Power of Prose

259.8 - yeah, I don't know what's up with that...
W2D2 - 1.91 miles (a whole 1/10 of a mile further than Monday!)

So I follow a couple blogs, including one written by one of my best friends from high school. Have you ever read someone - some writer that seems to write about using a hammer (or some other banal thing) and have it always be complete and utter poetry? My friend writes like this. I can smell the jasmine scented air and feel the moist heat of the far east when I read her words. A "mommy" blog that I read, the writer does the same. Absolute poetry, thick with metaphor, every sentence like some kind of meditation.

People that can write with such evocative imagery... they are on my list of people I wish I could be like. Who is on yours?

I love running!

257.6
C25K W2D1

I want to go again - right now! I loved my run this morning. Took L'il Girl with me and improved my speed and distance today. I had a little trouble going for 90 seconds sometimes - especially coming back up the hill but... All in all, a great run and I can't wait to go again.

Running with the boys

C25K W1D3 (2nd time)

Jonas requested that we take brother and the puppy and go for a run this afternoon. :) How can I say no? I am going to do as much of the C25K training as I can with the boys - if I can improve time and distance and speed while pushing 70lbs of stroller with dog attached then I will really be getting in shape! The moose is taking a nap right now, but when he gets up later we will be on our way.

I also planned out meals - breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the next 2 weeks and have it posted on the fridge. I am spending the day today (besides our run later) working on homework, tie-dying and baking. I will be baking pretzel nuggets, onion bagels, bread and some breakfast pocket pies (for Jonas).

As for Jonas - my little monkey will be starting preschool in a couple weeks. We had Jonas evaluated for special ed about a month ago. We had a meeting with the Steuben child services people on Wednesday and the decision made was to get him the most services possible and bring his speech and language development to where it should be he will attend a full day 5 days a week preschool program in an enclosed special ed classroom. I feel good about this. I think the structure will be good for him and will get him the help he needs. I feel bad that he will not be at day care that much any more and I think that will be an adjustment for him and Jackson - Jackson really wants nothing more than to be with his brother at all time. :)

After having lost 3 of our 4 dogs in the last 2 weeks, it looks like L'il Girl will recover. She is eating (cat food, not dog food) and drinking and even she seems ready to go out for a run today. I am keeping my fingers crossed. The saddest part is that she has no pack now. The cats (especially the kittens) are trying to make a new pack for her though and have slept with her, cuddled with her and been staying very close to her the last few days.

Still stressed and busy, but that's life!

One month until my birthday

It is only one month until my birthday. I will be 33 and over 250lbs - still. Last year I wrote a blog post on Sparkpeople about how I did not want to make the same birthday vow to eat better and workout and be in better shape... and I will make exactly that same vow this year. It is depressing. I know that organization and planning is the key to changing my life and I haven't been able to get it together. I am bored and unhappy and unmotivated and I hate feeling like this!


I am upset with myself that I never really seemed to find my stride with this year. I didn't find an exercise program I could stick with and my eats have been totally all over the place. 

I feel like running is the way to go for me, so I am going to concentrate on my C25K and add in some strength training 2 days a week - probably ChaLEAN Extreme because it targets the whole body... And today I am going to go on a long walk/jog with my boys. Probably in their stroller for most of it (the baby for the whole thing) and just try to have some fun and enjoy the bright crisp fall day. I live in such a beautiful area and I feel like I never take advantage of it. So I am going to dedicate at least one day a week to taking a long hike/walk with the boys. Get some fresh air and sunshine (or at least as much sunshine as is possible in Western New York...) I feel good about that idea. I feel like this will help me reconnect and feel better about myself too. Maybe I can even get a jogging stroller and take the boys running with me all the time - with some really good warm clothes and one of those insulating wind block things!

Inspirational...

This youtube video about Ben was on my Fat Runners Club thread on Sparkpeople. It is a truly inspirational video of his journey. More than his weight loss, the change in his face from depressed to happy made me cry. He just looks so much happier at the end. Smiling from the inside, deep inside, instead of on only on the outside.

Pumpkin Butter

I am so excited! I found a recipe/instructions on how to make pumpkin butter from my pumpkins out of the garden. I am still planning on carving the big one, but I wanted to make sure I had pumpkin puree for pies and pumpkin bread and some pumpkin butter. Hmm, I hope I actually like pumpkin butter... the apple butter was a success so hopefully this will be too.

This is where I got the directions for the pumpkin butter in the crockpot. As soon as my yogurt is done in the big pot I am making this. The apple butter was so delicious that I put it on almost everything the last 2 weeks! And I really like how the whole batch had very little added sugar - the sweetness came mainly from the apples themselves. I am hoping to have the same success with the pumpkin butter. 

Running

There is a scene in the movie - "What Women Want" where Helen Hunt and Mel Gibson are pitching to the Nike people. The voice over on the "TV spot" they are pitching is basically a barrage of women's voices talking about all the things they have to do and then it's just the sound of the woman's feet hitting the asphalt as all of her worries and concerns fall away. I want that peace. I have always envied that and the people who run and can enjoy that.  I want to love running, I want to be one of those people who says "Oh yeah, I ran 5 miles this morning before work". To me runners have always seemed to be the epitome of fitness. So I will work on it. I think that the C25K will help me be a runner, to love running.

I am (or will be soon) a runner!

Couch to 5K - W1D2 DONE!

Testing :-)

Got my run in! :)

Insomnia

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C25K W1D2

Haven't done the run yet, but I will. Had some sleep problems last night - both the boys and me, so I did not get up as early as I would have liked to (10AM). So I am going to leave 45 minutes early to pick up the boys and run along the road in front of the Heron Hill Winery (about 3 miles away from me, but too far for me to run to - for now :) ) park the car at the lookout and have some beautiful scenery to go along with my run. Then I will go get the boys and even though I got a late start I will have accomplished what I needed to today!

Couch to 5K - W1D1

250.8
C25K

Inspired by Lorie from the token fat girl I have restarted my Couch to 5K program. I like the feeling of accomplishment finishing a run gives me, and just the few weeks I was doing it last spring/summer I was rapidly able to improve my speed and distance and I look forward to completing the program (and the "runner's high" everyone talks about). I have the same respect for runners that I do dancers - something I have not been able to get my body to do in the past, but I am trying to get better.

And it looks like I will need to find a better way to store my Crockpot yogurt overnight for the winter - the last 2 batches of my yogurt (made from the Crockpot Ladies' Blog) have not set enough because the kitchen got so cold overnight. I am going to invest in some heavy bath towels and store the crock in the oven overnight from now on.

Bye Bella

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I had to put down my beautiful Husky on Wednesday. My sweet Bella. And I have not been working out or eating right. I go shopping tomorrow. I will be back on track.

Proper Form

Ah the difference proper form makes! Yet another reason that I love ChaLEAN Extreme is that Chalene Johnson explains the proper form for strength training moves AND SHOWS YOU! She has one of the participants on the DVD show the proper and improper form. I have been lifting weights for easily 15 years and in all that time I have been doing dead lifts wrong. I had always heard that dead lifts were great for the butt and legs and never ever felt them targeting the areas they were supposed to when I was doing them. Until today! Hours later I can feel the movement in my glutes and hamstrings too. Every step up the stairs is a mini session in pain - the good kind - and I feel vindicated that I really worked today.

I worked out this morning - in spite of oversleeping by about 3 hours - but I did not get my run in. I ate clean all day and avoided (no matter how much I wanted them) sweets in sticking to part of the "Gorgeous Glutes" challenge I am in on the Tosca Reno boards.

I also have at least one more reader than I knew of! :) One of my fellow students not only told me he has read a couple of my blogs, but that I looked like I had lost weight. Thanks Pete - that really made my day!

Nothing like a shopping trip to depress/motivate you...

257.0
"disco" dancing with Jonas

So I had set aside money to buy some clothes - a couple pairs of jeans, some shirts... so that I had more than 1 pair of jeans to wear. Yeah, that did not happen. I found jeans, and technically they "fit" but how I looked in them was unacceptable. UNACCEPTABLE! I had severe muffin top. And "front butt" - visible "front butt". It was awful. I practically wanted to throw up I looked so awful.

So that was a swift and depressing message that I need to get moving and change my lifestyle. I was truly disgusted with myself. I bought a pack of t-shirts and a tie-dye kit, 2 pairs of sweat pants and a light hoodie jacket. I will not live like this. It really did gross me out.

So  - since I was joining an end of the year ChaLEAN Extreme challenge anyway, I have decided to kick it up a notch. I will complete the ChaLEAN Extreme challenge/program and add Couch to 5K training onto it.

1. Monday/Wednesday/Friday (Strength or Rest days anyway) I will get up before taking the boys to daycare and do the strength training portion of my program. After dropping them off I will either run near the house, or if the weather prevents it I will make sure to leave for school early enough to run on the treadmills at school. 
2. Tuesdays I will do Zumba and one of Chalene's Ab programs (from Turbo Jam, CLX or TurboFire)
3. Thursdays I will do TurboFire and wither BBL or an ab program
4. Saturday I will do CLX
5. Sunday I will BBL or Hip Hop Abs

Spicy Spinach

257.0
nothing - rest day

Mmm, spinach... So far this week I have made spicy curried spinach no less than 4 times. And I end up eating almost all of it in one sitting. Something about the tumeric, the garlic, the cayenne pepper... I am drooling just thinking about it. And I am eating mad amounts of vegetables (not hard since I love vegetables) - at least 1.5 cups per serving! I have more going now to round out my eggs over easy with homemade bread dinner. The only problem with this dish (besides the draino effect) is that my sweet Licorice keeps demanding I share with her - really, do cats in India eat curried vegetables?