Way cool medal

At the 8 mile point (only a few blocks from our house!)

Half Marathon Finisher!!!

I did it! 13.1 miles in 2 hr 20 min 30 sec (or thereabouts... it was 2:24:00 clock time, but we didn't cross the starting line for 3 min 30 sec or so). That's a 10:44/mile pace, or for the metrically inclined, a 6:40/km pace. I did the last 5k at a 10:38/mile pace, even though it was a slight uphill! It was tough, but I felt SO awesome when I crossed the finish line. It was an amazing feeling. I almost started to cry, because I could not believe how far I have come from being a total couch potato.

Here are some pictures if you want to see them.

Need rest

I'm really tired. I think the excitement of the last weekend w/the racewalking clinic and then forgetting baby Sam's birthday and rushing over to Sarah's at the last minute has me bushwhacked. (Sarah, I'm still very sorry, and now publicly very sorry... I'm not much of a friend sometimes). I rested on Sunday, but somehow, it wasn't enough. Monday was run run run. Just lots to do around the house, errands, etc. Today I walked my last longish workout before the 1/2 marathon on Saturday. I did 5.5 miles, and not very fast, but that was fine. (The new technique is a bit slower right now - I think it will slow me down until I figure it out some more - so if I finish in 2:24 or less, that will be good). Anyway, then I went to work, and it was really busy too. Picked up the kids, came home, made dinner, ate, cleaned up, and put kids to bed by myself, because (happily) Loren is out hanging out w/a guy friend from church. Still... all of this means that I've been overly busy. I'm glad that I don't have much planned for tomorrow and Thursday, because I surely need the rest. The kids will keep me busy, but at least I don't have stuff on top of that, for the most part. A few short errands, but nothing major. And maybe I'll go to bed early tonight :).

More racewalking stuff: the Canadian racewalker who helped Dave with the clinic last weekend e-mailed me about my half marathon, offering some great advice about walking the race. I was so happy that she wrote, and very pleased that she cared enough to do that. I really appreciated it so much. Her name is Jeannie Harms, and she is a year older than me (!) and a top-notch walker. She is trying to make the Canadian Olympic team for Beijing. It was so kind of her to take the time out of her busy schedule to mentor me, given that in the racewalking world I am a tortoise to her hare. Thank you, Jeannie! Best of luck in your pursuits!

Race partner

Forgot to mention that Jason, a friend from church, is running the marathon. He's planning on the same pace that I am, and the marathon & half-marathon are following the same route for the 1st 5 miles or so, so we agreed to start together and stay together as long as it's mutually beneficial. I'm excited to have someone to help calm my pre-race jitters and help me relax for the first little bit. I think it's going to be a lot of fun!

Also in church today, they announced that people can come and watch Jason and I and cheer us on. That was way cool! I hope that a few people do show up to cheer, as I feel like I'll need it to finish the race. Here is where the race will go: it starts at 7 am at the legacy bridge at the U, and goes along Wasatch Blvd to Foothill Dr. Then west on 2100 South to SugarHouse Park. I will arrive at the park about 7:40-7:50 am. Then from the park, the half-marathon continues south to 27th south, then west to Highland Dr, then north to 17th south. That's the 8 mile point (at 11th E and 17th S) , and I should be there around 8:20-8:30 am, depending on my pace. Then, over to 5th east and up to Liberty Park, arriving at the north end of the park (10 miles) at about 8:40-8:50 am. Finally, from the park heading west on 9th south to State St, north to 4th South, west to Rio Grande St, and north to the finish line in the Gateway. I hope to finish about 9:11-9:24 am (10-11 minutes/mile, depending on how I feel) - probably closer to 9:24 am. So, if you feel inclined, show up, and cheer loudly!

Racewalking clinic news

The clinic was awesome. I learned a lot - mostly I learned how much I need to learn, but hey, that's a start! I was doing a lot of things wrong: too much forward lean, not enough push off my toes, landing too flat-footed, and basically walking like a fitness walker instead of a racewalker. Also, my shoes were all wrong - too clunky. Racewalkers need supple shoes to accommodate the foot motion, and we don't need all the support runners need, since we have about 1/3 the impact. Anyway, I did make some progress on improving all of these things, but I will have to practice a lot and videotape myself a lot to see how it goes.

Hopefully I will be able to improve w/o too much coaching, since there are basically NO racewalking coaches in UT. There is a good walker up in Ogden, but she is pretty busy... maybe if I paid her enough she would be interested in helping me on occasion.

I met some fabulous walking types who are starting a club called the "Wasatch Walkers". They meet Tuesday nights at 6:30 pm at the Olympic Oval for workouts (there's an indoor track there). It will be hard to make Tues nights, as I've got the kids, but if I can find a sitter I may go regularly. Even if I can only make it once a month, that would be good. Loren might be able to handle them once a month :). I'm so excited to have met some local walkers - I don't feel so freaky and alone as a budding racewalker anymore!

Am hoping the technique changes don't mess up my half marathon this weekend too much. I am a bit worried that the new muscles I'm going to use will fatigue too easily. I will try to use the new techniques, but I guess if I get too tired I can always do it the old way for this one race, until I get my new walking legs acclimated. Same for my shoes - the new ones I got have not yet been adequately tested in long workouts, so I'm probably going to wear my old pair for the 1/2 marathon, even if it does inhibit my technique. We'll see.

I put some pics of Friday and Saturday on the web site, if you're interested.

Oh, in the it's a small world category, one of my fellow clinic attendees is from Grand Junction, Colorado. OK, so what? Turns out her husband grew up in the same church as my boss's family did, and he knows them pretty well. Not only that, but she used to work for my boss's cousin. I enjoyed meeting her and her family (they all came with her for the weekend!), and hope to see them again sometime.

OK, I really do need to get some more rest. I rested a bunch today, but not enough yet. I have got to rest up a lot before Saturday. The taper week sure is nice :).

Racewalking clinic, here we come!

Tonight begins the long-anticipated racewalking clinic. I am really excited about attending, and hoping that I will learn a lot of technique, training tips, etc. Being entirely self-taught to this point, I think I'm doing pretty well, but I wonder if I had a real coach if I would be doing better. I am sure that there are things that are wrong with my technique, though I have done a lot of reading and tried to apply what I've read. Nonetheless, you can't replace a good teacher. I would never suggest that one learn to play the piano by reading a book, and so I assume the same applies to racewalking. Unfortunately, teachers for racewalking are a little harder to find than piano teachers! Anyway, tonight we are having dinner and a lecture from 6-8 pm, and then we are meeting at the Utah Olympic Oval for training sessions Friday and Saturday from 8:30 am - 5 pm. I can't wait to meet some other racewalkers and learn a whole bunch of stuff!

My training for the 1/2 marathon on April 21st has gone fabulously. I think I should be able to do an 11 minute mile for the whole thing. If I'm having an exceptional day, I might be able to do a 10:30 mile, but I think more like 10:45-11:00 is going to be expected. I did 7 miles this morning, with the middle 5 miles at a 10:24 clip, no problem. Last weekend I did a 9-miler in 99 minutes, despite being sick at the time. I feel as ready as I'm going to be, though I still have one more long training walk left, a 10-miler. It hasn't always been easy to do the training, but it's been rewarding.

I'll be back to let you all know how it went!

I'm back!

I guess I got too busy for my blog, yet again. Silly, since really it takes all of a couple minutes to write SOMETHING, anything. However, I have this idea that it is a difficult thing. I will try to keep in mind how quick it can be, and will attempt to post regularly again. Hopefully you are all still reading.

Update since last post:
1) Training for the half marathon April 21st here in SLC. It's going pretty well. I hope to racewalk it in 2 hrs 24 minutes or less, which would be an 11-minute mile pace. I did 9 miles this morning at an 11:00 pace, and it went fine. I was a bit tired this morning, though.
2) Gave up chocolate for Lent, and that was HARD. Am really rejoicing that it is Easter today, and I have saved up some points for a serious chocolate pig-out. Already I've had chocolate chip pancakes, a sandwich with nutella, and some serious See's candy that my devoted and wonderful husband got for me, in a cute Easter basket!
3) My mom visited last week, which was fabulous. I loved having her here, and so did the kids. I am sorry that my parents don't live closer. Maybe they will change their minds and retire here next year, but I doubt it. Anyway, hopefully they can visit more often at the very least.
4) Calvin was so cute hunting Easter eggs after church today. We put them all over the living room and let him go for it. Then he thoroughly pigged out on candy, which is fine once in a while, I think. He loved it!
5) Michelle sat on the floor playing with a book and watched Calvin. She's too little for candy :).
6) Been reading lots of books lately. Read a book on Fatal Familial Insomnia ("The Family That Couldn't Sleep") and am now reading a book on human mutations/development called "Mutants". In the fiction department, read "Eragon" and really enjoyed it (thanks, Steph, for lending me your copy!). Zoe lent me the next book in the series, "Eldest", and I hope to start on it soon. I have way too many books I want to read, though!!! Not enough time!!!!!

Will keep this short so I remember how easy it is to post! More later.

Some "weighty" thinking

Church was great last week. It propelled me forward into some deep thinking. We were talking about the nature of (gasp!) SIN in our adult Sunday school class. It was a great discussion, because it made me think about the horrible struggles I had for about 10 years (heck, maybe 15...20?) with gluttony. I knew what I was doing was bad for my body, and I knew it was definitely not the right thing to do, and I tried to stop. Many times. But it just didn't work. I wondered during that time, "If I am really a Christian, and I really want to change, then why isn't God helping me to be different? What good is Christianity if I am stuck in this rut and feel demoralized and powerless?". To make a long discussion short, we talked about how grace brings you to a place of humility. You have to realize how truly powerless you are against sin to truly appreciate God's gift of grace. If I hadn't gone through those years of suffering (and they were years with much suffering), then I would not have 1) realized my own powerlessness against this sin, 2) understood so much how others suffer with the same sin, and 3) seen how much I have to continue to rely on God's grace to keep the new habits I've developed.

As Sam (our pastor) put it, grace is a gift that you cannot control. So, it makes me very nervous. I mean, what if tomorrow I had no more grace in this area, and I went back to my old patterns? I don't know the answer to that question, but I DO know that I desperately need to trust God and depend on him for the power to continue. I need to trust that he knows what is truly good, and that he loves me beyond measure. I can choose to fear the unknown, and be nervous because I cannot control it in my human smallness, or I can have faith.

This doesn't mean I don't have to continue to work at things. As Jerry Bridges writes (in an EXCELLENT article called Gospel-Driven Sanctification, "Sanctification involves hard work and dependence on Christ; what I call dependent effort. And it will always mean we are dissatisfied with our performance. For a growing Christian, desire will always outstrip performance, or at least, perceived performance. What is it then that will keep us going in the face of this tension between desire and performance? The answer is the gospel. It is the assurance in the gospel that we have indeed died to the guilt of sin and that there is no condemnation for us in Christ Jesus that will motivate us and keep us going even in the face of this tension."

The children are beginning to clamor for my attention, but a few more words. I will work towards eradicating the sin of gluttony in my life. But I need to remember that it is a dependent effort. I will probably never fully understand why God allowed me to struggle with it for so long. (Actually, I will probably continue to struggle with it on some level for the rest of my life!). And when I do stumble and fall, I have the comfort that there is no condemnation for me - so, with God's help, I can get up, dust myself off, and keep going, secure in the knowledge of his love. That is what was missing during the struggle - I somehow managed to forget the good news that my sin has been taken care of in Christ. I heaped guilt on myself, rather than continuing in the struggle in the light of my acceptance in Christ.

Now, I continue in the struggle, but am reminded that I have such a tangible hope! If God was able to heal the mess that led to me being 100 lb overweight, he can heal the other messes in my life, and in yours too. Nothing is impossible with God.

100 pounds!

Today I weighed in at 149.8, exactly 100 lb below my starting weight on February 5, 2005. It has been 2 years since I started my journey, so this was a fitting place to end up.

My goal weight is 155, so I'm not trying to lose more weight, and if I weigh a few lbs more than I do now, it's OK. But I like the weight I am at right now, and if I stay here, that's OK too.

It's just SO exciting to be 100 pounds lighter than I was!!! It's not easy to maintain, but I have done it for almost 4 months now, and I'm confident that I can keep going, one day at a time, with God's help.

First week of my new schedule

I'm so happy to have today off! So far, it's going well to work only Tuesday & Friday, but I'll have to do this for a month or two to really know. It's only the first week, but I'm really enjoying not having to go in to work today. It's snowing gently and I feel snug and warm in my house with my kids. I'm holding Michelle as I type, and Calvin is playing with his toy telephone. Michelle is now grabbing my fingers so I gotta run!

Sick yet again

How many times can we get sick this fall/winter? A LOT is the answer. I now have another awful cold. This one is dominated by fatigue and sore throat, with some lovely sinus/nasal congestion thrown in for good measure.

I guess having 2 kids age 2 and under means more bugs coming our way. This should not surprise me, but I have to say that it does seem like we've gotten more than our fair share these past 3 months or so, having 3 colds and 2 stomach flus.

I need to rest.

wow...

Scary. I found another great "before" picture. I can't believe I was this big! What a great reminder of why I want to stay on track and keep it off.

hee hee hee!

Calvin thought it would be fun to sit in Michelle's Bumbo chair. The fact that he was only wearing his diaper and the bead necklace made this even more amusing :). Someday this will be a great blackmail picture; meanwhile, it's just SO cute!

we'll give it a shot

I'm going to give work a try for 2 months on the new schedule and see how it goes. Since I really like my job, it's worth a shot. We'll see if the extra day at home creates enough margin. I think it could, but I'm not sure if it will, so I will just try it and see. Thanks for your input :).

indecision stinks

So, my last post about tough decisions? Throw it in the trash can. Not all of it, because I still believe every word I wrote. The problem is this - the boss values me so much that he has made an offer wherein I work 2 days instead of 2.5 for a little bit more money. Hmmmm. Couple that with a wonderful week at work where I realize just how much I really do love what I do (not just the identity that it gives me, which I love too - that is a problem, but it's a separate problem), and it makes it VERY hard to know what is right.

I think the extra half a day could be very significant. I mean, by the time I leave my house (12:45 pm) on Thursday, drive to the day care, then drive to work, work, pick up kids, and come home, it's 5 1/2 hours, easy. I'm usually not home until 6:15 pm. If I had all of that time at home, would that be the extra margin that I need? I'm not sure. It might be. The only way to find out is to try it. What do I have to lose by trying it for a little while? It might not work, but if it did...

So I'm thinking of trying it. Comments welcome.

tough decisions

It was a tough decision to go back to work, and I thought it was the right one. However, after 3 months, I have decided it was the wrong one. I feel like I'm missing out on things. I miss my kids. I need more MARGIN in my life. I am going to miss my work, but not as much as I was missing my kids.

One thing that really helped me decide was the sermon Jonathan gave on Sunday. He got me thinking about identity. I tend to find my identity in my work, and I love to be able to say "I'm a molecular biologist". I mean, how cool is that? "I'm a stay-at-home-mommy to 2 active children" just doesn't have the same ring. However, when the rubber meets the road, that just really doesn't matter. I get too hung up on what others think. Though it's been much better with increased age and wisdom (?), I still find myself doing it sometimes. I also enjoy doing something outside the home that I am good at and get positive feedback from. Work did have its tangible rewards that way. But y'know what? I am not giving up work forever, and it will still be there when I want to go back to it. Meanwhile, I get to enjoy the wonderful rewards of watching Michelle grow and take her first steps and watching Calvin expand his vocabulary and thought processes every day.

Last week was important to deciding as well. Having the week off w/the kids & my family was great, even if I was sick. I realized that even though I enjoy my work, I need the space and the margin that being at home more creates.

So, I'm working through January 30th, and that will be it for a while. That's the plan anyway.

I'm baaaaack!

Hope you all haven't stopped reading my blog. I just got overly busy with Christmas. It was an insane month, but I prefer not to dwell on that. Let's just say that things are going to be better now.

Put lots of new pics on our web site, if you're interested. The family was here for Christmas (my parents, my brother, and his wife) and we had a blast when we weren't in bed with fevers or worshipping the porcelain god. Yup, we were all pretty darn sick. But we did have a good time anyway. Managed to hit the Red Iguana and Bangkok Classic Thai while everyone was here, which was great. I also made a fabulous turkey dinner complete with German sweet chocolate pie and all-American peppermint stick torte for dessert.

Making dessert is my favorite type of cooking, I think. I got a GREAT new cookbook called The Best Light Recipe for Christmas, and I'm going to make the NY Cheesecake for the Epiphany party at New Song. The cookbook is fabulous - I tried the lasagna recipe tonight, and it tastes AMAZING and was only 7 points per good-sized serving.

This is pretty rambling, but it's all I have time for. Got to go - motherhood calls!

LIFETIME!

Here's Janece (my WW leader) leading a cheer for me when I received my LIFETIME WW membership on Saturday the 25th!!!

I'm 5 months old (November 23rd) and SO CUTE!

Stuff

Been awhile since I posted... so here's some stuff.

Thanksgiving was great. I ran in the Cold Turkey race, placing 7th out of 42 in my age group! It was a 6K race, and I completed it in 33:32 official time, which is about a 9 minute mile. Not bad! I did tweak my knee just a bit - have a slightly strained MCL on my left leg. I am still able to walk just fine, thankfully, so I'm going to lay off the running for a month or so until it heals up completely. Honestly, I prefer racewalking anyway, so it's not a big deal.

After the race I made dinner (except the turkey, which Loren smoked as he does every year), and the 4 of us enjoyed a wonderful meal together. The kids were pretty well behaved, and Calvin really liked the stuffing and the cranberry relish. Of course, Michelle did not get to try any turkey this year.

Since then, we've had a relaxing weekend. I painted the wood post on our porch, touched up the rust spots on the car, and helped Loren put up the exterior Christmas lights. Calvin enjoyed running around outside while we put up the lights. We put icicle lights on the fence and on the front eaves, and a net light and rope lights on some other fencing. The juniper trees got regular small white lights. All that remains is to re-do the lights on my "Jesus is Lord" sign that I usually put in the window. The squirrel that lives in our garage decided that the lights tasted yummy, and that it was a good place to store his nut stash, so I'm going to have to put new lights in the sign. Grrrrrr!

Today I made turkey soup (yum!) and we put up the Christmas tree and put the ornaments on it. All I have left to do decorating-wise is to put up the remaining indoor decor, which shouldn't take too long. Then I just have to finish my shopping, mail gifts, and write and mail the Christmas letters. Seems like a daunting task right now. I suppose one small step at a time will get it done, though.

Awesome gadget

Whether you are a walker or a runner, the Nike + iPod sport kit is a must have. I was asking for a $350 GPS gizmo for Christmas so that I could monitor my walking/running pace in real time, not realizing that I could do the SAME THING with the $29 Nike + iPod sport kit. Well, you DO have to have an iPod nano to use it with first... but I just happen to have a nano, so that was not a problem. Anyway, I just tested the thing, and it is truly amazing. It will tell you at any point in time how long you have been working out, how fast you are going, and how many calories you've burned. It saves your workouts and synchs them to the computer, and you can set goals for yourself, etc. on the Nike website. Haven't tried that yet, but I will. Tomorrow I am going to run intervals on the East High track (was planning to do this anyhow, for a race I'm training for), and so I'll calibrate the thing for extra accuracy (though it already seems pretty darn accurate w/o calibration, based on running and walking up & down the street).

One warning - the box says you have to have special Nike shoes to put the sensor in. Not so. There are plenty of websites where people have come up with ingenious ways of using the sensor w/o the shoes. I just bought a brand new pair of Addidas running shoes at the Salt Lake Running Company, and there was no way I was going to plunk down another $100 for special Nike shoes. So I tried this method with the sensor and it works great.

Goal party

This is me after the goal party last night. The best thing about the night was looking good in the little black dress.

Before I say anything else, I want to thank Sarah & Bryan for hosting, and I want to thank the people who attended: my husband and children, the Wheatley family, Nancy, Pat, Shannon, Lisa, and Jay and Susan (who got lost and didn't make it but tried!). I hope I didn't just forget someone... if I did, my deepest apologies - I'm a little tired! I very much enjoyed the support of these dear friends and we had a great time talking, eating, looking at the before and after photo display, and playing games. The Wheatleys brought a really great card with a little black dress on it (and they didn't know I was going to wear that!!!). Shannon & Lisa brought me a fabulous bag of stuff for a relaxing bath/spa day, and a great card with ummmm, let's just say, an outfit I never could have worn before (but I can now!). It meant a LOT to me that all of these special people came and celebrated this milestone in my life.

However, the party was a big disappointment. The attendance was really low. This is one of the most important things I have ever done in my life, and when I celebrated it and invited everyone I know in Utah, less than 15 people came. The weather wasn't great, which I'm sure didn't help. The short notice of the event due to my vacation insanity was probably the biggest reason people didn't come. I only told people about the party 9 days beforehand, though I did send an e-mail AND hand out flyers to people. I have learned my lesson there, I suppose.

The bottom line is that very few people came, and I feel hurt. Maybe I shouldn't feel hurt, but I do. I know people are busy, and perhaps that is just the reality of 21st century life. Perhaps I have set my expectations too high. In any case, I feel that I have to ask myself some hard questions now. Am I the kind of person that people want to be around? Are there things about me that are abrasive? Am I a little bit too weird? Does any of that really matter? I mean, whose opinion of me really counts? Do I care too much about what others think?

These are hard questions. I need to make time to think about them. I often fall into the trap of expecting too much from people and being disappointed, and I think that is what happened here. Ultimately, I need to take comfort in the love of the friends who DID come and in the fact that my husband loves me and God loves me even if I am the kind of person that others find difficult to love. Right now, though, even if I should let it roll off of my back and forget about it, I can't. It just hurts.

The lion will lie down with the lamb...

Perfect weather for the reception

Alex and Erica's wedding

Vacation stuff part 2

The wedding was marvelous. Alex looked SO happy, and I am so thrilled that he has met such a wonderful woman, Erica. I couldn't ask for more for my brother.

Photos of the wedding
Photos of the rehearsal

I got to play the piano for the wedding, and it went so well. The wedding coordinator was dynamite, and I always knew exactly what was going on. That NEVER happens in a wedding, so I was very pleased.

We enjoyed a great visit with Marge & Drake and their kids in Half Moon Bay (phtoos here), and then we drove to Davis for a brief visit with my former piano teacher, MarLyn, and my old boss John Payne(photos here).

Halloween was a lot of fun (photos here)- we visited Dyan and her kids, Paul & Suzanne and their kids (they really do the day up right!) and finally ended up at Grandma Mary's house in Lakeport, where we enjoyed trick or treating.

We visited Tania & Enoch and their kids in Palo Alto before flying home.

The flight home was a disaster. I arrived at the San Jose airport, 2 kids in tow, at 11:30 am for my 1:30 pm flight, only to be told that the flight no longer existed. Hello?!?!?!? Why did nobody from Delta call me and tell me?!?!?!? They said the best they could do was get me out on a 6 pm flight. I told them they were nuts if they thought I was going to spend the whole day in the airport with 2 little kids. They finally got me on a 3 pm flight out of SFO, but I had to take a taxi there, which meant strapping the car seats back into the car, getting help with the enormous amount of luggage, and then running out of cash to tip everyone because I had twice the tips I counted on. To be fair, the airline did pay for the taxi, but all the same, it was NOT fun. I still had to wait almost 2 hr for the flight out of SFO once we got there, and Calvin was past his naptime and was totally miserable.

Anyway, we did eventually get home, and the rest of the vacation was great, so it was worth it. However, I'm not too keen on flying w/2 little kids in the near future.

Vacation stuff part 1

Carol & Tammy after the race

Enjoyed the vacation immensely... the day after the wedding, October 29th, I ran a 5K with my aunt, Carol North, who is in excellent shape and a great runner (I've always admired her running ability). We ran and finished together, and it was great. I had never ever RUN 5K before in my life, so it was very exciting. I actually finished in 11th place out of 68 in my age group. Carol got SECOND PLACE in her age group!!!

FEMALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 39
1 59 Mihaela Plummer 37 Castro Valley CA 23:14
2 94 Jesualda Sousa 34 Monterey CA 25:34
3 111 Bonnie Rebella 39 Chicago IL 26:14
4 119 Amy Wylie 31 Seaside CA 26:25
5 124 Jennifer Dreyer 32 Monterey CA 26:42
6 128 Jodi Rabideau 30 Marina CA 26:52
7 136 Sally Osborne 31 Monterey CA 27:09
8 145 Narayanan Meiyyappa 30 Fremont CA 27:27
9 153 michelle staub 31 monterey CA 27:36
10 161 Jacqueline Perkins 34 Monterey CA 28:02
11 170 Tammy Stevenson 36 Salt Lake City UT 28:07

FEMALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 59
1 88 Sandy Laurence 50 Woodinville WA 25:13
2 171 Carol North 52 Dallas TX 28:08

I'm adorable!!!

Another goal achieved

I biked MILLCREEK CANYON this afternoon. Yup. I did it. All the way from below the fee station (hey, didn't wanna have to fork over the $2.25!) up to the very top. The last mile or so was pretty brutal, but I DID IT! It should also not go unmentioned that my friend Dorothy, who is about 20 years older than me, also made it to the top. She is in amazing shape. I hope that I will be that fit in 20 years.

To celebrate my achievement, we went to Marie Callendar's and I enjoyed a VERY VERY BIG piece of German chocolate pie. Yum! Hey, I burned 1191 calories on that bike ride, so I deserved that piece of pie!!!

Goal award

The larger silver keychain is my award for losing 10% of my weight (which I received sometime around May 2005, I think). The small gold charm is my goal award, which I received today!

Goose Egg

Never ever let your child ride in the basket of a shopping cart. I thought Calvin was afraid enough of heights to stay in the basket. WRONG. He catapulted himself out and landed on his head in the middle of Babies R Us. Embarrassing and stupid. From now on, he rides buckled up in the child seat, no matter how much he protests. The good news is that he's just fine and doesn't seem to even remember that it happened. Whew.

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I reached my goal today! I have lost 95.0 lbs - from 249.8 to 154.8. I am SO HAPPY to finally be at goal. These last few pounds have taken a while, but it's worth it to really be there at last. Now the maintenance challenge begins, but I feel ready for it. Here's to a healthy lifestyle!

Me with Janiece, my WW leader (She is pregnant right now! How exciting! She lost 100 lb on WW herself, and is very inspirational).

Busy. Reading. Vaccines. WW. Push-ups. Pictures.

I've been busy. I took the job that S offered me, and last week I worked 24 hr because I have no day care tomorrow and Friday, so I needed to make up some of that time. The good side of that is that I don't have to work tomorrow and Friday, except for some stuff I can do from home. I've got some papers to read to inform myself about the research in one lab I'm going to be doing some projects for. While Calvin is napping I should be able to do a little reading, and maybe after he goes to bed I can do some more.

No reading for work tonight, though. I'm just going to enjoy a little reading for fun. I've been reading a book by David Oshinsky about the history of the polio vaccine, and it's very interesting. It makes me so incredibly grateful to have vaccines to give my children so that I don't have to be afraid of them being paralyzed or even killed by polio. They can also avoid measles, mumps, rubella, diptheria, tetanus, pertussis, and yes, even chickenpox. It's amazing that the polio vaccine has only been around for 50 years, and today, we have forgotten the fear of the past. Forgotten enough that there are plenty who don't immunize their children because they are scared of the side effects of the vaccines. Please. The diseases are FAR far worse. All right, I'm about to get on my soapbox, so I'll stop there - you get the point.

You're probably wondering how WW is going. I actually gained 0.8 lb last week, though I think it was water retention. Whatever. It was really annoying, since I was totally following the program all week. Oh well. I'm sure I'll have a nice loss this week, and I am only 2.8 lb from my goal, so I'm very very close. I figure I'll get there by the end of the month. I am so thrilled!

On the physical fitness side of things, it's going great. Today my weight training instructor had us doing push-ups on an exercise ball. Talk about an amazingly hard exercise. I was so proud of myself, though. I did 3 sets of 10-12 reps. Keep in mind that I could barely do 15 GIRLS push-ups a year and a half ago, and now I can do 3 sets of guys' pushups on an exercise ball (much harder than regular push-ups). It was thrilling. The instructor said he was really impressed that Lisa (my weight training buddy) and I could do them so well. He said that we were in great shape. It was wonderful and amazing to hear those words and know that it was true - I have NEVER in my life felt in great shape, until now.

Here are some more pictures of my 5K on 9/30.

Here are some pictures of Calvin's 2nd birthday.

Off to read & relax! Ahhhhh.

The good news

The good news is that despite the lousy race, I lost 2.2 lb this week, bringing my total to 92.8 lb lost. I have ONLY 2 lb to go!!!

The Race

Well, it was a bit of a disappointment all around. After doing a mock 5K in 31:42 on Thursday (an average 10:12 mile), I did the race in only 35:06. Turns out that a couple people w/GPS gizmos said the race was actually 3.26-3.27 miles (seemed like it to me anyway), but that still puts me at a 10:44 mile, which is very disappointing.

To add insult to injury, there was a problem w/the prizes. Every division was divided into men and women, EXCEPT walking, where we were all lumped together. How unfair is that? I placed 5th when combined w/the men, but if they had only counted women, I would have placed 2nd (a 19-year-old woman walked faster than me). Unless they change the way they do things, I don't plan on doing this race again.

All in all, a disappointment.

portraits

We had more portraits done today and they are SO cute! Here is a link to see all of them.

To work, or not to work?

On Thursday I got an interesting phone call. S called and asked if I wanted to work part time again. The position sounds very intriguing and like a great opportunity in a lot of ways, career-wise. I think I'd really enjoy it. L is all in favor of me doing it, with certain conditions I won't detail here (suffice it to say, it will make things easier on him in terms of babysitting at inconvenient times). Calvin LOVES Cove Care (the school we had him in before), and so the big question mark is Michelle. Will she like it? Is it good for her too? We can't really ask her. Today I'm going to leave them there for the afternoon so I can shop for clothes (yeah!) and we'll see how she likes it, that is, if we can tell. If the job was FT, I would not even think about it, because I don't want to be away from the kids that much and I don't think it's good for them either, w/L working FT also. But a great PT job? With the exact hours/days I want to work? It's tempting. I have prayed about it quite a bit, and while no booming voice from heaven is speaking to me, everything seems to indicate that this might be a good thing to do. Input from the readers of this blog is welcomed :).

Interval workouts

Since I'm training for a 5K, my brother recommended interval workouts to help me go faster. They are brutal so far. It is quite the workout. This morning, for example, I did a warm-up then alternated 2 min very fast with 45 sec recovery. By the end of the 2 min I think I'm going to die, and then 45 sec later I get to do it again. It is tough, but the results are going to be good. This morning I went 3.36 miles in 35:52, which is a 10:40 mile - and that INCLUDES the slower pace. I am now hoping maybe I can do a 10:30 pace for the 5K, which would be about 33 min for the race.

Smiley girl

Sticking her tongue out at Daddy

My darling baby girl :)

  

GO UTES!

Miscellany

I somehow have been very busy and I'm not sure where all my time has gone. I guess the regular household stuff just takes lots longer w/2 kids, and I'm not used to it yet. It's been fun, though.

Good news about L's job - things seem to have stabilized for the moment. I didn't post much about the details of the job stress etc because of some confidentiality worries, but I'm happy to say that things are better now. To celebrate, we went to Log Haven on Saturday night. It was really good, but I have to say I think I like the Paris better. Plus we can walk there from our house! We'll have to go there again soon, that is if we can afford it - big expenses last month with buying plane tix for my brother's wedding in October (we had to buy THREE tickets because Calvin will be 2 and has to have his own seat!), paying for Michelle's hospital bill (about $1000 we had to pay, which is not bad considering the total bill was about $40K), and also paying for repairs to one of the cars ($723). Ouch. It's been an expensive month.

We took Calvin to the state fair Sunday night and that was a BIG hit. He absolutely loved the animals. He was running through the cow barn saying "moooo moooo". So cute! He also loved the pigs, the sheep, the goats, the birds, and the rabbits. The carnival rides and games were fascinating to him as well - he walked around wide-eyed, taking it all in. Side note - usually fair food is a HUGE temptation to me, so I brought my own snacks and was able to totally stick to them. I have no idea how, except that the grace of God was reminding me how good it feels to have self-control. It was wonderful.

Exercising has been going great, and I've decided to only bore all of you with my habits when something of note happens. I've entered the Young Alumni 5K at the U on Sept 30th, and am hoping I will get a prize in the women's walking division. I think I can do it - I'm pretty fast these days. Anyone want to join me for the race?

I'm only 5.4 lbs from my WW goal now! I have lost 89.4 lb and want to lose 94.8 lb total to get to 155 lb (yes, I used to weigh 249.8 when I started WW - scary!). I feel like a new person. The only problem is that I literally have almost NOTHING to wear now. I have bought a few pairs of jeans and a few short sleeve shirts at the thrift store to tide me over, but I'm thinking it might be time to buy some new clothes now that I'm almost at my goal and I have nothing to wear. When we went to dinner last Saturday night I had to wear big baggy stuff because otherwise I just didn't have anything nice that was warm enough for a cold night up Millcreek Canyon. I'm excited but not sure how much $ I want to spend right at this moment, since I'm feeling rather broke. I'll probably just get a few things now and save $ to get some more in a month or so.

Being in shape has a big down side

After a marvelous bike ride partway up Millcreek Canyon tonight with Dorothy, I came home thinking that maybe, just maybe, I could talk L into biking some with me. After all, he really does love biking more than just about any other exercise. But no. He is flatly not interested in biking with me at all until he gets in better shape. How is he supposed to get in better shape if he won't go? I suggested we could bike flat rides, like the Jordan River or over by the airport. Nope. No dice. I am not sure I get it... I mean, it's not a competition. I would go as slow as he wanted. I just would love to have the company and hang out w/him some. I guess he feels threatened by the fact that I'm in better shape, though I'm not sure why. I did stuff with him when he was in better shape, and he waited for me, and that was great. Can a man in the reading audience help me understand what the deal is here? I'm just not getting it. :( I'm sad. I wish things were different somehow.

Book baby, garbage cans, etc.

Calvin and I (and Michelle too, of course, though she slept the whole time) went to Book Baby today at the Anderson-Foothill Library. It was great. Calvin totally loved the other kids, the songs, the books, the bubbles, and the balls and boxes to play with afterwards. Fabulous! I think we will return often.

In other news, the weather was so gorgeous that we all took a wonderful walk after dinner - we meandered around the block, following Calvin who dutifully pointed out all the blue and green garbage cans ("Boo", "Dean") and the fire hydrants, the rocks, and all sorts of wonderful things.

Changing the subject yet again, on Tuesday I had my cholesterol checked and it was normal (not that I was expecting otherwise). Michelle had her 2 month shots the same day, and I got a tetanus/pertussis shot so I could sympathize with her (seriously, they are recommending now that adults get a pertussis booster, as whooping cough cases are on the rise). I also got an appt for a bone scan due to my strong family history of osteoporosis/osteopenia. It's Tuesday morning at 10 am. Now I just have to find someone to watch Calvin for an hour or two so I can go - Michelle I think can come with me, no problem - she usually sleeps in her car seat just great. Anyway, any takers to watch Calvin for me for an hour?

Loren wants to watch a movie tonight, so I'm going to go ahead. I'm sure I'll regret it when the alarm goes off at 5:45 am, but what the heck. I can hopefully get in a nap tomorrow.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I did a sub-11:00 mile walking! Woooo hooo!

Today it just seemed right. The weather was a perfect 55 degrees (I love it when it's just a little nippy - perfect for exercising) and sunny (well, the sun wasn't all the way up, but it was beautiful). I decided to go for it and try to see just how fast I could go. I pushed really hard most of the way and finished the 3.75 mile SH Park route in 40:07, for an average 10:43 mile!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ave HR 149.

Yesterday I did an easy 35:32 time over 3.02 miles... about an 11:46 mile. Ave HR 138.

Friday's Feat!

I got featured in Friday's feat in Salt Lake Tribune columnist Sheena McFarland's blog. Check it out here!

W-F exercise

Wed walked SH Park 3.75 miles 42:09.
Th walked uncertain distance, but it felt good. 35 minutes, high intensity.
F walked to Laird and 1900 E, about 3.1 miles (ish). 35:36, about 11:29 mile.