Happy (late) New Year!!!

I apologize that it has been a while since I last posted. However, don't you fret! I haven't given up or anything like that. :-) We have just been busy with the holidays.

Anyways, in honor of the New Year I wanted to write a post about my new goals (and ones that I am continuing). I love coming up with new year resolutions. It may be really cliche, but it's always fun to see what happens. Last year I didn't want to set myself up for failure, so, I decided to make a goal to send everyone in my family birthday cards. I can't really give much else at this point, but I wanted them to know that I was thinking of them. I am glad to say that I accomplished it and am going for it again this year. :-)

Usually around the holidays I put on some extra pounds from all the good food but I am proud to say that I didn't have that problem this year! I am continuing my weight loss (slowly, but surely!). I have been going up and down but have been consistently getting lower on the scale. I have decided to set smaller and more attainable goals.

We recently acquired a Wii Fit. It's not meant to help you drop tons of pounds or anything like that, but it keeps a chart for you with your goal and how much you have to go to get there. You can have it show you your progress for the week, 2 weeks or by months. It has been fun to use it.

One thing that I need to work on is recognizing the good things that I am doing or improving upon. I guess this is a start... right? Here comes 2009...

Some things I would like to commend myself for:

• Keeping a food "journal". I don't count calories- but I keep track of everything I eat (on most days...).
• Eating slower
• Getting up earlier
• Drinking more water
• Trying to throw as many veggies as I can into each meal
• Walking to work and trekking it through the snow with my boots :-)
• Being consistent in my workouts (even if it is just riding Wanda the Bike)
• Keeping a "stiff upper lip" as Jon says- not getting down if I lose track for one day

Think Positive

So, lately, I have been having a really hard time w/ my self-esteem. I have always struggled with this- but it has been a big issue for me lately and it has started to wear me down. It has gotten to the point where I can't pass a mirror w/o thinking something negative about how I look. Jon has been a big help to me with this and his support means so much to me.

I don't want to get all depressing or anything. I am happy and my life is good. This is just something that I have always struggled with. It's my trial if you will. I know that in time I will be able to overcome this- I just have to keep working on it.

Jon sent this to me the other day and I wanted to share it on here. I know that many women struggle w/ body image (esp. w/ the media these days) and self confidence- but this touched me quite a bit.




PS: I have been able to go to the track after work this week so far and I've run a little over 2 miles each time. I'm getting there- slowly but surely :-)

Meet Wanda

This is Wanda.

She is my new pal.

She lives in my living room and is quiet as can be! She watches Gilmore Girls with me, keeps me company when I am bored and sweats right along with me.

Haha, okay no really... We bought this bike recently and I love it! It in no way takes the place of my running or anything like that- but sometimes when Jon is busy with school work and I've cleaned up after dinner and done everything that needed to get done and it's too dark outside to run by myself.... I need to do something! Jon usually takes up most of the living room when he's doing school work or grading papers- understandable- we used to do it together- we'd each have half of the room for all of our books and papers. So- that makes is hard to do any sort of cardio video at night. Now, instead of sitting around- I can pedal along w/ whatever it's on the TV or I can read my book while I do it. It's pretty fun and even if i'm not being very intense with it- i'm still moving.

Also as an update- we've been soo busy and running hasn't really been an option for the last 2 weeks or so. However, I have started bringing my running gear to work and after work I go to the BYU indoor track. Not my favorite place.. but when it's too dark or raining- it's my best option.. and it's free. You can't go wrong with that. The only thing that stinks is that I don't have my Zune. I had to send it to Microsoft to get fixed. It's okay- not everything is going to always work perfect. It just won't fully charge or connect to the computer so I can add songs to it. It was like that the first time I used it. Then I was able to add songs a few times. Whenever I was able to- I would add as much as I could before it disconnected. It was very weird. I think they'll understand when they get it- I don't have half of the storage filled and as it is- it's only 8 gigs. Oh well, it'll be back soon!!

Homecoming

This past Saturday (the 11th) I ran in the BYU Cougar Run for homecoming. I tell you what- it was sooo cold! Thankfully- I have my winter running gear that is perfect for cold mornings. Before the race they had events for kids under the age of 12. It was so cute! They had a 200 meter race for some little kids (5 and under). I'm not sure what their parents did to get them out of their warm beds- but it was cute. Some never left the starting line, or some started running the wrong way. Jon and I had a good time watching them. There were some older kids in longer races that were really intense! I was impressed!

The race itself wasn't too bad- but it was just so cold out! The scoreboard at the track said it was 37 degrees! Why do I subject myself to such torture? Oh well. Anyways- we ran most of the parade route and people were sitting on the side of the streets cheering us on. There were a ton of people who ran- and there was even a 75 year old woman running it with her grand daughter and she did so well! She was my hero of the day. :-) I just hope that I can be that fit by the time I hit that age.

While I was running- Leanna (Jon's sister) joined him at the track (where we finished) so that was really nice. It's always nice to have support- even if they're not running with you. All in all- it was a good race and I finished and I'm happy about that! Jon and Leanna- you guy's are troopers to stand out in the cold to watch a bunch of crazy people- thank you!

Feeling a bit lame...

Tonight I went on this little run. Once I finally had time to run it was getting dark out. So, Jon- being the wonderful husband that he is- volunteered to ride his bike alongside me. I didn't even ask- he piped up and said that he would because it was dark. Heh, maybe he just had homework he didn't want to do. Either way, he's a real sweetie :-)

Anyways, a little earlier we ate dinner that consisted of quite a bit of pasta. I'm not sure if you've ever gone running a half hour after you've eaten pasta. It's a near death experience... okay, so I'm exaggerating by a lot.. but it's not fun whatsoever. My body felt fine (the parts that kept me moving forward) but my stomach wasn't doing so hot. Note to self.. never do that again. :-) Thankfully, we weren't planning to go far at all due to the darkness. As a side note- south Provo really needs street lights! There were some parts where I couldn't even see the sidewalk and I was praying that I wouldn't land on a crab apple and completely bite the dust! Oh well.. c'est la vie! So here it is... short.. but better than nothing :-)

Under the weather

So, for the past few days- starting this past Saturday- I've been a little sick. During the weekend I just relaxed while watching conference so I could recover quickly. I'm starting to feel like myself again. I haven't been able to give my body time to react to our busy schedule- so I think it finally rebelled against me :-) That being said- I haven't posted because I haven't been running but I did do my awesome cardio video... c'mon- you SO wish you could do it with me!! Jon does... bah haha, who am I kidding?? ;-)

Here is my run from today. Nothing monumental- but I felt really good during the run and that's a good thing after not running for a few days- at least I think so. I doubt I'll be doing really long runs anytime soon- but it will come!

MapMyRun.com plug :-)

I really love MapMyRun.com- I'm able to use it not only for runs but for all kinds of activities (walking, biking, strength training, aerobics, etc...). It tracks your distance and any goals that you have. If you don't use it and don't want to waste gas in trying to figure out the distance- this is perfect!

Anyways- I mapped out my walk to work and it's 0.6 miles each way! Even if I drive back to work after lunch- I've still walked at least 1.2 miles for the day. That's not counting any other walking I may do during the day. Not too shabby, eh?

PS: I'm running the BYU Homecoming 5k on October 11th. If you're interested in running it- you can register at: BYU Homecoming 5k

Yay for Saturdays!

I won't lie- this week we've been really busy! I know I could've/should've gotten up earlier to exercise, but I just couldn't get myself out of bed really early. We went to bed pretty late this week- so getting out of bed a lot earlier wasn't in my plans. Or, I woke up and thought about it and then just pretended that the thought never came- haha...

Anyways! This is the run I did today. Jon was at our friend's (Nate & Jess) house having a LAN party w/ their other friend, "Seabass". I dropped him off along w/ my keys, purse and a waterbottle and I headed out for my run. It was pretty hot outside today! I was surprised! This run was all down hill for the first half- second half was running up what I had just ran down! It was a lot steeper than I remember- At least my thighs/hams will thank me later :-). I felt pretty good too. I may have walked a little... *sheepish* but, walking doesn't make you any less of a runner!! The only thing I would've changed would have been to have my mp3 player on me. It died yesterday and I plugged it in thismorning and by the time we left- it was still charging. Anyways- here it is.

Here I go!!!

This blog is more of a personal progress tracker, however, the fact that someone could possibly get bored enough to read this is a pretty good motivator to help me keep going! For those of you who have now decided to check up on me and where I'm at- this will be a long road for the both of us!

First off, I should probably give the background of how this all came about. Note: this will probably be the longest post on this blog :-)

I first started running in 6th grade. My dad and I would run around the block together. For those of you used to a grid system, it's not the normal block. If you're at all curious, here is the actual run. The only thing this view lacks is the amount of hills. (Notice that my home street is "south hills drive"... they weren't kidding when they named it that!)



Anyways, this continued for a very long time. It was a really good bonding experience that I will always remember. When I got to high school- I very much wanted to be apart of the cross country team. However, due to other activities I was involved in- I had to wait for a little while.

My sophomore year (2000-2001) came and I joined winter track- yes you heard right- we had winter track! We competed at the University of New Hampshire every weekend. I had a lot of potential when I started, however, I became a shot-putter. There I was throwing a heavy ball while watching the long distance runners go off on long runs during practice- hoping, wishing, devestated. I was determined. Spring track came and I was a javelin thrower but was now starting to run with the long distance runners a few times. I know this is a really long background- but it's almost over, I promise!

Over the summer I trained so that I would be able to be a long distance runner. Fall came and I decided to join cross country. I loved it! I started on junior varsity and by the end of the season I was running with the varsity runners. Winter came and I did track again. This time- there was no more shot putting! I was a long distance runner. I ran the 1,000M race. This is an indoor only event. I was lucky enough to compete every week. Not every team member was able to so that was a huge honor. I was at a high point and was ready for my senior year. I wasn't able to run Spring track but I'm kind of glad I didn't. I hated the 800M race! I'm guessing that's what I would've been doing.

Senior year came and I was on the cross country team again. I was on varsity- but I was also head of the junior varsity girls. I qualified at our state meet to run in the meet of champions that was the qualifier race to go to New Englands (where all the XC scouts from different universities really pay attention to). The best part about being able to run in the meet of champions was, not only did we all qualify individually but we also qualified as a team- which is rare. That's pretty much my big "shining moment" of high school sports. Anways, day of "meet of champions" I took my SATs and got to the race site about 15 mins before the race started. Talk about nerve racking! Thinking about school AND qualifing. The race started and a mile into the race, one of my shoes came untied. If you finished w/o both shoes- you were disqualified. I was trying so hard to keep the shoe on. Right as I started the 2nd mile the boy's coach pulled me out and made my tie my shoe. Talk about losing time!!!! Needless to say- that race didn't go so well. Oh well. I didn't expect to run in college anyways. After this I got very very sick and did not continue on to winter or spring track.

This was me my senior year 2002-2003
I was at work: The Executive Health Club- a gym. I worked in the cafe making smoothies and other food.

Speaking of college... I came to BYU and ran for fun and ran a lot of 5k races. At the end of my sophomore year spring/summer 2005 I started training for the SLC marathon that was in May 2006. I was on my way and my hopeful time after timing all my long runs was to finish the marathon in under 4 hours- which for me was amazing! I'm not bragging... because you'll see in a few lines that I never got to run it.. :-(

In around February of 2006 my left foot started to be in so much pain that I wasn't sure what I should do. My mom had the same problems that I was having and she needed surgery. I was praying that I wouldn't need it- but after many doctor visits, x-rays and prayer it was decided that I needed surgery. Best part was, my surgery was the day before the SLC marathon. Surgery came and went and even though I was devestated- I gained a lot from the experience.

The most important thing was that Jon and I became a lot closer. This experience really showed me how well we worked together. I saw a lot of Jon's heart and soul during this time. I knew him well already, but let's be honest- it's love when a boy carries you to the bathroom! No worries... he didn't help me go... just carried me to and from. I still can never thank him enough for the amount of service he gave to me while I was going through that. I really love that boy :-)

Notice my boot that I had to wear. I was still on crutches at this time.

So let's now fastforward to the present. Since that time I've gotten married, graduated, worked at Comcast where I sat more than I ever had in my life, and now work at Union Square where I walk to and from work everyday. I've gained a lot of weight since my surgery and from all the mentioned events. That's a lot to go through in 2 years! Mostly it was good things- but still- new changes, new everything!

I really want to get back into shape. I don't care if I run a marathon any time soon. My goal is just to become healthier and to lose weight at this point. I got a good head start this summer while we were in Arkansas. I lost 5.5lbs while we were out there while working full-time. It can be done!! :-) I just have to keep telling myself that. If i'm not running I have really cool cardio videos that I do (sorry downstairs neighbors!) and I walk to and from work every day (yay for saving gas!)

So here it is- this will be the blog that tracks my workouts with little maps. See, you can run with me... sort've. I hope you enjoy it and if you finished this entry- good job! I've been trying to shorten it but I couldn't bring myself to take anything out. It's like being a "blog-pack-rat".

To get tihs started off- here is the run I did yesterday after work!