Something new

I woke up this morning and decided that today was the day I would take my 7 (almost 8) year old daughter with me to the gym.  I'd let her walk on the treadmill next to me.  She's been asking to do this for a while...it's something we've been telling her she needed to be older for and now we think she could give it a try.  Well, once it became public family knowledge that she was going to the gym with me, the other 2 quickly decided that THEY should go to.  So rather then take just the 7 year old to the gym with me, we ALL got ready and went to the outdoor track.  It was great fun!  The whole family went running.  And we were fortunate enough to find 2 LARGE turtles, one was digging a hole to lay her eggs.  It was a pretty great family adventure.  If child care is one reason you DON'T work out, I would encourage you to try inviting your family along.  You might be surprised to discover that they will LOVE it.  

Well hello!

Hello everyone! I'm so happy that Tracey invited me to help contribute to this blog! I found it the other day while I was browsing all of my favorite bloggers, and was really inspired by what I was reading. I know how important it is to have a support system, and no matter where you find it, if it works for you, hang on to it. Let me just put it this way, Tuesday was the first day since November, yes, you're reading that right, November, that I had been back to the gym. Man, that's depressing when you put it in writing, but it's amazing how fast time goes by when you get caught up in day to day things! It really is one of those situations though where if I just took an hour out of my day, a few days a week, I wouldn't be back at square one like I am now. That's all in the past though! I'm set to get back in shape, and hopefully inspire my hubby to get back into it too.

Just to introduce myself to start with, I used to be roommates with Tracey back in SLC. Back then she knew me as the 'gymnast in heels' since we would frequently lock ourselves out of our garage and had to send someone through the rafters of the neighbors conjoined garage to open ours from the inside. Guess who that someone was... It made complete sense though, back then I was all of 115 pounds, and wasn't as afraid of the spiders as someone else. Yeah Tracey, I just called you out on that one. Either way, I'm now living in Arizona, was recently married (celebrating our 6 month anniversary on 06/05!), have a 110 lb. bullmastiff who thinks he's a lap dog, I'm going to school for my MBA, and I work on average 45 - 55 hours a week for a school as a financial services manager. When I'm not working, I'm trying to keep my house up, doing homework, and love to craft and bake. Busy bee!

So I started C25K this week. Tuesday was my first day, and man was I sore the next couple of days. I should have gone back in by now, but have been so swamped with work that my days literally have been working, eating, and sleeping. No bueno. I'm set on going back in tomorrow though, and am kind of excited. I love the way I feel after a good workout, and totally forgot about that before I went back in this week! I really should get a shirt that says 'I heart endorphins, they make me happy!'

Did I mention that I found a 5K that I want to run in this fall? I like to walk for breast cancer research when I get the chance, in fact the last one I walked was a couple of years ago here in Phoenix - the Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure. There is one of these events this year on 10/10/10, and I'm really excited to train to run in it! This is the first time I've ever done something like this, but I know that if I really put my mind to it, I can do it! I'll start with this goal, and who knows, maybe after I accomplish that, I'll make a bigger goal of a half marathon some day. Baby steps first though, right?

Ignoring the elephant

I mentioned a few posts back that my doctors had pulled on my running reigns.  I've made a choice (I'm ALL about choices these days).  I'm sort of ignoring their educated opinions.  Not FLAUNTING it, but I've done some reading and it turns out that exercise is encouraged for people with arthritis.  It is actually supposed to HELP.  Of course running probably isn't the best form of exercise I could CHOOSE to do, but it is the most effective when it comes to calorie burning and weight loss.  I went running again today.  I did the elliptical yesterday, so I figured I could run today.  Another 3.1 miles.  This 5K thing is getting easier.  I still feel such a huge burst of pride and accomplishment when I do it.  I think I may need to hover around the 3.1 mile mark for a bit.  Boosting my distance to 4+ miles would be flaunting it, in my opinion.  For some reason, I feel okay if I'm only doing 3 and a bit.    Maybe in a while I will warm back up to the 4+ range but for now I've decided to work on my time.  Turns out that if I wanted to be competitive in a 5K (I can't believe I even just TYPED those words) I will need to be faster.  So I'm going to focus on running faster.  I am currently doing a 5K in about 38 minutes.  If I were to be competitive, I would need to shave a good 14-18 minutes off my time.  That's not gonna be easy.   

I had a trainer tell me the other day that once you get past your 1st mile, you're good to go.  It's that 1st mile that really challenges you.  He went on to say that once you've run 5 miles, you might as well just keep on going, just because you can.  I think I'll focus on that 1st mile for a while.  And I do happen to agree...that 1st mile is the hardest mile.  And maybe the last 1/4 of a mile...but that could be just me.  I have this annoying habit of not finishing things.  I get 3/4 of the way through a project, and I stop.  I just loose interest.  So for me, the last 1/4 is just as challenging and the first.  Maybe if I can do that first mile faster I won't mind the last 1/4 so much.  I'm not sure how I figure that to be true, but I'm willing to give it a go.

I like to move it, move it....

I love working out.  I really do.  But like any other mother/wife/woman I don't always have the time for it.  It is always a tricky balancing act.  I need to give my family, my home, my husband and myself all equal time.  And (again, like most women) I tend to put MY time at the bottom of the list.  The obvious solution is to go to bed earlier so that I can sleep enough to get UP earlier and fit in my exercise.  I'm not a morning person.  It is my LEAST favorite time of day.  But I have a friend who asked me to do the C25K with her....and SHE wants to run in the morning.  So, I'm learning to like (will probably never LOVE) morning workouts.  I do like getting it done and out of the way for the day.  I like that it gets me out of bed and starting my day at a reasonable hour.  I feel very productive.  Today my friends called at 6:25...."I'm not gonna make it."  And I collapsed gratefully back into bed.  On most days, that would have been the end of it.  Missed opportunity.  But, not today.  I *DID* finally get to the gym for a 30 minute calorie burning festival on the elliptical.  I prefer to spend at least 40 minutes, but....I took what time I could and did the best with the time I had.  The point is, there is always a way to fit it in.  It's all about choices.  I've got friends who fit their exercise in by doing 10 minute chunks here and there throughout the day.  Other friends go late at night (like 10pm).  Whatever you do, whatever choice you make, just make sure it's a choice to get out and MOVE IT.  Go walking.  Go bowling.  Golf.  Run.  Hula hoop.  Anything...as long as it's something.  You'll feel better.  You know you will.  

Hello Again!

Yup, its me. Tracey. The absentee ring leader. I'm back. For a minute.

Recently I have received numerous questions from friends and family regarding my current health and exercise status. Here is my attempt to answer them.

1. Yes, I am still working out.

2. No, I am not running much.

3. Yes, I am starting it up again. Today. For now.

4. No, I am not pregnant. Yet.

There have been lots of changes around the Hanson household over the last couple of months. Ben finished his PhD and graduated. YEA! We are now focusing on finding him a job. Not fun but essential. Sam has developed into a full toddler and is keeping me SUPER busy. Along with that, all of my jobs have EXPLODED. Lots of writing, lots of photography. With these changes, our routine has also changed. Sam is no longer content to sit still while I run. So for now, we go for walks, do workout tapes during meal and naptimes and sometimes hit the clubhouse for a run/walk while Ben's home and he is sleeping.

Luckily for all of you, a couple of days ago a I got a Facebook Message from my friend and old roommate Jessica. She just started C25K on Tuesday. She has also agreed to be a contributer. You will all LOVE her. She's a doll. I added her this morning so hopefully she will have a minute and join in the conversation soon. :)

I am even starting C25K again in support of Jess. And because Shannon asked, I may even contribute "snarky comments". Until answer #4 changes.

Fueled by fury

I have 3 kids.  Ages 7, 5, and 2.  I love them.  BUT...this morning I wanted to toss them all back in their rooms, bolts the doors shut and NOT hear or see them again for several hours.  They were fighting, and breaking things, and....I guess just being kids.  Naughty kids.  So I channeled the fury I was feeling and went for a run.  3.5 miles worth of a run.  And then I lifted weights.  I was REALLY angry and needed to work out (literally) my frustration.  I don't like being angry and frustrated with my family, but it's GREAT for my workout!  The happy endorphins kicked in and I returned to my family in a much better mood.   I packed 'em into the car and we went to the park.   They needed to run around and play too.  For whatever reason they don't fight when they are outside.  Fresh air defuses them....and if I'm lucky, they will be just a touch worn out and will go to sleep earlier tonight.  It's all worth it.  And a fury fueled run is pretty fantastic.

Portion control...or the lack thereof

So I may be testing the seriousness of the warning the doctors gave me regarding the amount of running I do.  I ran a 5K on Friday, walked a lot on Saturday, did another 5K on the elliptical on Sunday, and went running again this morning.  I just REALLY enjoy the exercise. I'm also really counting on the exercise canceling out some of my more unfortunate dietary choices (I had a piece of cheesecake tonight...it wasn't the biggest piece in the bunch, but still....I ate it and LOVED it.)  Even weight watchers gives you "extra points" for exercising.  I'm all about extra points.  I recognize that my one vice in this world is food.  Since food will always be part of my life, I need to find a way to redefine my relationship with it.   I'm starting with small steps.  I don't have dessert every evening after dinner.  I USE to do that sort of thing.  Now I rarely have dessert...and when I do, I try to keep my portion under control.  I've also figured out that despite the fact that for many years I ate like I was 2 people (and for 9 months of some of those years I was technically eating for 2, but did the baby REALLY need it's own Happy Meal?  Probably not.)  I am most certainly NOT 2 people and I don't need to have seconds.  I really don't.  That's been a hard one for me.  Portion control is something I have always struggled with.  But when I DO feel like having seconds I just think to myself, "Are you 2 people?  NO.  You are not.  You don't need seconds."  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes it doesn't.  Sometimes the bread is just THAT good.  AHHHHH....BREAD.   I could write a whole other entry about bread.  But if I start that right now, I may have to eat some.   I would need to figure out how many miles I would have to run to enjoy a roll (okay, let's be honest, it would be 2 rolls).  That might not be a bad bit of knowledge for me to obtain.  I'll work on it and let you know what I figure out...'cause I know YOU want bread too.  Don't you? 

A series of decisions

Yesterday (Thursday) I weighed myself....lowest number I have seen in YEARS...so I made a decision.  I suspended my healthy eating habits for the day.  Now, I didn't go nuts and eat a whole cheesecake (oh how I wish I *could* do that sort of thing though) but I did eat some french fries...my healthy eating nemesis.   And THEN to add to the unhealthy day, I *didn't* work out and I stayed up late.  The result:  I felt AWFUL this morning.  Not just disappointed in myself for letting go for the day, but seriously sick to my stomach.  I was convinced that the only way I was going to feel better was to get to the gym ASAP.  I was supposed to meet my running buddy.  She didn't show.  Oh how easy it would have been to just crawl right back into bed.  Instead, I went to the gym.  Reluctantly but knowing it was the right choice.  And then I was faced with another choice: track or treadmill?  To be honest, I think I run better, longer, faster, etc on the treadmill, so the easy answer would have been the track.  Guess what I chose?  The Treadmill.  I kept thinking about yesterday and knew I really needed to bring my game.  So I went with the treadmill.  And then, a miracle happened.  Despite being ditched, despite feeling craptacular, and despite not even wanting to be running at that moment, I just KEPT on running and eventually I ran 3.1 miles....which is, of course, a 5k!  And THEN, I did my arm weights.  Awesome.  I was so sweaty. Hooah!

So I come home and shower and discover that our lunch option today (we eat at the dinning hall/cafeteria on campus) was a BBQ.  Ummmmm, yummy?  Hamburgers, hot dogs, mac & cheese, potato salad....etc.  This is what sunny days are all about, right?  Wrong!  Today I grabbed my husband and our uber-cute 2 year old and we went to Panera.  They had sandwiches...I had a salad.  

And now, it's late in the afternoon, my kids are home from school and I am contemplating rewarding myself with a quiet ALONE night at Borders and an early bed time.  Sigh.  If only my children could catch that vision.

So, I had a few epiphanies today while running.  I'm going to share ONE of them today.  I was thinking, during my cool down walk about what I had just accomplished and what I have been able to accomplish since starting this.  I measure my weight loss in "decades" as in the 20's, the 30's, the 40's, etc (slap a 100 in front of them all).  I've gone down 2 decades already and I am just ounces away from a 3rd.  I remember how hard this running thing was for me 2+ decades ago.  I remember being embarrassed about my size and not wanting anyone to watch me run.  I still feel that way but I'm getting over it.  Not because I'm getting smaller, but because I realized something.  If someone strapped a back pack on my back today loaded with the total amount of weight that I have lost since beginning this, I doubt I could have run the 5K I did today.  When I see people exercising and they are heavier then I am, I think to myself one word: MORE.  NOT, they weigh more, but they work MORE, they are Stronger, they need this MORE, they are doing MORE, they will cry MORE at the end because they want it that much MORE.  And this inspires me to be MORE as well.  I don't want to weigh more, but I want to BE more.  Today, I felt like I grew a little bit MORE.  I could have walked an easier path today.  I could have had BBQ (still craving it a bit), I could have done the track instead of the treadmill, I could have crawled back into bed.  But I didn't.  Why?  Because I'm worth MORE than that.  MORE.  What a great word.

Class-y

I HEART classes.  Cardio classes, to be exact.  My very favorite and most successful class was a "Quad-Step" class.  I went every day  monday-saturday.  It was SO much fun.  I've done a variety of aerobic classes, tried The Firm videos, kick boxing, TaeBo, and most recently I gave "Zumba" a try.  I did Zumba at home using a DVD and I am SO glad.  It was fun.  It was REALLY fun.  BUT, I looked like a fool.  Zumba is basically fancy aerobic steps that you then add shaking your hips and flinging your arms about to.  With some very fun music and rhythm too.  It isn't boring.  I would love to do it again.  However, when you have hips like mine, MOMENTUM becomes a huge problem.  Swinging my hips vigorously from side to side really caused some balance issues.  The momentum of my hip shaking was a bit overpowering at times and I found myself staggering across a room while my feet tried to keep up with my hip action.  It was no a pretty sight.  So I probably won't be doing this one in a group setting anytime soon (for the safety of others).  But if you get a chance to give it a try, I would encourage you to do it.  Be prepared to shake, groove, and vibrate.  Keep a sense of humor about yourself and you'll have a great time.

On a more current events report, I was at the gym this morning at 6:45am to run.  Those of you who know me REALLY well are aware that I am NOT a morning person.  I like to stay up late and sleep in.  When I say "sleep in" I'm not talking about staying in bed until 10am, I just want to sleep uninterrupted until 8am....it's been SO long since I did this.  Even when I'm given the opportunity to sleep-in, my body is so accustomed to waking up to take care of my kids that my internal alarm clock doesn't let me sleep much past 7am.  But I would LOVE to give it a try and then be able to just lay there and not HAVE to get up.  However, since I'm a few years away from this, I might as well embrace the fact that I'm awake.  You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that I actually prefer to work out in the morning.  I like knowing that I'm done for the day and it is only 9am.  I feel SO productive.  It starts my day on a positive note.  Sure, I'm tired and I stumble to the bathroom to get dressed in the morning and longingly glance back at my sleeping husband in our snuggly bed and am tempted to just crawl back in, but I don't.   I go to the gym instead.  A couple minutes into my workout I am glad I'm there....I give myself a mental pat on the back.  Today I ran at a comfortable pace for about 25 minutes (this includes a 5 minute warm-up walk).  My comfortable pace is about 5 miles an hour...I can carry on a conversation at this pace and don't feel winded.  So it isn't my "ALL OUT" pace.  It's my leasurly jog pace.....a 12 minute mile.  I did 1.75 miles and then went in and did weights.  Arms today.  I'm already feeling it.  I'm exhausted.  I have no energy (my fault, I need to eat something).  So I'm going to go have a piece of whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter...yummy...I love melty creamy peanut butter.  And then I'm going to spend the rest of the morning packing up our basement.  We're moving.  Temporarily.  For 1 year.  Across the country.  Which brings me back to the beginning of this post.  I LOVE group exercise classes and I've already virtually scoped out several of the gyms in our soon to be new home town......I'm SOOOOO excited!  I have high hopes for my fitness routine and mixing things up.  For now, I'll run and do the gym stuff, but in a few months I'll be postin' about some pretty fun classes.  Now.....I'm off to make toast.  

Cheers!

Choice & Accountability

So...it's been a while.  I know.  There is a lot of explaining to do and NONE of it can be assessed as "excuses" 'cause I won't make 'em.  Here's the sitch:  Back in March I was cautioned by my doctors that although this running adventure was worthy and admirable, I was not taking a "healthy" approach.  What?  I'm running!  I'm losing weight!  How on earth could this possibly be considered NOT HEALTHY?!?!  Turns out that it puts a lot of stress on my already damaged and stressed out knees.  We compromised...I can run a little bit a lot, or run a lot a little bit.  Either way, the Labor Day 1/2 Marathon was out.  This made me sad.  And disappointed. And a little bit angry.  This revelations was followed up with this gem of advice, "Well, if you lose another 20 lbs, that will change things and you can run all you want."  Ummmm, what do you think I'm trying to do here?  My oh so educated doctor then asks me what else I like to do.  I indicate that I love the elliptical.  She says, "That's great.  Do that.  How do you feel about swimming?"  I gave her the "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?" look and calmly (!) informed her, "You just told me I was too fat to run.  How do you THINK I feel about swimming?" SIGH!  So where does that leave us?  Well, I'll tell you (obviously)....

I WAS running 4 miles 3 times a week.  That was too much (for now).  So I was down to 4 miles 2 times a week.  Didn't like it.  Then a very good friend of mine (who does NOT wish to release her name to the masses) asked me to train with her for a 5K.  Once again I find myself at the beginning of the Couch Potato to 5K program.  We're on week 2 and she is doing AMAZING.  I'm having a great time.  We have added weights to our running days (arms tomorrow).  I did squats (like with the big heavy pole) for the first time the other day.  Sit-ups with weights on my chest (ouch...in a good way).  And I've introduced free weights into my life.  This could turn into a love affair.  I LOVE the way my body feels after the work out and in the morning when I wake up and my muscles scream at me, I know that it is WORKING.  Better yet, the scale tells me so too.  I haven't seen numbers this low on my scale since just before becoming pregnant with my second child.  Don't get me wrong, the number is still too high and I am only a few pounds away from my cute little "Mii" on the "Wii" moving from "obese" to "over weight".  But I will celebrate that day!  Not with food (tempting as that may be) but with a new dress.  You'll know...'cause I'll wear it to church, and you can all smile with me and give me that secret little nod and wink.  Watch for it....'cause it's coming soon to a pew near you.  Baby, I'm back and I promise to be better about my blogging.  Next time I write I may share my humiliating experience with "ZUMBA".  How's that for a tempting little nugget?

So, why title this "Choice & Accountability"?  I made a choice...to run a  1/2 marathon.  I told the world about it, with hopes of that encouraging me to be more accountable to that choice.  The other day a dear friend gently but subtly said, "So what ever happened to that blog you were doing? It seems a bit empty lately."  Not in those exact words, but pretty darn close and with the same intention.  Nudge.  Nudge.  Nudge.  And with that, I find myself here again.  Blogging.  But succeeding.  I am accountable for my own actions and choices.  I'm owning this one.