Color Run 2012

While I will totally be filing the Color Run 2012 post under "Race Reports", I wouldn't really classify it as a race. Full disclosure: it was more of a party.

First, I was in no way expecting to run the whole thing.  I expected there to be too much of a crowd, plus my training kind of fell apart toward the end and I wasn't ready for 3.1 miles.  I was just there to have fun and I did.  Mainly because I had 15 of some of my most favorite people doing it with me:

I really love these people. Here we are still white.

We got up early, we carpooled in various configurations, we wore white.  We joined a huge throng of other all white people (dressed in white, that is) and moved from the parking lots to the gate of Lowe's Motor Speedway.

I wore a tutu and a white wig.
The wig was a genius move, plus:
my dream of running in a tutu= check!

Alyssa after the Yellow Station.

The start line felt like a dance party.  They were letting waves go every five minutes.  When it was our turn to go, we all took off running.  Those of our group who were serious about running (the Pavs, Jess, Daniel, Elvi) took off right away.  The rest of us attempted to stick together, but that proved hard with the crowds and the excitement, so we broke off into two groups.

At each color station (there were only 4), we stopped and walked as close as we could to the color throwers. We wanted to get as much color as possible. They tell you to shut your mouth in the Color Run tips, but I kept forgetting and would scream through the whole color station. After each color station we would take pictures of each other.

Here's the thing, though.  The color is just dust.  It gets sprinkled on you, but then you run off and it kind of flows away with the wind.  When we got to finish I was slightly disappointed in the amount of color I had absorbed.

But then at the finish line (which is a giant dance party, at least for someone like me who can't stand still when there's a good beat on), they had Color Throws every 10 minutes.  Each runner got a packet of color in their race bag and every 10 minutes they would have a coordinated throw where everyone would toss their colored powder in the air at the same time.  That was beautiful and we all ended up much more colored.  We all just hung out dancing and taking pictures and waiting for the next color throw for a super long time. It was great.

That's about it for the recap. Here are some pics for you to enjoy:

Most of our group during a color throw.

If you're wondering, the color washed right out of my clothes, except for the armpits of my shirt where I sweated. Apparently sweat makes the color stick. So now my color run shirt has blue armpits for all time. I haven't done anything with my wig or tutu, which both kind of look just gray now. I'm just not sure how to go about cleaning either of them.

Back to Square One

On Monday I weighed in after Thanksgiving and traveling and generally having no self-control, knowing there would not be a pleasant number on the scale.

I was correct.

In fact, the number on the scale was one pound higher than it was when I started the weight loss journey at the end of July in 2009. Yep, friends, I have gained back every pound of those 97 that I lost, plus one to grow on (poorly placed pun, sorry).

I had been thinking for awhile that I was going to have to start tracking my food again soon.  When I'm not tracking what I eat, I eat whatever I want. Unfortunately, what I want at any given time usually involves cookies, take out and ice cream.  And so I gain weight.

I knew this was coming, so when I saw that number on the scale on Monday,  I knew it was time to start tracking again. I chose Weight Watchers this time, and I signed up with the online system the same day.  I had to pay money to do this.  You may or may not remember that I was with sparkpeople.com through most of the last weight loss journey and it worked.  But I've tried to go back to it several times and have not been able to stick with it.

I decided to try Weight Watchers because I had to pay for it and because it's a new system for me to learn, both of which I hope will keep me interested. I HATED the first two days and felt hungry all the time.  Don't worry, the rest of the week went well.  I figured out what I can eat (unlimited amounts of fruits and veggies!) and what I can't eat much of (high carb and high fat stuff) and stopped feeling so sorry for myself.

So, while the week and this blog started off with kind of a downer, things are looking up.  I've been exercising and trying new healthy foods and drinking lots of water.  Things are good.  And kind of surprisingly, I found myself thinking yesterday that I'm feel more like myself than I have in months.  Despite the attitude I've had the last few months, I think that working hard for a big goal and not being afraid of a little sweat is more me than I ever realized before.

Weight Watchers has you set small goals, and when you achieve them, you set new goals. My first goal is 16 pounds, and I weigh in on Mondays.  I hope you'll join me on my (next) weight loss journey!

Things I can not believe I did (or did not do this week)
Only ate out twice.
NEVER ate breakfast out.
Made and consumed scrambled eggs

Things I learned this week:
Don't be too lazy to pull out a cutting board.
The tiny frying pan does have a purpose: cooking egg dishes!
Fruits and veggies are my friend

PS Check out this amazing omelet I made today. Spinach, feta and tomato!

Look at photo! It looks professional. I should
totally become a food blogger.

The Color Run

Guess what I'm doing on Saturday morning?  This:

The Color Run! It's a 5k where they douse you with a different paint color every 1k.  You ended up covered in multi-colored day-glo paint.  I'm doing it with a bunch of my crazy wonderful friends, and I'm so excited!  

I even spent yesterday making my own tutu to wear! It's long been a dream of mine to wear a tutu during a race.  You may think that's strange. I'm certainly not a girly-girl.  But something about wearing a tutu while running says to me "I can run this race while wearing a frilly get-up, I am so BA." Anyway, I've long had the tutu-wearing dream and the Color Run seems like the perfect opportunity.

So be sure to come back over the weekend to see the update complete with pictures of my crew at the Charlotte Color Run!

In the mean time, here are some pictures I stole from the Color Run's website.

Til then...stay colorful!

Bridget Jones' Diary

Last night I watched Bridget Jones' Diary with a few friends. It's one of my top three favorite movies and some of them had never seen it before.

If you've never seen it I would, of course, suggest you watch it. It's a circa 2001 classic of a 32-year-old singleton searching for love in a world full of smug marrieds assuming she's a career girl (she's not really. I mean she has a job but is not career-minded) who just won't "settle down." Perhaps a typical romantic comedy, but it's British, set in London and features a funny, loveable and plump heroine with an internal dialogue, so it was above average for me.

I fell in love with this movie when it came out in 2001. Back then I was only 21, a perpetually single college student with a weight problem who didn't really know what do with her career but thought it might be one where I would"fanny about with press releases." (quote from the movie). I identified with Bridget for these reasons, and it's been my favorite movie ever since.

I hadn't actually watched it in years, but it was still my standard answer to the "What's your favorite movie?" question.  Yesterday, I was really excited to share it with my friends, and I was almost giddy laughing at all the funny parts just slightly before they came funny. I was glad to know that I still love it.

But it got me thinking. What if I hadn't made Bridgette a heroine of mine at 21, would things be different now?  'Cause now I'm 32, just like her, and I'm still in the same place, dating-wise and weight-wise. It's like I was growing up to be her.  (I might be slightly ahead, career-wise).

I don't mean this to be a heavy post.  It just made me wonder about who I choose to be my role models and what kind of influence they have over my thoughts and habits.  I'm not saying Bridget Jones was necessarily a bad role model. She's quite funny and sometimes ridiculous, which are always traits I strive to attain.

Who is your role model?  Do you think a favorite movie can influence your life or thoughts?

PS I've had a remarkable Saturday thus far.  I finished a 2nd great book of the week, got caught up on my television from the week, received a remarkable text from my niece and sucessfully ate breakfast at home for the fifth day in a row!

PPS Someone saw I used the word "meta" in this post and asked me what it meant.  I could not explain it and then began to wonder if I really knew what it meant and if not, had I used it correctly? So I looked it up on Urban Dictionary and here is the definition:

A term, especially in art, used to characterize something that is characteristically self-referential. 

"So I just saw this film about these people making a movie, and the movie they were making was about the film industry..."
"Dude, that's so meta. Stop before my brain explodes."

Then I realized I should never have doubted myself, because I have a resplendent and indefatigable vocabulary.

Thankful Things: HOT DOG!

Guys, I'm sure I have lots of things and people to be thankful for today.

But really, I have time to think of none of those wonderful things. Because all I can think about is how thankful I am for this:

Thanks to my friend Cara, I AM LIVING MY DREAM OF BEING DRESSED AS A HOT DOG!

After learning that it was my dream to be a hot dog for Halloween, Cara saw this Hot Dog Hat while she was shopping last weekend and got it for me.  It's beautiful, whimsical and it keeps my head warm. It allows me to be a hot dog without all of the constraints of actually being a hot dog.  It's perfect.  I will wear it everywhere*. Here are a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure.

With Cara, who found this magnificent treasure.

Guys, I ate a hotdog while wearing a hot dog. So meta.
Also, how jealous is that woman in the background?? So jealous.

Hot Dog Hat from above.  ROCK ON!

I know you can not top the Hot Dog Hat, but you can try. What are you thankful for this week?  Or, if you can't think of anything, you can just tell me how much you love my hat.


*For employment purposes, I will, sadly, not wear the Hot Dog Hat to work.

Then Things I'm Thinking About This Tuesday

1) In four years, I hope I remember, I want to be a volunteer at a polling place.  I think I could have a lot of fun with that.

2) In other voting news, I want to start a tradition of watching this video every election day.


3) Changing the subject, but my dad told me that if I used Vick's Vapo Rub my cold would go away overnight.  I was desperate enough to try it. He was wrong.

4) I ran again yesterday! After two weeks off and with a slight cold, it was not exactly easy, but I did it.

5) I thought I needed new curtains because they were really dusty and I tried to wash them once and they almost fell apart. But yesterday I just vacuumed them with the hose on the vaccuum and voila! they are perfect again.

6) Once Upon a Time is really good this season.

7) I have today off for election day.  Next week is a full week, but then after that is Thanksgiving and only a two-day work week!  Awesome.

8)It's my dream to one day be a hotdog for Halloween.  If any of you see any hotdog costumes on sale, that don't look super cheap, consider buying one for me, please.  I'll totally pay you back.

9) I made non-instant oatmeal this morning. It was just okay.

10) I read a great book this weekend.  Tell the Wolves I'm Home.  I'm not a very adept book reviewer, but there was just something about the way she told this story that made it really great. I wish she had written more books.

Thankful Thursdays: THE RETURN!

One of  the things I missed during my blogger absence was my Thankful Thursdays posts. I mean, how great is it to sit and recap all of the great things in your life on a regular basis?  Answer: so great.
Here's what's got my thankful up this week:

Halloween & Costumes
I love the costume planning and execution. I love the parties. I love the food. I love coming to work in a costume and finding excuses to make deliveries around campus to show off my costume. I love that people know enough now to stop by my office to see what I've come up with this year.

Party hostess Mary Poppins and myself as the U.S. Quarter.

My co-workers

My Church

I've gone through periods in recent years when I've pulled away from my church community and even "shopped around" for a new church (mainly because I live 30 minutes away from church and that drive started to get to me). I realized a few months ago that this was silly.  Good Shepherd is my church home, and I am an important part of the community there.  I think what I've been learning is that church is what you make of it. If you just attend regular service and don't get involved in the ministries, you're missing out on so muc,h and it's no one's fault but your own. I've rededicated myself to attendance and finding new avenues of service at my church.

My Half-Birthday!

It may seem silly, but half birthdays are fun too. Today is mine. Feel free to leave half birthday well wishes in the comments or even send presents! I'm coolio with that.

Halloween Episodes of My Favorite TV Shows

These episodes always have either excellently crafted or extremely clever costumes, which is what Halloween must be like when you have a full writing staff and costume designers at your beck and call. There were a lot of good ones this, year, but I think Nick from the New Girl's Bee Arthur was genius.

Disney is Calling
This week I booked a vacation with my sister and her family of five to go visit Mickey Mouse and all his friends in January. I can't wait to experience Disney with my nieces and nephew!

 

Lots of great things happening this week. What are you thankful for?