Life Blogging

On my post Wednesday I was going to put another OOTD outfit of the day just I case you don't know believe me I have had to google my share of text/social media talk lol but didn't want to keep smothering you all with pictures of myself.... But

I've been thinking more about this blog and my life and where I want it to go.  I love sharing my weight loss journey, but I just feel that there is so much more I've been doing and that there is so much more that goes in to looking good and honestly feeling good.  The older I get I'm learning that it's not just the number in the scale or the size of your jeans not that those things  hurt but it's also how you feel.  Also I'm finding out how you present yourself to the world matters too.  I'm not saying be fake, but sometime when you put the extra effort in people notice, and it gives you a boost of confidence, which in turn helps you make better choices in the way of healthy eating exercising and so on.  It's kinda like a feel good, do good thing.

I've come to realize that my weight loss is a journey not necessarily a destination and though it is hard work...hard, hard work I want to enjoy it and celebrate it. Not just wait for the end to look and feel good.  Yes my goal is to get to a size 8/9  heck may be even a 6/7 but I still have a ways to go (I'm in a pretty solid 12 now but have a few 14's too) , but when I was a size 20 at the start of my journey I couldn't even imagine being in a 12 or a 14 or even a 16 for that matter, so why not celebrate all those milestones and give tips and advice while there.

  So I thought I would ask you...do you like seeing the different outfits?  I was also thinking of posting my beauty finds and stuff like that.  What do think?  What would you like to see?  Are ya'll on board!  

I'll leave you with my OOTD. This was actually Wednesday's  but it was just so cute I had to share, and a little trick... I tucked my shirt into my skirt and it makes me look taller and thinner.  I wore the chunky sweater so I felt a little more covered up with my shirt tucked in :)

This full look was from Forever 21. (Except the flip flops they are haviana's) 

I just started shopping there recently. I was always thought that I would not be able to fit in to the clothes, it being a mostly "junior" type store or that they would be to young for that same reason, but it think I've totally pulled it off even being the mature 39 that I am.  I may be older but I still want my fashion damn it!  

Surf City Recap (This is a Long One Folks)

I Did It!!!  And I didn't die....not even close...

 

 

All I can say is WOW! forgive me I'm sure I will totally over use the exclamation marks and the word awesome. But this was the coolest thing I thing I have ever done (besides give birth and get married of course well sort of ).

 

Anyway I spent most of Saturday relaxing and doing laundry oh joy  and trying not to syke myself out about the race the next day.  I actually slept really well, the hubs is still sick but told me to take the bed because I have worked really hard and needed to get my rest for the race, aww so sweet. And a Great BIG Thank You to Grammie C and Bob for keeping the Drama Queen for the weekend it was one less thing I had to figure out.  They are the best and I love them sooo much!

 

 I woke up early on Sunday to give myself enough time to eat (my usual an English muffin with PB and a banana) and let nature happen no runner trots for this girl. This was the outfit I had laid out isn't the shirt such a pretty color.

 

 My Mom picked me up at about 5:45am the race was in Huntington Beach about 45mins from me and we wanted to have enough time with traffic down there, which was crazy! It was pretty bad so mom had to drop me off then go find parking on her own, which was good and gave me time to hit up the port-o-johns.  Damn those lines were looong, but at least they moved fast.  I was also able to meet up with my friend Heather we have been texting and pumping each other up for the race and weren't sure if we were going to be able to find each other.  It was great we waited together for the start.  They let you go in waves so it didn't get congested.  Heather is much faster than me but we decided to stay together until the start then split and it worked great I wasn't as nervous having a friend there to chat with.

Heather and I waiting to start.

I started strong and just kept moving one foot in front of the other. I did stop once at mile 3 to pee I probably could have kept going but I didn't want to get near the end and be totally uncomfortable or pee my pants.  I also had to stop for a few seconds at mile 10 to stretch out my left calf.  I could feel it tighten up a lot and didn't want to get a full blown cramp, and that helped.  It was a great race they have "beach" style bands playing all along the course  and tons of spectators some even passing out M&M's and Fig Newtons for a sugar boost and some really cute signs. The weather was beautiful (actually it was beatiful if I was watching the race lol I prefer it colder and overcast) the sun was out the waves were pounding the beach.  It truly was a classic California day. There were all sorts of people big, small, fit, fluffy, young and old it was such an inspiration, some walked, some ran, some even rolled (the wheelchair racers).

This was about mile 6, look at all those people.

I snapped this mid run at mile 10 while I put on some Power music
to get me through the last 3 miles.

Those last 3 miles were tough I could feel my energy going and had to slow down and walk a bit more than I wanted but I told myself slow and steady I will get there, and that the last mile I would run all of it. And I did It was a slow run but I did that whole last one and when I saw the finish line I just sprinted that last .10 it took everything I had left.  As soon as I crossed that finish line the tears just came.  I could not believed I had actually done it!!  A few feet in front (behind the gate)  was my mom and my two friends CareBear and Nell they were cheering like crazy and the tears came again it was just so emotional I can;t even find the words for it. But is was the best feeling I have ever had.

After grabbing some water and a banana I asked if they had seen Erin come through yet and they hadn't.  We had figured since she was doing the full and started almost 2 hrs. before me we would finish close to the same time.  So I stayed in the chutes near the medals and about 15 minutes later Erin comes flying in YAY!!! We did it!  We gave each other the biggest hugs and both cried (I was such a baby) it was AWESOME!!!

I LOVE this picture we are so happy and still standing.
Notice I'm wearing my "magic" shoes, I'll tell you about it soon.

Then we headed out to meet up with our cheering section which also included Erin's husband and parents.  We were planning on hitting up the beer garden but it was packed and I was starving so we ended up going to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants and this was lunch.  A tostada salad and a Corona yumm I only ate about half of my lunch but drank down that beer.  I am so not a beer person I prefer wine and/or fruity girl drinks but that beer tasted so damn good.

 

 



A pic of me and my awesome cheering squad.

So my official time was 2:52:28 YAY I was under my 3hour goal and don't forget that included one potty stop and a stretch stop.  My Garmin said 2:48:24 because it pauses when I stop, so my actual moving time was really great and I averaged a 12:50 mile. Can I get a WOOT WooT!!

 

As I sit here and type this (on and off all day) Erin and I have been texting each other, we weren't sure how we would feel today so we both took the day off but we both feel great. I have a little soreness in my knees but that's nothing new.  I actually felt so good that I cleaned my poor neglected house and even went to the gym with TaTa for Aqua Aerobics.  In our texts we were both very happy that it was over but also quite sad,   then Erin asked me the question....Will you do another???

 

Know what I said...

 

 

HELL YA!!

Sh*t Just Got Real

I can't believe it's finally here!!

Tomorrow is the Surf City Half Marathon, and to tell you the truth I'm so excited, scared, happy, nervous, proud, and any other emotion you can think of.  Four months ago when I signed up for this I was very unsure if I was gonna be able to do it...to be completely honest I'm still unsure (really I'm not trying to be self deprecating I'm just being truly honest here) but what I do know is that I am prepared and that is all I can be.  I have worked hard, trained hard and even given up time with my family to get to this point (that has been the hardest part and I am working on a post about that so stay tuned).  It has been stressful and fulfilling all at the same time so no matter what happens I know I have tried my best...and holy crap I ran 73.5 miles this month alone!


Here I am Thursday on my last training run it was bitter sweet and I came to the realization that shit just got real!!     This is it.

Wearing my very cute new shirt for Sunday to make sure
it "felt right" I LOVE the color and it has cute flattering runching up the front.

Erin and I hit up the Expo on Friday to pick up our bibs and stuff, it was pretty cool we walked around a bit (I was actually surprised at how small the expo was for how big the race is going to be, at least 20,000 strong) anyway it was well organized and we breezed through it in no time.  Then Erin was a gem and drove the course so I could get a visual and mentally prepare.  It is definitely more "hilly" than where I run but nothing to major I hope, and the last four miles are on a decline so that is way good.

Tomorrow this will be reality and much more sweaty!

Weigh-In Wednesday #26

Today's # is 195.4 and is brought to you by:
 Half Marathon Training   ...lol can you tell I've been watching Sesame Street... 

That's down 2.6 pounds from last week SWEET!  

 

And to make it even a better week here are two NSV ( non scale victories)

The first is the shirt I'm wearing it's actually TaTa's she asked if I could fit into it, so I tried (mind you it is a large and she is normally a medium but sometime she likes it a bit baggy)  but so fricken what and it even looks good!!! So exciting I have officially borrowed the first of many items of clothing from her.

pardon the bathroom signs in the back but funny
thing is I have NO full length mirrors in my house
but that will be changing soon though

 

 

The second is these jeans are too big yay!  I bought them back in April and they were very tight but I figured I would eventually get in to them, now it's almost time to retire them :)

 



these babies are right out of the dryer too!

Magic Shoes

Well TOM has finally arrived and thank Gawd if I had gotten anymore emo I would've put 30 Seconds to Mars, to shame! With that being said I'm up a ton of water weight I hope that's what it is at least. This morning I weighed in at 199.8 well crap but at least it wasn't 200 (hey there has to be a silver lining some where right).

...don't they look all moody and depressed...

So on a good great note I had a fantastic run on Thursday, I was staying late at work to meet up with my mom for a fundraising dinner so I had decided to run after work. Well when I pulled out my gym bag I realized I had forgotten my running shoes SHIT! I was so bummed, I came in bitching about it to my friend Erin who I idolize (she is a running God... she has her plan to run 30 1/2 marathons by the time she is 30 and is almost there I believe she planned it so they fall very close together ... like I said a running God) any way she said she had an extra pair in the car that she keeps there just in case (see so running God like)  and I could borrow them. borrow that <----lol get it, I kill me.   I figured heck why not, I normally I wear an 8 1/2 and her's were 9 1/2 but when I tried them on the fit like a dream and felt like I was running on a cloud!!!

Holy Amazeballs these shoes must be MAGIC!!  I had the best run. Lately I've had a hard time getting back into the groove of running more that a mile straight without stopping to walk, my endurance took a major nose dive during that summer break.  But this run I ran over 2 miles without a walk break mind you it was a slower pace but I plowed through it!!

So I am so going to get me a pair of these amazing MAGIC shoes (well the new gen any way they don't make these exact ones any more) lol cause I did something CA-RAA-ZEE!!!  (like the teaser there) so stay tuned it will blow your mind.

These are the MAGIC shoes Nike Pegasus 28.
I just LOVE  that they are Hot Pink.  She even had them customized to say
Queen 13.1 (how awesome)

It was a great view for a great run.

Weigh-In Wednesday #14

I think I may have to change careers and become a mover.

This morning I was still down 3lbs and going strong.  So I am now 202.6 less than a pound away from my -20lbs goal and only 3lbs away from hitting Onederland!!!  I totally have to give the move credit since I still haven't got back into the running and exercise routine.  I'm so motivated by the weight loss and the fact that I put on a pair of jeans that I haven't worn in over 18 months and they fit like a glove. 

*The last time I wore these jeans I had just done the HCG crash diet before going to Disney World as a chaperon for TaTa's Band trip and lost 25 pounds in 6 weeks, it was hell living on nasty drops and 500 calories a day, not working out cause you would die from the lack of energy and being a total crabby beotch the whole time.   I vow never to do a crazy diet again besides I gained it all back in less than 3 months.  Though this time around it is much slower I am happy and eating what I want ( within moderation) and feel energized and strong from working out if I ever get back into the grove of it.

My skinny jeans :)