It's Time to Be Honest About Weight

Since I've been writing this blog, I've gone back and forth about whether or not to reveal my weight stats.  Initially, I was far too embarrassed to actually write down and publish how much I weighed.  However, since it's been about a year now and things are still going well for me, I think it's time.

As I've said in some of my early posts, running wasn't really about the weight loss specifically, that was merely a fringe benefit that I was taking advantage of.  Last year, I didn't pay much attention to what or how much I ate, I just kept faithful to the running routine and let the rest work itself out.  I still feel that running isn't about weight loss for me, but I am taking a more engaged approach to take advantage of the benefits of exercising regularly.  I'm watching what I eat more carefully using the MyFitnessPal app available on any smart phone or iPod touch.  Using this app, I have a set calorie goal each day and I enter all the foods, snacks and drinks that I consume each day.  I've done Weight Watchers before and this is somewhat similar, in that you track everything you eat, but the app makes it so much easier!!  You can use the bar code scanner to look up the specific brand of granola bar or yogurt or whatever that you ate and provide you the exact nutrition information, it's awesome!  It has several entries for various restaurant dishes too, which makes it an especially valuable tool!  I definitely love this app!  If anyone wants to friend me, we can track each other's progress and help each other out!

My username: shodgebreuer

Here are the facts about my weight.

As of last year, around the time I started running, I weighed a consistent 185 lbs.  I'm between 5' 7" and 5' 8".  Needless to say, I was overweight.  This was the heaviest I had ever been and I looked at myself and just thought, "Gross."  At the holidays last year, I weighed about 165 lbs and started feeling better about myself.  The running definitely helped me to feel accomplished but the weight loss helped me feel more confident about myself as well.  This year, when I started running again, my weight was at 155 lbs and, since then, I've lost a couple more pounds.  I'm really hoping to reach 140-145 lbs, but that is going to take a lot more effort with my food intake and running frequency!  (This is where training for that marathon wouldn't hurt!)  To put this in perspective a little bit, in high school and college, I weighed about 125 lbs.  I have no illusions that I will ever be back down to that weight again, but I would be happy with 140-145.  To be clear, I'm actually pretty content with my current weight of 152 lbs, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop working to lose weight.  Hopefully, through this continued running and use of the MyFitnessPal app, I can just kind of eventually shed extra pounds without having to try too terribly hard!

Here are a couple photographic excerpts from my weight journey:

Dec 2010

April 2011 on the way to the Bahamas

Right before I started running in June 2011

Feb. 2012 at 165 lbs

Tailgating Aug 2012

Maybe you can't really tell from the pictures, I just sort of went through whatever I had on Facebook and I don't think I really wanted to put many unflattering photos up on there for all to see.  Regardless, I see and feel the difference and it's pretty nice!  Yep, so I'd still like to lose a bit more to tone up and everything, but, as I said, I'm pretty content with where I'm at today.

Enjoy your day everyone!  Hopefully coming out of the 'weight closet' can help to inspire others.  If nothing else, maybe it provided a good resource to monitor your nutrition!

And, as always, don't forget about my Donor Drive for the ASPCA!!  Any amount is appreciated!  We've raised $130.00 so far and we're still really early into our efforts so this is fantastic!

Here's the link:  Team Steph B. and Steff S. Donation Page

Run Recaps

Since I have been so busy with my grad school app, I haven't had a chance to go over my recent training runs.  I won't go back over all of the ones that I have missed, just the last two.  I had my long run on Saturday morning.  Since I hadn't really thought about it on Friday, I had no plans to actually run on Saturday morning, despite the fact that I knew it would be the smart thing to do.  Saturday morning I woke up and laid in bed reading my Facebook updates and reading some news articles on my phone trying to avoid the inevitable decision: was I running today??  Even my Nike Sportwatch wanted to know!

Eventually, I dragged myself out of bed, prompted by the fact that I didn't want it to get any later before actually going running.  There was some bargaining involved (IF you go running, you don't have to do all 5 miles...IF you go running, you'll be able to have more drinks while watching football if you want...and so on...) but mostly, I just forced myself to handle it that old familiar way: take it one step at a time.  Get dressed, put my hair up, put my shoes on, get in the car, drive to the trailhead, etc.  I decided to run on the West Orange Trail because I wasn't really sure of a great 5 mile run around my neighborhood, plus I wanted something a little different!

BY THE NUMBERS:

Total Distance: 5.03 miles
Total Time: 1 hr. 7 mins
Average pace: 13 mins 27 secs

Now, I have to explain something.  Since I've started training again and I missed the first few weeks of my schedule AND I hadn't been running at all this summer, I wanted to avoid killing myself (and potentially injuring myself), so I decided to start running via the Jeff Galloway methodology.  His method has you do a run/walk for varying amounts of time.  What I've been doing is a 30 sec run and 30 sec walk and it's been pretty decent.  Next week, I think I'm going to change up the ratios a bit and make my runs longer.  While I've been following the Jeff Galloway method for the way I run, I've been following the Hal Higdon method for the distance I run as well as the activity schedule during the week.  It's early yet, but so far, so good!

During the trail run, I saw a Coral Snake!!  To you non-Florida natives, you may not really know about Coral Snakes, but they're one of the poisonous snake species down here.  I was just chugging along, running away and I look down and there it is, on the edge of the trail.  I did the old rhyme quickly in my head, "Red on yellow kills a fellow....red on yellow....is that red on yellow?  Oh my goodness, IT IS!!  AAAAAAAHHHH!" You see there are two types of snakes down here that look somewhat similarly, the Coral Snake is the poisonous species and the King Snake is the non-poisonous species.  Because of this, a helpful rhyme has been developed to help children (and adults) easily decipher which is which: "Red on yellow kills a fellow, Red on Black is a friend of Jack."  Needless to say, when you come upon a snake by surprise, these nice little rhymes seem to escape your head!  The ONLY reason I remembered so quickly was because, oddly enough, we had just been talking about these snakes at dinner the night before.  Weird little coincidence! 

Poisonous Coral Snake

Non-poisonous King Snake

Okay, so, for now I'm going to leave you guys with this entry since it's late and I need to get to bed! I'll recap my run from today in a blog posting tomorrow!

And please don't forget my run for Team ASPCA!  PLEASE DONATE to my team by following this link: Team Steph B and Steff S

Anything helps, even as little as $5.00 if that's all you can contribute!  Either way, I will be SO GRATEFUL!!  Thanks guys!

Coming Back to Life

Hello again my friends!

After a long break (including me forgetting to post updates about my completion of the Disney Princess Half-Marathon in February!), I'm back folks!  I am now signed up for not one, but TWO new half-marathons!  I know, I'm crazy, right?!?  Yep, that's true!  But, the first half marathon really made me feel accomplished, despite the fact that I hadn't even been training for the month (ahem, or two...) prior to the race...thanks a lot holiday season, followed by my husband's and my birthdays!!

My first half marathon is going to be the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon on November 10 of this year.  I'm REALLY excited for this one for a few reasons...not the least of which is the fact that, right after we finish the race, we get to go to this party in Epcot Center that takes place until 4am!!  Some of the attractions will be open as will the Food and Wine Festival for race competitors and their friends and family and there will be live music playing all over the park.  Sounds pretty awesome, eh?!?  Add to that the fact that the race doesn't start until 10 pm, making it a night run AND a sweet ass medal and I'm psyched!

Who wouldn't want this medal?!

I started training a little later than I had planned, but hey, it happens!  At least this time, I'll be training straight up until the race occurs, which should put me in MUCH better positioning for a good finish time.  My Princess Half Marathon time was somewhere around 3:30 because I hadn't really been training.  This time, I'm hoping to be able to make it around 2:30.  I've certainly got a good incentive to finish early: the earlier I finish, the more of the after party I get to enjoy!  This time, however, I just need to make sure that I take a good amount of time to stretch and really take care of my body after the race.  At the Princess, I didn't really get a chance to and the next day was definitely touch and go (to put it mildly)!  I was walking like a geriatric cowboy around the office, which certainly got me lots of funny looks.  I was wearing my race shirt and my medal though and would just hold it up as I shuffle/waddled on by.

My second half marathon is going to be on January 12, 2013 as part of the 20th anniversary of the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend.  This time, I'll be running as a member of Team ASPCA with my friend Steff.  I've never run as part of a charity team before so I wasn't quite sure about this undertaking.  As a kid, fundraising wasn't exactly what you'd call 'my thing.'  Whether it was candy, wrapping paper, greeting cards or Girl Scout Cookies, I would usually end up with like the few elderly people that lived in my neighborhood and felt bad for me buying some of the overpriced wares and that was it.  I'm hoping that this time, things will go better since it's for a great cause that I really believe in!  I'm also really motivated by the fact that, if I don't raise the funds for the race ($950), I won't be able to participate in the half marathon and I won't be able to feel that AWESOME spinning medal around my neck (new design for the 20th anniversary)!

It spins to reveal old school Mickey and present day Mickey!

I'll post some training reports in the coming days (things are a little crazy for me now since I'm trying to finalize and submit my graduate school applications this week), as soon as I get the opportunity.  And I'm sure some of them will include my gripes about my Nike+ sportwatch.  It's perhaps user error in this case, but I can't get it to sync up with my Nike+ profile, so I don't get that instant gratification of being able to see my GPS map online and my training stats.  I still have to call Nike again (first call didn't solve anything), but I'm hopeful I can get this worked out with them and get it up and running.  Then you, dear readers, will hopefully be able to follow along with me on my running journey!

CORRECTION: As my suspicions confirmed....THIS is the medal for the half marathon finishers in 2013:

Not sure how I feel about the Donald medal...I REALLY had my heart set on the spinny medal!

(The awesome, spectacular, EXCITING spinning medal is only for the Walt Disney World Marathon finishers...aaaand now I'm thinking....could I pull off a full marathon???  (My brain says, 'Noooooo way.' My heart says, 'Pleeeeeaseeeee!!! You can totally do it!  It's JUST 26 measly miles!') Someone please pinch me to get me back to reality!

Okay, so that's it though.  Now I'm just going to have to run the 5th Annual Disney Princess Half Marathon in February to get THAT kick ass medal!! Ha ha ha!  See?  I can play that game too, Disney!!  

And here's the link to our Team ASPCA donation website.  I could use all of the help I can get, however big or small!!  Thanks so much everybody!

Team Steph/Steff ASPCA Donation Page

A Practice in Patience

...which is what I need, really.  I'm one of the more impatient people you'll encounter, as I believe I've already made kind of evident by this blog.  But, Lord oh Lord, am I trying hard to change that!  This running journey of mine is one of the ways I'm trying to train myself to learn patience and lately, it seems like final exam time!  My runs lately have been pretty sad, to say the least.  I went on one today and got home only to feel: 1) not successfully de-stressed and 2) about as slow as I was in Week 3-4 of my original training!  How?!  Why?!  Argh!!!  But, it's okay, I tell myself.  Have patience, I plead with myself!  It will get better!!

Tuesday's run was absolutely nothing to write home about: I ran 2.5 miles in about 30 minutes.  Correction: I run/walked 2.5 miles in about 30 minutes.  Today's run was even worse, despite running more of it.  I ran the same distance as Tuesday (which is still short-changing myself a half mile, by the way) in 36 minutes.  I did make a change today that I wanted to try and see how it was: I listened to a book on my iPod (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) instead of heart-pumping headphone-thumping music.  Apparently, it was a bad idea since I went waaaaaaay slower than before.  However, I won't assign blame to my listening choices.  No!  This whole blog is about accountability, so I take responsibility that maybe I didn't push myself as hard on the downhill segments like I usually do.  Or, perhaps, I was just trying to see if I could run a longer amount of time consecutively without stopping.  (I'm still falling short on this goal of mine, too.)  I've gone from running anywhere between 20 and 30 minutes at a time to only running about 10 minutes before I stop to walk and, y'know what?  I'm not stopping because I'm tired, I'm stopping because I'm letting myself!  Bad girl!  I don't know where my moxy has gone, but I need to find it again and soon!!  I have a feeling once this grad school application process is behind me (which it soon will be), I'll be able to focus on normal stuff, like: the holidays! Family get togethers! Buying gifts! Wrapping gifts! Cleaning the house for family get togethers! Making cookies! Cleaning up the stuff that I make the cookies with! And much, MUCH MORE!!  Wait, no, aaack! This wasn't the way to go in terms of stuff that won't stress me out and allow me to focus on running...whoops!

All kidding aside though, I do need to really buckle down in the coming months and push myself harder on the running front.  I have let myself get by much too easily in the last month and I'm going to pay for it come February! Bad Stephanie!

I recently signed up for another race, which will serve to be the first one of the new year for me: Seasons52 Park Avenue 5.2k in Winter Park, FL.  My friends who ran each part of the 15k with me are doing this race too, so it should be lots of fun! I'd like to better my PR, even by a tiny bit, so I need to really get cracking this holiday season and run my butt off!!!

TO DO: Push myself this weekend on the 4 mile run

UPCOMING EVENTS: Saturday doubles with some friends of ours

RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER: Reindeer Run, Dec. 10th!

A Trotful Turkey Day

I know it's the day after Thanksgiving...but I was pretty busy yesterday so I didn't have time to post!  My day started out with the 22nd Annual Turkey Trot, which was just a 'fun run' so there was no official chip timing or anything.  I did try to keep my time on my watch and I think I ended up with a time not far off from my best Maitland 5k time of 38:30!  Considering the fact that there were over 5,600 runners in this race and most of them definitely did not line up according to pace times as they should've (argh!!), and that the run was through the narrow and uneven brick streets of old-downtown Orlando with cars parked on each side of the street randomly (fun little obstacles to try and get around) and that people were running with strollers and dogs on long leashes just looking to trip runners, I think I did pretty good!  I was actually pretty surprised that I made it in the time that I did, I was fully expecting to be slower than that, especially given how my last run went on Tuesday.

Tuesday, Rob decided to run with me.  I think I've decided that I'm not a fan of Rob running with me because I tend to want to talk to him rather than just kind of tuning out and running.  The run was a struggle for me, and I ended up shortening it to just 2.5 miles instead of 3 since it was getting dark and I didn't bring any reflective gear or a head lamp for light.  I was disappointed with the performance, but just figured that I at least got out there and did something instead of finding yet another excuse to stay home. 

On Wednesday, I was supposed to do a 2 mile run but I didn't end up getting the chance.  I was baking pies for Thanksgiving yesterday and I just never had the window to get out there and run.  All of this being taken into account, I think I did pretty well on my run yesterday after all!  If nothing else, at least I did it.  My next race to look forward to is the Reindeer Run on December 10th.  I think it's going to be another 'fun run' so it won't be a big event, but it will still be good exercise and should be a lot of fun!  I think I'm going to wear my reindeer antlers!  Yesterday, there were so many people in costume!  Tons of people wore turkey hats or feather headdresses, some dressed up as turkeys and one chick (who I used as a pacer) dressed up as a piece of pumpkin pie, complete with a whip cream hat strapped to her head!  It was hilarious!  I'm not sure if I'll do next year's Turkey Trot since it was a huge mess with that many people and parking would've been a disaster if my parent's hadn't come to watch my brother and I and dropped us at the start, but it was pretty fun and definitely a beautiful morning to run!

Back to the Beginning

I've found that it's no so easy to just get back into the habit of running once you've managed to get out of it.  This is evidenced by the fact that I have been giving into every little excuse I come across not to run.  Take today, for instance.  I was planning on starting my half-marathon training today using Hal Higdon's novice guide.  Despite the fact that his schedule starts on a Tuesday, I was going to start today and just shift everything else up.  Normally, I prefer to have my long runs on Saturday mornings to get them over and done with for the weekend whereas his schedule calls for long runs on Sundays instead.  Sticking to the normal schedule Mr. Higdon outlines, however, I was supposed to "Stretch and Strengthen" today, but I ended up not doing much of either (read: any of either).  I don't even know why this is, it's not like I was doing anything more important in place of this.  I was wasting time, for the most part, so I don't even have any decent reasoning to stand behind.

Alas, it's time to regroup, let myself off the hook and take the attitude that tomorrow is a new day!  I will start my training tomorrow with a 3 mile run followed by some ab exercises.  While, in my off time, I thankfully haven't gained weight back, I have noticed my mid-section become a little softer again, which is disappointing to me and serves as a gentle reminder that I need to get back out there and get my butt going!

I've also been thinking about my running future beyond the half marathon.  I'm starting to wonder if it indeed will be an every other day type of thing as I had hoped it would when I began this quest.  I'd like to think so and it is certainly an optimistic outlook, realistically though I have to wonder if I have the staying power.  This goes especially for the summertime.  Will I really go out and run when it's like a steam room outside with levels of outlandish humidity that can suffocate a person??  I have to tell myself that I will run, even occasionally, because I don't want to think that I'm doing this for nothing.  I've always wanted this to be a healthy lifelong habit to get into, so I must tell myself that this will stick, even through the tricky summer months when there are few races to keep me going.  It's definitely been a great self-esteem booster, helping me to realize that I am capable.  It sounds so simple, and it really is, but it's also very true.  Running even for just 3 out of the last 4 months has helped me to feel better about myself because I'm doing something: something for myself and my body and just that one simple little thing a few times a week has really helped me see myself differently!            

TO DO: 3 mile run tomorrow!!

TO DO #2: Add new music to iPod Running mix

ON THE HORIZON: 22nd Annual Turkey Trot on Thursday with my brother, so excited!

Press Reset / 15K Race Review

Okay, okay, it was more than a week off...I know.  Though I think this is a perfectly good reason (no, not "excuse", per se...), I ended up taking about 3 weeks off to study for and take (and ACE!) the GRE.  I'm totally aware that I could've very easily run in the morning before going to work and studied in the evenings, but, it's all in the past now anyway, so why bother rehashing it, eh?

So this is how the last 3 weeks went, after my Boston trip: Week 1: study, work, relax. Week 2: Halloween, study, work, take GRE, celebrate by going to Naples for a few days on vacation with Rob (where I went to the gym and lifted weights, thankyouverymuch!). Week 3: Give myself the "reward" after the GRE was over of not doing much, besides work, of course.  Oh yeah, and freak out when coming to the realization that the 15K was, in fact, the weekend of  11/13 and not this coming weekend (as I previously thought).

Week 3 was a tough week for me, mostly because of all the fretting.  I'm a fretter.  I fret.  I was so freaked out that the 15K was at the end of the week that I went back and forth between wanting to run to get back out there so I wouldn't be totally green come race day and being infinitely scared to even try.  I was really worried that I would get back out there and I would be so far behind what I had previously achieved that it would be discouraging for me.  So, I would find little rationalizations for not going running.  Finally, after a little bit of attitude and judgment from Rob and a whole lot of fretting, I forced myself to go out and run the Friday before my race.  I kept it simple, I didn't want to overwhelm myself with the mileage or beat my body up before the race.  I went to my favorite back loop near my house and ran about 2.5 miles.  The run was really amazing: the weather had just turned crisp and daylight savings had come and gone so the sun was now deeper in the sky than usual during my evening runs and, well, it just completely reaffirmed my ability to run.  I didn't keep track of time, I didn't really care.  I just wanted to be happy with the run and not come away from it dejected or disappointed because I didn't meet some goal.

Our approach to the race, met with hot air balloons!

 And...onto the 15K rundown!  The race was held in Celebration, FL in honor of the founding of the Florida Hospital within the community.  From what I've heard, the neighborhood was built by Disney to showcase a picture-perfect community, almost everything is perfect within it and everyone has to abide by the strict HOA rules and regulations (lest Old Man Mouse get upset!).  These include things like what shapes your hedges may be made into, what type of furniture is allowed on your front porch (they prefer painted rocking chairs with a small side table, but will accept some other matching sets).  You get my drift.  Very Mickey Mouslandish...notice how that's only one letter away from M-outlandish!?  Yes, yes indeed.

Not a leaf askew

Anyway, so the race! (We'll get there eventually, don't worry.) As we were driving up around 7am, the hot air balloons were just beginning to make their descent into the area.  (Since Celebration is near Disney, the hot air balloonists take their clients up near Disney to get even the slightest glimpse of the parks, if the wind is just right.)  The balloonists are at the mercy of the winds though, so they could end up anywhere in the area and, as it happened, it was Celebration on Sunday! So pretty with the waning full moon still out!  I know it sounds weird, but I took the hot air balloons as a sign of comfort going into the race.  They're these serene and brilliant objects just peacefully floating through the air, and that was exactly what I needed to take my mind off the task ahead!

Going into the race, I already knew that I wouldn't have any goals for it other than to just finish and take hold of that sweet, sweet medal!  I thought the 10K went really well actually, much better than I figured it might since I had taken so much time off.  Since this was through Celebration, the neighborhood was absolutely beautiful to run through.  Very Disney-utopia!  There were several people either sitting on their front porches or standing just outside their front doors watching the runners and wishing them well, which was a great boost throughout the race!  At around mile 4.5, a particularly humorous family stood outside with  a set of speakers blaring the "Rocky" theme.  As I passed, I threw both of my fists into the air AND did the full spin around, like he does in the movie at the top of the steps!  The family all cheered and said I was the first one to do the spin so far.  I laughed most of the way through the rest of mile 4 and into mile 5 (those were definitely my golden miles, where I felt my best and happiest!).

I'm in there somewhere...

The good thing about this race, I found, was that it was split into 2 distinct segments.  I knew that once I got done with the 10K, I would have a little break to refuel and rehydrate before starting the 5K.  It was also really nice to know, when I passed the mile 5 marker, that I only had 1 mile left before the finish line and break!  That thought kept me going happily onward!

I finished the 10K and grabbed a banana, a water and my GU gel to help carry me through the 5K still to come.  My friend Paula ran the 10K with me (though she's super fast, so she was WAY ahead of me) and she said she was absolutely exhausted at the end and not feeling very well.  I took heart at this since I actually felt pretty good still.  Her revelation was pretty helpful though, because it reminded me to stretch relatively well between races so I wouldn't cramp up.  Another friend ran with me on the 5K, which was actually kind of nice because it meant I wasn't alone.  It's not that I would've had a problem being alone, I do it all the time, but on this particular day, it was nice knowing that there was a friendly face running with me.  (That makes it sound like the runners are usually not-so-friendly, which is absolutely not true.  Oh well...)

Finishing the 10K

 It was a good thing that the 5K was at the end and not the beginning because I don't know that I would've made it through the race otherwise.  That last race was definitely a weird one for me, an odd mixture of emotion for the accomplishment I was performing and an incredible desire to find a short cut to the finish line and just BE DONE ALREADY!  I didn't run a whole lot of the 5K, maybe the first mile and then I did the combo run/walk thing with more walking than running.  By the time I neared the finish line, others were walking back toward me with medals around their necks cheering on others, like me, doing the "Distance Dare" of both races.  It was a really sweet moment for me to see these two ladies pointing to their medals, then pointing to the finish line and yelling all sorts of positive things, "You can do it!  You're almost there!  Great job!"  I realized that my very first race medal was close-at-hand and all of these emotions came up again and I was grinning like a crazy lady through the last 1/8 mile.  As soon as I crossed the finish line, one of the volunteers handed me my medal and I put it on so fast I didn't even realize that it was backwards until my friend told me!

Being silly at the start of the 5K with my friend

It was also as soon as I crossed the finish line and strung that medal around my neck that I realized how utterly exhausted I was and realized just how FAR away the car was from the race area.  I said a quick goodbye to my friend, grabbed another banana, another bottle of water and headed to the car.  I swear the car had to be about 1/4 mile from the race area at least, I'm not exaggerating!  And 1/4 mile, on top of the 9.3 I had already run, just seemed to break me completely.  By the time I got to my car, my body felt broken and I had a massive headache.  When I touched my brow, I found it caked with salt crystals.  I'm guessing that I was dehydrated, but I'll need to do some research on this so I can avoid this disaster come the half in February!  On my way home, I couldn't decide whether I should just go straight home or stop by my parents' house (which was on the way) to show them the medal and rest up a little more.  Ultimately, I decided to go to their house and I'm glad I did!  I didn't realize how horrible I really felt until I got there.  Lucky for me, my mom's awesome and she practically forced me to eat the fresh pear she fixed for me and some warm beef and vegetable stew she made.  I tell you, I hope one day I'm as good a mom as she is because I felt like a million bucks when I left their house!  My headache was easing and I just felt tired from having run the 9.3 but, man!  I felt SO much better!  Thanks Mom!!!! 

And, no, I never took a picture of the medal (but I did wear it to work the next day!).  Maybe next post I can get that up there along with the official times (again, not that I really care what they were) and some of the professional pics if there are any good ones!

Ha!  I took a picture of it with my cellphone for Facebook!  Yes!

I dared to go the distance...