1. A couple of weeks ago, Tommy found a pair of toning shoes on sale. They were 40% percent off, and we had a coupon for an additional 30% off. In all, we got the shoes for $20. I had not really thought much about purchasing the toning shoes until we got such a good deal on them, but I am glad we bought them. When I first wore them, it almost felt like huge pieces of gum were stuck to the bottom of the shoes, but now I am becoming more familiar. Do any of y'all have the toning walking shoes?
2. This weekend, I am doing another breast cancer race. This one is local and I will be running with my 6-year-old niece. We will be doing the 1 mile fun run together and she is really excited. She really wanted to do the event last week, but since it was out of town and something new for us, we weren't sure if children would be allowed. She told her Mom that she wanted to do something to help Aunt Rosie too, so I found this little local race. I am looking forward to doing this with her, and hope it is a memory that will last with her a long time.
3. The Power of 10 challenge has been going well for me. So far, I have reached or exceeded 10,000 steps every day except the day we traveled for the "Race for the Cure." I worked half a day, and then spent quite a bit of time in the car...and at the end of the day I only a a little over 7,000 steps. But that's okay...I exceeded 10,000 the next day. There have been a couple of nights when I was 1000 or so short and just wanted to call it a night, but made myself hit the driveway until my 10,000 were complete. This has been a great challenge, and I hope to continue with it even after October.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Amazing! Race for the Cure!
In June, I received an email from a local running group that listed races across the state. When I saw that the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure would be in Birmingham I immediately knew I wanted to participate. Then, I decided instead of running myself, it would be a great opportunity to get my family involved in an awesome cause in honor of my Aunt Rosie that is currently battling breast cancer.
I didn't know how many family members would want to participate, so I sent out an email to a few cousins with the idea. The response was AMAZING! Everyone seemed game and excited! We named our team, "Rosie...Our Favorite Shade of Pink." I called my Aunt Rosie to make sure she was okay with us participating in this event in her honor. I told her who all had agreed to participate, and she said "Well...that's so sweet, but I just hate that y'all will have to walk that far." I told her, that I was used to it and that we had plenty of time to get everyone ready. During the next few months, I tried to organize our trip and plan a fundraiser for our team. A friend of mine owns the cafe inside the library and he agreed to sell "Cupcakes for a Cure" the week prior to the event, and that a dollar of each cupcake would be donated. We sold over 60 cupcakes in 2 days! It was amazing, but they ran out of cupcakes! It total we made $76 for the team from cupcakes, and then we each collected money as well totaling over $500 turned in from our team. My mom hasn't exercised much for years, and didn't think she would be able to complete the walk, but I helped her train a bit and she was able to make the 3 mile walk along with my Aunt Cathy that has had both knees replaced in the last couple of years (she was also the one that fell a few weeks back.) During the event, my Mom wanted to quit after mile one...but I stuck with them, and they were so excited when they crossed the finish line. It took them an hour and twenty minutes, but they did it!
The day of the event was awesome. Birmingham is a little over 2 hours from home, and our team packets had to be picked up on Friday afternoon. When we picked up the packets, a volunteer encouraged us to be at the park no later than 7:30. The walk was to begin at 10:00. We spent the rest of the day shopping a bit, checking into our hotel, and just having fun. That night, we had a late dinner and met up with the rest of the family to hand out the race packets. That night everyone was so excited, but we had no idea of how amazing the next day would be.
The morning of the event was AWESOME! There were people everywhere! Over 17,000 people would be participating in the event, and over 20,000 people were at the park. The fountain in the middle of the park, was full of pink water and it was gorgeous. There were vendors everywhere with all types of "pink" items. Our group was able to get a picture taken before the walk started.
This race is one I will never forget. We all agreed that we want to go back next year and do it again. I could not have imagined how much fun we would have together. If there is a "Race for the Cure" event near you I encourage you to go! And to participate!
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| Me and Aunt Rosie before the walk. |
I didn't know how many family members would want to participate, so I sent out an email to a few cousins with the idea. The response was AMAZING! Everyone seemed game and excited! We named our team, "Rosie...Our Favorite Shade of Pink." I called my Aunt Rosie to make sure she was okay with us participating in this event in her honor. I told her who all had agreed to participate, and she said "Well...that's so sweet, but I just hate that y'all will have to walk that far." I told her, that I was used to it and that we had plenty of time to get everyone ready. During the next few months, I tried to organize our trip and plan a fundraiser for our team. A friend of mine owns the cafe inside the library and he agreed to sell "Cupcakes for a Cure" the week prior to the event, and that a dollar of each cupcake would be donated. We sold over 60 cupcakes in 2 days! It was amazing, but they ran out of cupcakes! It total we made $76 for the team from cupcakes, and then we each collected money as well totaling over $500 turned in from our team. My mom hasn't exercised much for years, and didn't think she would be able to complete the walk, but I helped her train a bit and she was able to make the 3 mile walk along with my Aunt Cathy that has had both knees replaced in the last couple of years (she was also the one that fell a few weeks back.) During the event, my Mom wanted to quit after mile one...but I stuck with them, and they were so excited when they crossed the finish line. It took them an hour and twenty minutes, but they did it!
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| Mom and Aunt Cathy! I was so proud of them! |
The day of the event was awesome. Birmingham is a little over 2 hours from home, and our team packets had to be picked up on Friday afternoon. When we picked up the packets, a volunteer encouraged us to be at the park no later than 7:30. The walk was to begin at 10:00. We spent the rest of the day shopping a bit, checking into our hotel, and just having fun. That night, we had a late dinner and met up with the rest of the family to hand out the race packets. That night everyone was so excited, but we had no idea of how amazing the next day would be.
The morning of the event was AWESOME! There were people everywhere! Over 17,000 people would be participating in the event, and over 20,000 people were at the park. The fountain in the middle of the park, was full of pink water and it was gorgeous. There were vendors everywhere with all types of "pink" items. Our group was able to get a picture taken before the walk started.
I can't even begin to describe to you all how uplifting the event was for everyone. Most teams had on matching shirts, and the survivors were given pink survivor shirts to wear. Seeing so many survivors and the people that loved them and were there to show support was inspiring. My cousin commented that she didn't realize how many young woman would be wearing survivor shirts. Before the race, there was a survivor parade. There were signs for how long each group had been a survivor from one year to 30+ years. After the survivor parade, it was time to get started...the runners went first of course, and one of my Aunts asked if I wished I were running the event, and I said no. I was so proud to be there experiencing this with my family. It took over 30 minutes before we ever reaching the starting line...with so many people, we quickly lost each other, but were able to stay in smaller groups of 2 and 3.
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| Molly and Amber |
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| Aunt Connie |
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| One of my favorite pictures. Mom "running"! |
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Drop Dead Gorgeous by December -Weekly Report 8
1. A picture of you holding up a positive sign for yourself.
A better routine! Things have been crazy!
2. Your current week’s weight as well as your challenge start weight. *optional
N/A3. Your goal(s) from now, or whenever you decide to join, until December.
Goal 1: 200 tracked workout miles...(treadmill, street runs,biking,elliptical,4. ONE thing that you are proud of for the week.swimming,etc) I am currently at 132/200.
Goal 2: 5k in under 40 mins Working on W5D2
Goal 3: Journal food 5days a week I haven't journaled much this week, but I feel my eating had been okay.
Goal 4: Do something for myself to make me feel gorgeous.Toenails are painted ;)
Encouraging 10 family members to participate in a 5k. For most, it was there first :) They loved it!5. ONE thing that you can improve upon for the following week.
A better routine! Things have been crazy!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Three Things Thursday
1. Spaghetti Squash is rocking my world! Last night I baked it, and served it with marinara and turkey meatballs yum! I made noodle for T, but I didn't want any the squash was so good :)
2. Yesterday after work, the treadmills at the gym were full ( they are doing some kind of incentive program right now, and the gym is crazy...I am glad people are trying to live more healthy lives, but I miss being able to jump on the treadmill whenever I want...). It was a nice night, so I decided to do the "Road Kill Run." at home. As I ran, a heard of dogs started following me. I am sure it was hilarious for anyone driving by to see an overweight woman running on a country road with 5 dogs following behind. One dog actually ran all the way home with me, so I had to try to remember where he joined me and walk him back to his house. Then he followed me home again! Tommy thought it was hilarious and called me a dog thief, but I felt really guilty. After he followed me home again, we closed the shades and turned off all the light hoping he would head back to his house, and eventually he did....poor Humphrey (my pup) was having a complete fit in the house! Oh what a night! Two dogs barking, the fire alarm beeping (decided it needed new batteries during the chaos) and Tommy cracking up!
3. Still having a good time with the Power of 10 challenge. Yesterday, I put the pedometer in my pocket instead of clipping it on...big mistake because at the end of my work day I only had about 2000 steps (and I had walked a mile on my lunch break). When I realized that it wasn't counting all my steps, I clipped it on for the rest of the night. Good thing I did the 5k walk/jog followed by walking the other pup back to his house, or I would have had a hard time getting in those 10,000 steps. I can't imagine what kind of number I would have seen had it been really tracking my steps all day! :)
2. Yesterday after work, the treadmills at the gym were full ( they are doing some kind of incentive program right now, and the gym is crazy...I am glad people are trying to live more healthy lives, but I miss being able to jump on the treadmill whenever I want...). It was a nice night, so I decided to do the "Road Kill Run." at home. As I ran, a heard of dogs started following me. I am sure it was hilarious for anyone driving by to see an overweight woman running on a country road with 5 dogs following behind. One dog actually ran all the way home with me, so I had to try to remember where he joined me and walk him back to his house. Then he followed me home again! Tommy thought it was hilarious and called me a dog thief, but I felt really guilty. After he followed me home again, we closed the shades and turned off all the light hoping he would head back to his house, and eventually he did....poor Humphrey (my pup) was having a complete fit in the house! Oh what a night! Two dogs barking, the fire alarm beeping (decided it needed new batteries during the chaos) and Tommy cracking up!
3. Still having a good time with the Power of 10 challenge. Yesterday, I put the pedometer in my pocket instead of clipping it on...big mistake because at the end of my work day I only had about 2000 steps (and I had walked a mile on my lunch break). When I realized that it wasn't counting all my steps, I clipped it on for the rest of the night. Good thing I did the 5k walk/jog followed by walking the other pup back to his house, or I would have had a hard time getting in those 10,000 steps. I can't imagine what kind of number I would have seen had it been really tracking my steps all day! :)
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
A Picture is worth a 1000 words
An friend posted some old pictures on facebook yesterday. This is one of them...
There are days when I feel like I am not making much progress, but seeing an old pic can really help.
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| The old me |
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| The new me |
My body has changed over the past several years, but more importantly my mindset has changed.
Monday, October 4, 2010
The Power of 10!
Saturday consisted of going to my University's Homecoming Parade, and walking to the parade route, a bit of shopping, lots of window shopping, and chores around the house. At 7 PM when I took a look at my pedometer, I just knew I would have completed my 10,000 steps and could enjoy the rest of the night watching football, but instead I was walking up and down my driveway in order to get in my last 3000 steps(and thinking about Valerie and her lawn walking).
I am loving this challenge! I love finding new ways to get in my steps at work. Today I cut my lunch break shorts and walking three times around the library ( +1000 steps). When I was doing my afternoon shelving, I would purposely only take half loads so that I would have to make extra trips back to my shelving cart. It is really fun trying to earn more steps. At 4:00 at have 5,500 steps taken...glad I will be hitting the gym after work for a nice run :)
If you have never looked at how many steps you take in a day, I think you should! Then try to think of ways to add more steps to your day!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Drop Dead Gorgeous by December -Weekly Report 7
1. A picture of you holding up a positive sign for yourself.
Hope to have another week like this!
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| Everyday is a new day to Succeed! |
2. Your current week’s weight as well as your challenge start weight. *optional
Challenge Start Weight : 193.53. Your goal(s) from now, or whenever you decide to join, until December.
October 1 Weight : 192
* Working so hard and not seeing a scale change is really tough for me. Prior to this challenge, I only weighed once or twice a month. Since the weigh-in is optional,I think I will only post my weight once a month through the rest of the challenge.
Goal 1: 200 tracked workout miles...(treadmill, street runs,biking,elliptical,4. ONE thing that you are proud of for the week.swimming,etc) I am currently at 118/200.
Goal 2: 5k in under 40 mins Completed W5 D1 Three times...will move on to W5D2
Goal 3: Journal food 5days a week Food was great this week.
Goal 4: Do something for myself to make me feel gorgeous. Bought a new fall denim skirt (size 12) and top. My clothes are starting to get big again. I can usually just "shop" in my closet for things to fit, but it was nice to buy something new. Entire outfit cost $13.63 WOOHOO :) I love a good deal :)
This has been a great week. Motivation has been good, workouts have been good, food choices have been good!5. ONE thing that you can improve upon for the following week.
Hope to have another week like this!
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