Disney cruise

Seeing that it was THREE months since we left and I haven't posted is never a good sign. And it has been a rough 3 months food and exercise wise, but I am hoping to change that.

But want to post pictures of the trip. A lot of the pictures I am hiding - I hate hiding. I want to get back to not hiding. But at the same time I didn't let my self-image distract from the trip.

Before the cruise we visited Hollywood Studios to get in the Star Wars mood.

And the magic kingdom

This picture was November 2012 and a real "ah-ha" moment. I am not there but unfortunately pretty close.

And I ran a 10k before getting on the ship

And I wore my medal for boarding!

We dressed up in costumes

And fancy clothes 

I didn't hide for all pictures 

And we hung out on the beach

And I ran 3 miles on the ship during one of our At Sea days.

I didn't eat too much which was good.

But the 3 months since have been rough.

Catching up and heading out!

After 14 months, the trip is almost here. Two days at Disney World and then we get on the ship. I am not where I thought I would be in terms of weight loss (I've gained 15-20 lbs since we booked the trip). But I am am going to enjoy myself! And when I get back I will try to dive into a healthier me, at the same time that our normal "spring hell" which is what we affectionately call spring sports and all the end-of-the-year activities (school doesn't end until June 17). But for now I need this trip so badly. Leaving on my dad's birthday was not ideal, but necessary. And when we come back, 10 days later will be the anniversary of his death. While I know the grief won't end on May 4th, knowing that I got through the first year in a milestone in my book. I have a another huge milestone sometime in the future - my mother selling my childhood home. I can't even think about that right now.

We visited the cemetery early and brought him some flowers and a homemade cookie, and my 7 year old brought his bug farm to tell my dad about.

Saturday I blew off Weight Watchers (which I've been doing a lot of lately) and ran a 10K with a friend. It was a tiny race and we came in last (it was her 1st 10K and she was doing the run/walk method) but she did fantastic!

 

The insulation is done in our basement, so the wallboard and plastering is next. This area is going to be for crafts and working out. I can't wait!

Off to get some work done and finish packing and then we are off bright and early. I can.not.wait!!!

Time is creeping by....

In a week we will be on vacation, but right now every hour feels like a day. I have been in vacation-mode since last week so only getting the work done that really needs to get done before I leave.

My eating last week was pretty bad - I worked from home every day except 1 and at too much leftover Easter candy. I made the decision at the beginning of the week that I wasn't even going to bother going to WW until after I came back from vacation. Tuesday night I went out with a friend, so ate junk and drank. Wednesday we had an unexpected power outage so ended up going out to dinner. Thursday I had dinner with my mom and even though I ate well, I got lectures from her about my weight. Fun times. Friday I took a sick day and didn't eat well

Thursday was in the 70s and gorgeous, spring was in the air. But then the forecast for the weekend made it clear we were going to get snow.

Saturday morning I went for a run because I sure didn't want run in the snow on Sunday. I was going to run 7 miles - it was a route a friend had mapped out, but it has almost a mile of "add-on" which meant we almost got to our car and then had to run 1/2 a mile in a different direction. I had a ton to do that day so didn't get all the way to the turn-around point - I cut one street earlier and ended up with 6.75 miles. Not shabby. But really, really slow.

I got a ton of packing done and went to bed late Saturday knowing it would be my last day to sleep in in a very, very long time. We woke up to blizzard like conditions - it ended up only snowing a few inches and by early afternoon it was sunny and by the end of the day most of it had melted. Monday was a different story. It wasn't really snowing when we got up but by the time it stopped snowing (around 9 pm) we had 6 inches. My husband had to snow blow. I woke up to a car-sicle on Tuesday morning. It was 20 degrees. It looked and felt like January. Very, very depressing.

I didn't get up to run this week because it was in the low 20s with a feel of the teens. I can't risk getting sick so close to vacation. I will get out and do 6-7 miles this weekend - most likely Saturday, the "warmer" of the 2 days - ie mid-40s. This is our punishment for a fairly snow-less winter. I won't say mild, though we definitely had warm days until last winter when it didn't reach 40 for almost 7 weeks.

But in a week we will  be in Florida. It just better not snow down there!

Happy Easter!

Easter isn't a big deal in our house. When it is later in the season I do go out, but March is just so early (thankfully it wasn't the 22nd, the earliest it can be). We had some reason unseasonably warm weather earlier in the month, but not lately. So I was just not feeling it. I just wanted the day to be over so I could concentrate more on the trip!

 I spent a good amount of time in the kitchen on Saturday (everything we do serve is cold or room temperature) so I could get out and do this on Sunday morning. Last year I waited for the kids to get up and open their baskets before heading out, but they've been sleeping in more so I didn't want to wait. I had 6.27 miles to run (the random number would bring me to a whole number).

I chose a rail trail near us. It isn't completely flat - it rises 100 feet over the 3.14 miles I ran - but then you lose it on the way back!

This is the rail trail I ran 13.1 miles last spring 5 days after my dad died. I hadn't been on it since. I've lost so much stamina since then, but my legs were tired from the hilly 5 miles I did on Friday. So now I am at a whopping 43 miles for the YEAR - last year I ran 51 miles in January alone.

Next weekend I am going to do 7 miles around town and then the weekend after I may do the hilly 7 miles from my house. Then I will be ready for the runDisney 10K!!!!

Once I got home, it was go, go, go before my mom and brother came over. The kids enjoyed their egg hunt, and didn't eat any of their lunch, except dinner.

But Easter is over and the trip is 17 days away!!!!!

Less than 3 weeks!!

I can't believe that the trip is less than 3 weeks away. The bad part is TOM came on Tuesday which means I will have it for the majority of the cruise. But I won't let it get me down!

This week has been an odd week. The basement did start - horray! They worked on the framing Monday - Wednesday, but couldn't do anything more until the HVAC guy comes - he is coming Saturday.

I was supposed to run Wednesday morning but the 1 person I was going with bagged out at 4:25 am. Grrr.... But I did get in 5 miles this morning - in daylight because the kids were at my moms for the night since they don't have school today, Good Friday. I am hoping to get out for some miles in Easter - not sure how many since I don't know how my legs will feel since I haven't run in almost 2 weeks.

Eating has been pretty awful this week - I haven't even looked at the scale. I will got to WW in the morning, but may not weigh-in. Once Easter is over, I sware I am not eating sugar until vacation!

I signed up for another race(s) this week. Runner's World announced another runners weekend - 2 years ago I did the 10K which was on Heartbreak Hill (a portion of the Boston Marathon race). It was my first 10K. Everyone was hoping they would come back last year and they didn't. This week they announced a weekend in mid-July at a college near me - so no trudging into Boston. I signed up for the "5&10" which is a 5K at 7 am and a 10K at 8:30...in mid-July. I am a little crazy. If closer to the race I don' t feel ready I won't do the 5K.

So my "upcoming" races are:
April 16 - 10K in Disney
April 22 - 5K in Castaway Cay (so I can say I've done an International Race (ie the Bahamas)
May 29 - 5 miler Run to Remember - Boston
June 26 - BAA 10K (need to sign up for in early April)
July 3- Finish at the 50 - 5K
July 16 - 5K/10K
August 6 - Beach to Beacon 10K

After Labor Day I will decide if I want to do a 1/2 in December

Happy Easter!

Hanging out in bathing suits.....

It has been far from a great week and with TOM on the horizon, the week shouldn't really be shaping up, but once it arrives I always do feel a lot better.

Last week was full of a lot of work stress, excitement (and disappointment) regarding our basement project, and looking forward to 1 1/2 days of at the end of the week to go to Great Wolf Lodge and celebrate my son turning 7.

After a beautiful weekend last weekend, the weather turned raw and nasty and brought everyone's mood down. I worked from home Tuesday - Thursday and ate like crap! And because I have no real junk food, I was creative - like dark chocolate bits, and lots of peanut butter crackers.

So by the time we left on Thursday afternoon, I was definitely feeling bloated and gross, but I wasn't going to let that get me down. We had all been looking forward to the trip for a long time and I knew I wouldn't be the biggest person there, so I was just going to put on my tankinis and act like a kid and that is what I did!

We all got to try out our 2 new bathing suits for the cruise. I loved how they felt. I can NOT wait to be swimming in the waters of the Caribbean in just a few weeks. We've been waiting for this trip for SO long!

The 1 night trip did remind me of some things - we didn't eat dinner until almost 8:30 and by 10:00 I was in bed - my body does not like that! I am used to eating fairly early so I woke up at 2:00 with a really sick feeling stomach and didn't sleep well for the rest of the night. I need to be reminded of that before our trip to not eat so late! Thankfully we are in the early seating for dinner.

One thing that didn't happen at all this week was running.  It was drizzly and cold last week. And while I laid out my stuff for a 6 mile run on Sunday morning, when my alarm went off at 6:30, it was 23 with a feel of 17. On the first day of Spring. I just don't want to risk bronchitis so close to the trip. We had plans to go to my mom's to work on her house, otherwise I would have gotten the run in later in the day.

We were "blessed" with snow this morning. The first full day of Spring. A lot of towns didn't have school today - thankfully we did. Otherwise, 1 more snow day would have brought up to the last day of school on a Monday - no one wants that! And the snow didn't stop the contractors, because they actually started our basement project today!!!!!!

Race series complete

The third race, a 5-miler, was today so the series is complete.

I did not adhere to my "night before a race" protocol - I went out to dinner (though not Mexican like 2 weeks ago) and even though I drank a ton of water, I still felt really dehydrated during the race. It was almost 60 degrees (I didn't wear the top below, I actually wore a tank top).

I had a lot of negative thoughts during the race (like 'What makes you think you want to sign up for all those races'). But I trudged through and finished in 1:01:44. It was the first time I had run over an hour in a 5 mile race :(

But I have a ton of improvement I can do by next year!!

On to the next race - a 10K in Disney. I did get into my 10K in Maine in August, and in early April I will register for a 10K in June.

Now I just need to continue running to prepare for the 10K - 6 flat miles this coming weekend. I was hoping to get out Tuesday morning but it is supposed to be raw and raining, so maybe not!

Gaffe