Wednesday Workout Update

I have had the best time running lately!  I think the reason is two-fold - first, doing a mile walk for a warm up before each run has meant that I don't spend the first mile plus in pain.  Something as simple as that has meant a world of change and I can't believe it's taken me this long to figure it out.

The other reason why running has been so good is that I'm back to running with my original running buddy, Jenny, during the week.  There is just something about her that I mesh so well with...now, I love to run with my friends, and am always happy to have someone next to me - but with Jenny, there's a difference.  I don't know if it's partly because we used to do those hard workouts together back in the day, and because of that we know how much each other is capable of doing and therefore we can push each other a bit more, or that our strides are the same and we fall into an easy cadence when we run, but when it's good, it's very, very good.  And lately, we've been good.  No - we've been great.  We do our warm up walk, and then get down to business. 

Last Thursday, we ran our first mile super fast - we finished it, with walking every other minute, in 14:03.  We decided to go for a second mile - since we started running together again (just a few weeks ago), the most we'd done was 1.5 miles.  We ended up finishing that second mile in 13:35 - again, with half of that walking!  I have to say, we were not able to talk while we ran, and we were barely able to get in a few words during the walks...this was the hardest I've pushed myself to run in a long time - and it felt great!

On Saturday, I ran with Amy and Julia - we did three miles on a humid, 70 degree morning.  We set off and right away I felt great, so I pushed the speed a little.  I'm not the one who usually does this - in fact, I'm usually the one lagging behind!  We did our 1:1 intervals, and at one point Amy remarked that I was running fast...yeah, but it's been so long since I've been in the groove, I feel like I have to take advantage of it.  We made it through all three miles, and the last mile was the fastest of the three!  Now, I couldn't have kept that up for much longer, but still, it was exhilarating to have another awesome run.

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Yesterday, Jenny and I had another great run that ended in massive amounts of laughter.  You see, as we finished our cool-down walk, we came across a budding rapper's song, which, once we realized it was a song and not actually a list for a fast food run, I rapped aloud to Jenny.  I believe the line: "forizzle my nizzle, extra salt on da frizzle" was what did us both in, although then entire song was golden.  Here's a picture, in case you are feeling the need to rap:

 "Dr. Pepper my brutha, another for your mother" - love it!

Getting Back to Basics

Even though I haven't reverted back to my pre-diet/lifestyle change ways (nearly six years of no drive-thrus and no fast food, go me!), I have slowly let other things become more of the norm instead of the exception over the last year or so.  Where I used to only have frozen yogurt once a week, and with no toppings, having it more often AND with the addition of candy toppings became routine.  Where I used to have a big salad as my dinner most nights, that fell off my radar and eating less vegetables became normal.  Where I used to watch my bread intake, I stopped thinking twice about eating sandwiches or bagels.  Somewhere along the line I realized I wasn't drinking water on a daily basis like I used to.  I could go on, but you get the picture.  I wasn't exactly going crazy, but I wasn't doing what I knew would work for me in terms of keeping myself at the size that I liked.

So I went back to the basics.  I looked back in my blog archives to remind myself what I used to eat, and I made some changes.  Instead of my bagel with cream cheese, half a cinnamon twist and 1.5 pieces of bacon after running on Saturday morning, I went back to having a multigrain bagel with spinach, egg and feta.  Instead of splitting a pesto chicken pizza with Jeff, I went back to my Tejas Blue sandwich (turkey, spinach, avocado and hot sauce) - and I eat it open-face, so I'm having less bread.  No splitting a cookie after.  Instead of making a nonfat latte every day, I went back to drinking a ton of water and treat myself to a latte every once in a while.  I could go on, but you get the picture.

Somewhere along the line I realized that I wasn't feeling true hunger most of the time before I ate.  And it's not like I only have limited opportunities to eat - my schedule is pretty open.  So I started waiting to eat until I was really hungry.  Some mornings, black coffee holds me until 10:00 am or even closer to 11:00 am before I'm hungry enough for my yogurt/fruit/granola breakfast.  On those days, I don't bother with eating lunch...I might have a quarter cup of raw almonds, or some fruit, but other than that, I'm good until dinner.  And I started scaling way back with dinner - I've been having a turkey burger (no bun), some avocado or guacamole, and salad most evenings. 

For me, it's becoming aware of my hunger cues, of what I'm choosing to put in my mouth, and what happens when I make less-than stellar choices.  I wouldn't say I'm dieting, but I am bringing the basics back to maintenance instead of treating way too many days as a party.  I have to remember that I'm the only thing standing between my new self and the Shelley of yore - she was a good person, but I don't care to become that size again...and if I'm not careful, all the "unbasic" way that I was eating will catch up to me...and it won't be pretty.

Friday Mishmash

The winner of the Insoles and Beyond giveaway is:

Jeannie/Qlts2Slo!!!

Congratulations!  Please email me (40somethingsjourney@gmail.com) with your contact info so I can get you in touch with the company for your prize.  If I don't hear from you within a week, I'll have to draw another winner.

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I recently got new contacts - this time, I tried multifocal lenses, because I had such a hard time seeing anything close up with my previous prescription.  While I can see/read better, it's not perfect (honestly, glasses are the best, vision-wise, but I really like the freedom that contacts bring); my doctor said that I probably should pick up a pair of reading glasses.  Now, I could at least read price tags on clothing with the new lenses, which was a huge improvement from the last year, but I was planning on getting some readers - I just hadn't done so yet.  However, last week I was shopping for some new capri pants and after many try-ons, and working the coupon deals that JC Penney offered, I bought a couple of pairs - one in black and one in denim.  Came home and took them out of the bag, only to discover that I'd bought the denim capris in size 18.  You know, I even checked the size tags in the dressing room because I'd brought several different sizes in with me, but I know I didn't pick any in size 18 because that's not anywhere near my size range (with pants it can vary so much that I usually bring in several different sizes).  So yeah.  Apparently I can't read as well as I thought.  And now I own these:

One for at home, and one for in the purse.

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You might have noticed some ads in my sidebar this week - I'm trying it out to see if I can make any money from this...I've not been too keen on using ads where I am not in charge of exactly what shows up, so this may not last.  We'll see - this has been a dumb year when it comes to money, so any extra income is welcome at this point.

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Speaking of money, here's something for (mostly) free - Thorlo, maker of my beloved Experia socks, is offering a free pair of socks (while they last) - you do have to pay S&H, but hey, considering their socks usually run around $14.00, this is a deal.  Click here if you're interested.

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Sit and SEW update:  I'm still knitting, but this week I bought some fabric to sew some throw pillows for the guest bed at Sam's place.  I was going with a bit of a nautical theme, and envision making some sort of sailboat applique/quilt-ish block pillow - I bought some fabric and then went on Pinterest for ideas...yeah, probably should have done that first.  I ended up going back to the quilt store the next day to supplement my original purchase:

Let's play I Spy - do you see potential for a boat hull, ocean, sky, sun, and sails?  I think I do!

I also found a free download for an anchor pattern, so I bought some cotton duck fabric in red, and I'll layer that on the blue and white striped fabric:

Not sure what I'll do with the gray zigzag, but I think it will make a nice third pillow somehow.  These three fabrics are all heavier than the ones in the top picture.

So, in my head, the pillows are looking great.  How that will translate to reality is anyone's guess.  But I'm excited to play and get a little creative - hopefully I'll get something decent out of this.

Later on this morning, I have a date with my friend Stephanie and her top-loading washing machine to turn these floppy things into bowls:

Both of these were knitted on the same size needles; I was running out of yarn for the second bowl so I cast on fewer stitches and reduced the size.  Might end up with a really tiny bowl - the washing machine will reveal all!

And these floppy things into flower petal-shaped bowls:

The purple/orange one was knitted on size 10 needles while the brown/blue one was on size 11 - the size 10s were killing my hands, which is why I sized up for the other bowl.

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday Workout Update

I didn't run the Boston Marathon on Monday, but I kind of felt like I did in the form of being exhausted from cheering for the athletes as I watched the live feed online.  I was so, so happy to see Meb Keflezighi win the men's race - his gratitude about being an American, about being able to run and race, combined with his genuine niceness is heartwarming.  Running buddy Julia and I both signed up for text alerts for Chris Field, who is the race director for our BCS Marathon, so we spent the day cheering him on as well.  

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I'm pleased to report that last Saturday's run went much better than the previous one, and I attribute it to getting there early and doing a quick walking warm up - as it turned out, Amy arrived at the same time Jeff and I did, so I grabbed her and off we went.  It was actually nice to catch up when we weren't running/panting, so there was that bonus as well.  We walked to the corner and back, which turned out to be nearly one mile.  A few minutes later everyone else had arrived and we all set off running...and I wasn't hurting during the run!  What a nice change!  Now, my heel/Achilles is still bothering me, but I've been stretching it like a madwoman and at least I managed to make it through a longish run without wanting to stop and cry.  Hurray for small favors!

All in all, we ran 3.7 miles, plus I walked nearly a mile.  Nice way to start out my Saturday.  Jeff behaved himself and only walked one mile, and his foot felt pretty good afterward.  I think by (finally) easing into this, he's going to be back to running with the group soon.

This week Jenny and I are continuing our walk/runs - yesterday we walked one mile, then ran 1.5, then walked another mile.  We're at the park enough that we see the regulars, like the woman riding her bike around the paths, and another woman training her adorable border collie puppy.  I'm really enjoying our routine!

P.S.  If you missed it, I snuck in a review/giveaway post for Insoles and Beyond yesterday...it's open to everyone!

Insoles and Beyond Review and Giveaway!

Today I'm doing a quick review of Sole Softec Thin Sport custom insoles courtesy of Insoles and Beyond, a family-owned small business.  They contacted me to see if I'd be interested in trying out a pair, and as luck would have it, I was in the midst of my "is this pain plantar fasciitis or is it my Achilles?" problem, so I happily accepted - hey, I'm willing to try just about anything to keep running, and shoe inserts sounded pretty normal compared to a lot of remedies.

I thought the customer service provided was great.  I narrowed down my choices to a few pairs, and consulted with Ashley, who advised me on which one would probably be best for my issue and the shoes I wanted to wear them in.  I ended up going with a thinner insole because I didn't want my running shoes to fit any tighter than they already are.  I was intrigued by the Softec insoles because you can customize the fit by heating them up in your oven for a few minutes and then putting them in your shoe and standing on them for a couple of minutes.  Custom without the extreme expense of true, podiatrist-ordered custom insoles, which worked for me and my budget (yes these were free, but you know what I mean).  They fit great in my shoes:

Happier shoes.

I like the feel of these insoles, especially the arch support.  While they didn't instantly cure my pain (and I didn't expect them to, in all honesty), my feet feel good after I've run and/or walked on them - I think I've logged close to 30 miles - so I'm pretty pleased with the insoles, and I'll probably order a pair for my Danskos next winter, since I'll be going on year three with those shoes and I think they could use a boost at this point.

And now for the fun part - Insoles and Beyond has offered a pair for one of my lucky readers!  This giveaway is for a $50 store credit so you can choose whatever you need for your particular issue and type of shoe.  Shipping is free to U.S. residents, but they do ship internationally for $14.95 (which can be part of the $50 credit), so that means this giveaway is open to anyone who resides anywhere on planet Earth, woohoo!  To enter, just leave me a comment saying you're in.  Be sure to leave an email address so I can notify you if you win.  I'll announce the winner on Friday - good luck!

Comments are closed as this giveaway has ended.

FTC Disclaimer:  I received a pair of insoles for free; opinions provided are all mine.  Giveaway prizes have no cash value and can only be used to buy merchandise.

Aching and...Aging?

Aside from the whole "I'm Loud, I'm Proud, I'm FIFTY" thing, I rarely think about myself in terms of being a certain age.   Age is what you make of it.  I'm convinced your physical age is just a number...except that lately, I'm beginning to see a difference in people younger than me.  Not in attitude, but more in physical ability.

And I don't like it.

Let me explain - it's not that I resent anyone for being able to do more than me, but rather, I'm realizing that the reason so-and-so seems to have an easier time with running might be because they are 10 or even 20 years younger than me, and their bodies aren't rebelling with random aches, pains, and such nonsense.  Their joints, tendons, and muscles are still in their heyday of youth, while mine seem to be turning into the cranky old man who's waving his cane, yelling at the whippersnappers to get off his lawn.  Quite honestly, it's annoying to be doing something "good for you" and hurt while doing it.  Some days it just makes me frustrated to think that I'm up and out there early on a Saturday morning, while others are sleeping (not even sleeping IN, just sleeping to a normal time) and they are the ones who aren't hurting!  Makes me miss my sedentary days - well, somewhat miss them, in a "things seemed better back then" nostalgia which probably isn't completely true, but indulge me for a moment.

Lately it feels like I'm having one thing after another pop up.  From my right ankle, to the bone spur on the top of my left foot, to the new pain where my big toe meets the foot (apparently related to that bone spur).  From the hamstring injury that is still hanging around, to the Achilles pain in my left foot (or is it plantar fasciitis?).  Instead of things going away, it seems like they're just piling on.  And that's just the bottom half - don't get me started on my elbows and weird nerve pain in one wrist.  This is beyond annoying and frustrating.

I'm not pushing myself too much with the running, not in the least.  I read other running blogs, and I'm not doing anything near to what many others do in terms of mileage or frequency of running.  But then, I usually think to check the age of these bloggers, and sure enough, I'm quite a bit older than them.  So is it age?  Do our bodies really start falling apart?  I want to say no.  I want to will it to not happen.  But I fear it IS happening, with or without my acceptance or permission.

And I don't like it.

To (mis)quote John Donne Dylan Thomas (thanks, reader Genie!), I will not go gentle into that good night.  I will rage against the dying of the light...because this is unacceptable to me.  I reject the notion that my body is getting too old to do whatever I want it to do.  And so I keep on, but with pain.  Which tempers both my enthusiasm and fun.  Is this just how it's going to be from now on?

I don't like it.

Friday Mishmash

I can't believe it's almost Easter.  How times change - with no kids around, we're not doing much of anything, although I did stash a couple of Cadbury Creme Eggs for Jeff and I to have on Sunday.  To be honest, it's kind of a relief knowing that there won't be the temptation of an Easter basket full of candy to sneak...please tell me I'm not the only parent who swiped candy from their kids?  I, er, the Easter Bunny used to buy all the good stuff that I liked just in case taste-testing was necessary (it ALWAYS was).

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Last month while I was in North Carolina, I woke up one morning to find an email from PayPal with details about a purchase I'd made...only, I hadn't bought anything recently except for a couple of cute buttons.  Plus, I actually had money in my PayPal account - but it was all wiped out.  I don't have a lot of play money, and to see it disappear like that made me feel sick.  I disputed the transaction, changed all my passwords, and eventually the money was returned.  We had to get new debit cards after the Target fiasco (luckily we didn't have any issues other than the potential of our account being compromised), and since then I've only used our credit card, to protect ourselves.  But I thought PayPal was safe.  I guess nothing is, really.

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I've been busy getting things going for the upcoming season of running club - while we won't start our official training until July 12th, there's a lot of things that need to get done beforehand.  We are even starting a new program for people who want to just train for a shorter distance...we're calling it Fit 5, and people can train for a 5K and/or a 5 miler - there are two races in the fall that work with the training.  I'm excited about getting people started who might be too intimidated to attempt a half marathon - hopefully this might seem doable to them.  Mostly, I just want people to have fun and enjoy getting a little exercise!

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Sit and Knit update:  I've been sitting, and I've been knitting, but I don't have a lot of progress to show for it - that's what happens when you have big projects.  Well, I did knit two bowls that I'm going to felt, but I still have a couple more that I want to knit before I bother my friend who has the top loading washer that's necessary to finish the felting process, so no pictures of them yet. 

This is the top I'm making out of that yarn I bought in SLC:

This is done with the intarsia technique, which is why each ball of yarn is in a Ziploc bag.  Every time I change colors, I have to twist the yarn and maneuver it around.  Plus, part of the pattern had me doing a stitch increase every four rows on the blue section, so I had to keep track of that.  I finally finished that part, and now can just knit and purl away for another 3.5 inches before something changes with the pattern.

Here's the progress I've made on my grassy scarf - I finally got to change colors!  This thing is taking a while to get through, but it's not like I'll be able to wear it until next November, so it's all good:

 

 

If you look closely you can see the subtle color variations in each section - this is because I'm combining two different colors of yarn per section.

I think I need to knit another baby hat soon, just to get some project completion satisfaction.  Hmmm, maybe I'll knit a pink and brown striped one to go with the blue and brown striped hat. 

Have a great weekend and a Happy Easter!

Wednesday Workout Update

You may have noticed that I haven't participated in very many races this spring, which is something of an anomaly compared to previous years.  It's partly due to the ebb and flow of local races - several that I've done in the past aren't being held this year (Teal Ribbon, Run For Shoes, Downtown Derby/Love Run, SRPH Fun Run, Joe Conway, Rock the Mind) - and partly because I ended up being in North Carolina for two that I was going to run (GLOW run, Girls Just Want to Have Fun run).

The few others that are being held, well...I'm just not sure about.  The Run for Remembrance that we did last year at the TEEX fire training school will be on May 10th this year at 5:00 p.m.  Let me repeat that start time:  5:00 in the afternoon.  In mid-May.  I don't think I want to subject myself to running when it most likely will be super warm AND with the sun beating down on me.  So that race is a probable no.  The chicken race (Ukraine 5K) that we did last year is May 3rd, but it's mostly on grass this time, which I usually avoid because I'm chicken (haha) about turning an ankle on hidden rocks.  There's a color run in a couple of weeks, but really, that was a once-and-done event for me.  And some obstacle runs are coming up, but again, I'm too worried about hurting myself and not being able to run at all to want to do any races like that.

While I mostly enjoyed participating in the local races (aside from that bout of anxiety about racing), I'm not a runner who HAS to do all the races.  So this year looks like I'll mostly be a runner, period.  And I'm OK with that.

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Last week I ran/walked a total of 8.6 miles.  Can you tell I'm enjoying the off-season?  I'm dealing with some pain so I'm hoping that by not pushing it, I can get whatever is bothering me to heal without having to completely take some time off from running.  After a few walk/runs with Jenny, I've come to realize that running feels much better if I've had a good warm-up before I start.  We walk for a mile before running; on Saturday, I stretched for a couple of minutes and jumped right into my run.  Everything hurt (well, not everything, but a lot), whereas it wasn't that bad on Thursday.  So I'm going to make a point to get to the park early on Saturdays and walk a mile before we all gather for our run.  I'd rather set my alarm a little earlier and do that than feel like everything is falling apart during the first mile I run, you know?

Yesterday, it was freezing when Jenny and I met up to walk/run.  We were bundled up like it was the dead of winter instead of mid-April in South Texas:

BRRRR!  It was 41 degrees, with a north wind making it feel even colder!

I will say that the brisk weather contributed to a very good run, though.  We ran our intervals so fast that we couldn't even talk - it was nice to put out that much effort, for a change.  Normally my runs are at a pretty leisurely pace.  What can I say...I'm a relaxed runner!

Aww.

Sweet Civi, the little pet rat we gave our youngest for Christmas just over a year ago, died unexpectedly yesterday morning.  I know many of you aren't rat people, but she was a dear pet with a huge personality and will be greatly missed.  Rats generally only live about three years, but losing her this early is heartbreaking.  She was a brave little thing - shortly after she went to live in her new home, she escaped from her cage and had a grand adventure, culminating in eating a bunch of Goldfish crackers.  Gotta love a pet who ends an escape with a food binge, right?

 Civi liked everyone but especially loved her owner.  I've never seen a rat sleep on someone like she did with our youngest...it was the picture of contentment for both of them when that happened.  I'm sure there will be more pet rats in the future, but Civi won't be forgotten.  RIP little Civ.

Friday Mishmash

Jeff was out of town this week, and I'm trying to make my meals a little more well-rounded (I've been known to eat Greek yogurt for breakfast and dinner many times) and healthier.  I stocked up on ready-to-cook Jenni-O turkey burgers and 100 calorie packs of guacamole, and I also found a kale salad mix at Sam's Club to try:

 

It was good!  I've not been a huge kale fan, but this was shredded enough, plus mixed with other ingredients (shaved brussels sprouts and radicchio) that the flavor didn't seem too strong.

I also filled my fridge with fresh pineapple, cantaloupe and strawberries.  I keep saying that once I'm not training for a half, I should cut back on what I've been eating...and well, my last half marathon was the end of January, so it's time to actually do that, especially now that I'm not traveling to other states where apparently I have to try all the new things.  Did I ever mention how much weight I gained when we moved from California to San Antonio, Texas?  Not only did we get to know our new city via restaurants, we discovered things like chicken-fried steak and gravy, puffy tacos, and all kinds of fried foods.  At least now when I am experiencing food in a new state, I stay away from the fried stuff.  Progress, right?

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It was all things Anchorman 2 last week:

I was so happy to get this!  Then I realized that all the good stuff was on the Blu-Ray DVDs...and we don't have a Blu-Ray player.  Well, not yet - Sam donated his old one to us when he moved, but it's still in Plano.  Soon, Ron Burgandy...SOON.

Jeff also found the ice cream:

Would it be weird to admit I washed out the container after we finished the ice cream and it's now on my collectables shelf?

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Now that life has settled down, I am back to knitting a lot.  I had so many ideas and new yarn that I spent several hours on Ravelry, going through patterns and choosing yarn for them:

Most of these are smaller projects, which are nice to intersperse with the bigger projects that I'm doing (the grassy scarf, the pink shawl, and a top made with Utah-purchased yarn).  I made two baby hats already:

This one look me just over an hour - credit chunky yarn and very large needles!  Pattern is Twisted Taffy hat; yarn is Malabrigo Rasta.

I am in love with the colors of this hat, so much that I want to knit a tiny cardigan to go with it:

Stripes!  Blues and browns!  Ahhh.  Pattern is Chunky Organic Cotton Baby Beanie; yarn is Madelinetosh DK and Vintage in Bloomsbury and Teddy Bear colorways.

Of course, these hats would look immensely cuter if I had a newborn baby to model them.  But in the meantime, I'm enjoying the quick satisfaction of making such cute little things.

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I added a new tab at the top of my blog - Recommended Reading.  I've listed some of my more memorable posts, just in case a newer reader might have missed them.  It was fun zipping through my archives to choose these posts, and made me see how much I've evolved since starting my last diet, and this blog, nearly six years ago.  Dang, I kind of miss those days of newness, when trying on clothes and discovering that things fit was such a wonder, and being surprised at what I was capable of, exercise-wise.  I've said that I started this blog so I could remember all the work I was putting into losing weight and I'm glad I took that trip down memory lane, as I had forgotten a lot of my effort.

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday Workout Update

It feels like forever, but really, it ended up only being about 2 1/2 weeks where I didn't formally exercise.  I've had a hard time getting back into the swing of things, which is one reason why I don't like getting out of my routine...I know I should be exercising, I like how I feel when I'm done, but actually doing it?  Struggle city on some days.

Last Wednesday, I got in a good "life catch up" walking session with my first running buddy, Jenny.  We did 2.3 miles and the next day we met again to walk and try a bit of running - although she has some foot/shin issues that made her have to quit running a while back, Jenny wanted to see if we could bring back the magic of our runs.  We walked a 3/4 mile warm up, then ran a mile doing 1:1 intervals, then walked a cool down and ended up covering a total of 2.3 miles, which made me laugh because we took a different route, but apparently that was our number for the week.

On Saturday, nine of us from our running club met for an easy run.  This was the first time Jeff ran since he hurt his foot in January...it wasn't pain-free, which was disappointing for him, but in all honesty he probably overdid it.  Most of us set out together, doing an easy pace at 1:1 intervals.  My shins started hurting right away, which was weird.  I don't normally have shin splints, and they weren't bothering me on Wed/Thurs, so I have no idea what was going on.  It wasn't the most fun run for me until about 1.5 miles in; then the pain calmed down and I felt better.  We ended up doing 3.7 miles.  I like the off season - it's nice to pick a random route and not worry about hitting a certain mile before stopping.  After our run, we had breakfast at Blue Baker where the food and the company were equally good:

 

Yesterday I covered 2.6 miles, ALL BY MYSELF.  I am a social exerciser and I do everything in my power to find someone to run or walk with.  But all of my workout buddies were busy, so I decided to go to scary statue park and mostly walk, but also run a bit, on my own.  I was aiming to leave my house around 7:30 am; I actually left two hours later...hey, at least I finally made it, right?  It wasn't that bad, although I was the only person there except for two groundskeepers and a man sitting in his car...I love that park, but it's a little too desolate when I'm there by myself.  

Now, if I could just get back into doing a workout DVD once or twice a week, that would be peachy...

AIM: Are We There Yet?

This month, my fellow AIMers and I are writing about when we each knew it was time to stop dieting and start maintaining.

Nearly six years ago, when I weighed 256 pounds and started this whole diet/lifestyle change thing, I remember thinking that reaching 138 pounds would be a good goal weight for me - that seems like a random number, but I believe it was the top of what Weight Watchers recommended for someone my height, so I went with it.  I wanted something that was fairly easy to maintain without having to be excessively stringent with my food every single day.  One of the 100-pound-plus loser bloggers that I regularly read at the time was, in my outsider's viewpoint, very thin and had to work very hard at staying that way.  That was not what I wanted out of maintenance.  So I kept that in the back of my mind - I wanted the freedom to enjoy my food without guilt, I wanted to keep off the weight that I'd worked so hard to lose, and I wanted to be normal...not a dieter, not someone who'd recently lost an enormous amount of weight, but just fit in like everyone else.

Of course, all that is fine to say when you are a long way from 138 pounds.  Once I hit 150, I started to reevaluate my goal number, all the while continuing to workout with my trainers, plus I was running on top of that.  I decided to see how hard it would be to get in the 140s, and guess what?  It took a lot of cutting back to get there!  The lowest I got down to was 146 pounds, which sounds like a lot for someone my height, but I looked really small - all of that exercise was a huge factor with giving me a lot of muscle.

Circa July 2010, around my smallest weight.  Also back when I used to dress up, too!

I continued trying to lose weight, which was ridiculous, because what was I trying to prove?  Of course, that was when I was still weighing myself, and even though I looked good, I kept going after a lower number.  My body had other ideas, though - I never got lower than 146 pounds - and eventually I realized that I was doing a really good job of maintaining that weight, so I called it a day with the diet and officially transitioned into maintenance. 

So, to recap:  I never actually reached my randomly-set goal weight.  I never picked a day to begin maintenance; rather, my body decided I was in maintenance.  I didn't actively choose to maintain my weight until I'd inadvertently been doing so for a while.  I took a round-about way to get to there, that's for sure - but I'm very happy that I got to that point, seeing as this was the first time in all of my dieting years that I actually thought beyond the diet. 

AIM: Adventures in Maintenance is Lynn, Lori, Debby, Shelley, and Cammy, former weight-loss bloggers who now write about life in maintenance. We formed AIM to work together to turn up the volume on the issues facing people in weight maintenance. We publish a post on the same topic on the first Monday of each month. Let us know if there is a topic you'd like us to address - here's the link to our Ask Us (almost) Anything form - click here and ask away!

SLC Recap Part 2, Complete With Amazing Race-Style Ending!

Backtracking a bit from my yarn store escapade and the conference recap, here's some more of what we did on our trip to Salt Lake City.

We had the option of paying $8 per person, each way, to ride the shuttle from the airport to the hotel, or we could pay $2.50 to ride Trax (the light rail system).  We were up for an adventure, so Trax it was:

So much entertainment for two suburban girls!  Amy snuck a picture of the RULEBREAKER with her feet on the seat right next to the sign that says "No Feet on Seats" - people also brought service dogs and bicycles on board (which were allowed).  It was a fun way to get around the city, provided it actually went where we thought it was going!

Amy is into craft beer, so on Friday we walked to Red Rock Brewery for lunch.  As we neared the restaurant, we could see that we needed to cross the street - there was a crosswalk, but no signal.  A woman walking ahead of us got to the crosswalk, picked up an orange flag that was in a tube attached to the crosswalk sign, and walked across the street.  What a clever idea, Salt Lake City!  Naturally, we had to have some fun with it:

Doesn't she remind you of a mama duck, leading her goslings across the street?  Alternatively, you can tell she's an elementary school teacher...

The food at Red Rock Brewery looked amazing.  It was hard to decide what to get, but in the end Amy got the wild mushroom polenta while I got the pear and walnut pizza with a side salad:

We laughed because we went there thinking we'd get the highly-recommended burgers, but both of us ended up going vegetarian.  Our meals were really good.

On Saturday, we decided to try another brewery for lunch.  Amy picked one and mapped it out; once we broke from the morning sessions, we hightailed it to Bayou.  Wouldn't you know it, after walking nearly a mile, we got there only to find it closed for lunch on the weekends.  Gah!  So we turned around and zipped over to Squatters - nothing like burning some extra calories before you eat, right?  Squatters was great!  We learned the previous day that you can't order a flight of beer to sample in Utah - the most you can get is two at a time.  Our waitress was pretty cool and brought the three samples that Amy wanted to try all at once - she just put the extra one in front of me to comply with the rules. 

Apparently I was carb-hungry that day, as I ordered a fresh hot pretzel to share, plus my salad was plated on Navaho fry bread.  Yum and yum!  No picture of the pretzel because it was demolished too quickly.  All that walking, you know...

Once we were finished with the afternoon sessions at the conference, we decided to walk over to Temple Square, where the huge Mormon temple is located.  The gardens were gorgeous:

The close up on the bottom left is actually tiny-sized daffodils.  This area had tons of flowers, a huge water feature, cherry trees in full blossom and a large reflecting pool.  Really, really pretty.

We also saw the Temple, and never in my life have I felt so underdressed.  There were scores of women and girls of all ages around us, and just about every one was wearing a skirt or dress, with their hair and make up done.  I later found out that there was a big woman's conference going on that day, which explained the plethora of women.  We took a few pictures at the Temple, but didn't attempt to take any tours there because of time constraints:

 Amy at the LDS Temple.

We went to the mall afterward - it was right across the street.  Amy was looking for something to wear to dinner that night, so we tried on some clothes at H&M - first time for both of us to shop there.  She ended up finding a cute top at Loft, and I'm reminded of how much I wish there was one in our town - such cute clothes, such great sales!

The next morning, we took the Trax back to the airport - this time, helping three other USAFit ladies who'd taken the more expensive shuttle when they arrived.  At that point, we were old pros at it, showing them how to buy their tickets, etc.  Shortly after we got there, we saw that our flight was delayed by nearly an hour.  No worries - we had a huge layover at D/FW.  We had lunch and waited.  Then we decided that Starbucks sounded good, so I left Amy with our carry-on luggage and made the trek four terminals over to get our drinks.  As I was walking there, I heard some high school girls exclaim "look, SNOW!" - and yes, it was snowing, if you tried to see it hard enough.  Mostly just light rain.  By the time I got back to Amy, who was sitting with her back to the window and hadn't noticed the weather, it was definitely snowing.  Which was NOT in the weather forecast that morning - I'd checked!

Iced venti nonfat latte in hand, snow in background.

Eventually, the gate attendants announced that because of the delay and the full flight, they'd check any of our carry-on bags for free, so we happily surrendered our bags - how nice that we wouldn't have to drag them around D/FW during our layover, right?  We watched them get loaded onto the plane...they sat outside long enough that some of my clothes were wet when I opened it at home:

Amy's bag is the black and yellow one going up first; mine is the red one near the end (just in case you needed to know that pertinent information, haha).

The flight crew was near us, and I heard them talking to the gate attendants about being good to go with the weather.  I didn't think much more about it until we got on the plane...and sat there.  Finally they announced that we needed to be deiced before we could take off.  We first taxied to one area where the deicer man in a truck came out and sprayed the engines; then we went to the main deicing area where the entire plane was sprayed - first with an orange solution, then with a green solution.  By the way, I've decided that one of the most miserable jobs has to be a plane deicer - the poor guy was out in the wet snow, in a bucket on a truck, holding a hose of whatever chemicals they use...that cannot be fun:

...and now I know what it takes to deice an airplane.

As you can imagine, this all took a while.  I kept looking at the clock, and calculating how long our flight was supposed to take vs. when we were supposed to board our flight to College Station - which, incidentally, was the last flight there for the evening.  Yep, living in a small town does not get you a lot of flight options.  We finally took off around 5:00 pm SLC time, which was 6:00 pm Texas time.  The flight was scheduled to take two hours and thirty-five minutes, and our next flight was scheduled to board at 8:30 pm, so after landing at D/FW and taxiing to the gate, we'd miss our flight.  Here's our faces once we realized this:

Great.  We're going to miss our flight and end up spending the night in the airport.

But we quickly saw the absurdity of the situation - there was nothing we could do except laugh at this point, which we did...

The flight was pretty uneventful, although I did get to hold a baby(!!!) for a while.  At one point, I remarked to Amy that it felt like we were speeding - I don't know why I thought that, except for the engine noise, maybe?  It made sense, though, if the pilot could get us there quickly, as most of the passengers had connections that they were going to miss.  And sooner than I expected, they announced we'd be landing, and gave out the gate connections - we were going to taxi to a gate in the C terminal and had to get to the B terminal via Skylink (their monorail).  We had hope!  We might actually make our flight!  It was then that we realized we'd checked our running shoes when we let go of our carry-on bags, and we'd have to run in our Danskos, oof.  At least we only had to deal with our USAFit backpacks, instead of dragging our bags. 

It really felt like The Amazing Race - we got off the plane as quickly as we could (which wasn't all that quick seeing as we were in row 26) - it was 8:27 pm.  We sprinted through the terminal to the escalator, got to the Skylink just as a train was arriving, and got on, where we had a couple of minutes to catch our breath before arriving in terminal B.  We got off and sprinted again...let me just say speedwork has never been a favorite thing of mine, but I'm glad I can turn on the afterburners when I need to!  We got to the gate, and it was the weirdest feeling to see no one but the gate attendants there.  They checked us in and we got on the plane:

WHEW!!!  We were spent.

Now this is the look of relief.  Two thumbs up for making our connecting flight home!

About 45 minutes later we were back in College Station.  What a wild end to our Salt Lake City adventure!  By the way, despite what we did, these are NOT running shoes:

Two-inch platforms, rigid soles...pretty to look at, but I never want to run in mine again!

One last picture of The Amazing Racers with our backpacks:

Home at last!

WWU - USAFit Organizer's Conference Recap

As many of you know, I've been a member of USAFit since 2010 - I joined our local club when I was training for my first half marathon, and never wanted to leave.  USAFit started 25 years ago in Houston and has expanded all over the United States - their general philosophy is to be safe and have fun while changing your life as you challenge yourself with running whatever distance you choose to train for.  Of course I'm all about the fun when it comes to our running club, so no wonder this has been such a good fit for me.  USAFit holds an Organizer's Conference once a year and since I'm an organizer, I got to go.  I brought Amy with me as she's interested in taking on more of a leadership role with our club eventually, and am I ever glad she came!  Not only did we have many adventures during the course of the three-day event, but it helped to have someone to walk into the room with...I'm a pretty shy person and it was intimidating at first, especially because so many people have been coming to this event for years and they all seemed to know each other.

The first event was a social hour on Friday evening.  We were nervous going into this, but the National Program Director, Debbie Mercer, greeted us with a hug and made us feel welcome.  We got a drink and some appetizers and schmoozed our way around the room, eventually meeting up with the peeps from USAFit Montgomery, which is another small group on the outskirts of Houston.  This was the group whose member, Amy, ran the USAFit Half Marathon in January, and who had the signs that said "GO AMY!".  Our Amy told them how much she appreciated the signs, and I asked that they please include my name next year, lol.  We hung out with them and a couple other ladies for a while longer, and then a lot of the group left to continue the party, while we went upstairs to our rooms - we'd had a very early start to our day and were pretty tired.

The next morning, we went downstairs to the conference room, where we had a small continental breakfast and then the meetings began.  It was nice to put faces to names, and get to know in person the people I've only dealt with online (for creating the schedule, or updating our website/Facebook page, and the graphic designer).  We broke for lunch, and then in the afternoon they had a couple of seminars - one was on race walking and the other was on a pretty intense cross-training program; neither of which we will be doing with our group.  They also had a shirt exchange - generally you end up with extra program shirts at the end of your training season, so the organizers brought their shirts to trade.  I only had three unclaimed shirts, but many of the bigger groups had a bunch.  Amy and I each got several shirts, plus I grabbed one for Jeff.  It was fun to see all the different designs that other groups chose and possibly steal some ideas for our shirt this season.

Clockwise from top left:  Breakfast on day one; shirts laid out for the exchange; the view from the back of the room; Amy beating the men during the racewalk demo!

We had a few hours off in the late afternoon on Saturday, and then we reconvened for dinner.  It was fun to compare stories with other USAFitters, and toward the end of the meal we were asked to share any inspirational stories about our members from the previous season.  My shyness took over and I couldn't bring myself to stand up and talk, but I would have talked about our youngest member, Love, if I had been brave enough to address the crowd.  After dinner a bunch of people left to go out again - I swear, I don't know where they get that kind of energy!  I was ready to relax in my room.

On our last morning, breakfast was scheduled for 8:00 am with a Q&A session beginning at 9:00 am.  Amy and I weren't enthralled with the breakfast or the coffee from the previous day, so we decided to go to Beans and Brews, a local coffee roaster.  Only (and good thing we checked ahead of time) the nearest location was closed on Sunday!  On our way out of the hotel, we found Michelle from Montgomery and Scott from Katy, so we all set out together.  Scott suggested a French bakery that he went to the day before.  Perfect!  Off we went, only to find that it was closed:

Oh, we were sad.  Scott talked this place UP as we were walking to it.

Guess what WAS open in Downtown SLC on Sunday?  Starbucks.  Nice, dependable Starbucks.  We sat for a while, with our coffee and scones, and quizzed Scott about how he runs his program - it's very different from ours and Michelle's as he has well over 600 members.  I got some good ideas that I think will translate well to our smaller group, plus Scott was pretty funny to hang with.  We went back to the conference before 9:00, but discovered that they had started the Q&A session already.  They were talking sponsorships, which was the one thing I was really interested in, as I didn't do anything with that last season (shoot, we were lucky to get the program up and running with the short time-frame we ended up having).  So that was a little frustrating, to know we'd missed about 45 minutes, but we were going by their schedule.  I think this was the most informative part of the entire conference, actually...at least for us and where we are with our program.  We had to cut out of the session a little early in order to get to the airport; maybe next year they can schedule this on Saturday so more attendees can participate - we weren't the only ones who had to leave early. 

We were given some goodies for coming to the conference - a nice backpack that ended up being perfect for traveling home, a conference t-shirt (I misjudged the sizing and mine is a little big, oh well), and we each got a Fuel Belt handheld water bottle or belt (they randomly set each one at our places while we were up watching a demonstration and I lucked out with getting the belt - I've been thinking about going back to using one so this will be nice to have):

Organizer perks - sweet!

Overall, this was a great experience and I'd probably go again next year, depending on the location (it changes each year).  I came into it thinking that ours was one of the few smaller groups but discovered that there are more like us than I realized; I just wish we could have had a dedicated time for like-sized groups to exchange ideas.  Maybe that will happen next year.