Thanks for the encouragement about my health woes, everyone. The foot/ankle issues are finally starting to clear up, thankfully! I still haven’t made a decision on whether I’ll do my scheduled 5k race on Sunday or not. Part of me really wants to for several reasons:

1. I’ve not done a race in a few months.
2. Several of my friends are also registered for it.
3. I’ve already paid for it anyway.
4. They have a cutest little surfboard finisher medals. ;)

Ok, so maybe reason #4 is the one I’m thinking about the most right now. I already have the one from last year’s race. I think it would be a shame not to get this little matching friend for it, don’t you?

Aren’t they adorable? Yes, in case you are wondering, they are made of real wood.

Right now my plan is to go on Friday afternoon and pick up my bib/race packet at the Expo. I’ll likely make my final decision on whether I’m up to actually doing the race on Saturday night. If I am feeling up to it, I’ll be sticking to all walking and won’t be doing any run intervals. I figure there’s no need to tempt fate when I’m just getting back on my feet (pardon the pun).

Today’s post is all about numbers, so I thought I would start it off with my photo du jour which is of all my race bibs from 2008. I finished the year having completed a total of eight 5k races, so that’s an average of a race about every 6 weeks or so. I feel really good about that!

Now, you may be asking yourself why I circled the “4″ in the top race bib in the photo. Well, that goes back to the whole numbers theme to this post. We all know that weight loss is a numbers game, right? You have to burn more calories than you consume. I clearly didn’t do such a good job of it this because I *gained* 4 pounds. I’m probably the only person in history who has ever managed to pack on that much weight the same week as having the flu.

Even though I’m not happy about it, I’m not going to whine & complain about it. Each and every pound is truly deserved due to my poor eating habits this week. Due to the whole situation with my family, I freely admit that I resorted to a LOT of emotional eating this week. No person should ever be faced with some of the decisions I had to make in the past week, so I’m not going to beat myself up over the fact that I turned to food for comfort. I’m just going to dust myself off and move on from here.

My focus for this coming week is to make the best food choices I can and to get back to my workouts. I’m finally feeling pretty much back to normal health-wise, so tomorrow I’ll get myself on track with my training plan again for my walking/running. I have a 5k race coming up in three weeks, so I need to get ready for it.

I really hope to get outside for some of my training tomorrow. We’re supposed to get into the mid-80’s (30C), so it’s definitely going to be an adjustment from the cooler temps we’ve been having. It’s going to feel really odd going from having to run the heat last night to probably needing to run the air conditioning tomorrow.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Well, here it is 2009. It’s a new day and a new year all wrapped up into once bright shiny package for us all. Have you given any thought to what 2009 will mean for you? Have you set any resolutions for yourself?

Personally, I don’t really make resolutions. We all know that most people never really stick with New Year resolutions. However, I have set 3 goals for myself for 2009 and have followed the SMART rules for setting them.

1. I will lose 63 pounds this year.
2. I will run/walk & finish my first half marathon (June 27).
3. I will run a 5k with no walk breaks.

My SMART plans for attaining each of these goal includes continuing to follow the Weight Watchers program for the first goal, to follow my half marathon training plan for the second goal, and then to refocus my running to the Couch to 5k plan for meeting my final goal.

I have declared 2009 the “Year of ME!” I’ve decided this is the year I stop putting myself on the back burner behind the needs, desires, and priorities of others around me. That all changes this year! It’s time for me to put me first for a while, so my “job” for 2009 is going to be taking care of ME! This includes taking serious action again about my weight and no longer just giving it lip service.

My 63 pound weight loss goal isn’t just some arbitrary number I pulled from the air. It marks a major milestone for me. Losing that 63 pounds will put me at the lowest weight I’ve been since my early 20’s and I’ll be 45 in about 6 weeks. Yep, that will mean be back into Virgin Fat Territory (VFT). It will also take me out of the 200’s and back into the 100’s, so it’s a pretty big deal for me.

One other goal that I’m setting for myself this year that isn’t weight or fitness related is a photo challenge my friend Betsy mentioned to me yesterday. She is a scrapper extraordinaire and has set a goal for herself to scrap a photo each day this year. I thought it was a pretty cool idea. I’m not really much of a scrapper, but I thought it might be cool to incorporate it into my blog. I know some days photos will be better than others, but I like the challenge of finding something every day worthy of catching my eye and camera lens to post on my blog.

So, in closing, I’ll leave you with a photo of a piece of framed art I found during a recent shopping trip to Joann. It was on clearance and I thought it was the perfect motivational piece for me. I’m planning to hang it in my entry way so that I’ll see it each time I’m leaving my home to remind me of my goals.

Happy New Year and I hope we all have a safe, healthy, and happy 2009!

I started a Couch to 5k (C25K) training plan yesterday. Instead of the original C25K plan from Cool Running, I’m using a more conservative plan from Beginner Triathlete. They have both a 16-week “aggressive” and a 28-week “conservative” plan there. I’m following the 28-week plan since they said it was recommended for those who still have weight to lose.

The conservative plan starts very slowly which is perfect for anyone just getting back into exercise. In fact, the plan starts out with all walking for the first month. There’s not any actual running time until week 5, and even then it’s a very gradual increase over time. Given the amount of weight I still need to lose, I think this plan is perfect for me. It will allow me to get back to my love of running, yet still afford me the time to work out my PF issues and lose some more weight before I start running longer times/distances.

Starting this plan now actually coincides perfectly with the half marathon (Rock n’ Roll Seattle) I’m signed up for at the end of June, too. I was initially planning to walk the whole thing, but now I hope to run at least part of it.

If anyone else is interested in reading more about either of these plans, here are the links:

16-week “aggressive” C25K
28-week “conservative” C25K

Hope everyone is having a GREAT week!

just because I have the hottest fashion accessory around and you don’t! Yes, that’s right people, I have that oh-so-trendy and sought after Night Splint. I’m just gonna be one hot steamy ball of pure sexiness in bed now. Then again, since I’m not currently in a romantic relationship, I guess it doesn’t really matter after all.

Yep, that’s right. I’m going for round 2 with my Plantar Fasciitis (PF). As some of you who have been reading my blog for a while may remember, I battled it about three years ago as well. At that time, I was able to ward it off with a set of custom orthodics for my shoes and a lot of stretching exercises.

Well, around the time of my vacation to Hawaii, it started rearing it’s ugly head once again. I went back to performing the stretches, but it just wasn’t getting any better. I finally broke down and went to the podiatrist. The course of treatment this time is more of the stretching, another set of the custom orthodics, the night splint, and a prescription-strength anti-inflammatory medication. If all of that doesn’t clear it up, the next step would be cortisone shots. He said if that still didn’t clear it up, then we would look into “other options”, but he never specified what that might entail.

I’m actually signed up for a 5k race with my friend Darla on Sunday. I’ll have to play things by ear to see whether or not I’ll actually do it. It will depend upon 1) the weather and 2) how my foot is feeling. The weather is definitely a big factor. The forecast is calling for a chance of showers and temps in the low 50’s at race time. Now I’m sure that might sound wonderful to many of you, but for those of us in southern California, that might as well be a Nor’easter. My biggest concern is that a damp cold could aggravate my PF even more, and I don’t want that.

I’ll be heading back to my Weight Watchers meeting on Sunday for my first weigh in since starting the new Momentum program. Given that I’m doing the 5k race right before my meeting, who knows what number I’ll see on the scale. I don’t usually go out for a 3 mile walk/jog before stepping on the scale at WW, so I’ll likely either be really happy or really disappointed.

In training news, I’ve actually revamped my training schedule for the Rock ‘n Roll Seattle half marathon as well. The new plan will kick off on Monday, Dec. 29. Until then, I’m just going to focus on trying to get out several times per week to walk. I’ll post more about my updated plan sometime this week.

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!

How does one miss a person they’ve never met? Even though I never had the honor of meeting Christine in person, I feel a sense of loss today at her passing. Christine was an active and vibrant part of the forums at Beginner Triathlete. Her logs there were titled “Pocket full of sunshine” because that’s how she viewed life.

She was a wife and a mother of two teenage sons. She finished the Ironman 70.3 Florida race on May 18 and walked a 5k race as recently as July 4th. She was even posting on the BT forums as recently as Saturday, but now she’s gone.

Here are some photos of her from the Florida Half Ironman race:

Christine began noticing numbness and tingling in her left arm about a month ago. It then began progressing up to her face, and then down into her left leg. About a week later, she began having vision and balance/coordination issues as well. After seeing various medical professionals, last week the neurologist discovered a mass on her brain and scheduled further tests to determine the exact cause/nature of the mass.

She took a turn for the worse on Sunday and was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. The neurosurgeon reviewed all of the CTs with the family and felt that this most likely was a hemangioma that had been sitting there, perhaps her whole life, like a time bomb, just waiting to go off. There really was not anything that could have been done at any point in time. Christine passed away yesterday, and as was her nature of being such a giving person, her organs were harvested and will be provided to those who need them.

Christine’s coach at the Hit The Trails store was already hosting a 5K race this Friday near Tampa. After hearing of her death, he has now stated that all proceeds from the race will go to her family. Many of us from the BT boards who knew Christine have registered for the race and will simultaneously do it virtually in our own cities. So, this Friday at 4pm PT, I will be participating in the Hit the Trails XC 5K race in honor & memory of Christine. Even though we never had the pleasure of running a race together in person, in my mind, she will be with me each step of the way on Friday.

Hey everyone! Sorry for not posting for a couple of days. I’ve been pretty busy and when I wasn’t busy, I just didn’t feel like making the mental effort to post. I’m still going strong on my OP streak. Today is day 12 for me, so no worries there.

I arrived in Del Mar this afternoon. I’ve already picked up my race packet for the Iron Girl 5k tomorrow. Right now I’m just relaxing in my hotel room and trying to avoid the chocolate chip cookie they gave me at check-in. Yes, I’m at the Doubletree.

My toe is still hurting, but not nearly as badly as it was earlier in the week. At this point, I’m pretty sure I’ll just walk the whole race and not try to do any running. It’s REALLY HOT down here right now as well, so that’s another good reason for making sure I don’t overdo it tomorrow. My only plan for tomorrow’s race is to just enjoy my first women only race, listen to my body, and have a great time.

I did pick up a few goodies for myself at the expo today. I’ve had my eye on a few things at the Iron Girl online store for a while. I was holding out purchasing anything because I figured I could get them at the expo and save myself some shipping. Well, not only did I save shipping, but everything was cheaper at the expo, too! Here’s a list of the things I picked up:

Transition Bag
Performance Visor
Nutrition Pack
Hydration Carrier
CompetiTowel

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I’ll post my race report either tomorrow night or sometime on Monday.

Here’s my WW stats for today:

Total Points: 37
Exercise: 1.5 miles walking (2 AP’s)
Weekly Points balance: 30
Water: 56 oz
Consecutive Days OP: 12

Later!

Please send me all positive toe vibes possible! I am scheduled to do the Iron Girl Del Mar 5k race this weekend. Unfortunately, it seems I have reinjured the toe that I’m pretty sure I broke earlier this year. I’m scared to go to the doctor for fear he’ll tell me I can’t race this weekend. So, any and all “stop hurting” vibes for my toe are appreciated. LOL

Here are my WW stats for yesterday:

Total Points: 30.5
Exercise: 10 Push Ups (started the 100 Push Ups Challenge)
Weekly Points balance: 35
Water: 64 oz
Consecutive Days OP: 8

Until next time …

I got out this morning for a nice wog. It’s AMAZING how much cooler it was today compared to last Sunday when I had the 5k race. Today it was overcast and in the low-60’s. It was perfect weather for wogging.

I FINALLY figured out how to get my Nike+ to work, so I used it for the first time today. The mileage was ever so slightly off. I have a loop around my apartment complex that is 0.26 of a mile and the Nike+ measured it at 0.27. I’m hoping to get it more accurately calibrated sometime this week. Anyway, here is the text version of my data from my wog today, excluding my warm-up and cool-down time/distance. If you want to see the graphical version, you can see it here on the Nike+ website.

Time of Day: 11:20am
Temperature: 62°F
Distance: 2.02 miles
Run Time: 32:24
Avg Pace: 16:02
Calories Burned: 395

I was pretty pleased with how my running segments went today, too. The segments in the first mile were pretty much my normal jogging type pace which, honestly, isn’t a whole lot faster than my walk pace it seems. Today however, I decided I really wanted to finish strong, so I pushed myself in the run segments during the last half mile. I had 3 running segments during that time and each were a sub 11 minute mile pace, with the fastest being a 10:23 pace. OK, so I realize it was only for 1 minute, but it felt really good to be running at a decent pace even if it didn’t last too long. Today’s excursion really gave me the confidence boost I needed to believe I’ll be able to meet my goal of actually running the whole portion of the tri later this year.

My 50-day no cheat challenge is also drawing to an end. Today is day 49 for me. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to give myself the day off on Tuesday or if I’ll just keep staying on my eating plan and continuing my streak. I have found myself craving fatty carbs — think french fries — the past couple of days, so I may splurge and have some on Tuesday. Even if I do, I could still theoretically fit those into my points budget and continue my streak. We’ll just have to see what Tuesday holds when it gets here and see how I’m feeling then.

Here are my WW stats for yesterday:

Total Points: 33.5 (used 3.5 WP)
Exercise: None
Weekly Points balance: 1.5
Water: 48 oz
Days OP: 48

In closing today, I’ll leave you with a quote I read earlier today that really struck a chord with me. My life has been a series of overcoming “circumstances” which is probably why this really hit home with me. Enjoy!

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.”

–George Bernard Shaw

Until next time …

I’ll start by offering my apologies to U2 for stealing their lyric, but why is it such a beautiful day you might ask? Well, for one, I live in southern California and so most days are actually beautiful. Aside from that, it’s a beautiful day because 1) I’m alive, 2) I have a good job and nice place to live, and 3) I was able to get out this morning to wog (walk/jog) and bike.

The reason #3 is so significant is because 1 year ago today, I went into multi-level spinal fusion surgery at 12:15pm PT. I went in with the guarantee of a long painful recovery with no guarantee of success. If memory serves, the doctor gave me 70/30 odds that the surgery would resolve my spinal issues which had already been plaguing me for quite some time. Making the decision to have the surgery wasn’t easy and I tried many other methods of treatment before going that route.

So, here I am 1 year later. Do I consider the surgery successful? Yes. Is my back perfect? No, but it’s light years better than it was before the surgery. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve EVER had a better workout than I did this morning just because of being so grateful to actually be in the gym. So, even if there were thunderstorms or snow today, it would STILL be a beautiful day to me.

Wednesday’s WW stats:

Total Points: 27.5
Exercise: None
Weekly Points balance: 34
Water: 80 oz
Days OP: 38

Until next time …