My poor toes!!!

I can't do this 1/2 marathon or have a DNF because of my toes, I am going to be pissed!!


After much googling, I decided I needed to drain the 2 large blisters I got last weekend. I did it Tuesday night, but by Thursday night they were filled again, so I drained them again. Yesterday I had the day off so I left the blister bandaids off of them to let them dry out, but then my rest toe cracked and bled. And when I put the blister bandaid back on, the top layer ripped off when I took it off.


I wanted to test my feet out, so I decided to do 7 miles this morning. Then I would run/walk the 5K tomorrow with my daughter.


I wrapped my toes and headed out. I felt really good running and my toes felt good for 5 miles. Then they both started to hurt. I hadn't brought shoes to change into since I haven't been doing that unless I run 10+ miles. When I got out of the car at home (after a 25 minute drive) I could barely walk my toes hurt so much.


I decided to forego my daughter's soccer game so I could shower and do errands and tend to my toes. I think I need to at least order new socks for next weekend (it makes me nervous to try something new on such a big run) and I will be tending to my toes all week long - I may even wear Crocs to work all week - how sexy!!!


I am also concerned amount the pain in my toes altering my walking gait and that I will screw up my muscles just by walking.

Mid-week check in

Today has been a horrible day foodwise (and isn't over yet!) We had a lunch presentation which I was a presenter - they brought in pizza and soda. Probably because I was nervous, I had 2 pieces and a soda before.....and then 2 pieces and a soda after. And now we are all going out for a going away party for a co-worker - drinks and appetizers. I probably won't have drinks, but appetizers - yes!

I wasn't very successful with my holding out for a 7:15 dinner on Monday - I held out for a while, but got hungry and munchy.

Yesterday I was trying to clean out some stuff in the pantry so had a "no cook" Thanksgiving dinner - canned cranberry sauce, Stove Top stuffing, pre-made mashed potatoes, cooked turkey, green beans with Funions, and then apple pie and ice cream. All this on a Tuesday night. Not good.

BUT I got up and worked out this morning. I woke up without an alarm around 5:10 and was wide awake because I had fallen asleep at 9:30 (probably from the turkey!). I knew I had NO excuse to not get up. I fumbled around for clothes. I walked on the treadmill for 5 minutes and then ran for 5 minutes - my legs really weren't feeling good yet, so I got on the bike for 10 minutes and then did a little bit of lifting and core wore. Just enough to dip back into it.

The weather report for Sunday is still in the 80s, but low humidity so I think I am back to thinking I will run my race....even though the thought of doing 7 miles in the shade of the bike path sounds really nice.

13.14 mile run

I do feel like I want to crawl into bed and wake up when my legs don't ache, but I did complete my first ever 1/2 Marathon distance.


And along with that came completing the goal I set for myself in February, to double my 2013 distance of 150 miles.

It wasn't a pretty run, but before the re-cap, let's go to Saturday.

I had a successful day on Friday, eating normally and woke up on Saturday to 180.0. I was so tempted to not drink or eat anything at my WW meeting and see if I had to go to the bathroom again when I got home, but I was too hungry and I figured that was just a little bit too neurotic.

It was 35 degrees when I woke up - I was very jealous of my running friend who got to do her long run on Saturday. I had thought my daughter's soccer game was at 10:15 on Saturday, but it was at 2:15 - I was tempted to run on Saturday, but I hadn't carbo loaded at all and I really wanted to go to WW, plus I couldn't lie down all day like I intended to do on Sunday. So I spent all Saturday getting stuff done for the week to come so I could truly do nothing on Sunday, except for run. We went to soccer and then out to dinner (Italian  - ie pasta :) )

The forecast for Sunday had been humid and 80 all week. When I woke up at 5:30, it was pouring! I looked at the radar and knew I had to wait it out - though the hourly forecast showed potential for thunderstorms, which made me nervous. I stayed in bed a while longer and heading out at 7:00. The sun was starting to come out when I left my house, but by the time I got to the bike path it was raining again.

When I got out of my car, my passenger seat was wet and a wet camelback proved that I had not secured my bladder correctly. In trying to fix it in the rain, I lost quite a bit of water. I didn't think about replacing it with water I had in the car because last week I had had so much water left.

The rain ended pretty quickly and didn't rain for the rest of my run.

I had a Salted Caramel Gu before I started, and at around 3,6 and 9 miles. Because it was 100% humidity, I took some water at each mile. The drawback of a camelback is not knowing how much water is left :(

I ran the 5 miles to the end of the path, turned around and ran 1.5 miles, then turned around again and went to the end again and then onward for the final 5 miles.

Negative splits were not meant to be. The humidity was starting to get to me. I knew my water was getting low and I needed it for my final Gu. Once I hit 11.7 miles, I knew I had completed my 2014 goal of 300 miles. I was very tempted to quit and walk the last 1.5 miles, but I knew I could run and be done faster. The last couple of miles were torture. I felt a twinge in my hip, my ankle, my knees were aching, and then I felt like my toes were rubbing together on my left foot and it hurt.

But I did it. I hit 13.14 miles (I did a little extra because I want to do a full 5K + 10 miles). I was so relieved. I walked the remaining .25 miles and walked around the parking lot for a while. I took a good 30 minutes to stretch, walk and decompress before I left like it was safe enough for me to get in the car and drive 25 minutes home.

Before I drove off, I took off my shoes and socks to put on my calf compression sleeves. I found HUGE blisters on both my big toes - on the side next to my 2nd toe.

I skipped my normal routine of getting gas on the way home. Even though I was thinking of getting 2 bags of ice and doing my first ice bath. But I just wanted to get home.

I took a long warm bath and then lay on the couch all afternoon. I ate like crazy (and did drink a lot of water) - this is why I gained so much weight in 2002 when I was training for Mt Rainier - every Saturday for 4 months I hiked 3-5 hours and then ate like crazy the remainder of the day and all the next day.

But I don't plan on having this feeling much - I am completely nervous about my toes. I am scared that whatever caused them to blister will happen early in the race in 2 weeks and I will be in pain, or I won't be able to continue. I am nervous for humidity.

Right now I am just eager to run 3.14 miles on Sunday for the 1/2 Marathon race to be over so I can go back to running 7 miles. I still can't believe I am looking forward to 7 miles because that would be easy.

Getting through the week....

This is one of those Friday's that I just want the day to be over and wake up on Saturday. Though I shouldn't expect a huge miracle or anything in the morning. But I am excited to see my weight and got to my meeting.

The week continues to be a success.

Wednesday night I made pasta for dinner - had a second small helping and a chocolate chip cookie my husband brought home from a work function, but no eating while making dinner.

Yesterday I went out to lunch with my co-worker and ate what I planned - a small burrito and water. My family was away for dinner so I had a PB&J sandwich and a piece of fruit. That is part of why I am not expecting a big miracle tomorrow morning.

This morning the scale said 181.8. But I usually see a big drop after having a tiny dinner. I will have another tiny dinner tonight as I usually do on Friday nights, so I don't expect the miraculous drop tomorrow as well.

I so badly want the scale to say 179.8 so I am going to be working hard!!

Today I am working at home, so I am trying so hard to eat like normal - that is one great reason of having my meeting on Saturday mornings, to keep me in line if I am home on Friday.

Last night I started flipping my closet to fall. I knew I needed to try on the size 14s I bought in August. Everything fit well! These are the other things I did:
--Moved upstairs the majority of my summer clothes except what I anticipate I may need  for Disney
--Had a few remaining 16W bottoms which went upstairs
--in my Fall closet are my new 14 bottoms and a couple size 16 (not 16W), as well as size L shirts - the size 16s are a tad big, but still doable
--I left my XL shirts from last winter in the back of the closet, mainly because I ran out of space in the attic and there are a couple of pieces I may need because I don't have an L equivalent and I don't want to buy it again. I am also a little nervous about some of my existing L shirts - some are a little short and with the post-kid chest, they are even shorter. I did buy quite a few size L tops which appear to be longer, so I am hoping I don't need to dip into any of my XL shirts.

Today I am rocking a pair of size 14 jeans which are total "Mom Jeans" because they are not low rise, but I am okay with that!!

Mid-week check-in: Doing Good

Even though TOM has been kind of a bitch this month, I am feeling really good this week. Maybe still on a high from my run this past weekend. But really my TOM issues are before, not during. I can feel myself getting thinner and less bloated, so I am usually in a good mood. And knowing that the 2 weeks after, pre-ovulation is when I feel my best out of the month, it is something to look forward to.

While our dinners have been a little chaotic, 2 nights of not eating when I got home is good!

Yesterday at lunch, I went down to the cafeteria with my co-worker and brought my lunch - didn't buy anything or have any soda

Today I went to the Weight Watcher's meeting at work. I chose to wear jeans at work. We started the meetings around Memorial Day and every week I went I wore a light piece of clothing from my honeymoon wardrobe. While it wasn't overly chilly during the day (a high around 70), it was around 50 this morning. I chose to wear jeans (and a belt!) because I figure that is what I am going to be wearing until the spring. And as long as I am consistent with what I wear, my weight loss should be reflected.

The plan for the rest of the week:
--My family most likely won't be home when I get home, but I will not use that as an excuse to eat while I am making dinner. We are having pasta with homemade meat sauce. I will eat a normal amount. I did get a carrot cake over the weekend and we ate 1/2 of it. I anticipate that we will eat the rest tonight.

--Tomorrow me and my co-worker are going out for shopping and lunch. I am getting the small burrito and a water, what I had been having earlier in the summer, not the large burrito and the Nutella milkshake that I have gotten the last 2 times.

--Thursday I am going to Parent's Night at school, which means I have some time to myself while my husband and the kids are at soccer. Maybe I will fit in a run - depends on whether I get up in the morning and get on the treadmill (I laid out my clothes last night, but didn't get up :( )

--Friday I plan on working from home but will eat my normal food - not get anything extra at the grocery store and have my planned PB&J for dinner.

--Saturday I will go to my WW meeting at 7 am and then have a busy day. We are going out for pasta for dinner of which I will eat a lot. Because.....

--Sunday I am going for my last Long Run. I am not committing to how long. Right now it is supposed to be in the 80s during the day, so who knows what the morning will look like. I want it to be 10-13.1 miles, the later being preferable :)

Long Sunday

Friday night and Saturday were pretty productive, since I knew we had a busy Sunday ahead of us and I knew I would be tired.

Friday evening I went grocery shopping, put it away, threw together dinner for the kids, drove my daughter to a birthday party, went to BJs, went home and put everything away, went to pick her up, headed home and fell asleep. Tired!

I didn't go to Weight Watchers on Saturday - After my ridiculously bad week of eating and knowing we needed to get an early start, I wanted to sleep in just a tiny bit!  We need to leave by 9:15 to go my daughter's soccer game. The game was followed by errands, a late lunch, and tons of running around the house in the afternoon to get ready for the week - stuff I normally do on Sunday but I knew I wouldn't have the time or desire. After a big pasta dinner, I was off to bed.

The original plan was to do 11 miles. I ended up with 11.6. The run was one of the most fantastic of my life!!!!  It was 48 degrees when I started out - beautiful and crisp, low humidity. And I ran...and ran...and ran. Definitely not fast but I actually was running, not the slogging along like my 2 10-mile runs in 97% humidity.

 I worked on my nutrition a little bit. I had a bag of caffeine sport beans 15 minutes before (I had had a whole wheat waffle PB&J sandwich at home).  I wore capris and a short sleeve shirt because that is most likely what my outfit will be in 3 weeks for race day. I wore my camelbak. I had 3 salted caramel GU along the route - around 3, 6 and 9 miles. I didn't necessarily need the one at 9 miles for this run, but I wanted to mimic race day. 

I ran an easy 7 miles, picked up the pace for 7-10, and ran a little faster the last 1.6 miles, but not as fast as I would have liked. Over all I finished in 2:19. I have definitely resigned myself that I will not finish in under 2:30.

I am not sure what I will do next week. I know in my heart I should stick to 12 miles, but if the weather is like yesterday, I know I may try to go for 13.1. I think I am going to wear my sunglasses and a visor next week as practice. The race is next to the ocean, so no shade and even though the race starts at 8 am, I am not used to running in sun at all, so I think I will wear a visor to minimize the sun on my face.

I definitely did not drink enough water during the run. I was a little shocked by how much water was still in the Camel Bak when I got home. Within an hour of being home, we had to leave to go to my kid's first obstacle race.

It was a long walk from the car to the venue (on a farm) and then being out in the sun for 2 hours (during which I didn't drink anything) and walking on uneven terrain, I was wiped out. I came home and lay on the couch for the rest of the afternoon. Next Sunday I am doing NOTHING all day after my run. I may even try an ice bath too!

TOM arrived this morning - 25 days. Last month was 28. The 3-4 months before were 24.  At least I will be out of the woods for the race. Whatever the next 2 cycles bring, I am pretty much guaranteed to have it in Disney. I'll take it during Disney over a race any day!

I am really going to try to do better with my eating this week. I have bananas for the mornings, we aren't eating anything out of the ordinary, so hopefully I can turn it around.

NSV of sorts

This is one of my Before pictures - It was after our whirl-wind trip to Florida and my MIL passed away that I knew I had to make a change. Stepping on the scale it said 236 lbs, 5 lbs more than when I was 9 months pregnant with my son.

I originally wanted to wear the same shirt when we get our picture taken in front of the Castle in a couple of months, but in reality the shirt is way too big. It is an XL and I am definitely firmly in a L.

I went to the Disney Store (remember where there was one in every mall....now we only have 2 in the eastern part of our state, one of which is 10 minutes from work) to check out new shirts for all of us for the trip. My kids have shirts they could wear (and still probably will) and even my husband can easily fit into that shirt he is wearing, but I wanted us to all have something new.

When looking at the ladies size L shirts, I felt they looked really big. I looked at the Ms and decided that was what I was going to buy for myself.

I finally tried on the 3 I bought. I am keeping them though I don't think I will  be washing/drying them before the trip :)  They are perfectly acceptable and I do feel like the Ls would have been too big.

I called this post an "NSV of sorts" because honestly, I think the Disney Store shirts run pretty big so it's not like I think I am an M in anything else! The joy of the sizing game. But for now, I will take it. And if the shirts are too small after I wash them after the trip, at least I know I'll have some Disney shirts to wear when I hit goal!

Out of control and hating it

I jumped into the week with 2 feet thinking this was going to be a great week. Yeah, that was the case until Monday evening.

For the first time my daughter has practice on Monday night. My husband took her and I knew they wouldn't be home until 7ish like we were on Thursday. I picked up my son  and was home by 5:15. I had forgotten my 2nd cheesestick and was ravenous. And had 2 hours before dinner....so I ate myself out of house and home. Not complete junk - a small tub of tabbouleh and some pita chips and hummus, little bit of homemade salsa and chips....and a homemade muffin and a spoonful of Nutella. I think that was it. But I felt gross for doing it....and then 2 hours later I had a full dinner as well. Ouch my stomach hurt.

Why did I do this? Not 100% sure. I am so used to wanting to get dinner over with as soon as i get home - I had a hard time concentrating on anything else. My son wanted to play a video game so I let him. He didn't have any homework that needed to be done and I didn't have any quick house chores to be done because I do them all on the weekend. I didn't want to dive into an intense project because I would need to make dinner. So was it boredom? True hunger?

Tuesday started out well....I actually made my lunch - egg salad with 2 eggs and celery, in 2 flaxseed pitas. I thought I was going to have lunch with a co-worker. She usually IMs me around noon, but at that point she had been away from her desk for 10 minutes. She can be pretty inconsiderate sometimes and doesn't tell people when her plans have changed. So I figured she was out to lunch and I was starving so I ate my lunch. Then at 12:20 she asked to go to lunch. I could have gone downstairs and just chatted. But no - I had a second lunch, along with a 12 oz coke. Why the heck did I do that???!!!

My eating definitely has been thrown off by a lack of bananas for the morning, so I have been more ravenous than normal. I've been having a fruit cup when I normally have a banana, but that isn't helping at all.

But in good news, I got up this morning and worked out. I planned on doing 3 miles on the treadmill. I now know it is going to take some mental training to keep me on the dreadmill for 3-4 miles. I only last 1.5 miles before mentally I had to get off. My body could have kept going. I jumped on my bike trainer for 15 minutes. Baby steps......

10 miles, just not all at once

Saturday morning me and my friend did Shape's Diva Dash for a second year in a row. I am thinking this will be the last year. A lot of the obstacles they made even easier. And for a second year I had to miss my daughter's first soccer game of the season. It is just a hard weekend to be busy on a Saturday and not really worth it.

Diva Dash tries to claim it is a 5K, but in reality it is only 2.8 miles. We ran most of the way except a few uphill sections. I was supposed to do 10 miles on Sunday. I carbo-loaded on Saturday expecting to do 10. But as I was going to bed, I was trying to figure out the logistics of the day. I needed to be home by 9:30 and out the door for our town's Soccer Field Day by 10:15. I set my alarm for 5:30, figuring I could run from 6:30 - 8:30, but I had errands I needed to do on the way home from running and the day was already so packed and really didn't allow for me to actually be tired from running 10 miles. So I decided I would run 7.2 miles. So a total of 10 miles between the 2 days and then the 7.2 miles would bring to 275 miles for the year. A nice round number.

Sunrise before my run.

At the beginning of February, once I started running again after taking January off (way too much snow!), I decided to come up with a goal for the year. Thinking I would most likely do a Half Marathon, but not knowing what that meant in terms of mileage, I decided I would like to double my miles in 2014 from 2013 (150 miles). I will hit that goal in the next couple of weeks. Obviously my mileage has not been what I expected for half marathon training since I haven't been running during the week. So I also don't know what to expect for mileage after the 1/2 is over, so who knows what I will get to by the end of 2014. I expect to hit 400 (I better!) but not 500, so it won't be a nice round number like last year.

My run was awesome!!! I love 7 miles. I have been thinking about how much miles I want to maintain after the 1/2 and I am thinking 7 miles is it. 5 miles is not enough because I would love to be 10K ready. Once you get over 8 miles, you might as well go for 10 and I don't want to maintain that number.

I was able to run at a pace I hadn't run in weeks. It wasn't my fasted 7 miles, but I really felt like I was running. Not slogging along.  It was cooler weather, but the humidity was still a little high so my the end of the run I was feeling it.

I think it is finally time to get on the dreaded treadmill. We'll see how I do when I try later this week. I am not looking forward to it, but I need to get used to it again, even if just for 3 miles at a time.

Searching for the new normal....

It has been a different week - My son started Kindergarten this week, so a change to our drop off routine. We are having work done on our driveway so we can't park there - how I miss our garage! It has been so humid that the windows are fogged each morning. Now it looks like we are going to be changing the bus my daughter takes (and she only started taking the bus this year - she used to do Before School care) which will be good because it will get me to work earlier.

I was in pain most of the week from my 10 mile run. I must not have stretched out my quads enough because stairs and sitting down were hard!

Running during the week continues to allude me which makes me nervous for my 1/2 in a little over 4 weeks! I know that doing just 1 long run on the weekends is not good! But then again, my only goal is to finish....  But I have got to do something!

Tomorrow I have the Diva Dash - I am not particularly looking forward to it, but I am going to make the most of it and relish in how much better I feel physically than last year. I saw I won't do it again next year, because it really does interrupt things - both 1/2 training and I am missing the 1st soccer game of the year for the 2nd year in a row.

I tell myself I am going to do 10 miles on Sunday - thankfully it will be much cooler and not humid. I am not sure how I will feel, but I will try my best.

I feel like a true runner now that I got a box of 24 Salted Caramel GU delivered :)

Yesterday I brought my lunch to work, i.e I made something versus just throwing in a Lean Cuisine pizza. But I didn't make it the night before thus didn't measure anything so i know it was more than 10 points. So if I am going to make, I HAVE to do it the night before so I can track the points.

I really want to get back into losing weight. It has been 2 months since I first saw 182.2 and I haven't gone below that since then (okay, 1 or 2 random days I did see 181.8). The scale this morning was 182.8. I need to lose 3 pounds! I so badly want to see 179, but I haven't been trying. I need to try! I don't want to wait another 4 weeks until the 1/2 is over to try.

Another 10 miles

I was very hesitant about this run knowing that it would be 70 degrees with a dew point of 70 - yep, 100% humidity. But I really wanted to get 10 miles done. Next weekend I have the Diva Dash on Saturday, which is only 3 miles, but I am not sure how I will be feeling for a long run.


Running was pretty lonely because most of the normal people probably had done their long runs over the weekend and were enjoying their Labor Day relaxing :)  I was having a hard time - the humidity wasn't that bad, but just the mental part of it. Plus I hadn't slept well - I really just wanted to be home in bed. I told myself I would turn around at 4 miles. It came and I kept going. But then I said I would turn around at 4.5 miles (at which point I have to cross a potentially fairly busy street), but I decided to just keep going to the end of the path (5 miles).


I decided to change up my music on the way back, but was having technical difficulties - it kept trying to shuffle all my music (and of course was trying to play classical Christmas music). And then tried to repeat the same song over and over. That is one of the reasons I like my vest so much better - easier access to my phone that an arm band.


I was trying to be conservative with my water, so only drank a little at each mile. At 45 minutes and 90 minutes I had a Salted Caramel Gu (I also had one before I ran, first time I did that).


After the second Gu I felt a little stronger, so I have a much better pace around mile 7, but slowed back down as the heat and sun were starting to increase. But I trucked along. Very slowly. No way I will finish a 1/2 in under 2:30 but I can live with that. I will be happy with just finishing. Though I did keep saying to myself that if the weather on October 5 is like today, I don't think I will attempt it. I run in a place that is 95% shaded. I don't think the course will be very shaded and I am very concerned about running that long in the sun. If it is warm, I will strongly consider not running. I would even consider running 13.1 on the bike path that morning!