That just happened.

The Year I Got My Life Back

Lots of great things have happened this year, but the most notable thing is how much more active our lifestyle is! Now that I've finished my 10th race event of the year, I thought I'd do a little retrospective. This time last year, I never would have DREAMED I was capable of doing all of this, including losing 55 pounds. But walking has done wonders for me, and I've learned just how much I CAN do! The races have been fun, great for accountability, and a good gauge to see how far I've come in my training, but what's really great is how all this has affected my day-to-day life. I can hop on my bike and ride down to the park with the kids... I can play on the playground equipment... I can run around... I can dance and dance (I didn't say I can dance well)... I can go to San Francisco and walk the crazy hills and still be OK at the end of the day... I can take my son to the zoo and see every single animal... My life is different and better, and I'm excited to see where I'll be in another year! Shout outs to Brenda, Ashley, Meredith, Erin & Madeleine, Ketti, Cassi, Mike, Elias, Victoria, Mom & Dad, Aunt Dee, Doni, Elizabeth & Rosanna for all the love and support throughout the year. What's written below is more for me, but I'm happy to share with anyone who is interested in reading it.

Race for the Cure 5K: April 9, 2011

My first race event ever, and my daughter’s first as well. We were early-on in our training and our weekly walks were only about 2-4 miles. I woke up late and almost didn’t bother going. But we showed up just in time, except the roads had already been blocked off. We parked at least a mile away from the race start and started power walking toward the starting line. The super-fast runners started coming our direction and we couldn’t even see the start line yet! Then, the big herd of runners started to show up and we passed Brenda, walking hard and fast against the racers. We finally made it to the beginning, thought I didn’t actually make it to the actual start line with 14,000 participants, but began about 100 feet away from it. We found our friends Erin & Madeleine, who were so nice to wait for us, and then started walking (already exhausted just from getting to the start – lol). Fun walk overall; I got a blister or two and was just happy to finish my first 5K, hand-in-hand with Erin. Huge accomplishment for me.

 


Heels & Hills 10K: May 1, 2011

My first 10K ever! Rainy & cold, but so proud to finish! The day started off horribly – it was the first day of my short-lived quitting smoking regimen, drove to Las Colinas in heavy rain, got my breakfast all over my shirt while driving, so I had to change into the race shirt in a stairwell at the event, which was a size or two too small. Luckily I had a poncho on over that! lol Meredith and I walked 95% of this (jogged a little here and there to keep up), so we were finishing the 10K while those around us were finishing the half-marathon. Turns out we were handed a medal that I later learned was for the half-marathon finishers – oops! Oh well, it’s a nice memento. I got some nasty blisters and I could hardly even walk around the house for a week. This prompted the discovery of Body Glide on my feet & I learned about GOOD socks.

 

Buffalo Boogie 5K: May 7, 2011

A lovely, small, nature-y race event I did with my family. It was Mike & Elias’ first 5K – we all did great! It was a pretty uneven path and I was still a bit sore from the 10K the week before, but overall we had a great experience out at the Fort Worth Nature Center & Wildlife Refuge. This event had tons of families and doggies and I would love to do this event every year.

 

Firemen’s 5K: May 28, 2011

This 5K was the best race time I had all year (16 minute miles walk/jogging, but mostly walking). The scenery/neighborhoods were fantastic and the event overall was small enough that parking wasn’t a problem, but big enough to be fun. This was probably the most well-planned & executed small race event I have ever been to. Great time had by all, for a great cause! I would do this event every year too.

 

American Heroes 10K: May 30, 2011

Oh, this race... This race still irks me because I didn’t finish it. I got right up to mile 5 of the 10K and after multiple attempts to scoop me up from the back of the pack, I finally caved in and let a police officer take me in on a golf cart. I was in a lot of pain and had been crying as I walked for about a mile or so, and once I was dropped off at the finish, I was so ashamed, I didn’t even go pick up my race T-shirt (they hadn’t been available yet when I did packet pick-up earlier that week). It was a nice route around the ballpark though, and a very well-planned race, complete with a touching military flyover (being on Memorial Day and all), 21-gun salute, and a Blackhawk helicopter on-site. The only photo I have of me at this event, since I did it by myself, is this one. I’m on the right-ish in a turquoise shirt with my signature hot pink headband. I was scared to keep going and scared to quit. At the first 10K, I pushed through the foot pain and got hurt, so I was torn between pushing myself and listening to my body. Push through the pain at the risk of an injury? I wasn’t sure. I hate giving up and I am super-competitive, so I was pretty hard on myself after this race. This race prompted me to make an appointment with an awesome foot doctor who made me some custom orthotics, which helped a ton.

 

Firefly 5K: June 4, 2011

This was our second 5K event as a family. A nighttime run with glow-in-the-dark everything. I have a LOT of gripes about the way this race was put together, but I won’t bash the organizers – they received enough feedback already. From what I understand, they experienced a HUGE amount of growth this year and were just ill-prepared. I have faith that next year will be great and they learned a lot from this year. It’s a REALLY cute and fun concept and supports a great cause (Children’s Medical Center), so I would consider doing it again.

 

Trinity Bright 5K: October 1, 2011

A fun, leisurely walk on a beautiful course through Trinity Park in Fort Worth (unless of course you want to run) ;). Family-friendly, Halloween costume-friendly and the perfect time of year to be outside in North Texas. The registration fee was inexpensive and the event was just gorgeous – everyone should be doing this race! And it supports an amazing cause — The Forever Trinity Dream Foundation and The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation.

 

Komen 3-day for the Cure 60-mile walk: November 4-6, 2011

Prepping for this event is what started it all – the pièce de résistance that all of this training was for. ‘Nuff said. I could write a novel about this event alone – there is just too much to say to do it concisely. If you were there, you know.

   


Arlington Turkey Trot 5K: November 24, 2011

Why stop after the 3-Day? We don’t want all that hard work to go to waste, so I decided to walk this 5K with my family on Thanksgiving Day, as a commitment to health (on quite possibly the unhealthiest day of the year). Beautiful course around the ballpark amidst the gorgeous trees changing colors in the fall weather – love it! Very well-executed event which was fun, short and sweet, with no traffic problems, and it got us all home in time to start cooking and before the traffic piled up for the Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game. I hope we make this a family tradition.

 

Don Zetnick Winter Run 10K: December 3, 2011

This was a fun little 10K walk around UTA and neighborhoods west in its 34^th year in Arlington! The race benefited YMCA of Arlington and there was also a 1k and a 2-mile – very family-friendly. Meredith and I walked 90% or more of it and were the last to finish – woohoo! But with the little bit of jogging we did do, we were able to maintain a 17.75 mile pace. I think everyone was just ready to get out of the rain. I wanted to finish out the year with an even 10 races, and I did!!

My wall of race bib "trophies" from the year!
(there were no bibs for the Buffalo Boogie 5K, so I only have nine) 

Personal Goal

Let me preface this post by saying I know we all have a charitable cause that is near and dear to us — I have donated to friends walking for everything from heart disease to diabetes, autism, leukemia and suicide prevention, and I've even hosted benefits at my home to support a local program for young girls who age out of foster care with nowhere to go.

But this November, for the first time, I will be the participant. I'm walking in the Komen 3-Day for the Cure — that's 60 miles over the course of three days! I've agreed to raise at least $2,300 in donations, so I need your help. Keep in mind how far I'm walking... and how hard I'll have to train from now until November. Just follow the link below to visit my personal fundraising webpage and make a donation or call 800-996-3DAY to donate over the phone.

My personal fundraising page: http://bit.ly/fJXdWx

I am walking side-by-side with one of my best friends, Brenda, whose mother passed away just before Thanksgiving 2010. Brenda's mom beat breast cancer in 2007, however, the life-saving chemo and radiation treatments she endured caused several new ailments over the last three years of her life. What ultimately ended her battle were complications arising after a bone marrow transplant.

And if supporting an end to breast cancer isn't enough, I ask that you support my health. I am on-track to lose a total of 104 pounds off what was my peak weight. I am already down by 32 pounds and estimate I will reach my total goal weight loss on November 3... the day before this 3-day, 60-mile walk. What a milestone!! I am so committed to change my life and my health by losing this weight for good that I haven't had a Dr. Pepper since Dec. 31, 2010 (shocking, isn't it?!) and I plan to quit smoking by May! :)

I hope that you'll share this incredible adventure with me, by supporting me in my fundraising efforts, in my training and in spirit.

My personal fundraising page: http://bit.ly/fJXdWx

If you want to keep up with our team & our training, you are more than welcome to "like" our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ThisOnesForTheGirls

Thank you in advance for your generosity!

P.S. Net proceeds from the 3-Day for the Cure fund global breast cancer research and local community programs supporting education, screening and treatment. Virtually every major advance in the fight against breast cancer in the last 28 years has been impacted by a Komen for the Cure grant.

Slammed

This downward spiral used to happen about once a month, but this is the first time it's happened so far in 2011. I get completely slammed with work but I try to maintain my normal work-life balance: quit at quitting time, not work on weekends, etc. . . . except during that evening and weekend family time, I am plagued with stress about how much I need to do or should be doing.

Time for bed comes and goes and everyone is asleep, yet I am still awake, trying to de-stress and zone out in front of the TV, because I haven't watched TV for days or even weeks. I think about sneaking to my computer to work, but when I sit down, my eyes begin to dart around and I realize I am too tired to do anything productive, let alone creative. Then I get through one more episode of Friends before I finally pack it in and go to sleep at 2 a.m. But my alarm still goes off at 6:45 to take my son to school, and I awaken immediately stressed about my growing to-do list. Once he's off to school, I start working right away, with just a double mug of coffee - no breakfast, no workout, not even changing out of my pajamas and slippers. This is a recipe for disaster.

This bad routine continues for days until I finally whittle down my to-do list enough to chill out or make myself sick. I occasionally have to actually stop working to get ready and look presentable for previously-booked meetings, so that's a blessing and a curse. My work to-do list is never really done, because even if I send out all of my proofs, by the time I'm done, I'm already getting changes back on some and by the time I finish those, I have changes back on the others, and when those are done, some jobs are ready to send to the printers and order envelopes for, and then when I get those, the others are ready to go, then I'll have a barrage of shipping to do or meetups to schedule to drop off invitations. I currently have close to 20 orders in different stages of this process, not to mention e-mail inquiries or phone calls to return to prospective brides and clients, as well as invitation consultation meetings. This is the job, this is my business, and I LOVE it. What I do not love is when I get overzealous, thinking I can do it all AND have a family, eat healthily at home, work out, and the glue that holds it all together: get plenty of sleep!

My priorities have been out of whack this week and I can see now in hindsight that in the past couple of weeks have been leading up to this stress-fest.

My number one priorities are my family, health and spirituality. Of course my business is a priority, but not a more important one than my family, health and faith. If those three pillars in my life are not straight, I'm not doing my best at my business or anything else. 

February's meal goal of using what we have basically threw me into a tailspin. I accept now that the best we've ever been about eating healthfully and at home was when we had that solid meal plan during January.  I have gotten creative in the kitchen a few times this month, but we've eaten out more than I'd like because it got too late and I didn't know what to make or have anything thawed, etc. Not good. I know now how good it can be and that in order to maintain that goal, I need to be accountable to a schedule and a plan... so I will start a new plan tomorrow for the next month.

When we're not eating well, we don't have the right kind of energy to be active and our sleep schedule gets all crazy too. Hubs and I have been staying up too late for a couple weeks now and we're both exhausted. So when we're not eating right, have no energy, we're not being active enough (and it feels like a beating when we work out) and we aren't getting enough sleep, we aren't performing at our best in our work or our family time either. So I'm putting a stop to this. I don't feel good right now. I feel guilty and tired and icky. Is it any surprise that during this time, I also stopped reading and blogging, two things I love doing in my down time? All of the things that enrich my life essentially stopped because I let my priorities get out of line. What have I been doing? I have had some really fun social times with friends in the last couple weeks, which is fantastic — it's my alone time/family time when I've been messing up. I'm going to get back to my routine this week and back to my healthy, happy family.

I feel like I should also mention the chaos in the world right now. I feel like global issues are escalating at an exponential pace and it is wigging me out, not to mention that the gas prices here are getting out of control again and people are starting to freak a little bit. I am hoping and praying we don't have another economic meltdown in this country, but it is unsettling to say the least. I can feel the tension rising in friends, family and even strangers. I think as a nation, we are a positive people, but that can sometimes lead to living in denial. Did we learn from our economic missteps or did we just go back to driving Suburbans and charging up variable-rate credit cards? Just sayin... make sure your ducks are in a row and your current lifestyle is sustainable. Be prepared. I'm going to take a breather this weekend and get my life back on-track, learn from my mistakes and make sure my priorities are in line. Sweet dreams!

Like All Good Things...

The month-long new recipe challenge is coming to an end. This is the last week. I'm a little sad and a little relieved.

Things I won't miss:

• It's sort of exhausting making a brand new recipe almost every night — it's always more time-consuming when you make something for the first time, ya know?
• Not having the freedom to stray from a month of pre-chosen meals, but this was also a plus because I stuck to something even when it would have been easier, faster or less frustrating to just make something quick and familiar.
• Using so much olive oil - I prefer to cook with water most of the time.

Things I will miss:

• Not having to worry about what to make for dinner
• Not having to worry about what to buy at the grocery store
• Taking pictures of our new and tasty dinner conquests & sharing those with you

Thing's I've learned:

• To trust my judgment in adapting recipes to fit my family's tastes!
• To stay on top of planning meals out ahead of time - it makes grocery shopping so much easier!
• To always keep lemons and limes in the house!
• I thought I didn't like lime juice or chili powder, but I shouldn't omit them - they're there for a reason and in the right recipes, taste delish!
• We can eat at home all the time if we make it a priority, which is cheaper and healthier. We only missed 6 dinners this month from the 31 day planner.
• We all feel better when we eat at home. Hubs says he can feel the difference and has a lot more energy!
• I can go without Dr. Pepper - it's been a whole month, the longest I've ever gone without the carmely sweetness. Why stop now, right?
• I have a renewed love for coffee, which I'd replaced with a morning DP years ago.
• I can make anything! I fear no recipe!

Please let me know if you make any of the recipes I've posted - I'd love to hear how you and your family liked them.

Monday, I will post my new kitchen challenge to myself for February-early March. Stay tuned!

Mmmm, Meat Paste...

If ever there was a time to join a local co-op and cook at home, that time is today. And if you need another reason why we should know what is in our food and where it comes from, just check out this article on Taco Bell's "almost meat paste." Eeeew!

"An Alabama law firm has decided to sue Taco Bell for false advertising when advertisements say their food has beef. Taco Bell uses a "taco meat filling" made up of a whole slew of chemicals and starches and powders and only 36 percent beef.

Gizmodo reports:

The USDA says that any food labeled as "meat taco filling" should at least have 40% fresh meat. According to the Alabama law firm, their stuff only has 36% meat."

Want to "Lose It!" With Me?

 

Does anyone else have the Lose It! app on their iPhone? I read that the company is making a Droid app as well, which should be out this year, so keep your eyes peeled for that. 

 

If you are trying to lose just 10 or even 100 pounds, the Lose It! app is super helpful. It has the nutritional info for so many foods, restaurants and grocery store brands built in. It also builds in the values for calories burned doing tons of exercises - there's even sports in there I'd never even heard of! It calculates that info and lets you track your day so you stay in the ideal range for weight loss. It's customized for each user in that, if my son and I walk together for 30 minutes, I will burn more calories than him because it takes more energy for my body to walk that 30 minutes - the app calculates this by my weight.

 

I have found this to be extremely helpful. The app has recently added a "friends" tab and so far, my friend Brenda and I are on there, cheering each other on and checking in.

 

 

This is what the activity feed looks like when you have friends on the app. It doesn't share your exact weight with everyone, but your activity/calories burned and when you weigh in it shows your progress.

 

 

So if you have an iPhone and a use for an app like this, find me! And if you don't, you can still use the online version of the application by setting up a free account at www.loseit.com.