I Did It!

No, not THAT - get your head outta the gutter!  I made it all the way through the Fab Ab February workouts!  (I think I only missed 2 - one at the very beginning because I started late and 1 in the middle when I had the flu.)  Today was insanely hard and I had to stop a few times on the push ups and finish the plank on my knees 1/2 way through, but I got it done.  (Clearly I'm not as strong as I'd like and/or the NROLFW workout left me more fatigued than I thought it did since I can barely lift my water bottle this morning.)  I have seen an improvement in my shoulders and back, but not much in the abs department, which is disappointing, but I know I'm stronger because the NROLFW ab work wasn't very tough on Monday.  Since the NROLFW workout incorporates ab and shoulder work, I don't know if I'll keep the push ups going.  I'll just need to see how I feel.  Also, the author is really not a fan of the basic sit up or crunch since it really hasn't been shown to do anything (I think my lack of ab improvement just proves that), so I'll stick with his ab work.

Since today is also Wednesday Check-In for the Shrink Yo-Self in 2012 challenge with Shrinking Jeans, I can report I'm down 0.6 this week.  Not great, but I'll take it.  Obviously my body is not wanting to get rid of the extra flab, which totally sucks.  I've been tracking a bit more consistently too and actually trying to get in more protein per the NROLFW book (I'm not following their diet plan exactly though, just trying to swap out some less nutrient-rich foods for ones higher in protein and include protein with my breakfast each morning.)

Did you participate in Fab Ab February?  If you did, what did you think? Will you try to keep it going?

Confessions: Chicago!

I super big puffy heart love Chicago.  Seriously, it's probably one of my my favorite places to visit and is close enough to me that I can go on the spur of the moment.  This weekend I got to do just that.  I got wind that 2 of the writers from Shrinking Jeans (Christy and Melissa) were meeting up in Chicago to do some work on the site and Nancy (another Shrinking Jeans writer) was planning to take the train in on Sunday to meet them for breakfast.  I was lucky enough to go along and it was surreal to see the girls again (it had been WAY too long).  We had a great time having breakfast and seeing a couple of Chicago landmarks before Christy and Melissa had to catch their shuttle for the airport.  

The Bean

Beautiful ladies

Looking down 103 floors from the Willis (Sears) Tower SkyDeck

Yep, we are all in the glass box, 103 floors above the city!

After Nancy and I said goodbye to Christy and Melissa (after only a few short hours - so wish we could've spent more time together), we walked up and down Michigan Avenue.  The day was absolutely glorious.  

For the record, Marilyn is wearing panties.

I even did a little fantasy shopping.  There's something about designer $800-900 shoes that make you feel like a princess (and having feet small enough to try on the display shoes & not have to talk to the sales people is PRICELESS).  

Something about that red Louboutin sole is so sexy

Channeling my inner Carrie Bradshaw in a pair of Manolo Blahniks

Thankfully, Nancy wore her FitBit so we were able to get an idea of how far we walked.  The 6.6 miles helped to undo some of the booze choices on Saturday night and the food on Sunday (although we were both really good at dinner and ordered the most amazing fish tacos - so yummy!).

Monday was back to reality.  I started the New Rules of Lifting for Women strength training workout yesterday.  I'm not very sore today, but you can read about how it impacted my pride here. My experience with the free weights area really  made me wonder why women think there is an sign above the door that reads "Penis Required for Entry", because last time I checked - there wasn't.

Probably not the "confessions" post you were expecting, huh?  Today I'm feeling pretty good about everything, even if my dress is a little snug.  I'm on the right track and I'm hoping to get back to running this week (even if it means running with some pain - I have a half marathon in a month!)

Confess something awesome about your week in the comments. I give you permission to love yourself today.

LLRB 365: 2012 Week 8

Sunday

2-19-12

Was feeling the need for chocolate so I made Oreo Truffles.

Monday

2-20-12

We had the day off from school and K wanted to go to the track to practice in her spikes.

Tuesday

2-21-12

Either my girlfriend's son has really huge feet, or I have really tiny ones!

Wednesday

2-22-12

In an effort to get in more protein as I start on my IronSisters New Rules of Lifting For Women workouts, I discovered this at Costco.  Not bad mixed with a banana and frozen berries.

Thursday

2-23-12

Finally bought some decent headphones.  They stayed in great with all my upsidedown yoga crap I did today (but I still have a hard time actually getting them IN my ears).

Friday

2-24-12

A wintery blast reminded me that I really do live in a snow globe for part of the year.

Saturday

2-25-12

The start of a great weekend with friends.

Fitness Friday: Broken

I guess if your legs are going to pick a time to rebel and you need to take some time off from running even though you have a half marathon in five weeks and you're now freaking out over your ability to complete it it might as well be at a time when winter decides to finally arrive in West Michigan.

We actually have a snow day today (which is really kind of silly, but I'll take it).  I needed the extra sleep this morning.  Tomorrow I'll take pictures and measurements for the NROLFW program I'm starting next week.  Please ignore any self-loathing tweets this may result in.  

It just seems so weird to read everyone's tweets and whatnot about their long runs tomorrow knowing that I won't be running "with" them.  So far I think I've only made it back up to 7 since Tinker Bell and this time off is really screwing with my plans, but I know I need it or I may not be running at all come April 1st.  I'm just hoping my body is playing an early April Fool's joke and all will be back to normal in a week or so.

What do you do to keep from going crazy when you can't do the workouts you want to do?

Thankful Thursday: Shoulders! (and other stuff)

1.  SHOULDERS:  I have a thing for shoulders.  No lie.  Most of my girlfriends (and a few of my guy friends) already know this so this won't be a shock to many of them.  What's really freaking cool?  Thanks to some hard work and a lot of push ups, I now have some shoulders of my own :)  Hopefully the rest of my body will start to fall in line once I start NROLFW next week (I'll be blogging about it here).

2.  CLASSIC MOVIES: We finally introduced the kids to the movie classic, Dazed and Confused, this weekend.  Now my boy is walking around talking like Slater instead of Napoleon Dynamite.  I consider this a huge improvement.

3.  COMPRESSION SOCKS:  My calves (the right is worse, but really it's both of them) are giving me nightmarish fits right now and now so are my hamstrings and even the base of my skull since apparently it's all freaking connected.  I'm thankful that no one at work can tell I'm wearing KTTape and CEP socks under my dress pants (the heals were probably a bad idea but these pants are too long for flats).

There you go - three things of thankful randomness.  What are YOU  thankful for today?

Also, if you give up something for Lent that you shouldn't be doing in the first place, does it count?

Shrink Yo'Self in 2012 week 8

I hope someone out there is shrinking, cuz it sure as hell isn't me.  I'm down a whopping .4 this week (that's POINT 4, not 4 pounds) which is sad cuz my obsessive scale habits tell me I was down 2 lbs on Thursday, but I managed to finally find my appetite again and blew my flu-induced weightloss.

It is what it is.  Do I wish I was seeing more results (hell ANY results)? Yes.  What it is it is.

I do have something exciting in the works that might actually help my clothes start fitting better.  Beginning Monday, I will be adding in the strength workouts from the book The New Rules of Lifting For Women.  I'm working on getting the book read this week and I'd like to start incorporating some of the diet changes as well (mainly adding in more protein, NOT restricting calories so much, etc).  A few of us girls have gotten together and started another blog.  You can find us here.  We will be blogging our progress through the stages and including before/during/after pictures and measurements.  Wish us luck!

True Confessions: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The good:
I've managed to keep up with my Fab Ab February workouts, gotten in a couple of (painful) runs, and done a couple rounds of tough mudder workouts.  I've also started reading the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women (more on this later).

The bad:
Last week I ended up with a stomach bug that made me not want to eat much.  By Thursday I had lost the 2 pounds I'd gained back - whoopie! But by Friday I was definitely wanting to eat again.  I ate a lot this weekend, probably because my stupid body thought it was starving from earlier in the week.  I should've stuck to not eating.  I also had wine.  A lot of wine. Someone smack me.

I didn't track anything last week.  Oh, there were a couple days of half-hearted tracking, but the past few days my phone's livestrong app has yelled at me at 6pm, "You haven't tracked yet today!" Why did I set up that particular alert?

The ugly:
It would appear I've somehow managed to jack up my Soleus muscle (a deep calf muscle that's really hard to stretch/roll out).  I'm lucky to have a girlfriend who is a PT and she worked on it last night (after 1/2 a bottle of wine).  It hurt like a mofo and there may have been a few words uttered her children shouldn't have heard. I also feel like I pulled something in my neck doing TM yesterday.  I'm a freaking mess and I can't get in to see my chiro until next week Wednesday.  This really sucks and makes me want to cry.

Those are my confessions.  What do you have to get off your chest?

LLRB 365: 2012 Week 7

Here we are nearing the end of February and there is practically no snow on the ground not that I'm complaining or anything.  It's really unheard of.  I could go check a bunch of weather sites and see when the last time it was we had such a mild winter, but I really don't care.  I just hope the trend continues. 

Sunday

2-12-12

Headed to HopCat for some dinner and brews.  Got a pretty light show, too, with the neon and a firetruck outside.

Monday

2-13-12

Siri decided to take the night off.

Tuesday

2-14-12

Happy Valentine's Day - I had the flu and stayed home from school, but still managed to eat some Baked Hot Chocolate!

Wednesday

2-15-12

Felt a bit better so I went for a crazy 3 mile run, but didn't want to get too far from home *just in case*

Thursday

2-16-12

Still not feeling 100% - this has been my lunch for the past 2 days.

Friday

2-17-12

First day of our 4-day weekend.  Took the kids to a great hot dog place for lunch & they spent most of the time doing this (and they were FREE!):

Saturday

2-18-12

Went to the Grand Rapids Griffins #purplegame - a fundraiser for cancer research and the Van Andel Institute.  We had awesome seats and it was a lot of fun, even though we lost.

Anything fun going on in your neck of the woods?

Fitness Friday: Staying Positive

I'm choosing to be as positive as I can be today.  My calf still hurts but I'm rolling and stretching and still planning 7 miles tomorrow morning (I skipped my 5 mile run yesterday).  I'm hydrating and I'll eat pretty well today.

A good friend said to me this morning, "Just take it slow and get the miles done. Don't think about the time."

This is hard for me, but I'm going to give it a shot.  Walk if I need to and just get the miles done.  I have a 1/2 marathon on 4/1 and a 25k on 5/12.  My miles need to start ramping back up. While I *really* want to PR those two races, if my calf doesn't start behaving, that probably won't happen, but I'll finish the races because a DNF just isn't acceptable.

On the plus side, the strength training I've been doing might be paying off a little.  I knocked out 15 real push ups today!  I don't see any difference, my clothes don't fit better, and the number on the scale isn't doing down, but I've never been able to do 15 push ups before and I did that twice this week.  Today's was without stopping.  I'm pretty freaking proud of that.

What do you do to focus on the positive when all you want to do is be negative and mope?

Thankful Thursday: Randomness

You ever have a day where your brain is going every which way and you can't keep up?  Yah, me neither.

Here's some random thankfulness:

1. Today is my Friday and my Monday doesn't come until Tuesday.  I'm thankful for a 4-day mid-winter break.
2. I'm thankful for BioFreeze for my extremely sore calves, but slathering it on right after shaving is not something I'd recommend for the faint of heart.
3. I'm thankful that my flu this week never went full-blown.  I really hate to puke (although there were times on Tuesday I kinda wish I would have).  I'm feeling better but food still makes my tummy do flip-flops.  Maybe I'll actually be down a couple pounds next week if I stick to my diet of DrinkClick and cereal.

What about you? What are you thankful for today?

Shrink Yo'Self in 2012 week 7

I wasn't going to blog today because I'm getting tired of bitching about the same shit over and over again, but here I am.

I'm back up 2 pounds.  Even after being sick for 2 days and barely eating anything I managed to gain back the 2 pounds I lost last week.  It's totally unfair and I'm pissed.  Maybe to lose you have to actually be throwing up, not just feel like you're going to barf.

I'm beginning to think I'm never going to see goal weight again and that makes me want to cry.  I maintained for so long and I've managed to completely blow it.  I cannot accept that this is the weight my body wants to be at because I know I can be better/thinner.

Sorry for the rant.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you are all spending your day with someone who makes your heart go thump-thump.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

10 Reasons I LOVE Running

This Valentine's Day (or Valentine's Day Eve), I'm participating in a little exercise to spread the love about running.  The good folks over at #RunChat are giving away a gu gift-pack to some random lover of running.  Now, winning would be really cool, but mostly I just want to reflect a bit on why *I* run.  So, in no particular order, my 10 reasons I love running:

1. I've made some incredible friends through running, many IRL and many here on the interwebs.  Regardless, without running I wouldn't have met many of the people I now consider to be my best friends. (I lied about order, This is, without a doubt, reason number 1.)
2. The sense of accomplishment after completing a really hard run.  Even if I complain about it or wasn't happy with my performance, I still lapped everyone sitting on their asses eating bonbons (do people still eat bonbons?).
3. The massive amounts of calories I earn back after a weekend long run, which I then "spend" on beer.
4. The swag. (Yes, I've become a bling-whore.)
5. The ability to inspire others to get out and run. Or just walk. Or so something.
6. I've gotten to run in some pretty amazing places.  Along the beach where I grew up.  The trail system here.  Baltimore's Inner Harbor (Fitbloggin '11).  Disney World (while training for my marathon).  Disneyland (to run the Tinker Bell Half).
7. Weight loss.  (At least initially, as I've gotten more "fit" I've noticed running doesn't work the way it used to.) 
8. The 13.1 and 26.2 stickers I now sport on my car tell others I'm pretty bad-ass!
9. I had an excuse to finally get a tattoo :)
10. Running makes me a happier person and a better mom and wife.  It is my stress relief and if I didn't have it, I'd probably be pretty hard to be around.

There you have it, my top 10 reasons for running.  I'm sure there are more.  What about you?  What's your #1 reason for running (or yoga, or spinning, whatever's your thing)?

LLRB 365: 2012 Week 6

Blogging from my phone today, so sorry for nothing fancy.

Sunday
2-5-12
Made some super soup for Super Bowl Sunday.


Monday
2-6-12
Spent my lunch time on the dang foam roller. Legs haven't been happy.


Tuesday
2-7-12
Happiness in a postcard.


Wednesday
2-8-12
Trying to flush out the sick.


Thursday
2-9-12
The only nice thing about today's run.


Friday
2-10-12
Winter came back with a vengeance.


Saturday
2-11-12
At least it's pretty.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thankful Thursday: Girl Power!

Today I'm giving thanks for a few of the Girl Power songs on my playlist that really get me pumped up and send the message that girls RULE!

Katy Perry - Firework

P!nk - So What

Christina Aguilera - Fighter

What's your favorite "girl power" song?

Shrink Yo'Self in 2012 week 6

I've been really struggling with the weight I've gained, this is no secret. Yesterday was a particularly bad day. I'm not sure what made it worse, but my Inner Mean Girl was on a major rampage.

She needs to STFU. Now.

A good friend sent me this through twitter. I have no clue where it came from and this here is just a screen grab from my phone, but you get the message.

Then I get in the car this morning and the first song that plays is God Gave Me You by Blake Shelton.  I know it's supposed to be a love song to Miranda, but the chorus really reflects how I feel about all of you who support me, either through comments here, tweets, emails, texts, etc.  So forgive me while I get all dopey/sappy, because God really did give me all of you "for the ups and downs" and "the days of doubt".  So thank you. 

I'm down 2 pounds this week. 10 pounds to go.

True Super Bowl Confessions

I'm in a pissy mood because I typed a post using BlogPress on my phone, complete with pictures & shit, and it wouldn't let me publish. Kept giving me the message "Failed: Seems your network is not ready for posting." WTF is that supposed to mean?

So, I confess that I really didn't care who won the Super Bowl.  I was totally watching for the commercials.  (Loved the M&Ms one and the spot for The Voice with Betty White.)

I ate, but I didn't eat a ton.  What I ate though could barely be classified as "health food". I made the best beer, cheese & brat soup I've ever tasted, some buffalo chicken roll-ups, and lil smokies in spicy peppers.  Yep.  Salt.Salt.Salt and some more Salt, with a side of fat thrown in.

I drank, but kept it to 2 glasses of wine.

I had dessert.  Red Velvet Cake.  It was good.

The scale is going to be evil tomorrow because of all that crap and the fact that I had left over soup for lunch and dinner on Monday, as well as another piece of cake.  I'm clearly a moron.

I drank a shit-ton of water yesterday in the hopes to counteract some of the sodium, but my rings still barely fit today.  If this trend continues, I'm not only going to need a whole new fat wardrobe, but I'm going to need to have my rings made bigger, which really pisses me off because I've already had them made smaller.  I don't have money for new clothes and rings.  Our kids start Driver's Ed this spring and it's going to cost us over $700.  Plus there are races I want to run, even though running at this weight is probably destroying my knees and ankles.  Frak.  I'm really in a bad mood today.  Sorry.

I hope you were smarter than me in your eating and drinking this week.  So, the important question...What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial?

11 Random Things...

Just when I thought I was going to miss out on the 11 Random Things meme that's been floating around the interwebs, I get tagged by 4 people last week:  Marie from Why She Runs, Thea from It's Me Vs. Me, Megan from Running Toward the Prize, and Paulette from So Just Keep Running.  Now, there's no way I'm answering 44 questions, so I decided to just alternate down each person's lists until I hit 11 questions.

Here goes:

Rules:
1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post.
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them.
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people.  


My 11 random things...
1.  We had dogs when I was growing up (a Cocker Spaniel named Candy until I was about 10 and then a Lhasa Apso named Tai Chi for a few years after that) but now I don't really like dogs.  I'll tolerate them and will pet other peoples dogs, but overall they kinda freak me out.
2.  I almost never leave the house without at least some makeup on, even if it's just mascara or tinted moisturizer.
3.  I love southwest decor.  All of our houses have had at least 1 room decorated with Kokopelli, clay pots, etc.

4.  I absolutely love beach vacations, but I'm paler than Casper.
5.  Chicago is one of my favorite cities, but I only learned to use the public transportation a couple years ago and still don't like it.  I'd rather drive through the city, traffic and all.
6.  All of our cats found us and at one time we had 4. We were the "crazy cat people".
7.  Disney World (in Florida) is my Happiest Place on Earth, but running through Disneyland in California a last week was pretty freaking awesome.
8.  I went ziplining in St. Lucia but freaked out on one of the lines and had to pull myself in backwards.  Note to all of you wanting to try ziplining, it's much easier to let gravity take its course and that pulling yourself in is one of the hardest arm workouts you'll ever do.
9.  I can't stand talk radio.  Makes me want to kill people, especially if I'm driving.
10.  I have a scar on my upper lip from my Lhasa biting me.  I was eating in the living room and she went for my food.  I moved the food and she got me.  I was so scared to tell my dad that I basically held my lip together with a washrag for a several hours until he got home.  By then it was really too late to go to the hospital for stitches.
11.  I played the flute in high school and when it was time for our kids to pick instruments we encouraged our son to play trombone (which my husband still plays) and our daughter to play flute.  I can still play, but it sounds like crap.

Answers to Marie, Thea, Megan and Paulette's questions...
1.  Do you remember your first race?  Which one was it? (Marie) I do!  My first race was the 5/3 River Bank Run in May 2006.  I finished in 34:40.
2.  What is one area of your life do you wish you could hire someone to do for you? (Thea) Keeping my house clean.  Or maybe driving my kids to all their crap.
3.  Would you rather be a police officer, fire fighter, or EMT?  (Megan) That's easy, EMT.  I almost went to medical school.
4.  If you could live anywhere regardless of cost/job, where would you choose? This one is hard.  I'd probably pick somewhere in the Caribbean.  All the hurricanes worry me though.
5.  Name 3 blogging runners who inspire you.(Marie)  Kirsten for a million reasons (Tough Mudder on a broken ankle to start) but mainly because she was the first to really encourage me to run a marathon and helped me come up with a training plan that got me across the finish line. Erin because she has talked me into doing a mud run this year and she's currently kicking a$$ on her 1/2 marathon training, and Tiffany because she has raised tons of money for Team in Training and works with kiddos with cancer every day, so sees the need first hand.
6.  What's the deal with time zones? (Thea) I have no freaking idea, but where I live, for the longest time northern Indiana couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to be on Michigan time or Indiana time so I never knew what time it was when I was calling my sister who lived down there.  I still couldn't tell you if there's a time difference.
7.  Who is your favorite cartoon character? (Megan) I love Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb, but if I was gonna go old-school, I'd pick Bugs Bunny.
8.  What is your favorite race distance to run? (Paulette) Half marathon.  Still hard enough to require serious training but doesn't knock you out for weeks afterwards.  My best race ever (pace-wise) was a 10 miler.  That would probably be my 2nd choice.
9.  What's your favorite pre and post run meal?  (Marie) I don't really have one.  Pre long run, I usually have spaghetti.  After a race, if my stomach is good, I like a big burger, pizza or an Italian sub (hello, salt replacement?)  Also, a beer post-run is always appreciated :)
10.  Someone gives you $5000 no strings attached, what do you do with the money?  (Thea) Take my family back to Disney World.
11.  Cake or ice cream? (Megan) ICE CREAM!!!!! Cake is one dessert I can easily turn down (unless it's in the form of red velvet cupcakes, then I'm screwed).
Bonus question so everyone gets 3: Red wine or white wine? (Paulette) First of all, I'm a beer girl - good, craft beer, Belgian whites, etc.  If I was going to drink wine, I'm partial to sweeter white wines (think Rieslings usually) but lately I've been grooving on this red blend called Wild Girl from South Africa. It's a sweet blend of Ruby Cabernet and Shiraz.  So good and only about $10 a bottle.  Probably a little too good.  In fact, I'm drinking some right now :)

My 11 questions for you...
1.  What's your go-to, pumps you up every time, workout song?
2.  Cat or dog?
3.  Team Jacob or Team Edward?
4.  Beer, wine or mixed drink, and what's your favorite?
5.  Do you have a "good luck" charm of some kind when you race? (a hat you always wear, hair always in the same style, lucky undies, etc)
6.  What's your favorite iPhone or Android app and why should I download it (if it's iPhone)?
7.  Have you always had the same career and was it what you originally studied?
8.  Have you ever run in a costume and what was it?
9.  Who would play you in a movie about your life, and who would play your significant other?
10. Do you have a nickname, and if yes, what is it?
11. If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I tag...
1.  Morgan from Caution Redhead Running
2.  Sara from Domestically Challenged
3.  Ashley from Finding My Way
4.  Kim  from Girl Evolving
5.  Tiffany from Tall Drink of Life
6.  Jaime from Life According to Jaime
7.  Barb from Quick Like a Bunny
8.  Andrea from The Love Bug Adventures
9.  Beki from Wild Child Gone Good
10. Mendie from The Little Ladybug that Could
11. Erin from School Teacher by Day, Superhero by Night


This took me longer than I thought it would, but it was really fun.  If you've already been tagged and I missed your answers, leave me a link in the comments because I'd love to read them.  If you've been tagged by multiple people, do like I did and combine the questions.  Or, pretend you never saw this if you don't want to play along :)

LLRB 365: 2012 Week 5

Sunday

1-29-12

I started the week with a little half marathon in So. California!

You can read my Tinker Bell Half Marathon recaps here and here.

Here's a collage of scenes from the day:

Monday

1-30-12

I flew home to the remains of a blizzard.  The snow made for a pretty sunrise.

Tuesday

1-31-12

In true Michigan fashion, the weather changed on a dime.

Wednesday

2-1-12

Happy palindrome day. I celebrated with a cuppa.

Thursday

2-2-12

Tried out a recipe from the new Shrinking Kitchen site - so yummy!

Friday

2-3-12

Go Red for Women Day - are you keeping an eye on your heart health???

Saturday

2-4-12

After an amazing 6 mile run in the morning, hubs and I hit up a couple local brewpubs to celebrate :)

My week obviously rocked. I mean, seriously, starting the week with Tinker Bell and finishing it with that amazing pizza?!? Hello, Happy Bari!

What was a highlight from your week?

fABuary

We all know that I've been trying to incorporate more strength training into my workout schedule.  I've been working on the Hundred Pushups ap and Tough Mudder workouts (except for taking last week off).  I've seen another fun challenge on a few blogs in the past couple days (most recently Kim from girl evolving) and today I decided to join in.  This one looks simple enough and I think I can just tack it on to what I'm already doing (or on days I do TM, skip it entirely because the exercises are built into that workout already).

Do you want to join in?  Grab a copy of the schedule and pin it to your fridge or something.  Hopefully we'll all be a bit more bikini ready by the end of the month!

What's your favorite ab move?  Mine would probably be side planks.

Tinker Bell Half Weekend: part 2 Race Day!

I gotta say, it's funny how my body just knows when it needs to get up on race day.  Even though the day before the race was a long and full day, I woke up at 3:00 am, 15 minutes before my alarm.  (I was also up around 1:30 am.)  Beki and I got ourselves ready and I had a bowl of oatmeal made with hot water from the coffee maker (gross, btw - Beki couldn't eat hers).  Andrea was meeting us in the lobby at 4:00, so downstairs we headed!

I think we look pretty awesome at 4 am!

The temperature was in the mid 40s, so I opted for my "It's not sweat, it's pixie dust" t-shirt, long bra top and sports bra, arm sleeves and capris, plus my awesome Team Sparkle skirt and wings! (I also wore 2 belts (hydration and bib holder), and I don't think I'll do that again.  I really don't like the way my fuel belts look in pictures so I've gotta come up with a different system - vanity, sue me.)  Luckily we got outside just as one of the shuttle buses was pulling up, so we didn't need to walk the 1.5 miles to the starting line - yeah!

There was a nice walk through Downtown Disney to the start.  We found some cute pirates along the way and couldn't resist taking pictures.

There was a DJ playing music, tons of port-a-johns, and so many people milling about.  Even with all the people, we were able to meet up with Barb for a quick hug and picture before we left to find our corral.

Once we got to our corral we found Tiffany!

There were adorable costumes and wings everywhere.  Before long, corral A was off to fireworks.

We were just a few minutes behind and waved to Minnie and Daisy as we crossed the starting line.

Mile 1: The first mile wound outside the parks and up a couple of hills as we crossed the highway.  The number of people was just insane and our pace was really slow.  Beki and I had decided to try and run the race together as best we could, so we did our dodge and weave as we tried to get around the walkers and slower runners. In no time at all, we were headed back into Disneyland.

Miles 2-3+: We entered the park through some weird back entrance that was usually reserved for cast members.  They were there cheering us on and warning us about the twisty course.  A bunch of parade floats were out for us to see and before long we happened upon the first characters, Cinderella and Belle with their men.  The line was ridiculously long so I didn't stand in line, but Beki and I both stopped to snap some pictures.

After a cast member snapped my picture, I looked around for Beki and couldn't find her.  I thought for sure I'd lost my running partner.  I decided to just keep running and headed down Main Street and the lights were so pretty.  I ended up running into Beki at the next character stop! There were quite a few picture opportunities in the park and we didn't really care about our time, so we stopped for most of them.

So much green, tutus and wings!

I think we stopped for just about every character we could - our time at the 5k point was around 47 minutes and we cheered - pretty funny if you ask me!

Miles 4-11: Somewhere around mile 4, we headed through Downtown Disney and there were about 100 women from the Red Hat Society cheering.  I almost stopped to take another picture because these women were awesome, but we decided we wanted to make up some time.  This part of the race was just like any other road race, but Disney made sure there were tons of HS cheer squads, dance teams, marching bands, hula dancers, etc to keep us entertained.  These 7 miles were run between and 11 and 12 minute/mile pace, which was definitely slower than I'd planned, but the 9 hours on my feet the day before at Disneyland had taken their toll.  I don't think I could've run much faster if I'd tried.  At around mile 7 1/2, I looked to my right and recognized a twitter friend, Mihael (@smplefy646)!  Seeing a friendly face at that point in the race was awesome.

We got hugs and high-fives and headed on our way.  While we were out on the streets, I was really feeling my feet and my right hip was starting to complain.  Beki and I walked through the water stops and around mile 9 or 10 started walking for a bit at the top of every mile.  The sun had come up and I was definitely wishing for some sunglasses (and new feet).  Even with our walk breaks, we kept our pace under a 12 m/m.  It was amazing how many people we were still dodging at this point too.  Along this section of the route was an awesome band comprised of soldiers!  

Mile 11-ish to the end: At this point, we started heading back toward the Disney property.  We ran into California Adventure and through the really cute Bugs Life area.  I was so focused on getting to the finish line at this point that I didn't pay much attention to the park.  We did stop for one more photo op because Beki and I both love Monster's Inc.

We were in the home stretch and I about lost it when we passed a DJ booth and Katy Perry's "Firework" came on.  (It's sorta my song and Beki even commented about it!)  People kept telling us the finish line was "right around the corner" but there were actually about 4 corners to turn before we finally saw the finish!  Beki convinced me to pick up the pace and we finished that last .1 with a 10 m/m average pace (and max 8:51 m/m!).  

I'd just completed my 2nd official half marathon in the SLOWEST time EVER, but I had the MOST FUN EVER in a race.  I got to run with one of my dearest friends, take pictures with tons of Disney characters, get sprinkled with Pixie Dust, and rock this kick-ass medal at the end.

Official Time:  2:56:37 (13:28 pace)

5334/9386 women

830/1428 AG

(I looked at my Garmin splits when I was writing this post and it lists the average pace per mile, but also the "best" pace per mile.  My best times in each mile ranged from 8:05 to 10:19 m/m!  Many of the miles were in the 8:40 to 9:40 range, which this slow chick thinks is pretty cool.)

After we finished our race and got some bagels and fruit, we walked through Downtown Disney again and stopped at one of the stores so I could get souvenirs for my kids (nothing like waiting to the last minute).  While there, Beki realized how close to checkout time it was, so we hobbled the 1.5 miles back to the hotel so we could quickly pack and get out of there.  I had one stop I wanted to make before she took me to the airport.

I'd never seen the Pacific ocean and this girl couldn't leave California without putting her toes in the water.  

"Magical" doesn't even begin to describe my Tinker Bell Half Marathon weekend.  It absolutely sparkled and glittered with pixie dust.