Many miles in 2010

Happy New Year everyone! I have many things to post, I never did post the rest of the Warrior Dash photos like I said I would... I might get on that this week. I am however, transferring my running mileage over to the blog from my sidebar.

Drum roll please...

In 2010 I ran 621.5 miles! That's a lot! Here's the breakdown:

January running totals...
71.75 miles
February running totals...
82.75 miles
March running totals...
78.50 miles
April running totals...
69.25 miles
May running totals...
10 miles (Broad St. Run!)
37.50 miles
6.2 (Kennett Run!)
Total 53.7
June running totals...
41.25 miles
July running totals...
27.50 miles
August running totals...
35 miles
September running totals...
35.25 miles
October running totals...
34 miles
November running totals...
42.50 miles
December running totals...
50 miles

I will admit that I might be off by a mile or two, there may be days that I forgot to record my miles or days that I wrote down more than once but all in all, I think it's pretty accurate. It's interesting to me that after I discovered Zumba, my mileage drastically decreases. I am not big on the "New Year's resolution" however my resolution for this year is to track all of my exercise, not just my running. I'm still formulating a plan on how that will be done exactly.

So Folks, (if anyone actually still reads this blog) I'll try to be a better blogger in the coming year but I ain't making any promises.

Hope you enjoy your New Year's Day!

The Kennett Run!

A few weekends ago, The Son and I took part in the Kennett Run, a local race that is very well known in our area. They have a 5K, a 10K and a kids 1 miler. Last year it was the very first race I did and I did the 5K. This year, I decided on the 10K. I had some neighbor friends who told me they were doing the 10K but never actually decided to sign up for it. I joked that they were afraid to be beaten by a girl, which I think I found a lot funnier than they did. Turns out though, that I did beat them. They only did the 5K and if you doubled their times, they would have been longer than my finishing time. I finished the 10K in 1:01:50! I was thrilled, I know that's not a terribly fast time, but it is under ten minute miles the whole way, so for me, that's great! I'd also like to add that the Kennett Run is notoriously hilly... HILLY! I train on hills around my house but they didn't prepare me for the inclines of this particular course. I took advantage of the downhill and really sped up when I could. I have a few pictures to share with you...

Here I am with The Son, walking to the start line (for me) and then stretching before the race.



Not my most attractive angle but The Son looks cute...


Here I am waiting for it to start, the 10Kers started first and then the 5Kers followed. The Son's 1 mile kid race was later in the park.


Here I am after finishing... I was HOT and irritable, can you tell?

And here I am last year... Can you see the difference? Last year, I finished the 5K in 38:50 which at that time I was quite pleased with, it's a respectable time.

So that's the Kennett Run for me in a nutshell, I have some shots of The Son doing the kids' one miler that I'll post next week.

Have a great weekend everyone! And thanks to my few loyal readers and comment leavers. You know who you are and I hope you know how much I appreciate you!

Broad Street Run-- Race Recap part 3 (finally)

I finally seem to have recovered from the GI issues I had about a week ago. I'm feeling WAY better and I realized that I need to post my final post about the Broad Street Run. If you'd like to read the first two parts, you can scroll down a post or two to find them, they're right there.

We last left off when the three of us were heading to bed to get some sleep before the race, we got in from dinner a little later than we wanted to and 5:00 AM seemed to come WAY too fast. We were staying at a Residence Inn which has a kitchenette, this was great for us so we didn't have to head out to find some nourishment really early. We cooked up our bagels and brewed the coffee and enjoyed. After eating breakfast, we got dressed in our race gear and posed for the obligatory pictures.

We headed down to the lobby, checked our bags with the front desk because we were moving to a different hotel for the next night (don't ask.) and we headed out to meet the BIL at the subway a couple blocks away, it was 6:30 AM.

We got to the subway and met up with BIL, headed down and ran into hundreds of other runners heading to Philadelphia's Central High School for the start of the race. It was pretty incredible. It took about 25 minutes on the (very crowded) subway, we were packed in and standing but my excitement was so high that I didn't even mind.

When we got to the field, we looked to find our starting corrals, I was in pink, the last corral and the others had corrals, much closer to the front, I didn't let it get me down though, I was going to enjoy this experience with our without them. It seemed like a long time until the race was actually starting, we waited in line for the port-a-potties and participated in the group warm up which was actually quite fun. I enjoyed watching the HUGE group of people, all with the same goal, stretching, moving and getting pumped up. FUN!

Finally, it was time to line up. I had a can of pineapple with me because I like to eat pineapple before I run so I found a spot in my corral and cracked open my pineapple. Each corral took off in turn and about 40 minutes after the start of the race, it was the pink corral's turn to GO!

I started off at a very slow pace, listening to Carrie Underwood sing, "Before he Cheats" which I know is about a 5.1 on a treadmill, as the crowds around me thinned out, I was able to run a little faster but I never went too fast as I knew I couldn't keep up a fast pace for ten miles.

I was really enjoying my run through the city, we passed Shriner's Hospital for Children which is where my mother worked for years and I silently talked to her in my mind, I knew she'd be proud of me. We passed Temple University where The Sister and the BIL went to school and then we passed by Broad and Diamond which was the main intersection near Frederick Douglass Elementary School where I used to teach. Memories came flooding back, some good, some not so good but I could see City Hall WAAAAAAY in front of me so I kept running.

Did I mention it was getting hot? Really hot? I mentioned that last year's Broad St. Run was really chilly, well this year it was supposed to be close to 90 and it was approaching that temperature quickly. I don't mind the heat, in fact I like it but I hadn't trained in hot weather at all. I made sure to stop at every water stop to stay hydrated and because I was running behind thousands and thousands of other runners, there were wet cups all over the ground causing a slightly slippery situation for those of us who might be a bit more clumsy than others and by that I mean, ME! I had to slow to a walk at a couple points but I just kept telling myself that I had to make it through 10 miles and a little walking would be fine. The fire hydrants were open and every once in a while, I ran through the edge of that too to get a little spritz.


When I passed City Hall, I knew that I had approximately 4 more miles to go, I was more than half way there! This is when it got hard, it was hot and I was getting tired but I just kept going, slow and steady finishes the race...


Miles 7, 8 and 9 were actually kind of fun because this is when we were heading in to South Philly, the spectators that were there were very encouraging, I slapped hands with lots of little kids who were there watching and they helped keep me going. I started to get very emotional as I neared the Naval Yard, the end of the race. The ships on the river were beautiful and even though it was close to 90 degrees, the breeze off the river felt really good. I did see a few people who had collapsed and had emergency personnel helping them out, I felt surprisingly good considering...

As I crossed the finish line, I got extremely emotional and started to cry! I had done it. It took me one hour and 54 minutes but I had done a ten mile race! HOORAY!

In hindsight, I think it went well, I am proud of myself, it was an awesome race and I will definitely do it again next year. It would be nice if it's not 90 degrees next year but for me, I think 90 and sunny is better than 53 and rainy like it was last year but I'm sure many would disagree with me. I leave you for now, I have a few more thoughts and pictures that I'll share in my next post. It's Wednesday, one of my busy days and I need to start getting ready to tackle the day. Have a good one friends!

Broad Street Run-- Race Recap part 2

Hi Friends! If you want to read part 1 of my race recap, click here first. Also, to my anonymous commenter... Thank you so much for your sweet comments, do I know you? Are you always the same person who is commenting? I do appreciate your comments (since you are one of the only ones who's been commenting) but I'd love to know if I actually know you.

So, when we last left off we were talking about heading to dinner, we had already taken the time to set up our clothes for the next day, organize our pre-race breakfasts and everything that we would need to bring with us when we left the hotel at 6AM.

Here's my race day breakfast, an Asiago Cheese Bagel from Panera Bread with light cream cheese. I also eat a can of pineapple but didn't take a picture of that. ;) I think the only reason I do races is to give myself license to eat a bagel now and again. I used to love bagels but really watch how often I eat them now because bagels = lots of calories!

Here's all our race gear lined up and ready for the next morning.

...and here is the "view" from our room, not terribly beautiful but we didn't care.

After all our organizing... we left for dinner.

I'm disappointed with myself that I didn't take any pictures of me and my friend Stacy, I wasn't thinking, in my defense, I was preoccupied with the race the next day. We met up with The Brother-in-Law who was also doing the race, let's call him Dr. BIL. We didn't have reservations and in hind sight, we should have but we ended up finding a little pizza/wine restaurant in Center City Philly called Zavino. I liked my pizza but wasn't overly impressed with the place as far as service and menu over all. I had the Kennett Pizza which I thought was very fitting for me since I live near Kennett Square, PA, the mushroom capital of the world! The Kennett Pizza had bechamel sauce and three different kinds of mushrooms on it and it was yummy! I also had one glass of wine. The "salad" of mixed greens was lousy, it was truly a few different kinds of leaves on a plate with some vinaigrette poured over it. Not. Impressed. I wouldn't go here again and wouldn't recommend it, it was kind of meh.

After dinner, we headed across the street to Capogiro Gelato. If I didn't need the carbs for my run the next day, I could have skipped dinner and had just gelato. Oh. My. Goodness. It's fantastic there. I had been there before but it's been a long time. If you're not familiar with gelato or think you like pieces of stuff in your ice cream so you won't like gelato, let me just tell you, gelato is not ice cream, it's a completely different experience and so darn delicious! I had the dark chocolate, coconut and nutella flavors. Those are not the Italian names that they have at the shop but I can't remember the Italian names. Evidently, they have a Sea Salt flavor that tastes great with the Dark Chocolate but they were out of it... next time. Chrissy Cuz and Dr. BIL also loved the gelato and I think we all had similar choices for flavors. YUM!

So, after dinner, we headed back to our hotel, Dr. BIL went his way, back to his hotel, we said goodbye to Stacy and we went to get some much-needed sleep, we knew that 5 AM would be here WAY too soon.

It was so fantastic to see Stacy, it had been years since we saw each other and I'm glad that we've rekindled our friendship. We used to work at The Marriott together and those were some fun and crazy times... Love you Stacy!

Well, I'll stop with my recap for now and tell you about the actual race the next time. I have to get ready for a meeting with my boss/guru and have to get The Son ready for school. Have a great Friday everyone! Please leave a comment if you stop by and let me know who you are!

'Twas the Night Before Broad Street... a recap part 1

It's about time... I know, I just haven't been motivated to post and I was waiting for the Broad St. Run pictures to be posted and they finally have been. I can't post my individual picture but I will be ordering it and I'll scan it so that I can eventually post it, let me tell you, I look SO pretty in it. NOT! LOL!

So, onto to the Race Recap...

My friends and I checked into our hotel on the afternoon before the race and headed right to the Expo to pick up our packets and bib numbers. The photo above is of the three of us waiting for the "shuttle bus" to arrive. It was a hot day and I was looking forward to sitting down and relaxing on the bus, that is until I saw a yellow school bus pull around the corner. I looked at my cousin and said, "This is not looking good." Sure enough, the school bus was in fact, the shuttle bus that was going to take us to the stadium where the expo was being held. It was hot but not as bad as I thought it would be once the bus got moving.

We got our packets, picked up our free t-shirts which are pretty cute, and then browsed through the vendors. I have to say, I was disappointed with the shirts they had available for purchase because although the shirt was kind of cute, it was emblazoned with "Modell's Sports" logo on the back. It was like a giant red and white bumper sticker and was not at all attractive. Now, if this was on the free shirt, I'd have no problem with that, but for $20 I don't want ugly advertisements on my shirt. Sorry Modell's but I'm not paying $20 to be free advertising for you. I would have certainly bought it otherwise because it was a pretty nice moisture wicking shirt... maybe if the ad was a little more subtle?

Anyway, we headed back and took a few shots of Center City Philadelphia, especially Broad Street. I was in awe that I would be running down it the following day!

We went to the Municipal building where they have lots of giant Game Pieces that we posed with. Here's Chrissy Cuz on the top hat from Monopoly and me with a "Sorry" piece. Cherie posed with a mini-Philly Phanatic instead of a game piece.



Here's a cool shot of City Hall, I met a cute guy here back in 1992...

and no... I don't mean William Penn.

We soon got back to the hotel to organize our things and get ready to go out to dinner with an old friend. I'll tell you more about that in my next post...

Go! Go! Go!

Hi Friends! I've been absent for a few days because, as usual, I've been a busy lady. It is officially three days before The Broad Street Run and the anxiety has set in. I know I can do the ten mile race since I did it two weeks ago on the treadmill, but I have anxiety about all the other logistics... how to get to the expo, taking the subway to the starting line, finding my family and friends that I'll be racing with since they are going to be much faster than I am... lots of logistics.

All that being said, I am super-duper excited! I think back to this time last year when I never would have thought that I would be tackling a 10-mile race! I also think back to the fact that I knew some people who were doing the Broad Street Run and it was a rainy and cold 53 degree day! I felt for them, I really did... well, let's just say I felt for most of them, some of them were the cliquish "mean moms" from the Y so I didn't exactly feel for them. ;) Anyway... the temperature THIS year is supposed to reach 87 degrees! Yeah! I am thrilled by that because I am thinking that it will be a perfect temperature for running in the morning and not 87 until the race is over. Either way, in my mind, 87 is WAY better than 53 and rainy! Go Mother Nature!

The whole weekend proves to be lots of fun, my cousin Chrissy and her friend Cherie are coming from Connecticut tonight and will be racing with me. I have to work on Saturday morning but we are heading into The City immediately after my classes. We will check into our hotel and then head to the "Not for Runners Only" Expo on Saturday afternoon. After that we have a friend who is a former concierge who is making dinner reservations for us somewhere in The City and she's also joining us for dinner. My BIL will be joining us for dinner too, should be LOTS of fun. I'm thinking we'll head back to the hotel to get to bed fairly early... not that I'll be able to sleep very well!

The race starts bright and early on Sunday, in fact, we have been told to board the subway by 6:30 AM to make sure that we reach the start line in time. Ugh... I am SO not a 6:30 AM girl! I think I can handle it this time though. So then, after we join the other 29,997 people who are running in this race, I guess we'll get started! I finished my "Mock Broad St. Run" on the treadmill in just under 2 hours and I have to put it out there, my goal is to finish this race in 1:45 but I think that might be a stretch but I will say that I'll be happy if I finish in less than 1:55. (Hell, I'll just be happy when I finish.)

The Husband and The Son are meeting us in The City at the finish line or somewhere around there but they are not staying in The City on the night of the race... but... we ARE! We've decided to get a room there on the night of the race so that we can go back to the room, swim, relax, NAP, and then go out on the town and celebrate our fantastic finish! I'm hoping to get together with some of my City Friends while there. We'll come home Monday morning and get back to real life...

and possibly...

training for a half marathon? You heard it here first folks... now to find one...

Have a great day everyone! It might be next week until I get back here but I promise lots of pictures and recaps of the race/weekend in The City!

Don't Mock Me!

Hi Bloggy Friends!

I know I've told you all that on May 2nd I'm running my first long race, the Broad St. Run in Philadelphia. I also know that I shouldn't be that specific on my blog but considering there are 29,999 other people running in that race, if you ARE a stalker... good luck finding me!

Well, I decided that I couldn't try to participate in that race without having run the full 10 miles at least once. I've heard the Broad St. Run is an "easy 10-miles." It's "mostly downhill" and that it's a "really fun race," I also heard that as long as I could run 8 miles, I'd be fine for the BSR. I didn't believe that so I decided to stage a "Mock BSR" on the treadmill at the Y on Sunday.

I was psyched. I ate the same breakfast that I am going to eat on the morning of the race, an Asiago cheese bagel from Panera Bread with some cream cheese and right before I left for the Y, I ate a can of pineapple. I like to eat pineapple before I run. It's psychological but I think it helps me with energy and every time I eat it, I have a good run. Why mess with that? I chose the bagel and cream cheese because I love bagels and never eat them any more and for obvious reasons, I don't want my fiber filled breakfast on the morning of the race. Bagel it is! The cream cheese was some added protein for me.

I started the run at 11:40,


and, an hour and twenty minutes later, I had gone 7 miles! I had to stop because the treadmill only allows one to run for an hour and a half, I took a quick break to reset and kept on running...

Three more miles in 34 minutes and I was finally finished!

An hour and 55 minutes later! My goal was two hours which obviously I achieved and I'm hoping I can do it a little more quickly during the actual race.


Not exactly pretty but, pretty happy!



I am continuing my training for the next two weeks by doing my shorter runs and working on my speed. I ran with this guy today and finished 5K in our neighborhood in 28 minutes and I think I'm ready... I can't wait!

On your mark... get set... GO!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I had a busy Monday and didn't get a chance to come on and blog but I can update you about my weekend today!

I had a great weekend! After work on Saturday, I headed out to my sister's house, we were doing a race together on Sunday. My sister invited me to come a day early so that we could go to her gym together and work out and so that we could also go out for a bite to eat together sans kids.

We had a nice work out, did 15 minutes on the stairmill and then ran a couple miles before doing our back, triceps and shoulder weights. We decided that we had to do the same work out because we're sisters and we have to do everything the same. ;) We took a few pictures after we got ready to go out.

This little beauty was already sleeping but I can't leave her out can I? The Baby Niece is a very serious girl, can you tell?

We had a nice dinner but knew that we couldn't stay out too late because we had a big race to run in the next day so we headed home and went straight to bed.

The next morning we woke up, and got ready to go. The BIL who is a high-powered, much sought after, renowned, gastroenterologist had to leave the house at 4:15 AM for his rounds. In other words, he's a newer doctor and he's the low man on the totem pole so he was on call and had to go in on a Sunday morning. It was just the girls, basically this meant that my sister got her girls ready and I only had to worry about myself. We headed out around 7:50 AM.

We got there in plenty of time and guess who was there to meet us? These two handsome guys!

I was so happy to see them! They were scheduled to do the one mile walk which meant that The Husband was scheduled to carry The Son on his shoulders for one mile because The Son was feeling particularly lazy this day... good workout Honey!

Here they are lining up at the start line for the walk.



Here's me and The Sissy before we got ready to run... it was a smaller race in a beautiful state park. Only 91 runners participated. The race was to help benefit the computer lab of The Niece's preschool which is also a K-8 school.

Here I am crossing the finish line... I finished in 29:44 which is a personal record! I was SO thrilled and never thought I would finish in less than half an hour. I started off really slowly and was actually the last one in the entire group of runners but I knew that I had to pace myself and not start off too fast. My iPod helped me to stay steady and I picked up my speed as I went along and passed lots and lots of runners. It was a somewhat hilly course and I have trained a lot on hills so I am sure that helped me. I ran the entire thing even up the very last steep, steep hill that I thought was going to kill me! What doesn't kill us makes us stronger though right?

I even slowed down a bit when I was able to see the time clock because I was afraid I'd have no room to grow if I finished too fast and I'd like to be able to do a couple more PRs. Speaking of a PR, The Sissy finished in 27:18 but hated every second of it! I'm still proud of her.

I am still thrilled with my time and feel like I want to run around and tell everyone! Thanks for sticking with me if you read this far. I have some more pictures from our super-fun weekend but tomorrow is a special day for a furry member of my family so I think tomorrow's post will be devoted to him... more pictures on Thursday perhaps?

Have a great day everyone! I am off to get The Son ready for school and myself ready for the gym... weigh in on Thursday you know and I had a decadent weekend. Bye for now!

Spring really HAS sprung!

Hi Friends! If anyone out there still reads (or comments) on my blog that is...

I know I've been on hiatus again, I have to admit I am having difficulty managing to find time to blog and work out and work and take care of my men and all the things that busy moms have to do. I know for a fact that many of you out there will understand!

I am really feeling great about this weather lately. I hope that the title of this post doesn't jinx us and make it turn into Winter again because Pennsylvania has had some big snow storms in March and even in April. Scary... it's been pretty nice around these parts lately and I'd like to keep it that way.

So, let me tell you what's going on with us. I am still working on losing weight but my body doesn't seem aware of that fact! ha ha! I have had quite a few weeks of NO LOSS! Ugh! and it's not for lack of trying and doing all the "right" things. I am so close to my goal of losing 100 pounds that I think at this point, it's just difficult. I am not getting discouraged or giving up because honestly, on the plan I do, there is no "finished" this is just the way I will live and eat for the rest of my life. If I have another week of no loss, I will have to really examine my foods and tweak a few more things to make those last ten pounds LEAVE. It will all come off eventually, it might just take a bit longer than I want it to.

I am still training for the Broad Street Run which is a 10 mile race on May 2nd. I am feeling a bit nervous because I can't seem to get past 5 miles comfortably and 7 miles with a lot of effort. I'll keep trying though and know that I could walk 10 miles right now so if that's what I have to do, at least I know I'll get through the race. I downloaded some music to run to and I have to say that BPMs have changed my running life... don't know what that means? I'll tell you in another post, it will give me something to blog about!

The Son is doing BEAUTIFULLY in Kindergarten. The Husband and I had his conference this week and his teacher couldn't say enough good things. He's mastered all the Kindergarten skills and is now working on first grade skills. She told us not to expect him to master the first grade skills this year because they are much more complex than the Kindergarten ones. I am not worried. I have no plans to rush him, he's still just a little guy. He needs to work on his printing because it's very sloppy and he also needs to work on putting spaces between his words, other than that he's doing really great. His standardized test scores were in the 99th percentile for math and the 97th for reading... PROUD! I will add that as a former teacher, I know that standardized tests are only one indicator of a child's intelligence and abilities but as his mom, I am still very proud of him indeed. His teacher also said that he is a very "nice boy" and that he treats the other students with respect and is friendly with everyone. I hope this is an indication on how he will be as he progresses through school because I couldn't be happier.


We're going on a little spring break vaycay this weekend... it's not THAT exciting but I'll tell you about it soon. It should be fun.

I still keep wanting to do a post on healthy cooking/eating as well as a post on BPMs that have changed my life... I'll try, try, try to be a little more proactive with the blogging because it really is something I like to do, it's just hard to find the time.

Lastly, I got a haircut and I am really happy with it! My hairdresser didn't take off too much but she did just enough to make it a little more manageable and now I have some shape. Here's a picture. Funny enough, The Son took this picture, he's pretty good for a six year old, as long as I help him know how to frame it and place him the right distance away, he's getting the hang of it.

Final addition... I wrote the above post earlier today and forgot to post it. Duh. I got weighed at 1:00 today and was down 1.6! Yahoo! That makes my official total 90.2 pounds. only 9.8 to go for my goal... that could take another year but I'll get there. (I'm only half kidding!)

Have a great day everyone! Stay healthy!

Is it really here?

Spring that is! We've endured quite a few days of rainy, yucky weather and today when I woke up I saw the sun! The warm, beautiful, welcoming sun. However, it's March 16th and I hate to get too excited about Spring because Mother Nature can be a big tease, taunting us with these lovely, pleasant days only to rip them away and dump another ten inches of snow all over us. I will just try to enjoy these days while they're here and not get too excited lest they be cruelly ripped away from me as I am plunged into the depths of Winter Hell once again. (Who are you calling overly dramatic?)

So anyway... as you can see, I'm still here. I've been feeling a little "non-bloggy" these days. As usual, I've been busy and when I'm busy, there are things that have to be put aside. Blogging is probably one of the first things to go because it certainly isn't going to be The Son or my work outs or my healthy eating, those are always things I make time for because those are the things that keep me healthy and feeling good.

The Son is doing well, growing like crazy, I cannot believe that he's more than half way through kindergarten. His Nannie recently sent him a down vest from L.L. Bean and then found this cute hat to go with it.


The Son loves it so much that one night he even wore it to bed! He got dressed this morning at 9:30 and put it on so that he "would be ready to leave when it was time to go to school." People, the child goes to school at noon! LOL! He's playing in the sunroom now wearing his vest waiting to go to school. He's a funny kid, my boy.

Thanks Nannie! We really love the vest (and you!)

I'm still training for my ten-mile race, I feel like I hit a wall with my training but I'm going to overcome it. Ziggy (my German Shorthair Pointer) and I are going to go for an outdoor run today. I think getting outdoors will help me get back into the swing of things. I've been running plenty, don't get me wrong, it's just been difficult to get past the max of seven miles that I've achieved. I'll get there... I'm determined.

I have a few posts that I'd like to do about excuses (not making them) and about ways to incorporate "real healthy eating" into our diets, not "faux healthy eating" with bars and frozen meals. They'll get written... one of these days.

Well, I'm off to say hello to Mother Nature now and beg her to keep that sun shining and those temperatures warming up. If you see her, do the same, perhaps she'll decide to let Spring stick around for a while! Happy Tuesday! Stay healthy!

Winter Complacency

Do you find yourself getting complacent with yourself and your life in the winter months? Well, I surely do as I haven't lost any weight in weeks... WEEKS! I am maintaining my 87 pound loss which is fantastic but the fact remains that I have about 20 more pounds that I want to lose and I need to get back on track.

The snow didn't help, the Y was closed for four (very long) days, I wanted to munch, munch, munch, The Husband and I enjoyed some extra bottles of wine during the storm, I'm already wearing a size 10, I like the way I look and feel, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I know these things are all "reasons" for no loss but let's face facts and call them what they really are...

EXCUSES!

I've come so far, and I am not about to stop now. I want to reach that goal of losing 100 pounds and then some. When I lose 100, I will be 152 pounds which is an excellent, healthy weight for a woman my height (5'8") but... going just a few pounds lower will put me in the "140 category" which I think is where I really want to be, I'll reevaluate when I get to that 152 but I do believe I'll want to go a bit smaller.

I know that the thing that works better than anything for me is also the thing I dislike the most... faithfully journaling my foods. I've taken our group's journal this week and next week I will be journaling for my boss/weight loss guru who also wants to take off a couple pounds herself. We are going to be "journal buddies" and switch journals each week. I know this is the refocus I need to get that last 20-ish pounds off and gone forever! I can do this, I know it will happen, the last few pounds is always the most difficult.

I am getting ready to go to the grocery store and buy some salmon for dinner. YUCK! I really don't like salmon but it's lent, The Husband won't eat meat on Fridays and it can't hurt me to try another new thing. I might even find that I kind of like it. I'll let you know what I do with it if it turns out remotely appealing. ha ha! After the grocery, I will be heading to the Y to try my next challenge of running six miles in a row without stopping. I did six miles last week but had to stop a couple times for very-mini walk breaks and I need to challenge myself to complete the whole thing without stopping. I'll get there... I know I can do it! I am goal oriented and will reach my goal! No more complacency for me! It's time to kick it all up a notch!

Lastly, I did sign up for the Broad St. Run which is a 10-mile run in Philadelphia on May 2nd... it's safe for me to say this on my blog because there are 30,000 participants... if I do have a stalker, good luck finding me among the other 29,999 registered runners! ;)

Have a great Friday everyone! Enjoy your weekend.

What did I get myself into?

It's been a couple days since I blogged, I've been going about my normal business, working, working out, taking care of my family, etc. Nothing all that exciting. I did manage to lose five pounds this past week. Before you think that sounds too great, remember, I gained 3.8 the week before because of my blood pressure issues so really, I lost 1.2 pounds giving me a grand total of 87.6! All in all, that's pretty good and I'm thrilled!

I signed up for a fun event at our Y, at least I think it will be a fun event. It's an ironman triathlon competition. It costs $5 to enter and then we have as long as we need to complete all the events in an ironman triathlon. That means 26.2 miles of running, 2.4 miles of swimming and 112 miles of biking. The first person finished wins the entire pot of money. I think it's up to about $200 right now and I want to win! I am mostly worried about the 150+ laps of swimming. Obviously, being a swimming instructor I know how to swim but... I am not a fast swimmer, we are allowed to swim any stroke, I'll probably concentrate on breast stroke with a bit of side stroke thrown in when I get tired. The run doesn't concern me since I run about that much in a week anyway. Others have told me that 112 miles on the bike is really hard but I am planning on going to the Y next Sunday and spending the entire day on the bike. We're allowed to do the recumbent bike so I think that will help me out. Hopefully, no one finishes before that time. The person who won last year finished in 2.5 weeks. I think I can beat that considering I don't have a full time job and on occasion, I have been known to be very competitive. ;) It should be fun, CityMomma/CountryMomma is very goal oriented.

Tomorrow, when The Son is in school, I'll be working on the swimming to see how much of that I can get done. I'll probably head back to the Y for a bit in the evening to get some biking done, at that point I'll know if I stand a ghost of a chance at winning this thing. My race training is taking a back burner until this competition is complete but I'll still be running of course and the cross-training with the swimming and biking can only help me.

Have a great Monday everyone and I might add a very Happy Birthday to my beautiful Sister! Hope you're having a great birthday Cathy!

NO! This does not make me a grandmother!

Many of you know that I used to be an elementary school teacher. For six years, I taught in the typical inner-city neighborhood in North Philadelphia at "Frederick Douglass Elementary School." That's where I met Cory.

Cory was a student in my third grade class and then I had him the following year in fourth grade when I "looped" and kept the same students. Cory was one of those kids with a big personality and lots of smarts. He wasn't always the best behaved student in my class but for sure, he wasn't the worst. He spoke up when he needed something, he stayed after school just because he wanted to and most importantly, over the summer, he looked up my phone number in the phone book and called me! I was shocked! In fifth grade, he moved on to another teacher but we've kept in touch ever since he was 8 years old and my third grade student.

Cory has had his fair share of troubles, his mother passed away quite a few years ago and he and his many brothers and sisters were basically left to take care of themselves and each other, in spite of all that, Cory graduated from high school, he even attended Millersville University for a few semesters until he had trouble paying his tuition. It's not the best situation that he had to leave the University but I feel confident that Cory will finish college some day, it's just going to take him a little longer than some.

Cory is 23 years old now and his girlfriend just had a baby! I am not thrilled that he isn't married, or that his girlfriend had a baby before he actually graduated from college BUT... I love him so what can I do but support them?

They came to visit us this weekend, the baby is also named Cory and Big Cory introduced me to little Cory as Grandmom! I put a stop to that right away! I am not ready to be called Grandmom and in all honesty, I want to save that title for when The Son has a wife who has babies. I told him I could be Aunt Kiki which is what my nieces call me. (I don't know why but I like it!) So, here's a few pictures of our weekend. It was lots of fun and I hope that we'll get to see lots more of this sweet little guy and his parents.


The Son loved the baby but still couldn't resist acting silly in a photo!

Here's a better one...


Check out this cute face! I love his big, dark, eyes! He's such a good baby, honestly, the whole time they were here, I barely heard this little guy cry. Cory Sr. says he pretty much only cries when he's hungry or doesn't want to be in his car seat, what a good little guy!

Daddy with his boy!
Mommy with her boy!

The happy family!


Hangin' out and lookin' cute!

Adorable, wouldn't you agree?

Today is the start of my training for the Broad Street Run, my blister is still bothering me but on today's agenda is running three miles at an 11:00 minute pace so that shouldn't be too difficult for me. This whole week's training plan only has me running 8 miles total which for me is nothing... any runners out there want to give me advice? Do I stick to exactly what the plan says or can I do an extra day or so to get in a few more miles, it's hard to do only 8! I could do the elliptical or AMT machine on the off days if that would be better but I'd much rather run. Please, let me know your thoughts.

Have a great day everyone! Enjoy your Monday!