Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Did anyone else celebrate the Holiday with a run?! I made it to the gym this morning and enjoyed a nice run on the treadmill. My 10k training plan called for a 3 mile run, so I ran 3.1 miles in 30 minutes then I just jogged/walked until I hit 40 minutes. I wanted to do more, but it's been a few days since I ran and I've got my 5 mile long run on Sunday, so I just followed the plan.
It's the last day of October, so guess it's time to figure out how my October Goals went:
1. To bust into the 150's.
I stepped on the scale today - 161. I can't complain. I've been eating pure junk for a few days now (honestly, most of this month was bad). Too much chocolate too. It didn't help any that I wasn't logging my food either, so today, I started logging again. I feel so much better with a run and logging my food!
My mini goal of not eating out, yea, that's not happening. I'm so bad at this stuff! UGH! It's no wonder it takes me forever to lose weight. I look at it as slow and steady, but really it's probably laziness. Aw well. I'm still better today then I was yesterday, so that only means tomorrow will be even better!

2. Run 3 to 4 times a week.
I'm doing really well with this one. Had Hurricane Sandy come through so I didn't run on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, but today the gym was open so off I went. I'll go tomorrow and Friday too and my long run should be on Sunday.
3. Lift 3 times a week.

I haven't lifted weights in probably two weeks, and I miss it. Tomorrow I will go to the gym and run a mile or two and then lift. I will get better at this one!

Now to start thinking about my November goals. You can bet running will be one of them!!

2013 Races

I don't have much to write about right now since Hurricane Sandy came through and I've been shut up in the house for the past 2 days. I will probably have to stay here the rest of today, hopefully not tomorrow too. Guess it depends on the roads and whether or not the gym is open. I would love to go for a run!
Anyway, I figured I'd write a blog post about the races I want to do in 2013. My goal is to run an entire half-marathon without stopping. I'm signing up for three of them. I should be able to do at least one without walking!
These are the races I'm planning on running in 2013:

March

16^th – Rock and Roll half marathon – SIGNED UP for the half!!!

April

20^th – Muddy Buddy (with my husband)

May

5^th – Frederick Running Festival (half-marathon)

18^th – Warrior Dash - not really sure about this one yet.

June

23rd – Baltimore Women’s Classic 5K

August

4^th – MD Women’s Sprint Duathlon (2mile run, 13 mile bike, 2 mile run)

18^th – Iron Girl Columbia Triathlon

September

Navy 5 Mile

October

12^th – Baltimore Running Festival Half-Marathon

Turns out to be about one a month like I did this year; I enjoyed having something to look forward to, so I'm glad it's working out that way again in 2013. The races I'm picking are bigger and more challenging, and I can't wait!! It'll require lots of training and staying injury free to make it through all of them. To me this means no jogging stroller. Chris is right, every time I run with it I end up hurting myself. It's not worth it. I joined the gym, I'll just run on the treadmill, and soon, hopefully very soon, Chris will be home and I'll be able to get out for a weekly long run while he watches the kiddos. 

Are any of you planning a race for 2013?!

Race Report: Run For Your Lives

That's me and my friend Patti (we go way back...seriously, we met in high school; she's one of my oldest friends). Thanks to her I have SO MANY race photos! I normally only have a before and after, but this time she brought along two waterproof disposable cameras. Wait until you see them!!!
For starters my outfit. My kids did my shirt!!

 

The shirt is the one I wore for the Color Run - I couldn't get the one blue spot out so I figured might as well paint it up. Kids had a blast with it too. The bandana and red arm warmers are from the Warrior Dash I ran in May. I picked the BEST pants to wear too! Water just ran off of them (some still got through, but hardly any compared to Patti and Tabitha's pants). My Sister snapped this before I left the house - I look so mean!

Anyway, I had so much fun at this race! Driving there was a bit of a pain because it took so long (an hour and a half); didn't have a lot of traffic so that was good. I did pay $3 toll each way and $10 parking at the actual race. We parked really easily. Stood in a line and got on some shuttles to take us to the race site (thankfully went fast and smoothly). Once there the lines for picking up packets and such moved quickly. The baggage check line was NOT fun. It took us a good 30 minutes to check our bags. We killed the rest of the time waiting for our race to start just checking out all the other people running through some obstacles and the zombies. Here's Tabitha and me before hand...

 These zombies had AWESOME costumes and makeup!

 

Waiting to start our wave. You pick a tunnel to enter and then you wait until they open the gate at the other end to start the race. They release the tunnels separately: 1st the Appetizer, then the Entree, and then the Desert. We went ahead and were Appetizers! I hate waiting around...

Standing at the gate waiting for them to open it so we can get this thing started!!

The obstacles at this race were a ton of fun. They had some hills...check this bad boy out!

 Some mud!

 Walls to jump over. I tried to walk around the first one of these we came up on and Tabitha said, "If I'm pregnant and doing these you'd better do them too!" Me: "FINE!" Ha, ha. They were actually a lot easier to get over then I was expecting and I found myself looking forward to them. See! It just goes to show that you never know unless you try.

 Mud pits to climb up and over...

 more hills to run (bear walk is more like it). Shortly after this hill a big group of us went the wrong way and had to turn around. Nothing like an extra 1/4 mile or so tacked on to a race. Ha, ha.

One other annoying thing about this race - at the top of the above hill was a water station. Large jugs of water (the big blue ones that go on water coolers) and a bunch of cups. It was water station number 2 of 2. Nothing like huffing and puffing up a hill and then trying to lift those water things up enough to pour water. UGH!
Barbed wire to crawl under...

 There's Patti smiling about it and Tabitha walking out...

 Getting ready to enter the lake. YES, I said lake and it was FREEZING!!!

There were spots where my feet didn't touch. Here I am taking Patti's pic while she takes mine...ha, ha. We did that a lot.

And, yes, the photo I saw posted on so many other Run For Your Lives races was there. Patti and I going down together (no zoom on disposables)!

 Heaving myself out)

 Going under the electrical fence at the very end.

The zombies - some of them were pretty cool. Here are some pics. I'm protecting Tabitha in this one. She had one flag left. Me, I didn't make it very far. There were "zones" that had zombies. You're given three flags at the beginning. My third flag was taken in zone 3. The only flag I remember losing was zone 2 when a male zombie wearing a sparkly gold bikini snatched it - I was so busy laughing my ass off that I didn't even care. I think there were 12 zones. I had zombies give me flags and I lost those as well. Even Patti gave me some flags, and yep, lost those as well. Ha, ha, ha.

 Some of the zombies were pretty fast. Good thing we did some sprint training beforehand!

 

I had one guy jump in the bushes when he came up on me because he thought I was a zombie. Ha, ha. Guess I did a good job on my costume. There were a handful of zombies that, in my opinion, were too aggressive - one seriously dug their claws into Tabitha's belly (and yes, she's pregnant) -looked like she was trying to rip her shirt off. Another was shoving people into the lake (yes, she was literally pushing people in. I look at that as a big safety issue some people can't swim, some people didn't want to go in...can't blame them it was really cold). If you didn't jump in she was ripping your flags off while you stood there waiting in line to enter. She was a capitol B. In fact Tabitha had problems with the lake (it was so cold she literally felt like she couldn't breath) and they gave you an option to walk around the lake. I circled around when the medics released Tabitha and we walked around the lake together - the zombie in blue, yea, she followed me and ripped off the one flag I'd just gotten. Seriously?!
Tabitha and me walking around the lake.

Here are some photos from the end...

 

 Like my muddy handprint on Patti's shoulder?!

Overall I thought it was a fun race to run. My biggest complaint of all - lack of after race options. They had beer. No water. No bananas. No coffee (it was so cold out, coffee would've been great). Oh they had stuff if you wanted to pay for it; however it took us forever to get our bags since the baggage check line was HUGE that by then we were ready to just leave. Leaving the parking lot was not much better. Lines were super long. I got lucky and followed two cars who were driving out the entrance roads (not marked that way though). They ended up directing us (there were about 10 of us total) out the bus lane. We avoided a huge wait leaving the parking lot that I read on facebook lasted over an hour as the day wore on.
Besides all that I thought it was a fun race to run. The course itself was challenging and well planned out, and I'm pretty sure I'd do it again. In fact I'm sure that my husband is planning on it next year, and it would be a ton of fun to run it with him!!

Run For Your Lives

On Saturday, gulp, tomorrow, I've got the Run For Your Lives Zombie 5k obstacle race. I am SUPER EXCITED!!! I think it's going to be a ton of fun. I've got all my gear laid out and my extra clothes/shoes packed and ready to go. We're hitting the road at 7am (our wave isn't until 1130) because it'll take us just over an hour and half to get there and because of the nightmare stories we heard about parking last year. They put on their facebook page that they have it all worked out this year, but we shall see. In their defense, it was their first ever Run For Your Lives race - they seem to have it mastered now.
At first I was worried about it being cold and they have water obstacles. This would be fun in July, not so much late October...

THEN I started seeing things about a hurricane coming our way, which they are now calling Frakenstorm (love that name though)...

It's not supposed to hit until Sunday or Monday, so it shouldn't effect the race any, except of course making it colder. So, I thought well, even if it does rain - it's just rain. It's a muddy obstacle course, rain won't hurt any. In fact it would probably make it even more fun. I figured what I needed was a great motivating run in the rain quote, so I Googled "run rain quote." Do you know what came up?!?!

HA!HA!HA!HA! Seriously, what more motivation does one need then Tim Tebow running in the rain with his shirt off?! Bwhahahaha! Not quite what I was expecting to find. Seriously, this image came up 5 or 6 times, it was too funny to not post.
I'll post pics of my outfit and race once I get them all...although I can't promise they'll be as enjoyable as Tim Tebow - ROFL. Love it!

Running the Distance

So, I realized that in three short weeks I have my first ever 10k. I also realized that I have not been sticking with a training plan - at all. Then I started to get a little scared. I signed up for a 10k - that's 6.2 miles. I've NEVER run that far before. What was I thinking?! I told myself to calm down and find my training plan. It felt like ages since I'd even looked at the plan. I started with the race date and counted backwards. I was surprised to see that I was right on track! I've been running about 3 to 3.5 miles every time I go to the gym. I was only behind by one week. So, I marked on the calendar the number of miles I needed to run each week and then figured out a plan for getting those miles in each and every week until the race. The long runs were scheduled for the weekend. I know me. That's not going to happen. I moved them to Thursdays.
This week my long run is 4.5 miles. Next week it's 5. The week after is 5.5 and then it's my 10k. I went to the gym today with the goal of running 4.5 miles. I haven't run that far in a long time.
I got to Gold's and the movie in the movie room was, "The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past." Sweet! I can run while watching Matthew McConaughey, no problem-o! This is how I felt while running today...

Strong, healthy, cool. Then I hit the 5k mark and started thinking, I've only run a 5k. I've still got almost a mile and a half to go. Alright, let's take this half a mile at a time. I got to 3.75 and started thinking there was no way I was going to make it to 4.5 miles today. I'll just run until I hit 4. I'm pretty sure by this point that I looked a lot like this...

Ha, ha, ha. At 4 miles, I slowed the pace down to 5.8 (I was averaging around 6.2 speed...just trying to make it go faster). I told myself that I can't stop because then I'd have to blog about not being able to go the distance. Sigh. I kicked it up to 6.6 and hauled tail. As soon as I hit 4.5 miles I slowed down to a speed of 5.8 and I swear I had the biggest smile on my face!!!! I DID IT!!!! Kept slowing down and finally finished off my workout with 4.78 miles in 50 minutes. I was so proud of myself.
I have all the confidence in the World right now. I can run 6.2 miles in three weeks, I just know I can!! And you know what, in March, I'm running 13.1 miles! Nothing is going to stop me now. I feel so confident. I feel as if life has gotten better since I've started running. It allows me to set goals and most times not only reach them but blaze right on through them.

Barby: closing in on week 4

Last week was really rough. It is the first week I had pms with ww and it was really an emotionally draining week. It felt like no matter what I did I couldn't get my act together. Everything was so much harder than it needed to be and I couldn't seem to get out of my own way. My clothes don't fit, my skin was breaking out (brutal when you are almost 40!), greasy hair and skin, not enough time in the day, and I didn't track despite telling myself I'd regret it. I tried really hard to stay on plan but sure enough, at week 3's weigh in I had gained 2 lbs, that's half of what I lost so far. And the worst part was I knew better, it was like watching a movie in slow motion. I left the meeting, got into my car and had a total meltdown. I cried, I hated, I beat myself up so badly. And for a couple more days the depression clung to me. Monday morning brought the start of a new work week and a new mindset. Somehow the 30 minutes of yoga i did the night before was just enough to put my mind back where it needed to be. I have tracked every single day this week and did not lie to myself or stop tracking because I didn't want to see myself go over my daily limit. Every BLT (bite, lick, taste) was recorded. I had some trouble fitting in the exercise I wanted but I did make sure that I went for two quick walks at work just to get away from my desk for a couple minutes. I feel more in control today, like this is a totally doable thing. I also noticed that I was kinder to myself. Yes my clothes are all to tight, but that will change. I looked past the breakouts and appreciated my eyes and their bright blue color.And as for my hair, well only my stylist Hailey can save me now! Weigh in is Friday, lets see what week 4 has to offer!

Update on October Goals

Ha, ha, ha! I'm blogging again and you can't stop me 'cause I'm on a roll. Love it! I figured I'd do an update on how my goals for the month are going.
1. To bust into the 150's.
Well, this one was not working out so well for me. I had put on 4lbs. The good news - I've lost 2 of the 4. As of this morning I'm down to 162. The bad news - the girl scout cookies I ordered have arrived. It's never a good idea to have cookies in the house, but it's REALLY not a good idea when your husband is deployed. Good thing the Samoas are not nearly as good as I remember them being - they were so sweet it made my stomach upset; however the thin mints, yea, those are just as good if not better then I remembered. Yesterday I had 4 thin mints with my coffee and then later in the day I had 2 Samoas. Almost 400 calories in cookies - that's a meal! I'm starting today off right with my blueberry oatmeal with flax seed. Now to stay on track and away from the sweets.
I've logged my food 10 days in a row. I haven't been very good at completing it though - mostly because I don't want anyone to see how bad I've been eating, but isn't that the whole point?! This week I'll complete it - everything I eat will be there for all to see. Ugh! (I use my fitness pal - Gillenator is my name, cute right?!).
New Mini-Goal: To eat better every day until Chris comes home. No eating out and no junk. I'm in trouble if he's gone until January. I know I've had the thought to eat better until Chris comes home, but I'm not sure if I ever wrote it down (I went through some old blog posts and couldn't find it). Now it's written down.
2. Run 3 to 4 times a week.
I ran 4 times last week. I've gotten 3 runs in this week. There's been a ton of walking too. All of my runs have been 3 to 4 miles except for one 2.2 mile run (with the jogger and two crazy kids who did not want to be in the stroller, so it got cut short). I keep track of all my runs on daily mile (love that site!) - I'm so forgetful otherwise.
3. Lift 3 times a week.
This one, I'm not doing so well with. I love lifting weights, I just haven't been taking the time to do it like I should. I need to leave the house sooner so I've got time to do it. My wrist has been hurting for a little over a week now. Starts at my wrist bone and runs down my arm. I'm not sure if I tweaked it when doing push-ups or chest press, or if it's from the computer mouse, or from running with the jogging stroller and jarring it a few weeks back. Possibly a combination of all 3. I'm not sure. Anyway, I've been avoiding doing some things because of it. The workout routine I found (and posted a bit ago) I like. It's time consuming though. Full of excuses aren't I?! No wonder I'm having troubles meeting this goal.

Pile on the Miles 2012

I stumbled across a running blog today that talked about a November challenge called Pile on the Miles. It's all about running more during a time that associated with eating - pile on extra mileage not pounds. I'm already doing my running group challenge of making it to Times Square for the New Year, so this is just another place to be accountable for the month of November. Plus this one has prizes!!
This is the blog I found it on: Run Eat Repeat.
My goal is to log 85 miles this month (21.3/week) of walking/running; hopefully most of that is running - and NOT with the jogging stroller. I need to stay injury free and the last couple times I've run with the jogger I was hurting afterwards. I think it was fine when I was doing 1-3 miles, but since I'm doing 4-5 miles now the extra weight I'm pushing seems to really bother me; AND I'm pretty sure both kids have had a growing spurt so it's probably closer to 70+ lbs I'm pushing.
Anyway, I love a good challenge. I think this is just the thing I need to get me out of this rut.

Turkey Trot 10K in 3 Weeks

I have my first 10k race coming up in 3 short weeks. It's a flat, out and back, road race. I was actually thinking I had more time, but it's slipped away from me again, so I'm working backwards on the training schedule. I haven't "run" 4 or 5 miles in quite some time, but it's on the schedule for this week. Supposed to do it on Sunday, but I might flip the schedule some since it'll be easier to get to the gym on Friday...although either way you look at it I'm running 4 miles the day before or after the Zombie obstacle run I've got on Saturday! Geesh! Oh, no worries, I GOT THIS!
I might go to the gym on Thursday and do it so I've got a day to rest before the Zombie run - that sounds better. See, there is always a way!!
One of the coolest thing about this race...check out the medal!!!!

If you haven't figured it out by now I'm all about the swag in races!!! I'm excited to run my 10k and see how it goes. It'll definitely give me an idea of how much work I need to do for my half in March.

Rock and Roll Half Marathon

I did it! I'm officially signed up for my first half marathon!!! I'll be doing the Rock and Roll in DC on March 16th. I'm SUPER excited to be a part of this race. It's the day before St. Patrick's Day so the costume should be fun to choose!!
My training plan for the next few weeks is to get up to running 4 to 5 miles regularly. This means no more jogger runs if I can help it. I want to stay injury free. Treadmill here I come!12 weeks before the half I'm going to start doing Hal Higdon's half training program.
I'm fairly new to running so I'm not sure how this is going to go for me, but I'm signing up for THREE half's next year. One in March, one in May, and one in October. I was looking ahead and starting to think of the races I wanted to do next year. I don't want to do as many 5k's. I'm definitely doing the Women's Baltimore Classic again - that was so much fun! I might do a 10k or two, but really my goal is to do the half's. I will do two fun races too - Warrior Dash and Zombie run. I'm doing those both with my husband, Chris, and hopefully another friend or two - it's going to be so much fun!
I'm throwing a triahtlon into the mix too. Yes, I know, I'm talking crazy now. I wanted to do the tri this year and talked myself out of it. It's a sprint triathlon so it's: .62mile swim, 17.5 mile bike ride, 3.4 mile run. All individually - great workouts, together - killer workout! I'm going to try and get into the Athleta Iron Girl Columbia Triathlon. Registration opens up on November 12th and the race is August 18th.
I love having plans and things to look forward too. I know I can do this as long as I stay smart and train the right way. Lots of stretching and preparing. The races are pretty evenly split, so I should have enough time to recover from all of them.
My goal for my first half is to walk/run at a reasonable pace. My second one I want to run a little more and hopefully by my third half to run the entire thing. Cross training will be my swimming and bike riding to prepare for the tri. I'm so very excited!! I'll of course post updates as I go.
Every step is just one step closer to me being a healthy Mom and positive role model for my children.

Color Run

This morning Tabitha and I drove to the National Harbor in DC and met my friend Patti to run the Color Run. It was a blast!!!
Here's Tabitha and Me at the start...

Waiting for a wave of runners to be let go...

They let people go every 10 minutes or so. While we waited a DJ talked and threw swag at us - socks, sunglasses, bags, t-shirts. The course was nice - a big hill at the start and then just downhill after that. Every kilometer or so they had a blasting station. Those were so much fun! Patti brought her camera with her so here are some action shots of me...

 I turned around because the guy next to me threw himself on the ground and started rolling in it - too funny!

 Can you see him dropping down here...

 Blue station!

 

 

Just running the course...

 

I swear I didn't run the whole race with my arms in the air - ha, ha.

 Blue powder on my teeth after the blue blast area...

 Tabitha cleaning her glasses. Love my face, I'm probably trying to get that powder off my teeth - ha, ha

Heading to the finish!

All done and showing off our color! It was Patti's first 5K and she did AWESOME!!!

 

 

The say it's the Happiest 5K on the Planet

It was definitely fun! It was not however a 5K. I did wear my Garmin...just wanted to see how long it took us to run it. We actually ended up walking most of it - mostly because so many people were. It really was a laid back race. Turns out the course was only 2.8 miles. Aw well, it was still a lot of fun!!!