Blizzard Blitz

Between shoveling out of 3 feet of snow and cross training my way into town on foot, I'ld have to say I did fairly well today. My back will be speaking to me tomorrow but that's par for the course. I hope those stair master moves I had to perform in order to get through those 3 ft drifts don't bite my ACLs in the butt...I will lay low and do some healing tomorrow.....after I dig the car out...

4 Tips for Outdoor Winter Runs | Active.com

4 Tips for Outdoor Winter Runs | Active.com

I LUUURRRVE the outdoors. Case in point - I went for my run in 15 degree weather. I need all the tips I can get....

A foodie's guide to surviving Christmas

Hehe actually this is not a guide at all. I am very fond of food as a rule. I just feel that you need to compensate. I consumed a fairly large bowl of spaghetti with meatballs not 30 minutes ago. However, I don't feel in the least bit guilty, seeing as I just finished 2 hours of fairly advanced yoga (my entire body will be talking to me tomorrow saying, "what were you thinking?").

Another perfect example is my Thanksgiving fiasco. I ate a tremendous amount of food (enough chestnut stuffing to feed a small country) during Thanksgiving weekend. To compensate I ran just a bit longer each day which for me these days is 4 miles.

Those are the choices you have to make. And it's actually not that difficult a choice. Once you get started, you just need to find that extra 15 minutes. Some people might say, my life is too busy.

I have to say that my last 15 pounds are going to be difficult. I will need to find those 15 minutes each and every day. I will also need to survive Christmas...

Turkey Trotting

I'm plugging along. I finished my town's 5 mile Turkey Trot in 52:20. It's a great improvement from that Fool's Run in April. I'm going further and faster. This is a good thing with Thanksgiving dinner around the corner.

I'm thinking of making some changes. I need to get rid of my belly rolls. Pilate classes may do the trick. In order to give my legs a rest, I'm also considering swimming lessons. Change is a good thing. In the meantimne, I will keep trotting.

A good place

I really am in a good place right now - down more than 60 lbs, able to run a 5k in 35 minutes, fitting comfortably into size 10 jeans. I just need to keep the momentum going and, in order to so that, I am trying to set goals. The 5 mile Turkey Trot is on November 20. Perhaps I'll do the Reindeer Romp in December. It keeps you honest and motivated. The last thing one needs is to fall into a rut. Perhaps a 10k is in my future. i wouldn't rule it out. Stranger things have happened. And as Coldplay is fond of saying, "If you never try, you'll never know..."

no excuses

10 Tips to Get Fit This Fall | Active.com

A 5K Running/Walking Training Plan | Active.com

A 5K Running/Walking Training Plan | Active.com

I myself fall under the "Susan" character...just something to think about....

Hitting the Wall

It is a daily struggle. For instance, today was a disappointment. I wanted to run well over 5 miles and didn't run quite as far as I had planned. I kept getting stitched in the side. I decided to sleep-in for a change. Excuses excuses excuses...

Remaining at status quo doesn't mean you're losing anything. All it means is that you must get out of the house by 5:45 and no later during the work week in order to work up to your goal. This wall is as temporary as the change in the weather...hmmm...I wish we could keep this nice fall weather...

One rough point - deciding what to wear in the morning, now that there's a chill in the air - tricky and time consuming business. Answer: choose the night before.

half a loaf is better than none

It was a crazy week and a half of torrential rain. I allowed it to set me back a bit. I only ran 2.5 miles for 3 days straight. Not up to my usual standards but I suppose half a loaf is better than none. The problem is this - wet clothes are actually very heavy. Water is very heavy. Watery shoes are very heavy.

You can get only so drenched before it shouldn't matter anymore. Although I must admit, stepping knee deep into a puddle of water trumps the worst kind of drenching. Of course frustration is something that never dampens especially when each drop of rain causes your iTouch to turn on and off, on and off, on and off....

I'm whining again. In short, doing 5 miles now is a bit of a stretch but at least 4 miles is a start back. I need to get back to the Sea Girt Light House each and every day. and then across the town border into Spring Lake for 10k....that's the future....we'll see where we go from there....as it is....baby steps....

Happy New Year.

I've heard it said that the new year starts for each person on the day he or she is born. I'm not entirely sure I believe this but if it's true, my new year opened, quite unremarkably, this past weekend. I like to think good things and the fulfillment of dreams are on their way whether it be now or on January 1st.

It has been over nine months since I began this road. It is one of the dreams fulfilled. It makes me happy to know that I am getting faster and stronger. There are so many things that take precedent for so many people: children, spouses, career, families... A person should not lose sight of herself in the midst of everything that happens in her life. That sounds most self serving and perhaps it is - you must take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else.

Whoa, that's enough of waxing philosophical again. My luck has not been running very well this week, between rain and humidity it has been a very difficult week considering it is Autumn and we should be enjoying cooler weather. As for the rain, I was 1/2 way through my run on Monday when the sky completely opened up as if a huge bucket of water had been turned over. I love the rain. My iPod Touch does not. It kept turning on and off as if each raindrop was a finger pressing down on it - very frustrating. Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" kept turning off and on every 10 seconds....(insert frustrated growl here). Needless to say I could only manage 2 miles and change but as my mother likes to say, "a half a loaf is better than none."

It's alright. To quote Dory in Finding Nemo, "just keep swimming...." And there is my "New Year"'s resolution....just keep swimming....

Nike nuts

So I have been pulled into the world of Nike+ - the wireless sensor gadget that hooks into your iTouch player and gives you your running data: 5.19 miles 705 calories 56:39minutes 11:23 average pace. All sorts of nuttiness in this wold of technology. The ipod touch can be very tempermental, but all in all a fun gadget.

I have never been a competitive person. It was never my thing. Being the youngest, the smallest, the slowest, there never seemed to be a point; however there is always one person you can stay in healthy competition with - yourself. There's no harm in outdoing yourself. In fact, you might do yourself some good. One of my goals: 210 miles in 2010. I'm at 106.

Oh and by the way, totals: 60 lbs, 3 pant sizes and 5 mile runs without passing out. Remember it could happen to you....

Time flies when you're on the beach in Maui....

And I am happy to say it didn't stop me from getting my run in each day. That's the thing, you see. What do you do when your routine is blasted out from under you - rain, snow, humidity so bad you can hardly breathe? The answer is this: you plug along as well as you can with what you have. Your body might be surprisingly open to the change.
Mine certainly was. Those hills of Maui are no joke, not San Francisco grade but enough to make your hamstrings talk back. By the third day those wonderful tree-lined hills overlooking the Pacific were old friends. Lesson learned: it doesn't hurt to push. A little bonus prize I received back at July's doctor visit: down 50lbs and 2 & 1/2 dress sizes.

Summertime...and the living is easy...

...fish are jumpin' and the cotton's high...
Wow, it has been a while. I'm up to running 5k with the occasional 5 miles thrown in. 6 months, 35 lbs., 5 miles....very good numbers. But woman can not live on numbers alone. It's when the school janitor stops you and says, "you're getting really skinny" that you can give yourself a nice little inward smile...

It could happen to you...

April Flowers bring May flowers and warm weather and dehydration headaches. Whine whine whine...and i have no cheese to go with it. There is no reason to be Debbie Downer. I am one, or in some cases, two sizes smaller than I was four and a half months ago, depending on whether my taste in clothes runs to champagne or merely Coors Light.

After 4 months I have finally worked myself up to running 5k each day. It took alot of patience and stamina but here I am almost back to where I was healthiest and probably happiest seven and a half years ago. It could happen to you, you know.

Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne; He travels fastest who travels alone. - Rudyard Kipling, Story of Gadsby

the afternoon after...

43:43 - It could have been worse. But it is time to get my crazy heart back into it; once I've picked it up.

the night before...

Tomorrow I am running in my first road race in 7 years. Life has pitched me a glancing blow recently but nothing that should really stop me from getting where I want to go. I find it slows you down, though; and if you are not careful it could stop you entirely. It's wise to keep aware of who you are, how you feel, and what you want. I'm speaking in the 2nd person here but I really am only speaking to myself. One can only speak for ones self.
So wish me luck - 3.2 miles without falling face first into the gutter.

Spring fever

Two and a half months and 20 pounds later, I am running two and a half miles a day. It's hard to believe what I have achieved since I first made my New Year's resolution.
Unfortunately I ate breakfast early this morning so therefore my run has been put off. First thing in the morning is best for me - get out before you think about it and the rest of your day is free and clear.
I've gotta say, the breakfast fahita I had an hour ago is going to make this all a bit difficult. Well here's hoping it doesn't come straight up onto the boardwalk :-P

Valentine's Day

My recommendation for Valentine's Day is to see the movie The Last Station. It's about Leo Tolstoy's last days. It basically amounts to a love story and the film begins with this quotation: "Everything that I know, I know only because I love. - Leo Tolstoy" Happy Valentine's Day!

The ride, not the destination

I suppose I'm getting all metaphorical. It's something I learned yesterday and it has nothing to do with running. You need to enjoy the ride, no matter how painful or joyful it is because the final destination might be different from what you originally had planned. Alright enough of me waxing philosophical.

I ran in the snow today and, yes, it can be done. I think you have to do it when it's stil snow and not ice. Tomorrow morning should be much more interesting. The sun, in spite of the freezing temperature, is melting the white stuff on the ground - dangerous omen for tomorrow.

I am getting better, faster and stronger. It's only been 4 weeks but I can feel it. What I love is that no matter what is happening around me in my life, I have this and it is doing me good. I am remembering how much I once loved it and how much I love it now.

If you can get through the 1st 2 or 3 weeks, I guarantee you, you'll be fine and you'll keep going. Once you begin to see progress, you're hooked.

Don't look too far ahead, you'll trip on something.

the cold snap

You really can't let it stop you, even if your cheeks look like you've been in the sun for 7 hrs straight and you have only been out for 35 mins. I actually walked/ran in the snow on Friday without incident. In any other mind frame I would have said, uh uh I'm not going out in weather that will crack my skin and make my nose run like a leaky faucet.

I'm in a good place right now and you have to find that place before you can commit. Committing to something is not my strong suit. I'm a Libra. I need to weigh all the angles. But I think I'm ready and it's never too late. Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor freezing weather...

It's never too late...

I have lost something. I'm not exactly sure what it is but I know I didn't always feel this...sedated. But you know what? It's never too late to get it back.
-American Beauty

The Beginning

Ten years ago, almost to the day, I started walking on a daily basis. After a number of weeks - not many, maybe 6 - I began to run intermittantly during my walks - to a lampost, to the gazebo ahead, to the Main Street beach. Next thing I knew I was running more than I was walking and soon I wasn't walking at all. I was running back and forth on the boardwalk, past people who would laugh and say "you again?" Then I took off my training wheels and started "out on the road," running to the next town and back. I got up my courage and registered for one of the local road races. I finished 5 miles in 46 minutes.

A few years later, that unforgiving entity called life happened and I lost something very essential - my confidence. This blog is going to be the start of that journey back to the top of the hill I loved so much. The journey is not going to be easy. I am completely and utterly overweight and out of shape but you must start somewhere.

I am an ESL teacher now and one of my favorite read aloud books is The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper. Unlike my 1st inexplicable turn as a walker turned runner, I am going to be a walker with purpose and I will take my mantra from that sweet blue little engine- "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."