Sore Legs

Totally uneventful day today, other than the fact that my legs were SO sore! Like, walking up and down the stairs was difficult. I'm not sure why since I didn't really increase my distance - would taking a walk break vs. not taking a walk break really make that big a difference? It could also be the extreme heat I ran in yesterday. Hoping to beat that by getting out early tomorrow!

I don't have much to say today, so thought I'd share the spoils of my shopping spree from two days ago.

First, an adorable new moisture-wicking reversible sports bra!

Denim shorts from Old Navy with stars - I wish they weren't so short and tight!

Pink flamingo khaki shorts, also from Old Navy - too preppy?

It's hard to see, but this is a sleeveless blouse covered in bunnies, from Target

Yes, those were taken on my childhood bed, which is why you can see the feet of stuffed animals in some of the shots!

Hoping for a good run tomorrow!

Weigh-In

I was excited to get up and weigh in today - I have a hard time keeping my eating under control when I'm at home with my family, since none of them are on diets and I eat most of my meals with one or all of them. It's a lot easier to prepare something healthier for myself, or something I know the PointsPlus for, when I'm alone. I didn't think I had gained weight, but I thought I might have stayed the same. I was pleased to see that I had actually lost:

It's hard to see, but that says 137, and a Normal BMI of 23.41

I am weighing myself on my family's Wii Fit rather than my own, so I don't have a profile. So I wasn't sure the exact amount of pounds down I was, and the Wii Fit doesn't tell you your actual weight, just shows it to you on a little scale thing. The ticker was just above 137 lbs, so I guessed it was 137.1 lbs. That means I lost 1.8 lbs over the two weeks that I've been here (my last weigh-in was 138.9 lbs). .9 lbs per week isn't bad, though my weight loss is definitely slowing down. That brings me to 8.9 lbs lost since I started on April 18th, at 146 lbs.Weight Watchers actually set my goal for me at 138.6, so I'm now "at goal" according to them. But like I mentioned yesterday, I'm definitely not happy with the way I look yet. I reset my new goal at 131.4 lbs, which will be 10% lost. Once I get there, I'll reevaluate and think about whether or not I want to get in to the 120s. I also got my 5% milestone today, which was exciting. I probably would have gotten it last week, but I didn't weigh-in.

I'm not going to deny that I wish the weight loss was a little faster. But I know that slow and steady wins the race, and I'm hoping to keep this weight off long term, rather than yo-yoing again. It's frustrating when you hear about other people losing 20 lbs in a month, or whatever, but I just have to remind myself that everyone is different and that I've lost these 8.9 lbs while eating gummi dinosaurs, Easter candy, popcorn, pizza, bagels, and lots and lots of champagne. I'd much rather lose that way than do something like Atkins, which I was on before, and not be able to have any of those things without totally ruining my diet.

I also ran today, at around 7:15 AM. My family was concerned about me going out so early by myself. But there were a lot more people out than when I've gone down there later in the day - people are obviously trying to beat the heat, and also get their longer runs in before work. So I think I am going to try for maybe 6:30 AM on Saturday, because this morning's run was terrible. The first mile was OK, though I could feel it heating up. The second mile I turned around and was running right back into the sun. Most of the running path was totally exposed, and I felt really hot and miserable. I basically was desperately running for the shady parts. I kept really wanting to walk, but I could feel that I didn't really need to. Cardio-wise I was OK, and my legs were tired but OK too. So I made it the whole two miles, and then I forced myself to keep running past the little bridge where I usually get off the canal, until the canal stops and turns into brick. That was apparently an extra .14 miles. So not quite 2.25 miles, but close, and I ran the whole thing!

Mile 1: 12:17
Mile 2: 12:58
Mile 2.1: 11:41 

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I love Target

Last night I watched the season premiere of Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. I love shows like that and Biggest Loser, I find them so inspiring and exciting. Sometimes I feel like my weight struggles don't "count" because I have less to lose. But I have a lot of the same issues people on these shows have, I'm just lucky enough to have a body that seems to have an "off" button when it comes to gaining weight. It's pretty difficult for me to get above 160-170 lbs (and that's a weight that looks awful on me).

Anyway, today is a rest day, which is a good thing because it is broiling hot out! I do not do well in the heat. I'm going to try to get up at 6 AM tomorrow to run, hopefully that will help me beat it. I'm a little worried about being on the Canal alone that early, though. My knees are feeling OK today - looks like I probably need a rest day in between each run. I'm a little worried about what's going to happen as my mileage starts to go up for marathon training, though. I think I'll head to a running store sometime soon to see if I need better shoes. I'm running in Nike Frees, which I really love because they're comfortable and cute. But they are minimalist shoes, and I think that may be what's messing up my knees. I don't have great foot structure.

As I've mentioned before, I am down in DC to help my parents take care of my sister. I've been down here since it was cold out, and as a result I don't have any warm weather clothes, just 2 pairs of jeans and some t-shirts. I got way too hot today to take it anymore, so my mom took me on a mini Old Navy and Target shopping spree. I ended up feeling pretty bad about myself at Old Navy - I thought I had lost enough weight to be down to a size 6, but the size 8 shorts were fairly tight on me and I wasn't very happy about the way my legs looked. I had been thinking I was nearing the end of actively trying to lose weight, but after seeing how I actually look I feel like I have a long way to go. It's funny how we can fool ourselves with old clothes - that's often how I actually let myself get fat. I don't wash my jeans and convince myself that since they still "fit" I haven't gained that much weight.

Hopefully I'll be able to do a weigh-in tomorrow and see where I really am. 

Back At It

Wahoo! Woke up today and the throat was still sore, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. So I went out for my run. I put in SuperFeet insoles in the hopes of helping my knee, but as of now my knees are feeling a little sore and stiff. Not sure if I just need to strengthen up a little bit or if this is going to become a huge problem. I had planned on running again tomorrow to make up for the days I missed when I was sick, but I'll have to see how my knees feel - if they're hurting, I'll take a rest day.

Anyway - I stopped doing Couch to 5K because once I did the "Run 20 minutes straight" day I hated going back to intervals. One of my favorite blogs is Runs For Cookies - she's this amazingly inspiring woman who lost almost half her weight and runs all the time. Anyway, I decided to try to follow her "5 K Plan for People Who Hate to Run", which called for me to run 2.25 miles today. Instead, I ran a mile, walked .2 miles, and then ran another mile. Cardio-wise I didn't need that walk, but my knee felt like it did. Rather than jumping up to 2.5 miles on my next run, I'll probably just wait and see if I can manage to run the whole 2.25 miles. My first mile was run in 12:06, my second was 13:23 (but that includes that .2 mile walk) and then the last little part was in 11:27. Not terrible!

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Sore throat continues

No running again today - not a very auspicious start to my running blog. But when I woke up this morning my sore throat was even worse than yesterday's. I looked online, and people seem to recommend running even if you have a sore throat, using the "above the neck" rule. Basically, if your sickness is above the neck - runny nose, cold, sore throat - you should still run. If it's below the neck, in your lungs or in your stomach, you shouldn't. But it didn't seem like a good idea to me to go run when I was feeling so terribly.

I was supposed to have brunch with my friend Emily today, so she came by with bagels and we went for a long walk down by the Potomac River. I got mine scooped out and with light cream cheese, to limit the damage. Then I spent the rest of the day sleeping and nursing my sore throat. As of now, it's still not feeling great, even after mimosas and matzoh ball soup. Hopefully it will feel better in the morning, because I hate it that I haven't run since Friday now.

Not much to say, other than that. We're still locking Coco up in the bathroom at night to make sure she doesn't get in fights with the other cats. She doesn't like it, but here's hoping it helps her get back to her old self while avoiding any more fur flying.

Manner Wafers

Well, no run today. I woke up with a sore throat so decided not to risk it. It's that strange, acid-y feeling you get in the back of your throat right before you get really sick. Like something between a dryness and something being stuck back there. Not really sure how to explain it, but it sucks. I've been trying to drown it by drinking mimosas at night, instead of my usual glasses of champagne, but so far that hasn't worked. We'll see how I feel in the morning, and I'll try my run again.

My father and I drove up to Philly and back today to clean up my old apartment and pick up some furniture that wouldn't go up the stairs in my tiny new house. I really enjoyed spending some one on one time with him, and as a bonus I got some amazing chicken tacos at the Farmer's Market near my house. The tortillas were the kind where you could just taste the freshness - I loved them. I estimated them at 15 points, which seems way too high considering they had no cheese or sour cream on them, but I feel like it's better to be too high than too low.

For dinner, I had leftover BBQ from Hill Country, and then some Manner Hazlenut Wafers. I used to walk down to the corner store and buy those wafers, so they remind me of my childhood. I could eat a whole huge bag of them no problem, but I made myself stick to 4. 4 tiny wafers were three points! I'm glad I restrained myself. After a weekend of crazy eating, plus a lot of restorative mimosa drinking, I only have 12 points left until Thursday. Hoping I can stay within my points, it's always harder when I'm down here visiting my family, since they eat without thinking about calories.

Crazy Cats

A strange day today. I'm at my parent's house in DC because my sister is recovering from a rather serious horseback riding accident that she had on Sunday. She broke several bones in her face, including her eye socket, her collarbone in three places, and her ring finger. She's pretty much immobilized as a result, and my mother has needed some help picking her up and putting her back down. Plus, my sister and I are very close and it was important to me to be here to spend time with her and see for myself that she was OK.

Anyway, my sister has a cat, named Coco, who lives here with my parents. My mother has been giving her an appetite stimulant that has an added bonus of making her really friendly. She's normally a very skittish cat who darts away when you try to pet her, hides if you look at her the wrong way, and spends most of her time in the basement away from all the other cats. The appetite stimulant has made her into a whole new cat - she's not scared, she spends time hanging out with us, and she's always purring and meowing. But it seems like it has gone too far, and she's been acting very strangely since yesterday. Attacking the other cats, and even our two dogs, one of whom is about 20 times her size at least! We took her to the vet and he told us to stop the stimulant - but tonight just now there was a huge cat fight, instigated by her. It was really scary - we've had cats my whole life and I've never seen anything like it. She attacked two of our larger cats, Smacky and Suicide, who are actually her sons, and I was seriously afraid she was going to kill one of them. I had to throw a tray at them to get them to stop fighting. After it was over, the two cats she attacked (they're both twice her size) were so scared that they peed. We've got her locked in the bathroom now in the hopes that she calms down overnight.

That was pretty much the major event of my day. Today was a rest day, which I needed - my knees were bothering me yesterday, but they're feeling back to normal. Tomorrow I plan on running 2.25 miles early, then I'm driving up to Philadelphia to clean up my old apartment and to get some furniture that wouldn't fit in my new house. Hoping I can sleep, since I'm so worried about Coco and her strange behavior!

24.2 to go!

I had it in my head that I wanted to run 2 miles today. The most I've run continuously is about 1.5 I think, so 2 miles was a big step up, but I felt pretty confident that if I ran slow and steady I could do it. I wanted to head out at 6:30 AM - I hate running and it's better for me to just do it in the morning and get it over with, so that I don't have to worry for the rest of the day. But of course, even though I woke up at 6:20 (I wake up really early naturally most days, I don't even need to set an alarm) I ended up lolling around in bed for an hour reading stuff on the internet. By the time I headed out, it was almost 8 AM.

I almost didn't run because it looked like a big storm was rolling in - we had a huge one here last night, and another one is clearly on its way. But I'm glad I did - I am really heat sensitive and because of the storm it was nice and cool outside, and a little bit dark. I walked down to the Canal and I'm excited to say I made it the whole way! Well, sort of. During the first mile my knee was kind of hurting, so after I ran the first mile I walked for a tenth of a mile. I don't actually think I needed to do it, but mentally it helped to take that little break and then start up again.

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My first mile was 12:10, my second was 12:58, and that's including that little walk break. That's well below what I need to be for the Disney marathon (16:00 mile) so I'm really pleased. I know most runners would consider that incredibly slow, but it's fast for me!

In order for me to be ready for the Disney marathon, I need to start Hal Higdon's Novice Supreme Program on June 17th. I'd like to be running 3 miles by then, so that I am at a good starting place for the "long" runs. I feel like that's a reasonable goal right now. And now, I can relax for the rest of the day! One of my cats has a head start!

Getting Started

My name is Tracy, and on July 25th, 2013 I'll turn 29. My last year of my 20s is going to be a big one for me - I am pretty much starting a whole new path in life, as I'm going to be starting medical school. For a lot of people, that would be enough, but I tend to make huge, overambitious goals and I want to make my last year before 30 really spectacular. So I've decided to try to achieve 3 major goals before July 25th, 2014.

1) Get my weight down in the 120s and keep it there for a year. 

I am a major stress eater and my weight tends to be all over the place. I'm a petite person, so that doesn't look good on me. I tend to fluctuate between the 130s and the 160s in a matter of months, which I know cannot be healthy. I've done a ton of fad diets all my life - I think I first started taking diet pills when I was 14. But I've never wanted to be that way - I've always been desperate to just eat and exercise like a normal person, and have my weight stay consistent. So that's my first big goal - I joined Weight Watchers a month ago, and so far I'm really liking it. I'm somewhere between 5'3" and 5'4", which means that my "healthy" BMI range is somewhere between 110-140lbs. I've always thought of the 120s as a "thin" number, and so that's what I'm going to aim for. Who knows if I am being realistic or not, so I may have to revise this goal to just staying in the 130s (which would still be great!).

2)  Run a marathon

This is sort of part of the first goal. I've always had an easier time managing my weight when I am running, but I tend to run for a month, then stop for 12. I've always really wanted to be a runner - I love the culture of it, and the gadgets, and the compression socks and the energy gels. I love going in to running stores and imagining myself as part of the whole subculture. Running a marathon has always been something I've wanted to do, but I've never actually tried for a big reason: I'm a terrible runner. I'm really slow and running is just really, really hard for me. But despite that, I'm going to try to run a marathon before I turn 30.

I'm a Disney freak, so I'd really like for it to be the Walt Disney World marathon. That gives me about 7 months to train. Again, not sure if I'm way overreaching here - I just picked running back up again a month or two ago, and am only running about a mile and a half at the moment. And when I do run, I run very, very slowly. But I'd like to try.

3) Write a book

Again, something I've always really wanted to do but have always just started and then quickly given up on. Trying to do this the same year as starting medical school might also be too tall an order. We'll see.

So those are my three big goals. I wanted to do a "30 before 30" goal list, but when trying to compile it I realized I've actually had a really amazing life and have had a lot of unbelievable experiences that would normally go on a list like that. I've been really lucky. If I could achieve these three big goals for myself, I would feel very proud.