Frustration and success

So I started off my day with frustration. I know "they" say when you are tryin to lose weight you should only weight yourself once a week but I can't help it and I weight myself nearly every day. For the past week I have been really good and I have not been able to break 215.2. I hope that one day I will just just down a couple pounds, but I was really hoping that day would be today. Well, it wasn't. I figured after yesterdays long run it wouldn't be because of fluid retention and all that mumbo jumbo but I was still hoping. Well, that is just more insentive to be really on track, unless it lasts to long. I would get discouraged then. I know that as long as I am working out and being honest with my calories I will lose weight. I just have to hold on and wait it out. 

I had some more discouragement, I went to play DVD and our DVD player was broken. :( Well, I decided that if it was broken already I couldn't do any worse by taking it apart to clean the lens. I got the screwdriver and some lens cleaner and got to work. Have you ever wondered what the inside of a DVD player looked like, here it is. 

Well it took a little time but I got to the lens. After a good cleaning and drying it I put everything back together in hopes that it worked. SUCCSS! I now get to watch the movie. 

Rylie is having her play date with Grace. I guess it is more Rylie watches Grace crawl around and wishes she could crawl too. 

After Grace leaves I will have to do my run. I have not decided to run outside or on the treadmill. I will probably do it on the treadmill. It won't be as hot and Rylie can nap during it. Let's face it she naps in the stroller too. 

Victory: I when my pancakes were gross and I didn't want to eat them, I didn't eat junk food. 

Catching up

What a great day today! I dragged myself out of bed to see Michael off this morning to start my day off right. I wish it was easier for me to get up in the mornings but it has always been a struggle. No matter how early I go to bed. 

After Michael left Rylie was still sleeping so I crawled into bed to play on my phone a little bit (one of my favorite things to do) and then a little later Rylie woke up. I had a lot to do today and I wanted to do my long run so I decided to get an early start on my run. I like to do my long runs on a bike path near my house that is nice and mostly flat. I was there by 9:30, which is early for me, and was off running. I was tired but quickly got in the groove and was even enjoying myself. I was going a little slower pace but I really did not want to take any walk breaks. 

There was 5.5 on my schedule but I really wanted to do 6 so that I could say I ran 6 miles without stopping. I ran to my 3 mile mark and turned around to head back to the car. I was feeling great. Then mile 5 hit. That was not a great mile. To distract myself from wanting to stop and walk I made up a little game. 

The path I was on paralleled a somewhat busy road in that section so I made up a game of counting south bound car and north bound car and equaling them out. So if there was one car going south and two cars going north the total after the cars had passed me was "one north". It was a running tally and at times it was hard because they would pass at the same time. Sounds kind of funny but it worked. I made it through mile 5 without walking. I even made it up the slight up hill part going strong. Yeah me! Haha 

Mile 6 was a lot easier then mile 5. I did not fully decided on 5.5 or 6 miles until I got to 5.5 miles. I figured I was almost there and what is a half of a mile when I had already done 5.5. Plus, I thought it would be more fun to say that I ran 6 miles without stopping rather then 5 and a half miles without stopping. I am so weird sometimes. 

Just as I was parking at the trail one of my old roommates texted me and said she and some other roommates were getting together to catch up this afternoon and wondered if I wanted to join. My errands today were going to take me right by her house and so I told them I could not stay long, because of work, but I would love to come. I got done with my errands earlier then expected so I headed right over. 

It was so fun! It has been a long time sence we have all seen eachother. Three out of the four of us have babies now and the fourth is trying. Rylie loved having all the babies there. She was laughing the whole time. 

We just sat around and chat for about an hour until we had to leave. I was glad I was not the only one that had to leave early. We decided that we should do a get together once a month. I am going to host it next month. That simply means it will be at my house. I thought about doing some snacks or some kind of food but with trying to lose weight I don't want to have to deal with that and it was just fine without food today. 

As soon as I got home it was time to get ready for work. Fun fun. At least today I only work until midnight. Rylie has another play date tomorrow with Grace. 

Victory: Ran 6 miles without stopping! I went to McDonalds without getting fries. I love McDonalds fries! 

Date night bike ride

After my night shift yesterday I couldn't find the motivation to go for my run. Especially because Michael and I had planned on going on a bike ride when he got home from work. I decided around 3 that it was official that I was not going to run today. I planned out that I would do my long run tomorrow, 5.5 miles. Then 2.5 miles on Thursday and 3 miles on Friday. Rest days are part of the plan. I just need to make sure that a change in the plan doesn't stop the plan, run a marathon and get fit. 

For our bike ride we went to a local trail right near our house. Michael biked there but I am not quite there yet. I have walked there before but it is straight uphill and takes some effort. I saved my energy for the trail. I have biked it before but mainly hiked it. I got my mountain bike in the summer of 2011 when we were just newly married. I am pretty slow especially compared to Michael who has been mountain biking for a long time. I don't feel comfortable going alone, because I might fall, and it is hard for Michael because I was so slow and stopped a lot. I then got pregnant and then I didn't go biking until I had Rylie. I remember the first time biking after I had Rylie was when she was about six weeks old and we did the same trail. It was fun but quickly after the ride the weather turned cold and rainy and that leads us to today. 

Today's ride was a little better then the one when Rylie was six weeks old but I still had to stop often. I felt a lot better about it and felt like, even though I was stopping, I was stronger. 

I also in a much better place emotionally! Before I started losing weight I was very low emotionally. When I was not able to do something physically or get out of breath, I would focus on what I could not do. I was very hard on myself. Today, even though I had to stop or even walk part of the trail, I would be excited that I had done the part I did or how far I have made it, or even how happy I was. 

It was a great day and perfect weather for our ride. It was defiantly a feel good day! I will now eat my night time treat. Yum yum! 

Victory: I didn't go over calories today even though I was feeling VERY snacky all day, and I saved some for my night time treat. 

Do you want some graham crackers

The computer at work is not working to post from so this is from my phone. Let's she how this goes. 

I was excited today when I discovered how much Rylie LOVES graham crackers. 

The only down fall is that I love them too! As I was giving her some to feed herself I would play the one for you, one for me game. Calories from graham crackers add up fast! She had more then me and made a mess doing it and loved it. 

She loved them so much I gave her some later in the day too. 

Michael was too nervous to let her eat them after I left and so he took them away. Cute nervous dad! Soon enough he will got use to it. 

I have a hard time getting outside to run when I work that night and so with that being the case today as soon as Rylie went down for her nap I got right on. I was able to run the 2 miles on my schedule in 35:28. I did the math and I was able to shave off 55 seconds off of my average from my treadmill run last Monday. I felt really good about that! I run much slower on the treadmill then outside. I know that for some people it is the other way around. Michael agrees with me that treadmill run are harder. It is nice to be able to do it inside, watch tv as a distraction, and go a constant pace. 

As soon as I finished with my run I did a work out video from sparkpeople. There is a 28 day challenge of a different workout video for 28 days in a row I want to do. I don't want to start it until I get back from New York but I will do the videos this week along with my run to get a little preview. The video was a nice addition to the run. I felt silly like I always do trying to follow a video but that is the comfort of doing it in your own home. No one can see you. There is the downfall of you have to be accountable to only yourself but until I get a little more coordination I would much rather have it that way. 

The video was not hard but defiantly got me sweating again. It was only 10 minutes, all of the 28 day challenge videos are 10 minutes, but I was excited when it was done. When I was about 10 seconds away from finishing my cool down I heard the little lady wake up. Perfect timing. Haha

So my new favorite shake is what I call a Wendy's shake. I modified a mock Wendy's frosty recipe to be a protein shake and it tastes sooo good. A Wendy's frosty is my favorite dessert and now I made it into a protein shake that is only around 200 calorie. Totally worth it! 

Rylie watched me make one and then I had my shake as I gave her a bottle then it was time to get ready for work and then as soon as Michael got home I was to leave. I will be glad when I no longer have to do that but as for now it's the way it is. 

Victory: ran 55 seconds faster then a week ago. 

Marathon excitement

If anyone has ever had the smallest amount of desire to start running they should just go and be a spectator during a race. The energy is so invigorating and exciting. It just makes you want to be part of it! Let me explain, my husband, Michael, ran a marathon yesterday and Rylie and I were his support and cheerleaders. We would go to different places along the race and waiting for him to cross our path.

Not a very close picture but Michael is in a blue shirt and red shorts

We then cheer him on, give him a hug, rub his feet, and give him some snacks. It is only a few moments during the race of seeing him but the support is so welcoming. After he takes off running again we drive to the next spot and do it all over again until the finish line. The excitement and energy from the spectators and the race entertainment is very fun and energetic. I studied the runners to see if they showed any signs of the not so fun side of running to know that I was not alone in it. There was sweating from random places, bloody nipples (my bra should help with that), leaking boob, poor form, and others. I really enjoyed seeing that to help me know I was not alone and to be able to see that it takes a tole on even the most fit athletes.  It is HARD and CHALLENGING to run 26.2 miles. It takes a lot out of you, I can only assume, but the victory of the challenge is well worth it.

I had a great spot then at the last minute one of the workers walked in the way

Michael, rightfully so, was very tired after he crossed the finish line. I was holding out his phone because it was very congested and somewhat of a maze after the finish line and he waved a "no way am I walking over there to get my phone. I am going to go sit down." The other supporters around me laughed with me. I told them we would have to find each other the "old fashion way" of meander and search. He ended up using someone else phone to call me. He said that he should have just got his phone but he was just so tired. Haha.
There was this other supporter at the finish line with a poster that I had to snap a picture of.

I will have to remember this when I am running my marathon. That's right, MY marathon! I have been toying around with possibly running a marathon instead of a half marathon in the fall and yesterday I made an official decision, FULL MARATHON! Crazy right?!? I am so excited. Every time Michael winces or moans from his sore muscles he asks if I am excited for my turn and I just respond with a resounding "YES". I know it will be hard and I can only assume that a least one before I cross the finish line I will not want to do it anymore but that it the challenge. Pushing yourself to do something that is hard. I can do hard thing and I WILL do a marathon.

Victory: Deciding 100% to do a marathon and being excited about it.

A year later...

I have had a lot going on lately that I have decided to start blogging again so I can keep track of it. The main thing that is going on for me is I have started to lose weight and have started running. I keep surprising myself with what I can do. I have started to make a note in my head about something that was a victory for me each day. Some of my victories in the past two months have been,

 I started to watch what I ate. 

I started working out.

 I was able to run a mile without stopping.

I ran five miles! (I was really excited and surprised about that one)

I lost one pound

I lost ten pounds

I FELT like I lost weight

I chose to say no to sweets

I was able to were clothes that were to small for me a month ago

There were others but those are the ones I remember most prevalent. I love what I am able to accomplish when I put my mind to it. Hard work reaps benefits!

I love my running scenery! This post is a starting point for tomorrow.

Victory today : I CHOSE to run up hill! I also wrote this post!

Have a happy tomorrow!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year 

Happy 2013

We had a great time of saying goodbye to 2012 and welcoming in 2013 with family at Mike's brothers house  We even danced away our worries of 2012 to help celebrate a new year. My goodbye was to apartments and Michael's was to his old job delivering doors. Look at us being all grown up. I still feel like a young kid but I guess that is even what the older people say hu? Note about the coat even though we are inside, I don't think I have taken that coat off since winter hit. I have even taken a nap wearing it. I don't remember being this cold last year.

To ring in the new year we hit the slopes. 

 

We went to one of Mike's favorite places, Powder Mountain. It is where he learned to ski way back when. We love to go night skiing for the convenience and the price difference. It was a great day with clear weather. We could even see the stars as we were skiing. 

 

 

I love to have adventures and this day was not any different. On the first run of the day we got to the top and my wonderful skier of a husband waited for me to buckle my bindings on my snowboard (I will have to say that this is the most annoying thing about snowboarding). I finished buckling and in a show off manner to my husband, start to go down the trail. I am cruising along and stop to look back for him. He is not there. I see him through the thin line of trees on the next run over asking what I was doing and I responded "waiting for him" and took off thinking that the two trails combined a little further down the hill. Well, I thought wrong. I was over farther then I thought and was on the service road. I guess I should have brushed up my memory of the tails before heading out. I did not realize I was on the service road until I was rather far away from the ski area. I had tried to call Michael on his phone but no answer. He usually leaves his phone in the car when we go skiing. I evaluated my scenario of three options, one, walk back up the hill and get on the right run, two, walk down the hill and then down the road to the ski area, or three, get on my board and take my chances going straight down the hill in a foot and a half of powder. I decided to go with option two but continually looked for a safe place to try option three. In all it took me about 45 minute to complete my first run of the night. 

 

As I was returning I was thinking that Michael would be so worried as to where I was and even debating on whether or not to call the snow patrol (Like an ambulance but on the slopes. It consists of skiers and sleds.). he was not at the car,  he was not at the lodge telling the workers that his wife was lost, he was not in the parking lot wondering where I was. I decide to wait at the lift for him and not two minutes later he shows up, skiing down the hill. I spot him and am ready to tell him about my adventure. I ask, "were you wondering where I was?", but HE KNEW. He knew I was on the road and had tried to tell my I just could not hear him. He knew the road lead up to the houses and then down to the regular road which lead back to the ski area. He had just been skiing watching for me to come back. Haha. Oh my adventures. 

 

 

The rest of the night was fabulous skiing and snowboarding. There was the perfect amount of powder for me. The trails are not all groomed but you don't loose your feet in the snow. The only bad part about the rest of the night was that it was in the single digits. I tried to find the temperature but couldn't. The forecast was to be 17 as a high for the day and -2 for a low. I am guessing that it was around 5 degrees. When I would tuck my chin into my coat after a run it would be all tingly. 

 

Yum Yum

 

Always a after skiing tradition, hot chocolate. I prefer the 7eleven hot chocolate but Mavrick has to do when we go to Powder Mountain, no 7eleven around.

Now its time to back it up a little to before Christmas, we got a new dog.

 

Mac

 

 

This is Mac-a-do, big Mac, Mac-n-chees, Mac daddy or just plane Mac will do. We got him from Michael's brother. He is a 96 pound Gray Labrador. He is a full breed lab but his coloring is similar to that of a blue healer. He is about a a month younger then Fitz and they are always together.

 

 

 

Don't get run over

They both love to run around and be crazy dogs. Mac's eyes are a little crazy in this photo I think but he looks very happy to be out in the snow.

Fitz

Fitz loves anything outdoors. Its loves to lay down in the snow and eat it. Mac is a great addition to our little family

One of my new Christmas decorations

We had a wonderful Christmas party with Mike's family the Saturday before Christmas. His Family is getting so big with all the in-laws and nieces and nephews that we reserved the church this year. The night was full of activities and songs and a wonderful video of photos from the year. We were having so much fun that we had to skip some of the parts just because it was already so late. It was a wonderful night with great food and full of love of family.

We had a great Christmas even with the fact that I had to work Christmas Eve, Christmas night and the night after Christmas (when you work in a hospital someone has to do it). Christmas Eve we stayed at home. We made a nice dinner and ate it in front of the fire. We roasted marshmallows and watched Joy to the World, the LDS video about the Nativity in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and then we exchanged one gift.

I painted this

Then Christmas morning came! I did not expect it but still at 27 years old I was excited to see what "Santa" had brought me. Growing up stocking were a hit and miss each year. I don't know if that is the reason or if I just love it on its own but I love stockings, and I can fill a pretty good one if I do say so myself, nothing about five dollars though. You would think that with having to work the night shift that night I would have been more egar to follow my husbands suggestions of sleeping in longer then 7am. I would lay there a little longer then wisper in his ear, "But it Christmas! The presents! Santa came!" This is making it seem like I am all about the presents but I actually love the whole Christmas season and giving presents more then I love getting them. Most of my excitement was for him to open the presents from me but when Christmas morning hits I want to know what I got as well. He managed to keep me laying there for about a half hour more and then he gave in. 

We opened our stockings right away and then made breakfast. French toast with home made bread. Yum yum. It is the BEST! It takes a while though so as it cooked we opened presents. Michael got me what I asked for, a outside thermometer that has a display inside and a craft table. I got him a frame for his diploma, a University of Utah Alumni license plate cover and I made him coasters because he HATES the sound of glass on glass and we have a glass coffee table.

After that we went over to my families for Christmas dinner/lunch and presents. We were able to video chat  with my brother and his family in Georgia (I am so grateful to have this kind of technology available to us). It is always nice to be able to be with family for the holidays even if it is through a computer screen. As my time to go to work came close I had to leave the festivities and go home to change. That was not very fun but I managed to get through it. After I left Michael when up to his families Christmas dinner to end the day. 

We have not yet put away the decorations but the tree is no longer plugged in and as soon as I have a day off of work I will put it all away for next year. I love Christmas and the feeling I get each year that inspires me to be a better me and to love a little more because Jesus Christ came here to Earth because He loved us so much. I know that He loves me and I know that He lives. I love how I feel knowing that.