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!