The sun will come out tomorrow ...

The plan for today had been to do my first fourteener and you'd have been reading about that late tonight or some time tomorrow.

Instead, we got rain on and off all night last night, and this morning as well.  And because I'm a native and we live in a drought state*, I'm not allowed to complain about rain (PSA:  DO NOT COME TO COLORADO AND COMPLAIN ABOUT RAIN.  EVER.  WE WILL RUN YOU OUT OF TOWN).  Truly; I'm not.  I really do love when we get rain.  But it did put a little crimp in our plans for today ....

And in fact, the rain wasn't really the only reason I didn't go today.  For the last 3 days, I've been battling a summer cold and/or allergy something-or-other that makes me feel less than 100%.  So although I really really wanted to do that hike today, it's probably better that I don't; and so I did feel a little relieved when I got the email last night that it was cancelled for sure.

In preparation for this epic hike, I have a new Camelbak, and I had my trailrunning shoes ready, and I'd thought a lot about what I'd wear, and what food I'd take, and ... well.  It will just have to wait for another day.  And as you can imagine, I was still disappointed that it was cancelled

And so I woke up this morning feeling a little sorry for myself.  A little pathetic.  A little full of nose.  A little scratchy of throat.  And a lot "wah! I'm not doing a fourteener!"

And then I saw this:

down 75 lbs at 175!

And now I feel a lot better :)




*Much of Colorado is a very dry state averaging only 17 inches (430 mm) of precipitation per year statewide and rarely experiences a time when some portion of the state is not in some degree of drought. The lack of precipitation contributes to the severity of wildfires in the state such as the Hayman Fire, one of the largest wildfires in American history, and the Fourmile Canyon Fire of 2010, which until the Waldo Canyon Fire of June 2012, and the Black Forest Fire approximately a year later, was the most destructive wildfire in Colorado's recorded history.

Yes, I really did walk a half marathon!

And I'd like to tell you about it :)

Warning:  this entry is long, picture-heavy, and may not be in complete sentences.

about to begin our epic adventure

So ... where to begin?

It was hard.
but not impossible.

Cheering Gramma and the Boyz

We set (and kept) such a good pace that my poor brother-in-law who had planned out all the cheering spots on the route, based on me telling him I did 15-minute miles ... totally missed us (but they were all there yelling at the end!).  I felt horrible that he'd worked so hard to get my mom and 3 squirrelly little boys to those spots on the map and then he felt bad for not meeting us and then Sharon made a good point:  if we were missing our cheerleaders because we were walking at such a fantastic pace, that was a pretty awesome thing.  Also, at least one of the boys thought one of us would win and/or break a record.  Love that.

There was a point at which I thought, "am I going to have to stop?"
and shortly after that I thought, "I'm just going to have to tell Sharon to go on ahead and I'll just finish it much more slowly."
I got a little bit choked up when I realized we were on the final incline into the stadium.
...and shortly after that we were done!

Yes, I'd do it again.
Although maybe not in cold, wet Seattle (but there's something to be said for sea-level).

obligatory fog shot

And in case I didn't make it clear in my "night before the marathon" post, let me be clear:  although my legs will never be shorter, losing all this weight has made a HUGE difference in how I feel about flying.  Seriously.  While not actually "comfortable", my flights to/from Seattle and again at Christmas to/from Vermont were totally new experiences for me.  Flying 50+ pounds lighter is just plain nothing like it was when I was heavy(ier).  Fitting into the seat and not spending the entire flight pushing down the armrest that my fat is pushing up makes the whole flight so pleasant!  And although I never used a seat belt extender, I'm pretty sure I was on the way to needing one.  Thankfully I will never experience that and even though my hips are still pretty wide, they now fit in the standard coach seat just fine, thankyouverymuch.  Amazing. 

Love this pic of my sis and her oldest

There's a picture at my sister's house I've always liked.  It's from when we lived in Turkey, and for some reason my sister (age 5?  6? no older) went jogging with my dad, who was the Chief of Police on base.  The pic was taken by an "official" photographer and I think ended up in the base newspaper or something.  When I saw this one of my sister her and her (oldest son) manchild, I got choked up because it reminded me of that other picture. I love their smiles here, I love that even though she told him to go on ahead without her he stayed with her, and I love the man he's becoming!



And here is my fabulous oldest niece.  Her foot hurt, and she had to slow down, but you'd never know it from this pic.  This is the happy, sunny girl I have known since ... hmmm ... since she was 4 months old at our wedding.  I love this beautiful, smart, funny, thoughtful girl so much!  I'm so, so glad she did this race with us!

And here we are, about to cross the finish line.  I realized later that all the stuff I had in my vest pockets made me look pregnant, but oh well. Those kinds of things don't actually bother me as much anymore.  Funny, that.  Also?  In all the official pictures of the race, my mouth is open.  I may or may not have talked Sharon's ear off.  Whoops.

Here is the whole squad at the end.  I  seriously love this shot. We did it!  We all did it! (sis is wearing a warming blanket -- that question has come up a lot)  See our medals?  They are surprisingly substantial-feeling.  And I wished I'd worn mine on the flight home.  Oh well.  Now I know.







And here are some of our cheerleaders and two of the runners, warming up ... in the warming room.  I have very cute nieces and nephews, no?






If you are considering walking or running a half marathon, I can recommend a great post-marathon routine:

• Go to the evening service at church.
• Try to stay awake.  It's HARD.  I'm not gonna lie.
• Have Chipotle for dinner (seriously, a burrito as big as your head is a GREAT way to begin to fill the huge hole in your gut that won't be satisfied).
• Followed by chocolate chip cookie dough.
• And a pedicure the next day.

chocolate chip cookie dough: post marathon win

• 
  

Or a lemon-basil martini the next.  I recommend all of the above :)

It's the little things ...

My RoadID came!  I think I've mentioned before that when I walk by myself, the hubs has asked me to carry ID.  For some reason, this is a big annoyance/inconvenience to me :)  Oh sure, I want to be identifiable if I pass out on the side of the road, but taking my license in and out of my wallet, putting it in the back of my phone case every time I walk, and then remembering to put it BACK in my wallet after I'm done is REALLY annoying.  If I walk with a friend, I just walk out the door, but by myself?  Ugh, the annoyance.  I can't explain why this is such a problem for me, but I live in fear of not remembering to put my license back in my wallet!

Maybe this isn't one of your "things", or maybe you haven't carried ID for outside walks/runs/etc., before, but now that I've mentioned it, you realize you should, too.  Well.  Look no further, friends!  I have been saying to my husband for several months that I'm sure there's somewhere on the Internet where I can order a set of dog tags, or something like them, and stop with the license messing around-ness.  And I was right!  Remember that 5K I did?  On the back of our race bibs was an ad for ... you guessed it:  Road ID!  Yay!

And ... because I ordered one, I can pass on a small discount to my friends :)  And ... because the suggested letter they sent me tickled me, I paste it below with a grin:

Dear friends,

I just ordered one of the best products ever. It's called a Road ID - perhaps you've heard of it. If you haven't, go to their website and check it out. Road ID is a great product that could save your life someday.

When I ordered, they gave me a coupon that I could pass along to my friends. Here's the coupon number:

Coupon Number: ThanksMargaret18361476

The coupon is good for $1 off any Road ID order placed by 11/17/2012. To order, simply go to RoadID.com or click the link below:

http://www.RoadID.com/?CID=ThanksMargaret18361476

If you prefer, you can call them at 800-345-6336.

You can thank me later,

Margaret Vincent

Oh by the way, their website is awesome, the customer service is outstanding, and the owners are very smart and good looking.

I also posted this code on a FB group of people trying to be healthy, and I have no idea if anyone used it or not, but the email said it could be used 20 times by November 17.  So ... if you want to ID yourself when outside ... via dog tags, a bracelet, a shoe tag or whatever, check it out!

Also and because I loved it, I'm sharing this too:  my friend Mol pinned this list of 50 running tips.  It's a great, informative, helpful list.  Including #41:  There's no shame in walking.

...which also made me grin.

Officially Official

It's official.  I've bought a plane ticket and everything.

I'm going to walk the Seattle Half Marathon!

Just so you know, I blame Sharon for this.  And my sister.  But basically, Sharon figured out that I'd been walking plenty and could probably do it, so she convinced me to come visit my sister for Thanksgiving.

So that's what I'm doing.  Or trying to do, anyway.  Here is the training plan I'm following.  Based on when the marathon is (November 25), I'm currently on week 7, which required a lot of discussion with my sister.  The conversation started with, "I've been walking almost 7 days a week since May.  Why would I LOWER the amount of walking I'm doing to prepare to walk the most I've ever walked?" (by the way, I still don't understand this, but I'm following the plan)

So in 7 1/2 weeks, I will be attempting to walk 13.1 miles.  The funny thing is that the day after Sharon contacted me, I spent my whole walk trying to decide if it was 13 miles, or 13 kilometers.  It's miles, in case you were wondering too.

My brother said he didn't think he'd join us, but he'd watch the race on ESPN.  I'm certain they'll be interviewing us.  Full disclosure:  I think my sister isn't even going to walk with me and Sharon (nice, right?) - she and her oldest will be running the half marathon.  Yikes!  Who would want to run 13 miles? (Let alone 26?)

Also funny?  I just typed "marathong".

Wish me luck :)

A post that took 2 weeks: Maintain discipline, soldier!

These events take place from September 8 - September 22.

(a nod to the show "24")

My husband is out of town, and this is probably my biggest challenge yet, foodly speaking.  You see, when he is home, I cook meals and eat normal food at normal times like a normal person.  When he is out of town, I buy Cool Ranch Doritos, Sour Cream & Cheddar Ruffles, huge containers of Red Vines, and generally eat what I want when I want.  Now that I think about it, given the amount of travel he did in the last 5-ish years, I should probably weigh about 500 lbs!

There's some exaggeration in that, but there's also a lot of truth in it.  So now I have two weeks in which to "maintain discipline, soldier".  And the thing is that since this is a public blog, I'm not going to post this entry until he's back home, safe and sound.  I'm not a fan of advertising to the intertubes that I'm home alone.

So.  He's been gone for 4 1/2 days, and I am still -- for the most part -- under control.  More importantly in the self-discipline department:  I've worked out every day he's been gone.  I think that, more than anything, should keep me on track.

So now I'll add a couple pics I've taken recently, and save this post in my drafts :)

Sept 12, got one :)

Sept 11, need a haircut

Oh, and I guess I'm doing mostly ok, food-wise.  I'm  down 36 pounds today (September 12)!

Something else, in case you missed it.  This happened while he was gone:

September 18, down 40#

I made it to his return without gaining!  Yay!  And now I'm plateau'd at -40.  But I'm ok with that :) 

Good Equipment is Good: product placement

If you've exercised for any amount of time at all (or if you've tried and then stopped, partly because of "equipment"), you know it's actually helpful to have good shoes (as I discussed here).  If you're walking or running (and you're a girl, I suppose), it's helpful to have a cute running skort (as I discussed here), or at minimum, some sort of athletic pants with pockets (I've discussed my need for pockets ad nauseum; won't bore you with links).  You also need good/motivational music to get going (as I mentioned here).  Trust me; I'm the Queen of Excuses and I KNOW how hard it is to get going!  Let me tell you unequivocally that eliminating the "bad equipment" or "no equipment" excuse is helpful and will get you off the couch and out of the house sooner.

And so today I was pleased to find a new piece of equipment that I love!  Last night I went to a "favorite things" party ...

Sidebar:  a "favorite things" party is loosely based on Oprah's annual "Favorite Things" episodes.  Basically, you bring a number (we did 3) of items you love (we also put a dollar limit on it because we are not Oprah), tell your friends about them, and then take some items home.  We distributed them in traditional White Elephant fashion, but you could do it any way you want.

... and my friend Ash brought a package of headbands that she loves.  She talked about how regular headbands always slide off or slide back while you're working out (and sometimes you don't even know it!), but THESE didn't.  Well, she certainly talked about it like she knew what she was saying, so I believed her.  And I took one for a spin this morning.

Top left:  me in the headband, before walking
Top right:  the packaging (there's French text too, so it's probably even available in The Canadia!)
Bottom left:  me after 5.5 miles:  HEADBAND INTACT!  Repeat:  Headband intact!
Bottom right:  I even put my pony tail up in a skank bun just after mile 2 and the headband stayed in place!

So there you have it:  a headband that will stay on all the way to Redbox (to return a movie) and back.  On fine, thin hair, even!  Yay Ash - I love your favorite thing!

Encouragement!

Friends, let me encourage you.  Here's what I learned this week ... which is ironic, because I already knew it.  On Wednesday, I just wanted to drink a salt shaker.  Really.  I just. wanted. salt.  So I finished the leftover potato chips from Saturday.  Then I went to the store for groceries and something else jumped into my basket.  They're new! They're from Tostitos!  They are BAKED THREE CHEESE QUESO!  (whatever that is)  And so of course when I got home, I ate them too (no, not the whole bag! what do you think I am - a monster?).

Baked Three Cheese Queso!

I know what you're thinking:  "how is this encouragement, exactly?"

Well, I'll tell you.  You know I'm using loseit.com to track what I'm eating/how I'm moving.  I watch it like a hawk from day to day, to be honest.  But it's also great for watching cumulative data.  For example, in looking at this week's summary, I can see that already for this week, I am 1,114 calories under my budget.  Those are all exercise calories (believe you me; I am NOT starving myself!), but regardless, I am under budget.  So after I ate all the salt in the house on Wednesday, I was sure I'd wake up on Thursday with an "up" arrow on the scale.

SHOCK OHMYWORD I AM SHOCKED!

I was down a half pound.

And that, my friends, is the power of cumulative activity in combination with eating well.  Many "diet" programs have the concept of a "cheat day", or a down day, or a day when you don't count points, and believe you me, I am not a medical professional, so you probably shouldn't listen to me anyway,  but ... if you pay attention to what you're doing, and are in a regular exercise program (walking counts!), then the occasional Baked Three Cheese Queso day will not kill you.

One of my brothers put it this way:  "Day-to-day variation seems to be related more to the water content of your body and the material content of your digestive system than to the fat content of your body."  In other words, try to poop before you weigh yourself :)