Thursday, March 31, 2011

excuses excuses

Hi everyone - I really am here. I am really working on my eating and no I havent been to the gym in 4-5 days but I have a really good reason. Not 100% ready to discuss it though. This blog will be undergoing some changes in the near future... until then I dont have much to say.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Im here promise...

Sorry its been a whirlwind the last few days and nothing really new or exciting to say blog wise so I havent been on. But Im alive and kicking. Eating has been so so. Exercise has been so so - but about to get dressed for spin class. Have some news to share later this week... stay tuned!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

not my day

Today is very blah. Im just not feeling it. I was hoping to sleep a bit at work but only got from about 245am til 420am. Not a bad night but sleeping at work was alot harder than I thought it would be.

I made E wake up at 7 when I got off work to go to breakfast with me then I was hoping to stay up til nap time but sleepiness won. I slept for about 4 hours and now just feel gross. Doesnt help the 4 year old is in rare cranky form today...

Friday, March 25, 2011

Good morning!

Good morning everyone! Its friday - Im sure for some of you thats a happy day... in the life of public service (hubby is a police officer, Im a nurse practitioner) fridays and weekends mean nothing.




  • I attempted to run today for the first time since the marathon. I went to spin class yesterday and was FINE. Origionally wanted to run outside with my dog but its 30 degrees outside so opted for the treadmill. Im trying to work now on my speed instead of distance for a few months. Well 1/2 mile into a 9min/mile pace the back of my right leg got a HORRIBLE cramp. My legs just arent ready from the marathon. So I opted to do a full body weights workout with my hubby instead.

  • Today is my first 19 hour... yes you heard that right... 19 hour shift at my sister hospital. To explain - we have 2 hospitals in the county. One is significantly bigger than the other. I work in the bigger one with a 15 bed ICU. There is a midlevel - me (a NP or PA) and an ICU doctor and we split the unit. We work 12 hour days. I LOVE it there. Our sister hospital only has a 6 bed ICU. There is an ICU doctor there from 7a-12. From noon until 7 the following morning its staffed by a nurse practitioner. Since I was a new graduate (Dec 2009) - I needed to get comfortable taking care of critically ill patients as well as procedures (intubations, central line placements, ect) on my own before I could go to the sister hospital. Well the powers that be say Im ready. I did a 6 hour shift a few weeks ago just to get my feet wet. Today is the whole thing. Im so hoping that 1. its not too busy and I can get a nap in sometime in the early morning hours and 2. if someone really sick comes in that I can handle it... yes I have back up - until 7pm I have the doctor that was in on call and he is within a 2 mile radius to come in to help me, I have the ER doctors to back me up and at any time I can call the ICU doctors at the other hospital and run a case by them... but still. So that is what I will be doing today.

  • On another note - I lost 2 followers this week... bummer :(

  • I forgot to weigh myself at the gym yesterday :(

So what exciting things do you have planned this weekend? Please let me live vicariously through all of you ... sat I will sleep most of the day and sunday I work :( Thank god I love my job!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

back into the swing of things...

SO yaaa a nonmarathon post - promised!

Today was an awesome day. I was off so that was a bonus and even more so because dh got up with G this morning and got him to preschool and I slept until 1030! Unheard of in my house!

And when I woke up - behold... the soreness was GONE! Which put me in a great mood!

Today was a rainy cold nasty day so we stayed in and made a fort - fun fun - and baked ... for me I made these butterless chocolate chip cookies (with beans...shhhh). Unfortinately I was the only one in my house that really liked them. Dh can never get passed the whole wheat flour aftertaste and G just wasnt a fan... but maybe when he tries them again tomorrow. We also made sugar cookies rolled in sprinkles for G to take to school tomorrow.

The marathon did one amazing thing - it rejuvinated me. It made me really understand that I can do ANYTHING - as long as I put in the work. It may not be easy but the end is totally 100% worth it.

So Im about to go pack my work food for tomorrow - grilled chicken, sauted zucchini/peppers/onions/mushrooms/asparagus, carrots with hummus, apple slices with natural pb, cantalope. Yummy.

I have already signed up for 530 am spin class so after I pack my lunch I will be off to pack my gym bag and work clothes.

Then it will be time to curl up with a book and early bed time for the early rise time :)

Oh and I picked my next run - May 21st Armed Forces 10K. Im very much hoping to be preggo by then and figure even preggo I can handle 6 miles. They will just be slow.

As for hoping to be preggo - I dont know how those that take a while to get pregant do it... all the waiting! I cant test until next week. Then if its negative you have to wait again until your fertile then wait again to test and so on and so on... makes the month go REALLY slow.

a few more pics :)

Still waiting on the final official pics but here are a few more. Dont worry I will start talking about something other than the marathon very soon :)


This was before we headed to the start - the sun was coming up over the water. It was COLD!


This was the first part on the boardwalk - maybe around mile 9? We were super happy still... hated the wind but happy!





Homeward stretch - a block away from the finish... I was HURTING







OK tonight a non marathon post - promise! oh and Im not sore anymore! Almost went to spin class but thought I shouldnt push it.






Tuesday, March 22, 2011

SHAMROCK MARATHON part 2

OK now I have time to actually talk about this whole marathon thing. To read about the day leading up to the big run click HERE

First let me say that it was AMAZING, hard, horrible, incredible, life altering... it was everything rolled into one.


Im still waiting for some pics that Nicole took so there will be a part 3 :) Her wonderful husband rented a bike and surprised us at various parts of the race and took great pics. And Im hoping for a crossing the finish line pic ... it wont be pretty but wow do I want to see it.


Ok from the beginning -

I woke up at 545 so that I was ready to go down when my husband went for his 7am half marathon start. OMG was it WINDY and cold... I was almost in tears. I hadnt trained in bad weather. But I reminded myself it could be raining and put a smile on my face pronto. I went down and cheered on the beginning of the half. I teared up on the sideline listening to the antham and watching my husband start off - I am so incredibly proud of him. First half - 2h and 6 min. He isnt a distance runner. He is amazing.


Then it was off to meet up with Nicole and head to our start - hit the port-a potties and attempt to stay warm until closer to the start. At 815 they started counting down the corrals - we were in number 4. The 4:30 pacer group was right in front of us - the 5h pacer right behind us. My goal was to finish by 5:30.


Miles 1-11 FLEW... for my first half last October I was struggling at mile 9... not this time... I felt awesome. Around mile 7 we went into a reserves base and the men and women that protect our country were on the sidelines cheering us on... it was amazing. We hit the half way point at 2h 24min... 15 min faster than my half marathon in Oct.


Mile 15 was hard for me - we were going full force into the wind. It was a LONG straight way - I hate straight areas. I wanted to stop. My mind started to take over - that Im not a marathon runner. I dont deserve to say I am. My back hurt. My stupid skirt was proving to not be a good idea since the shorts underneith would NOT stay still and my legs were rubbing. I was done and I was pissed at myself because you arent supposed to hit the wall that fast. Then Nicole did what she does first - she 1st told me I could do it, I could push through, I deserved it, then she chatted and got my mind off things. By mile 17 I was good. Around that time we were in this desolate boring tree filled area with NO spectators. It sucked. It was also around miles 17-20 that Nicole hit her wall and I was so incredibly thankful to be there for her - to do what she would have done for me. To refocus her and get us through it - together. Its amazing what running can do to a friendship :) Without her I would have never thought about doing this in the first place. Just a year ago we met for the first time and ran 8 laps around the school track and it SUCKED. Look at us now!


Mile 20 we both agreed it was time to take a much needed stretch break - to get all the stressors out of our head and push to the end. Push strong and hard. We ran from that point forward without complaint - even though my legs were screaming, my knees hurt so bad and my right hip/lower back was saying please stop - none of those thoughts were verbalized and made real - we just pushed forward.


At 25.5-26 we hit the board walk. You could see the finish line. I could see my wonderful husband. Then I gave it all I could to go as fast as I could to the finish. I finished at 5hours and 8 min. As I crossed the finish line tears were streaming down my face. I felt amazing. I felt like I could accomplish ANYTHING. I felt like a marathoner! I AM A RUNNER! I may not have a runners body but damn it Im a runner!!!


After I finished crying - the smiling started and didnt stop!



We enjoyed the giveaways, the tent, the people then headed for some lunch and PIGGED out! Followed by a very much needed nap - then the soreness hit. OMG the soreness! I was napping on my back and tried to just bend my legs to roll over - nope they wouldnt bend. It felt like someone beat my knees with a bat. My abs hurt. My ribs hurt. But we still HAD to go out and celebrate!!!



Favorite things about the VB shamrock marathon
1. VERY well organized
2. Love heading to the beach
3. Flat course

Things that werent quite my favorite...
1. I think its a marathon vs half marathon thing since my husband had the opposite thoughts... not a ton of talking in the marathon. No fun chatting, no meeting tons of new people and sharing experiences... like I said dh said the half had a ton of that.
2. Not a lot of spectators - I thrive off of the encouragement of spectators and was a bit disappointed.

Things I learned -
1. Great idea to bring my own gu... it made the run so much better! Every 5 miles is my need.
2. Actually run in your planned run outfit - yes the skirt is very comfortable walking around... but not running - it sucked! Im still raw.
3. Sunblock... even in march. Even if not to sunny. I was very sunburned afterwards. My arms are now peeling.

Yes its 2 days out now. Yes Im still sore and not ready for another run just yet. But yes... Im looking for my next marathon! I joined the 1% of the population and I plan on sticking around :) Im thinking NYC...

More pics to come - stay tuned!

Monday, March 21, 2011

SHAMROCK MARATHON part 1

Well Im back and can officially say that I am a marathon runner! WOW I have soooo much to say but lets start from the beginning!

We arrived in Virginia Beach (almost a 5 hour drive) on Saturday and headed straight to the expo...



I bought a cute pink magnet for my car that says 26.2 and a few other odds and ends - Im not a fan of large crowds so we didnt stay long. I was bummed that I didnt see Tara from the biggest loser. I was even more bummed when my friend Nicole text me that she ran into Tara coming out of the bathroom and got a pic :(

Hubby and I both got our numbers



Then it was off to our hotel room. I wasnt expecting much - it was on the bottom part of the price range, I booked late and was only looking to be inbetween the half and full start. BUT OUR ROOM ROCKED. It was a suite. Very spacious. On the top floor over looking the ocean...



Then we went walking -



Dinner was simple - Giovannis - so so so yummy... had the best lasagna. Then since lucky me I dont have a sensitive stomach ... I wanted DESSERT so we headed to Bakers Crust... OMG SO FREAKING GOOD!


You could tell who the runners were... everywhere you looked people were drinking water.

We called it an early night - headed back to the hotel. Set out my clothes for the morning and we were laying in bed by 9.


sorry to be a party pooper but thats all you are getting tonight... Im exhausted and SORE omg am I sore! Im waiting for some pics from Nicole's camera and need to put my thoughts together. I have alot to say about the actual marathon day... and I cant wait to share it with all of you.


Saturday, March 19, 2011

tomorrow is the day!

So tomorrow is the big day!!! I am very excited and very scared all rolled into one. I really dont feel like I trained enough and this week, yes I know its taper, but all I got was one 3 mile run in.



My bags are packed. Hope I didnt forget anything.



If you see me in VA beach please stop me and say hi!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

two days!!!

OMG in two days Im running a marathon! It doesnt feel like 1. its time already, 2. Im ready or 3. Im actually planning to run a marathon!


WHO AM I and where did I come from??? This is not somthing I do... well it is now baby! And while I wont hit any major records I will PR... since it is my first marathon!


I decorated my shirt today...


FRONT



BACK




‎"Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart." – Mike Fanelli

Monday, March 14, 2011

Manic Monday 3/14/11

At the wonderful advice of my equally wonderful running partner, Nicole, today I woke up and had two choices... to be happy or not... I chose happy... and to do things that made me happy - including taking care of myself :)

Started off the morning with my go to breakfast



Hubby was home today so he did little man duty and I headed for some retail therapy. Got my marathon running gear :) and then hit the mall for some new scrubs and something cute to wear out while in VA beach.


I rushed home after shopping for a quick lunch consisting of 3 egg whites, ww cheese and a dry english muffin then off to the gym. First was my weekly weigh in - blah... same as last week. Atleast I didnt gain. Then some treadmill and some elliptical. Dont I look so sexy on the treadmill... not! My wonderful friend Rach joined me. We treated ourselves to coffee for me, hot chocolate for her at my fav coffee bar!




That was followed by my second shower of the day, G playing with my camera taking pics of me and getting him to tai kwon do... they are so freaking cute at that age!



That is where the pics stopped today - sorry. We headed to Panera for dinner and something is just not quite right with my stomach. Fingers crossed its not a stomach bug! Either way it was enough for us to cancel our plans for this evening - we were planning to go to the board of education meeting where they are voting on the elementary redistricting but that just wasnt meant to be. G is in the tub, then some reading time with him and off to bed he goes. I still need to prep things for tomorrow - its an early day for both of us. Dh and I both work early so I have to get G and I up and out the door by 715. Later gater...

Saturday, March 12, 2011

ok ok here I am...

SO yesterday was NOT a good day for me.

First the night before I could NOT sleep... didnt fall asleep until almost 4am and had to get up with G for school at 7. I felt ROUGH. So I took G to school and came home going right back to bed. I didnt get up until 11! But that ruined my morning plans of a run or workout.

I had planned to meet a friend for sushi for lunch after her run - I almost canceled because I just felt like crud but I wanted to go... so I went. I am so incredibly proud of my friend Nicole. She was the one I started running with and wow she has come a LONG way. She looks AMAZING. Her legs are so tiny now! She glows. She just has "it" and it shows. She has found her mojo.

And seeing where she is health wise and mental wise - while yes I am so happy for her - it made me realize where I used to be. Where I am so NOT right now. And I miss having that amazing feeling that it is so obvious that she has right now. Which really didnt make me good company at lunch unfortinately.

I followed that lunch with going to look for something cute to wear out the night after the marathon... umm so not in the right mental place to try on clothes, what the hell was I thinking?!?

I followed that with adding to the unhealthiness by talking my family into mexican food... wth was I thinking!?! ... By the time we got home I was just ready for bed and the headache didnt help so I just went to bed. The best thing I could have done.

This morning I got up and signed up for SparkPeople.com... one of the things Nicole had brought up at lunch. Today I documented all my food - even when I had two poptarts and really didnt want to document that... wow 400 freaking calories for 2 poptarts... so not worth it! After work I came home and hit the gym - tons of jumping jacks, jump rope, upper body weights, squats, wall sits, and abs, abs and some more abs.

7 days till marathon! Im getting up tomorrow morning for a nice 8-10 mile run.

Friday, March 11, 2011

alive

but barely. I have ALOT to say, been thinking about todays post MOST of the day but my head is POUNDING and I feel very not me right now... so despite it being 7pm on a Friday night... I am taking a tylenol pm, bubble bath and going to bed. Expect one hell of a post tomorrow after I get off work...

Thursday, March 10, 2011

pissy mood

Im in a pissy mood and my ego/feelings are a bit bruised... I feel like a 5 year old whining though. Sorry for the code but some of my readers are local...

Anyways today was a blah rainy rainy day ... lots and lots of rain, still raining, hard core raining. YUCK. I did some shopping - got things done but very blah.

Tomorrow will be better.... 9 days to go!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

OMG OMG OMG

OMG OMG OMG - Im running a freaking marathon in 10 days... OMG OMG OMG!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

had the best day today!

I really did have an awesome day today - nothing in particular, just a great day!

Started the day off with getting G to preschool and then a 10 mile run. I was aiming to run outside but it was alittle too warm for my warm weather gear and alittle too cold/windy without it so I hit the treadmill and had a surprisingly awesome workout!

My bff came over around lunch time... I ate something I hadnt eaten in a while. 3 egg whites with cinnamon and pumpkin spice mixed really really well and in a hot pan, flip once until both sides are crispy. Top with diced apple, 1 tbsp greek yogurt and 1/4 cup flaky type cereal. Shockingly good!

G did his third day of quiet time instead of nap - its going surprisingly well.

After quiet time we cleaned out my truck, went to get his hair cut, bought new toys for the dog and went into panera to sit by the fire and he have a cookie, me have a coffee. We made cupcakes for school tomorrow - we love taking in the snack for snack time!

We went for a walk so G could practice his bike skills and ran into a neighbor and let our kids play for a bit.

E grilled tonight so we had super juicy yummy bbq chicken, my brown rice combo (asparagus, mushrooms, brocoli, garlic, onion and tiny bit of brown rice). Nice to sit as a family and have dinner.

G is curled up watching cartoons - first time he has had the tv on all day - love that! And Im saying hi to all of you. My wonderful husband is doing laundry.

Great day!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Manic Monday 3/7/11

Happy Manic Monday everyone. As usual I sucked at remembering to take my camera places with me... so yes I was busy busy busy but very little got cought on the camera!

So this morning I woke up to run... dont I look fabulous! HAHAHA... omg I cant believe Im posting this picture!



I have that MUST HAVE COFFEE look about me! Well it was windy and cold out and tomorrow its supposed to be pretty so I opted to enjoy my Shakeology

This is my breakfast most mornings - very yummy, very filling, very healthy... not to mention fast and ready on the go!

This is where I left and forgot my camera! DANG it... I was even going to ask Kim the spin instructor to take a pic of me in my spinning glory. Well I got myself slightly more normal looking, dropped G off at school and hit the gym. ROCKED OUT a 60 min spin class... burned 700 calories! Normally I only hit about 500-550! Then I did a full upper body and core workout. Followed by coffee from my favorite coffee place. No temptations from those so yummy but so bad scones!

After getting home and being again so beautiful...


I was HUNGRY and it was lunch time... left over brown rice with stir fry asparagus, peppers, zucchini, mushrooms + 3 oz grilled chicken and 1 tbsp hummus... YUM!


By then it was G's quiet time and I thought I wanted to lay down for an hour but after I layed down I changed my mind. I got up and brushed all the animals - 2 cats and a dog and cut their nails. Im going to try to do this every monday so my damn cats will quit scratching my new floors!

Then it was cleaning time - Mondays are also now my bathroom and bedroom days... trying to get into a cycle. So I scrubbed two tubs, two toilets, two sinks and we had to change all of our sheets. G likes to get into the cleaning - he is acutally a big help!



Then it was snack time... and here is where I keep my food journal



Then I sat the computer back down and forgot to pick it up :(
G had tai kwon do... so cute seeing 4 year olds trying all the moves! Then we went to Panera Bread for dinner for my go to panera dinner... cup of chicken noodle soup, thai chicken salad with no dressing and an apple. SO SO SO good and really not that bad - only 8 or 9 points.

Now G is in the tub and Im so ready for bed time!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

class half empty vs half full

I want to be a glass half full kind of gal... im not but boy do I want to be!

Today I aimed to run 20 miles at the gym on a freaking horrible pain in the hiney treadmill... gosh I HATE treadmill running for longer than an hour. Well I got 10 miles in and quit... not because my legs hurt, not because my breathing wasnt working... it was BORING and my mind won. Granted I spent two sweaty hours in the gym today - yet I feel like a failure because I didnt do 20 miles. I took G swimming after nap today and then to panera for dinner and feeling sorry for myself I ate half his cookie then got a scone to go and ate it on the way home :( poo on me. I know better. And now my stomach feels like crud and the 10 miles I hoped to do after G went to bed SO is not happenning. .... HOLD THAT THOUGHT....

You cant tell but after I wrote that paragraph I ran down to the workout room and turned on the tv and dvr to record my shoes for tonight so that once Im done typing this Im heading down to do something. Tomorrow I was going to get up and do my weight training but I think I will do that tonight instead while watching Big Bang Theory and tomorrow I will get up and do some cardio. On a sad note... I cant find my jump rope :(

On another positive note - once I got home from gorging on an orange scone that has about an entire days worth of calories... I pulled out every veggie in my fridge and did batch and batch of stir frying - red, yellow and green peppers, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, asparagus. And I cooked some brown rice to mix in with it as my side for meals for the next two days at work. I will get my protein at work - we always have plain grilled chicken breast that will be good with a smear of hummus and my veggie mix.

ok so not a horrible day... yes I made a few bad eating decisions (doesnt help its that time of the month, TMI sorry)... but I did work out for 2+ hours today. I did make healthy food for the weekend. I did play like a 4 year old with my son at the pool and even did wii dance kids after dinner :)

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

after tomorrow I taper!

Im so excited - after tomorrows long run it is taper time! I run my first marathon in 16 freaking days! I am so excited... surprisingly not nervous, very excited! Last October I ran my first (and only) half marathon. When it was taper time I freaked out. I kept thinking I hadnt ran enough, not far enough, not long enough, that I wouldnt be ready. Well this time around I know I did the training, I put the time in, I am ready... and I will ENJOY taper time!

Tomorrows run will not be fun though - time wise a long run doesnt fit into my schedule tomorrow. Its cold and windy and I really dont feel like hills. I only have 4 free hours tomorrow morning and yes it takes me 4 hours to run 20 miles. So my plan - drop G off at preschool and hit the gym. Run 15 miles (3 hours) and my full body weight training workout then tomorrow evening after G goes to bed I will get another 5 miles in on the treadmill at home. Not the same thing as a full long run but it will do what it needs to do training wise. THEN TAPER :) yaaaa!!!

Todays eating - great until my coffee break in the afternoon where I got a scone then sort of down hill from there. I was 20 points over today. Am I stressed? NOPE. I wrote down every single bite. I took ownership. Subtracted it from my extra weekly points and have I mentioned that Im running 20 miles tomorrow :) It will all workout.

I feel in control again. I feel like Im putting myself first again... much needed!

another day another dollar

SO the board finally came through and I will be heading into work in a few min - glad that the stress is done, bummed I dont have an unexpectant day off... cant get everything right ?!?

I tried to wake up to spin at 545 this am but it just wasnt happenning. I woke up to every muscle in my body screaming... awesome weight workout yesterday - miss this feeling! But that means I will be working out late tonight after work, getting G, putting him to bed, ect.

Kicking myself in the butt for not making doubles/triples of last nights dinner to take into work today - I really really thought I would be spending the day at the board of nursing offices. So instead I packed staples of snacks and some lite salad dressing and will get a big salad with chicken from the salad bar at work for lunch today and if they are having a good veggie then I will do dinner at work too - chicken breast and veggies... my go to dinner at work. I packed a WW 1 point cheese stick, 100cal cottage cheese and fruit, an apple and an orange and I already had my shakeology shake for breakfast.

Feels so good to be back - to be actually present and not just floating through the day.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

STRESSING OUT

Seriously stressing out here and PEEVED Off!!! The quick version. Im a nurse practitioner. In the state of maryland you hold one license - same license number for your RN and your NP. They are renewed together but listed seperately. They expire yearly on your birthday month. I renewed mine the first week of febuary. This past friday it still wasnt updated as renewed so I called them, they assured it would be by the 28th. Well the RN was, the NP wasnt. Meaning I CANT WORK!!! Monday they had a power outage and were unreachable except via email. I was again told it would be fixed. Today NOPE NOT DONE! No one is answering emails or phone calls. I cant work tomorrow because I DONT HAVE A FREAKING LICENSE to practice... uhhhh!!!!!

So guess where I will be bright and early tomorrow??? Is it near by? Nope... during rush out will probually take me 2 hours to get there. UHHHHH! Over something so freaking simple!

Thank goodness I work with an awesome chick who agreed to do part of my shift tomorrow so they arent without a NP/PA at all. Thanks michelle!

On a side note - I rocked it at the gym today. 45 min on treadmill, 15 min on elliptical and full body workout with weights. Eating has been decent too - despite my mood... shocked I didnt decide to go with a huge margarita tonight!
Breakfast - shake = 4 points
Snack - coffee and an orange = 1 point
Lunch - egg white/sausage on english muffin = 7 points
Snack - carrots with hummus = 1 point
special treat - black bean brownies = 5 points
dinner - chicken, asparagus, mushrooms, potatoe, zucchini, goat cheese = 8 points
snack - rice cake with honey 3 points
29 points total - none left over.... no munching tonight!!!