The Eat-at-Home Bet

Weekends have always been the days I've allowed myself to splurge. I usually eat out multiple meals over the course of the weekend. I really think that was part of the reason for my success with weight loss. I wasn't on a diet 24/7. When I was doing my best with weight loss, I was strict during the week and allowed myself to go over my calories for two days each week, enjoying good meals, usually in the company of friends.

The problem is that lately I've been eating out more and more.  Weeknights, mid-week lunches and weekends, it was all fair game.  Heck, for the past couple of weeks I've had Moe's (my number one favorite restaurant) at least twice a week and usually two days in the row.  Not healthy.

So when I realized I had no big plans this past weekend - no birthdays to celebrate, no places to travel, no work obligations, no mud to slog through (thank goodness for a rest!), I issued myself a challenge. Could I go a whole weekend without eating out?

The answer: YES!  I actually can't believe I did it.  I was definitely strongly tempted more than once.  But I just kept thinking about all of the food I had in the fridge and about how I didn't want to lose this little bet with myself. I didn't tell anyone about the challenge, but I just didn't want to let myself down

And guess what else? It's Tuesday, and I still haven't eaten out. I'm on a six day streak!  This is so much better for me and for my wallet. Plus, it's given me a slight boost that I set a goal, a tough one for me, and I stuck with it and accomplished it.

Now I'm going to see how many days I can go without eating out. I'm not giving up on eating out forever; I know that kind of deprivation would just lead me to overindulge eventually. But I do want to be better about choosing when to eat out.  Meeting friends for dinner or celebrating birthdays or weddings are definitely  good reasons to eat out.  Grabbing take-out just because I feel like it when I leave work is not.

Thankful Thursdays: October 20

It's Thursday, one of my favorite days of the week. Plus, it's another Thankful Thursdays!

Today I'm thankful for:

Team Ridiculous

I wouldn't have been able to do the Mud Run without them. And without the Mud Run, I wouldn't have had these amazing stories and pictures and one fantastic accomplishment.

Someone Like You

I was hesitant to jump on the Adele bandwagon. Seemed like everyone just instantly raved about her, and I didn't really love her first song, "Rolling in the Deep." But this song came out and it just makes me want to sing along at the top of my lungs.  I also think it should be part of a movie montage.


Thankful Lists
I'm thankful that I've started this weekly ritual.  It's a great way to remind myself to look for the positives on a regular basis.


Battle Wounds

I'm thankful that I have some cool scrapes, but also that I came through the Mud Run with only these few minor scrapes and some dirty fingernails.

A video of the Mud Run

Kristy's husband Joe filmed the last few obstacles for us and edited it into a cool video.  Please keep in mind that the footage you are seeing was taken AFTER we'd been on the course doing similar for obstacles for TWO HOURS. We're moving pretty slow at this point, but you can see some of our awesome team work and a lot of mud.

Mud Run Guest Blog featuring Abi

I asked for a volunteer from my awesome mud run team to write a guest blog so that you guys could see the Mud Run from another's perspective. Abi volunteered and below is her top 10 moments of the Mud Run. For the record, many of her favorite things are mine too. I will forever have an amazing snapshot in my head of Abi being yelled at by Marines as she waited to jump in the muddy lake.  See that entry below for Abi's thoughts on it.

Mud Run Top 10 in roughly the order they occurred:

the atmosphere of the place
I arrived at the race before the others and got to scope it out on my own, which I loved.  I loved seeing so many people walking around covered in mud, the persistent thud of the bass from the very loud music, free stuff, including a free bottle of water with Philippians 4:13 stickered on it,  and being alone in a crowd.

my nap in the grass
Before the race started, Jill wanted to find the spectator areas, but I just wanted to rest.  So I curled up on the grass in the shade, using my hat as a pillow, dreamed of the race, prayed, and thought of the intros to Chariots of Fire and The River Wild, which I had watched the night before.

Amie's mojo
I had a reserve of enthusiasm going in to the race, but it was Amie's strength and determination that carried us through. She was always encouraging, always ready with a thigh to stand on to hoist us up, in addition to just being super strong.

getting to talk with Kristy
I did not know Kristy at all going in to the race.  We are friends on FB from Good Shepherd, but I don't think we'd ever had a conversation previously.  I was looking forward to getting to spend time with her, especially since she has been a mom a few more years than I have and because she is exceptionally beautiful, in a way that I have long thought must reflect what is inside her heart.  Anyway, running beside her and talking, particularly on the zig-zag path through the woods, was a peaceful, wonderful experience.

the muddy lake
I had considered going in to the race how to respond if a Marine got in my face and started yelling at me.  The only thing I had decided was that whether or not I obeyed his or her orders, I would strive to be loving and respectful.  We exited a water-filled z-trench and climbed a little hill. At the top of the hill were two marines.  At the bottom of the hill was a beautiful muddy water-filled hole.  I paused in awe of it.  I knew there would be swimming.  I knew the water would be cool and refreshing.  I knew I would enjoy jumping in from the top of the hill and splashing in the cool water.  Still, I paused.  The others went on ahead of me.  I did not move.  All this time a female marine was in my face, yelling at the top of her voice, "This is a mud run--run!  Jump!  Don't be standing there at the top of my trench!  Move!" and other such things.  Still, I didn't move.  I was laughing.  Laughing and laughing and laughing in the sunshine at the top of that little muddy hill.  Finally, the others made it to the other side and called for me.  I snapped out of it and jumped, and it was wonderful.

losing my wedding ring
This could be a much longer story.  The truth is that I would rather still have my ring, but the special thing is that Jill was with me when I bought it, and she was with me when it slipped off of my finger somewhere in the creek and went tumbling along the bottom towards the sea.  Both times we were on adventures.  That makes it special.

the wall/cargo net
These obstacles were my favorite because they were the only ones where teams helped each other.  After being hoisted up by my team, a strong guy lifted me (with ONE of his arms!) to the top.  Then, they helped a guy from another team up to the top.  With the cargo net, teams took turns holding the net taut to make climbing easier.

Jill carrying me on her back
The last obstacle required two pairs of teammates to carry each other for about 50 yards on their backs.  We had decided previously that Jill would carry me and Kristy would carry Amie.  It was difficult to stay on Jill's back because we were covered from head to toe with some slippery mud that Jill kept saying resembled elephant dung.  Anyway, when we were about halfway through, Jill said, "This is symbolic.  I am now carrying you for all the times you have carried me on my journey."  I laughed, but her words filled me with great joy.  I said, "I would kiss you but I don't want to get my hair muddy."  "You mean your lips."  "Yeah."  I was in bad shape at this point, and slightly delusional, but it was wonderful being with friends.

communal showers
If you have never taken a co-ed shower outside with about 50 partially clothed people, you can probably not properly appreciate this experience, but it is one I enjoyed most thoroughly.  Lines like, "Hey!  A bar of soap!  Who wants it?" and, "Did I get all the mud off of my ______?"abounded.  I think the world needs more communal showers.

chicken salad for the soul
It was Amie's dad's birthday, and her parents had brought the most perfect, sumptuous supper imaginable.  I think I ate about half a pack of Ritz crackers topped with Chick-fil-A chicken salad, all prepared by Amie as she and Jill recounted the highlights of the race to Amie's parents and my mom, and I recovered for my long drive home.  Listening to them do this is familiar to me--catching a shark, swinging on a giant rope swing, skydiving, and swimming beneath a massive waterfall have all elicited similar experiences that are a part of sharing adventures together... and something that brings me great joy.

Mud Run: in pictures

 Pre-race muscle posing rocks

So happy to be slogging through mud!

(Really, we were just excited to see our fans, I think)

Mud is hilarious

Amie, Kristy and I climb one of two fifteen foot walls.  Really, not a bad 

challenge, because the slats make them easy to climb. The mud covered 

hands, however, presented the challenge.

Future FB profile pic?

We are tough. And muddy.

Team Ridiculous

That Mud Run was both the hardest physical challenge I've ever done and one of the best days ever.  I'm going to try and recap it here for you, but it will be tough.

First, our team name.  I don't remember whose idea it was, and I had some team name envy when I looked over the list of teams. However, we were about halfway through the race when I realized it was the most perfect name possible.  Voluntarily crawling through mud and hoisting myself over gigantic walls is RIDICULOUS.  But we took each obstacle one at a time and we conquered them all only as a TEAM, which is what made it such a successful day.

Speaking of team, there is no way I could have done any of it with these four amazing women.

Team Ridiculous: Amie, Me, Kristy, Abi
I need to work on my tough face.

The key to the mud run was working as a team, and that is one of the things we did best.  Each obstacle we did together.  We mastered the cheerleader's tool of standing on the upper thighs of two friends to give  a boost on the climbing obstacles.Whether it was climbing over five foot tall walls (3), conquering the many over/under logs or the dreaded monkey bars, we did it all together by standing on the backs or the thighs of our friends.  The last obstacle we had to literally carry two team mates about 100 yards on our backs.  It was a very symbolic of how we accomplished the whole race.

Highlights

The cargo net was a favorite of some of my team mates.  We had to climb a cargo net, that was maybe 15 feet tall and loose at the bottom (which means it swayed when you hung on it.) At the top, you swung your leg over a log and then came down a similar net on the other side.  The great thing was, teams helped other teams here, by holding the cargo net taut.  I can't believe I completed this one and it wasn't even that hard.

The 10 foot solid wall was another great one where teams helped each other.  We boosted Abi up first and someone who was sitting on top of the wall from another team, just grabbed her arm and yanked her up.  She disappeared so fast, that person was strong.Then Amie and Kristy boosted me up, but they couldn't get me high enough for Abi to pull me up and I couldn't reach to grab the top.  In step two gentlemen who grabbed my feet, along with Amie and Kristy, and boosted my feet up over the top of their heads so that I could clamber up on top with Abi. From there, I pulled up Amie and Kristy as the two guys boosted them from the ground.  Then Amie and I reached over to pull our new guy friends up too.  

I absolutely loved this forever-long river obstacle.  It was only a foot or so deep, but the water was icy cold and so refreshing.  It also cleaned off the first few rounds of mud.There were logs buried in the river bed so often that you were continually tripping. I tripped once early on and landed face down in the water.  From then on, I floated down river, using my arms to propel me forward. It wasn't swimming, more like aggressive floating.  Anyway, it was way faster than the people who walked (which was everyone else except for Abi who took cues from me), because they had to go slow so they wouldn't trip on the hidden logs. I just floated over most of them. I felt like an alligator, floating along, with just my head out of the water, and loved it.

The steel cable crossing was also fun.  A steel cable stretched across a mud pit. There was also a slightly slack rope stretched across at head height.  You could hold onto it, but the combination of the two meant that you were continually swaying as you inched your way across.  I screamed every time I swayed, which I'm sure was entertaining for the Marine and other teams watching.  Amie started laughing, which made me start laughing, which made me almost fall off. Laughter is my Kryptonite!  Bonus: it was fun and I made it across without falling in!

Lowlights
I could not run much of the race in between obstacles. It is my one regret; that I didn't build up my running enough before hand.  Plus, I was continually drenched in watery mud or thick grey mud, which made running difficult and affected my attitude a bit.

The lame and sheer amount of hills we had to run up one side of and down the other.  There were several obstacles built around either running up and down the side of natural hill continuously or running up the side of a hill made from a load of dirt that had been dumped there for the mud run - and then down the other side.  These were not fun obstacles in any way, but they were tough, oh-so tough.

Other obstacles, there were many over/under logs of varying heights - from 3 feet off the ground (easy) to 5 feet of the ground (more difficult); there were many logs you had to crawl under in a pit of mud; there were many more walls of varying heights; there was a rope swing across a mud pit and a Tarzan swing across a mud pit (the Tarzan swing is pretty much impossible to do no matter how fit you are- you have to change ropes mid swing and continue doing this about six times).  When we fell in the mud pit at the tarzan swing we had to do 20 pushups as punishment for failing to complete the obstacle.

So you saw our team's before picture above.  I'll post more pics in a follow up blog later this week. But first, here's our awesome finish picture:

Me, Kristy, Amie and Abi, covered chin to toe in mud.

I've taken two showers, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I will be cleaning mud residue from my body for days to come.

I'm sure you can not possibly have any questions as I went into far to great a detail above, but if there's anything you're wondering let me know.  I'd love to answer any questions you have!

Today's the Day!

I got a fabulous night's sleep and woke this morning ready and eager to take on the Mud Run!

Secretly, I'm still nervous as hell, but here's my thought process:
1) This mud run is going to happen.
2) All four of us will survive.
3) We will have amazing stories and even better pictures.
4) I can't wait!

Have I told you there are 2,000 teams of four competing today? They stagger start all day long, beginning at 7 a.m. That means that as I'm writing this, already 500 teams have started.  And I still have to finish getting ready, meet up with my friends, DRIVE TO COLUMBIA and wait around for a couple of hours before I start.  Wow.

The cool thing is I know a couple of people who are competing too. Special shout out to this chic for getting her Mud on today. CRUSH it, Cindy!


That's all I got for now.  GO TEAM RIDICULOUS!











PS. My semi formal event was last night and I went with the purple dress. We pretended like it was prom and took pictures before hand. Plus, they had life-size cut outs of our school's first president and some of the women in uniform from the early days.  I really, really love life-size cut outs.

Thankful Thursdays: October 13

Today I'm thankful for:

The Moe's Coke machine
This beauty allows over 100 beverage combinations. My favorites are Vanilla Diet Coke, Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke or Peach Sprite.

That I got to see this cutie last weekend:


Pajama pants
I only wish it would become fashionable to wear them all day every day. Remember college when it was acceptable to wear them in public? Anyone?


Skirts
Even though the whether has turned cooler, I'm still hanging on to my skirt classics.  They're just so much more comfortable.


What are you thankful for this Thursday?