New Year's Eve

We went out with another couple from the gym, Regina and Shaun, for New Year's.  We had a great time getting dinner and then having a few drinks out before coming back home to ring in the new year! Now if only I could grow to be her size!! haha..not happening anytime soon:)

Yeah, Look at those GUNS of hers! 

Happy Halloween, Y'all!

Make sure you hit the gym hard today!  I did a few really light shoulder/chest exercises and then ran 2.5 miles on a .5 incline.  I did two fairly fast miles after the warm up in 15 minutes.  Somehow I've got to get some speed work into my training before the Turkey Trot!

This fricken strained quad is still strained...6 weeks later. Ugh.  We had our last regular season soccer game on Sunday and although I warmed up quite a bit and stretched all it took was one full out sprint for it to seize back up.  So annoying and painful!  I've been using heat, Advil, and doing lots of stretching.  I'm hoping that all of this pays off before the first round of our playoffs this weekend!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Out of Surgery

Let me start by saying that I loved the new MJH!  Everyone was friendly and kind and the facilities were beautiful, including a huge nice OR.  The nurses listened to me about my tiny rolling veins and did their best to get the IVs in...one was successful, the other had to wait for the anesthesiologist bc we blew out one.

Surgery went well.  Apparently I was feeling some pain so I was given a little more "happy juice" and don't remember a whole lot.  The cyst was under and wrapped around my tendon so it was larger and more involved than Dr. D initially thought.

Of course I was starving afterwards so we ate at Sticks and then Arch's...YUM. I'm waiting for the block to wear off, but so far the pain is bearable. I know well enough that will change this evening. PT is set up for Monday and I hope to just miss one more day of work.  Until then I'll be icing and keeping this thing in a sling.

Thanks for all of the kind thoughts.

And, this hunting and pecking with my left hand sucks.  Just saying'.

Apple Picking!

It was a beautiful day for picking some apples!  Oh and yes, eating some apple cider donuts...  There was no denying that I was going to inhale at least one or two;)  These are the times when I do not even feel like it is a cheat.  We get these donuts once year and I do not eat donuts any other time of the year, so what is there to feel bad about, seriously?

I can't wait to make some clean eating desserts with these bad boys:)  My wheels are already turning with ideas!  We came home with braeburn, fuji, golden delicious, and granny smith apples all ready to be eaten.

Excited after she got over her fear of being held up so high.

Laughing, but yep that's a tear running down her face...someone Rich knocked her head into a branch. 

Cheese

Look at those beauties

Time to eat 

The monkey in the group

I'm 15 1/2 apples tall! 

New Measurements

Here are the measurements that I took before starting the WLC.  Speaking of the WLC....it is not going so well!  Crap. Between Maddie's injury, my quad and now my wrist and some extra stress around this house we haven't done nearly as well as we could have.  For the most part the weekdays are fantastic with very few cheats, but the weekends are all over the place.  The bad thing is that I feel terrible after consuming the very things that are supposed to be "exciting" to eat.  I think I'm going to be able to get my act together this week though!

I also decided that I'm keeping oatmeal in the morning. There is just no other way for me to get around it and feel half way decent.  The whole dairy-free thing has been easy and really so has the grain-free...it's the whole eating out and cheating thing that has thrown me.  I think we are just going to go forward doing the best that we can do.  Eating almond butter and natural pb seems to make me put on weight and bloat much more than PB2, so despite the 1 gram of sugar I'm going to allow PB2.

From the last time I did measurements this is where I am:

Chest: 31.75   (same)
Waist: 25.5   (-1.0)
L Arm: 10 (-.75)
R Arm: 10 (-.75)
L Thigh: 18 (-2.0)
R Thigh: 18.25 (-1.75)
Hips: 35.75 (-1.0)

BMI:  20.9% (+1.4%)
Weight: 118 (- 2.5 lbs)

We'll see where I am in mid-November.

Special Olympics 10k

It's that time of the year, time for the Special Olympics 10k and then transition into my favorite time of year, autumn!

I didn't set any goals for this race mainly because I didn't train for it and just wanted to support a good cause.  Anything under 60 minutes would have been okay with me because I've cut cardio down to just about nothing and if I do something it is HIIT.  Of course once I got out there my competitive spirit came out....

Not sure what I was thinking busting out the first mile in 6:30, second in 7:10, and then finally slowing it down.  I guess I was just excited and not paying attention to my watch!  Whoops;)

I did think I might puke a couple of times so I walked for a 20 yards...didn't help that I had to leap over 4 squished snakes and then roll up on a 2 day old dead deer carcass.  Sick.  

I finished in 51:20, which is an average of 8:17....not too shabby for something I hadn't trained for. My time last year was 51:00 and I trained a whole lot more in terms of running a year ago.  We'll see how I placed once they publish the results. 

Rich, E, and J walked to 2-mile course and had a great time as well!

I can't remember a time when I was as hungry as I was after this race.  Since we are diving into the WLC tomorrow morning, I tossed the idea of no grains for the weekend and pounded 2 big cookies, a bagel, pancake and some grapes. Then came home and ate an apple, cottage cheese and cereal.  Lunch at Mi Rancho and then dinner at Pizza Hut before eating oatmeal before bed.  5000 calories?  Likely.  Sorry about it? Not a bit.

Totally forgot to take pics, but here's the shirt we all received.

Proof is in the Pics

There is 6 months difference in the following two pictures...

The first pic was taken in February and I was able to do 7 unassisted pull-ups.  (I wasn't able to do any until I practiced a few times a week in November of 2011.)

The second pic was taken in August.  I just moved up to doing weighted pull-ups with a 15 lb ball between my knees.  I did 4 sets of 4 reps last week.  BAM!  I feel a belt and a 25 lb plate for reps coming in the next few months.

February 2012

August 2012

4-Miler 2012

In Honor of Betty "Mimi" Stokes

I'm happy to report that although I didn't make my goal of running in under 30 minutes (31:51), I did make my last minute goal of placing in the top 200.  I was 146 out of 3,024 racers.  I really wanted to place within my class (top 19), but that fell out of reach during the last mile.  I ended up placing 26th in my division.

Who invited these characters? 

The compartment syndrome in my leg really started acting up so I slowed to a walk for 10 yards while 20-30 people passed me during that last mile.  Agh.  I was not happy, but I picked it up again and finished strong.  I guess I'll have to get this leg checked out after all.

Regardless of the goal and the rain, Jennie and I had a great time.  I was so proud of Jennie for completing her first race! Rich and E were there to support us and we rocked out our "High Kickin' Bettys" outfits for Mimi.  Unfortunately, Mimi wasn't able to be there with us, but she will be the recipient of her own t-shirt and plenty of pictures! It is inspiring to be around 3,000 other runners who are running for the same cause.  I was also rather impressed at the total organization; we were parked and ready to rock in just a couple of minutes.  I can't wait to do it again next year!

All of the High Kickers

Jennie forgot her socks, so we split them:)  

Boy do I look small?! 

Getting it done. 

Almost home! 

Soaked from the rain and sweat! 

What I'm Loving Lately

Using my Garmin on longer outdoor runs to keep me motivated and sweaty!

Lots and lots of eggs and egg whites mixed with random veggies!

Eggs, egg whites, greens, fresh tomatoes, onions

Spending time on the boat!  

After weeks of work, Rich just finished painting and putting in new seats and carpet in the boat, as well as painting the trailer and installing new LED lights.  Did I get lucky or what with my Mr. Handyman husband?!

Showing off the newly refurbished boat!

My favorite captains

Squash Bugs and Good Eats

While talking to Jennie on the phone a couple of nights ago, I decided to check out the garden because we have so many tomatoes getting ripe.  To my surprise the squash and zucchini plants had quickly turned brownish yellow and the veggies were dying.  Without much inspection at all, my eyes caught the movement of hundreds, dare I say thousands, of bugs!

As I'm inspecting them I'm giving Jennie the complete rundown....

        Me, "They look tick-like....what the heck? It just pooped!  Gross. Gross. Gross."
        Her response, "Did it squirt out like gel?"
        Me, "YES!"  
        Her, "Well, that's how stink bugs poop."
        Me, "Holy crap, they DO look like baby stink bugs!!"

You can imagine the next 15 minutes of me freaking out about these nasty critters (known as Squash Bugs) that are killing my squash.  After consulting numerous websites to figure out what they were and what the heck to do about them, Rich and I went on an all out killing rampage armed with dish soap (Palmolive) and water mixed in a water bottle.  We pulled up all of the squash and zucchini plants along with hundreds of bugs and eggs and tied them up in garbage bags.  The rest were doused with the spray and died within minutes.  Over the last two days we've checked the rest of the plants and iced any stray bastards that we could find.

The eggs!

The babies

Hailey was the official spotter while we sprayed

Look at those suckers making a run for it. 

On a positive note, we've picked dozens of tomatoes so I've been enjoying my favorite summertime food, fresh tomato sandwiches.  We also made something similar to Mimi's famous macaroni and tomatoes by combining whole wheat egg noodles, a little trivia, salt, and boiled fresh tomatoes.

Can you believe that we grew all of those!?

Noodles and tomatoes

And, today we checked the red potatoes and harvested each of the plants.  We sliced some of them, drizzled them with a little olive oil and salt and pepper, and baked them at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  They were delicious!

Straight from the garden!

Straight into my belly. 

Working It

Getting a little wider

Although this isn't the best shot, I do think that I am gaining a bit of width in my upper back.  I've slacked off on the pull ups because my body just needed a break.  In fact, I took two rest days in a row this weekend.  Taking rest days is hard for me to do because I feel so much better after hitting the gym, but I know that they are needed.  I was able to get 105 lbs on the bench Monday morning for 3 reps, so I know the rest was good for me! 

And just for good measure, a shot of my abs coming in...

They may not be as tight as Lolo Jones, who just happens to be on the cover of this month's Oxygen, but they are a work in progress.

6th Anniversary!

To round out our fun-filled weekend, we went to Flying Rabbit Sporting Clays this morning.  Coincidentally, this weekend was the one weekend each year when instructors-in-training give free shooting lessons.  They provide everything that you need; guns, ammunition, clays, etc.  When we called last night, the owner was very excited about our inquiry and told us to come on down.  

Getting some instructions

Rich getting set

There were about 15 men and 2 women there for lessons and just as many instructors-in-training.  I had never even held a shotgun before, but they threw me right out there with everyone else.  After a few rounds I caught on to what I should be doing and started hitting some of the clays.  It was a huge change from shooting handguns the day before...totally different type of shooting/aiming, etc.  Having something moving to shoot at was awesome and challenging at the same time.  I think I have a new hobby for sure!

Almost ready

I met up with one last instructor who was awesome.  I'm not sure what it was that he did differently, but I liked his style and I crushed both fast moving clays that were thrown out.  It's a shame that our two hours were up because I was just getting into the groove.  I think I'll be purchasing my own shotgun in the near future! 

After shooting, we went to Outback for lunch, then to the movies to watch Ted, and ended the night with a nice steak dinner:)  I feel like we had round two of our honeymoon...lots of activities and very little downtime.  Just perfect.  

I'm so glad that I found Rich at Wild Wings 10 years ago this month:)  We are a perfect match of outgoing and reserved, funny and silly, messy and neat, carefree and structured.  Thank goodness we even each other out;)  Here is to a lifetime of more adventures and new experiences together!  Love you, honey.