I mean I am going to get my 10 miler in next weekend so I can properly taper before the Havasu Half.
Til tomorrow.

Here goes nothing...

Okay, I am going to stop talking about how fat I feel and how my 6s don't fit as well as they used to....I am joining my first cyber weight loss group, the 20 in 20 challenge over on Ash is Fit. I have been lurking her site for many months and thought this would be a good way to put some accountability behind me losing the love chub I have gained in the last 7 months since I got married. I only have about gained 5 since the wedding, but I am 10 from my goal weight I set when I was in WW. I am going to start on Tuesday since tomorrow my parents are taking us out for my birthday to the new M buffet. Here is my basal metabolic rate: 1384.9.

My plan: To workout 4 days a week and to eat clean

My goal: To lose the last 10 pounds I have tried and tried to loose for the past 3 or so years.

To

On another note, I am off to do my long run today in a little bit with my new birthday present from Roy. The Garmin 305!! I am so excited to see how fast I have been running because I have no idea. I run on the streets of Vegas and there is a traffic light about every mile. YEAH!!!

3 weeks to go and HELLO!

Hello world and Blogspot. I am not new to the blogging world as I had a wedding blog over on Xanga for almost 2 years. I was married on August 2nd and decided to switch the theme from wedding to running. The problem was I found there were more runners over here then on Xanga. My Google Reader is full of running blogs and I never had an account to share my experiences. Now I do. :)

Here is my story. I am a 33 years old elementary school technology specialist living in Las Vegas with her hubby, Roy. We are originally from New Jersey, but met out here 5 years ago. I was never an athlete in HS, in fact I was in the band. I was always around 30 pounds overweight until recently when in 2003, I decided enough was enough and decided to run the Race for the Cure. I couldn't even run 10 minutes back then. I trained (this was before the C25K plan) and was able to run the whole race in I think 38 minutes. Now, I can run 3 miles in just under 30 minutes. I ran my first half marathon on December 7 here in Vegas in 2:21. Not the time I was hoping for, though it was a start. Now, I am in the 3 week count down until my 2nd half marathon in Lake Havasu, AZ on April 4th.

I look forward to meeting you all!