Books of 2010

 The Books of 2010

For the first time this year I kept a book log of all of the books I read.  I read 60 books in 2010!

There is a lot of juvenile fiction on this list, but it's actually some of the best stuff on the list :) And too much chick lit crap, but what can I say?

 

Let me know if you have any questions or need a book recommendation!

 

Here they are in chronological order:

1. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
2. A View from Saturday
3. The Battle of the Labyrinth
4. The Last Olympian
5. The Graveyard Book
6. Higher Power of Lucky
7. Empire Grill
8. Running for Mortals
9. Film Club
10. Name of the Wind
11. Huge
12. Curly Girl
13. Nanny Returns
14. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (first time ever finishing it)
15. Water for Elephants
16. Size 12 is Not Fat
17. Size 14 is Not Fat Either
18. Big Boned
19. Queen of Babble
20. Queen of Babble in the Big City
21. Queen of Babble Gets Hitched
22. Last Song
23. The Help (one of the best books on this list!)
24. Eat, Pray, Love
25. Stuff Christians Like
26. The Actor and the Housewife
27. Princess Diaries
28. Boy next Door
29. Boy meets Girl
30. Princess in the Spotlight
31. Princess in Love
32. Princess in Waiting
33. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time
34. Book Thief
35. Princess in Pink
36. Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals
37. Best Friends
38. Been There, Done That
39. Make the Impossible Possible
40. One Day
41. Pope Joan
42. Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life
43. Scot Pilgrim vs. the World
44. The Hunger Games (one of my favorites from the year!)
45. Darcy’s Story
46. Catching Fire
47. Mockingjay
48. City of Bones
49. City of Ashes
50. Marathoning for Mortals
51. Red Pyramid
52. Gregor the Overlander
53. City of Ember
54. Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane
55. City of Glass
56. Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods
57. Gregor and the Marks of the Secret
58. The Lost Hero
59. Gregor and the Code of Claw
60. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

Sickness

It's been a week since Christmas. I wanted to let you know that I am eating fairly normally, but I am still not counting calories and making a big effort.  The main reason has been sickness. I've had a bad cold all week and it has zapped me of strength and a will to try.  I haven't gotten in a work out since last Sunday when I blogged about my run.  That may be the longest stretch I've gone without a workout during this whole 17-month journey, but I'm not really feeling guilty about it.  

My main efforts will begin again this weekend as I make my routine trip to the grocery store and make my meals in preparation for returning to work on Monday. I hope that then I can be healthy and back on track.  I need to get rid of these last few pounds so I can mark this goal off my list!

A Few Looks at the Past Year and a Half

My parents gave me a sweet digital picture frame for Christmas, and one of the crazy things about loading pictures on it has been to see the difference in my body shape through out the last two years.   Here are a few pictures, to give you an idea.

June 2009



July 2009





August 2010



September 2010













October 2009





November 2009



 

December 2009


 

January 2010













February 2010

March 2010



April 2010



May 2010



June 2010





July 2010

 

August 2010





September 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!

One of my favorite things about this time of year are the year-end lists.  Magazines, web sites, newspapers, count down the top ten movies of the year or the top stories of the year.  I like to read over these and remember little tidbits that I had forgotten.  Like did you remember that 2010 was the year LOST ended and Rue McClanahan died? That's both crazy and sad.

So I thought I do a little year-end wrap up here on the blog as well. A top five healthy living memories list from my life:
2010 was the year that I:
5) Climbed the rock wall at Winthrop.
4) Sweated it out in the Insanity workout program with Shaun T and a bunch of crazy co-workers.
3) Went on a beach vacation with my family and to Las Vegas with friends and enjoyed good food. Then came home and got right back on track with my weight loss. (An amazing feat of strength!)
2) Made it to 90 pounds lost and bought my victory boots.
1) Ran my first 5k, my second 5k and my first 10k.  I guess you could say I caught the racing bug.


The other great thing about the end of the year is that it is no time to rest on your laurels.  It's also a great time to look ahead and set new goals. In 2011, I will:
1) Lose 100 + pounds.
2) Visit England and France and my friend Stephanie Hardy.
3) Run my 2nd 10k (January 22nd!) and hopefully a sprint triathlon. I'm still thinking about a half marathon. Maybe.
4) Visit the doctor for a physical for the first time in two years.
5) Celebrate my parents' 40 years of marriage!
6) Read the entire Bible.


What are you proud of from the past year and what do you hope to accomplish in the next year?  Share in the comments section below! It could be anything, please don't feel your accomplishments need to be limited by feats of strength or healthy eating.

24 to 16

Another edition of Memory Mondays...
I remember someone asked me what size I would like to be when I finished. I think when I told them I needed to lose more than 100 pounds, they felt overwhelmed on my behalf and thought it would be better for me to think in terms of clothing sizes.

You may as well know, I started at a size 24 in pants.  At the time I was asked this question I was a size 22.  I believe my answer was like, "I would LOVE to be a size 16. I haven't been that small since my early high school years.  Being size 14 would be even more amazing, but size 12 is not even on my radar; it's impossible.

I'm now wearing a size 16 in pants and have been since it turned cold outside. When I had this conversation, a 16 seemed too good to wish for.  A size 16 means you can shop at most stores and find clothes that fit.  In the past I've had to shop only in stores or sections for plus-size women.  Shopping has actually become kind of a fun activity for me, instead of something I dread.

A 14 once seemed impossible, but now it is within possibility. I even have a few pairs, donated to me from my friend Kati, washed, ready and waiting for me in my dresser.  I can't wait to get to wear them!

Post-Christmas Round Up

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you all had a great holiday with your families.  I did.  Christmas for me means lots of time with my parents, my siblings and my adorable nieces and nephews.

It was also my first white Christmas that I recall. It started snowing hard mid-morning on Christmas Day and pretty much snowed all day here in Alabama.  It didn't accumulate much, not like it did in Charlotte, but it was beautiful to watch falling softly out the windows.

I know I write a lot about running. I hope it doesn't bore you, but I guess it's such a favored topic because it continues to challenge me, and is easier to be honest about than food.  Anyway, I took two much needed days of rest from exercise on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Before that, I had exercised for 14 straight days, and had doubled up several of those days.  I needed to fit in a long run of 3.5 miles over the weekend, and fully expected to do it, until it started snowing on Christmas.  Somehow, I just wasn't interested in running with snow or ice on the ground.  So, I guess I kind of wrote it off then, but then my sister reminded me today.

So I headed to a park just off of downtown Leeds, because circling my parents' neighborhood could be maddening on a longer run. Although when I got to the park, half of the trails were closed due to construction, which made the available paths even less than what I would've had in the neighborhood.  So I took off running towards downtown and then ran back to the park and circled a few more times.  It was amazing. I don't know if it was the days of rest, the extra fuel I've had lately (delicious Christmas goodies), or the new scenery, but it was a great run.  It was 3.5 miles, and it flew by (even though it was 30 degrees, and with wind chill it felt like 20).  So I think my new thing will be whenever I'm out of town somewhere, I will take my running shoes and get to know the place on my two feet with a run.  There's so much more to see that way.

I'm still continuing not to weigh or count calories.  I will get back to this when life gets back to normal, but for now it has been nice to have a mental vacation from it all. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself there before Christmas, and I don't like it when I'm like that.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!  Care to share what your favorite memory of Christmas 2010?  Mine was probably my niece telling us over and over again "Nice to meet you, I'm Caitkin Rose Sookey" or singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."  My least favorite was definitely the lack of sleep I got from having a baby in the house...I don't know how parents do it. I require too much sleep.

Inspiration in Video Format

I found this running video on another blog I read.  It is a heart wrenching tale of one man's journey to lose weight through running.  It's a good dose of inspiration.You do have the power to change.  Merry Christmas Eeve!

Water

If you've ever read anything about weight loss or tried to lose weight yourself, you know that one of the first things the diet books, experts, websites, etc., tell you is to drink lots of water.  This simple change can make a big difference in your weight loss.  I've seen it myself, even if I can't explain the science behind it. 

According to the website allaboutwater.org, roughly 70 percent of the human body is made of water.   It also said that by the time a person feels thirsty, your body has already lost over 1 percent of your total amount of water.  That tells me that you need to drink water continuously throughout the day. I carry around a 1 liter water bottle with me everywhere and fill it up more than once throughout the day.

You've probably heard that you're supposed to drink eight, 8 oz glasses of water a day.  Of course, you can get water from other sources like tea and fruits and vegetables.  That still counts, but it is hard to measure, so I say (and I'm no expert) to still drink your eight, 8 oz glasses daily (and more if you can!).

Over the weekend, I did not drink much water.  I could tell how much it affected me. My lips were dry, I was tired and my thirst was never really quenched by the diet pepsi I was drinking instead of water.  Why I kept fixing diet pepsis instead of water, I don't know.  Logically I knew that water was what I needed, but I just wasn't feeling very logical, I guess.  Since then, I've been very careful to make sure I've gotten more than my daily share of water.  


Do you drink enough water every day? Do you like the taste of water? Do you have any tricks for making sure you drink your water?

Ironman

Saturday night and Sunday morning I watched this documentary on the Ironman Triathlon Championship in Hawaii.  It was the most inspiring thing I've seen in a long time.  These competitors swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run a marathon - 26.2 miles.

The documentary was really dramatic, with copious amounts of slow motion and dramatic music.  The beginning was all about the professionals who were competing to win this race.  That's right, they not only make their living by getting sponsorships for racing, they actually are expected to run a race like this and win it.  This blew my mind.  

But there are also roughly 1700 normal people in the race as well. People who are teachers or nurses or full-time moms in their regular life, but spend a significant amount of time training for this race that is held once a year on Hawaii's big island.  

You have to qualify at another Ironman triathlon to even get into this race.  Then you have to compete each leg of the journey within a certain time limit in order to keep going.  The total time limit for the whole race is 17 hours. Starting at 7 a.m., you have until midnight to cross the finish line. Many of the "normal" people used every minute of those 17 hours and still others were still running at midnight when they found out they wouldn't be allowed to finish.  The winner? He finished in eight hours and ten minutes!

Of course the documentary was really good at picking out the most compelling stories. There was a father/daughter team where the father was in his late 70s.  Another gentleman was 80 and finishing his 21st Ironman triathlon championship.  A mother of four was competing after being in a bad car accident a year or so ago.  A man in his 40s was back after battling cancer. Let me tell you, I cried a bunch.

I hope to compete in a triathlon next year.  Nothing like an Ironman, but what is called a sprint-distance triathlon.  The distances vary, but it usually consists of something like a half mile swim, 11 or 12 miles biking and a 5k (3.1 miles) running.  I just think it would be a fun new way to challenge myself. I've always been a pretty decent swimmer, so I figure why not? I'll keep you posted.  

This is My Confession

I'm not even sure where to start.  The reason I didn't post yesterday is because I'm on a bad streak again.  It's hard to write on weeks like this, because I don't feel like I have anything to share, and it's hard to confess my bad habits to you.

On weeks when I'm doing well, I like to pretend that I'm cured, like I've solved the mysteries of weight loss and overeating. The truth is I haven't; it's still a struggle a year and a half later. It seems like I'm on a merry-go-round, and I can't get off.  Sometimes my horse is up and sometimes it's down. It must be moving to a beat that I can not hear, because I can be good for two weeks and then horrible for one or another time I might be good for three weeks and then bad for two.  

I just want to be normal, where I don't have to count my calories, but I also don't go crazy around baked goods. I have been a cookie monster of late. Not the ones that I baked, but cookies that have appeared in the office.

Maybe it's the idea of the holidays. Maybe it's the treats at the office. Maybe it's the\parties.  Maybe it's that I was actually really close to making it to 100 pounds, and I got scared. Maybe it's a little bit of all of these things.

I haven't weighed this week, and I don't think I'm going to on Thursday. It will only be bad news.

On Sunday, I only drank one 8 oz cup of water.

The good news is that I have continued to work out daily.  Also, I watched (read: fast forwarded through) the Biggest Loser finale that was last week. I wanted to see how they did, even though I don't watch the show. I was surprised to see that most of the women lost around 70-80 pounds.  I don't know how long they had to lose it, and I'm sure it was not very long at all, but it surprised me that I had lost more.  It also inspired me to calculate the percentage of my body weight that I have lost. Get ready for this: I have lost 32% of my body weight.  That's practically 1/3 of my body that is gone! This blew me away.

So anyway, while I don't want to get too far behind this week, I am taking the week off from counting calories and weighing.  It's too hard when I'm this much out of a routine, and I don't want to make myself miserable about food the week of Christmas.

Cookies 'N Fruit

Two updates:
1) I did pretty well on the cookie baking this weekend. I made the PB blossoms on Friday and only ate two! I put the rest in the freezer, and feel pretty confident that I won't be touching them. I ate a few more of the Hershey Kisses as I was unwrapping them than I should've though. I did slightly less stellar with the cut-outs I made on Saturday. I ate a few...only the broken ones, but I'm not exactly sure how many.  Maybe about five or six?  That sounds like a lot, but I did exercise some restraint and I refuse to feel guilty about it. I mean, I did make them because I like to eat them. I just don't need to eat them all at once. I put the rest in the freezer.

The whole time I was making both of these, I was thinking: "Why am I putting myself through this?"  My family would live without Christmas cookies, and really be better off for it. No one asked me to make them; I took it upon myself.  But as I was rolling out the cookie dough Saturday afternoon, I remembered. It's because I love doing it. It's so much fun, trying to get the cookie cutters to fit together so you get the most use out of your dough. I know how to do every step of it so well, because my mom did such a good job teaching us to bake. I am so lucky for that.  Making these cookies makes me feel close to her even when we're six hours a part.

Here's a pic of the finished product:

My roommate, Jen, is a cookie decorating
artist.  All of the best ones are her designs.

2) I've decided that pomegranates are a super-powered fruit.  Ever since I first tried them a couple of weeks ago, I've been adding a spoonful or two to my traditional breakfast: Kashi cereal, blueberries (or strawberries) and almond milk.  This little difference has been keeping me full until lunch time daily.  I no longer need a mid-morning snack. Before I started adding the pomegranate seeds, I would be starving by 10 a.m. Also, the second time I went to kill and skin the pomegranate was MUCH easier and I only had minimal clean up involved.  

I've also been enjoying kiwi somewhat regularly since I first tried it on the blog. I have not had any more grapefruit, okra, or cranberries since I first tasted them for the blog (although I'm not ruling out okra).  Wait a second, that's not exactly true. At Thanksgiving, my brother and sister and I dared each other to eat the fresh cranberries a few times, because they are really that disgusting.

Running Revelations

Today I took to the Riverwalk to run three miles in the freezing rain (it was not literally freezing, as the temperature was hovering around 34, but just really cold. Also, it was just sprinkling.)  I had one main goal: to run the whole three miles and not give up on myself.

I ran today when I could've easily stayed home because I've started a new training program for my next 10k, which is in Asheville at the end of January.  You may think that since I've already done one 10k, I would not need to be training hard for the next one.  But I took a couple of weeks off from running in November, and it is amazing how quickly you lose stamina.  Plus I'd really like to be able to run more (or maybe the whole way!) this time. 

Running  is so challenging, not just physically, but mentally. I constantly want to give up, taking the easy way instead. The whole way out to the 1.5 marker, I kept thinking "Just make it to the 1.5 marker and then it will be easy to get back."  When I made the turn at the 1.5 marker and realized how foolish it had been to think that making it back would be easy, a David Crowder Band song came on my ipod, "There is No One Like You." Here are the lyrics:  

You are more beautiful
Than anyone ever
Everyday You're the same
You never change, no never

And how could I ever deny
The love of my Savior
You are to me everything
All I need forever

How could You be so good to me?

There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You

Everywhere You are there
Earth or air surrounding
I'm not alone, the heavens sing along
My God You're so astounding
How could You be so good to me
Eternally I believe that'

There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You
There is no one like You
There has never ever been anyone like You

I sang a few lines at the top of my lungs.  Then I started praying, not for the strength to keep going, but a prayer of thanks for lungs that were pumping air in and out, for my feet that kept propelling me forward even when my brain was wanting to stop, for knees that don't hurt, for a beautiful creation to run in, for the cold air that made me feel alive. We are so loved by the God of the universe, and what is so astounding about it is that we deserve none of it.  

This kept me going for awhile, but then thoughts drifted to other things and eventually to what I would write about on my blog today. I thought this revelation about running and David Crowder and thankfulness would make a good topic and only had about .3/4 of a mile left to go when I came very close to walking again.  This time it was the thought that a blog about trying to run three miles would just not have the ending it needed if I started walking then.  So I kept going and finished the three miles at a run.  

This last week has been hard diet-wise, between not losing any pounds this week and constantly having to fight off cravings and bad attitudes.  It hasn't been easy, but I think it's teaching me a lot that will help me whenever I get to my final goal.  Things about patience and endurance and simple distraction. Big lessons about how I should be eating for fuel and not for fun or boredom or therapy. When I think of this week in these terms, it makes the journey a little easier. 

Forward momentum

The Cookie Challenge

When December rolled around, I had this incredible urge to bake.  I never bake. Cookies, brownies, muffins, breads, I make none of it.  Primarily because if I bake it, I will eat it. 

But it's Christmas time and Christmas time means baked goods to take to parties, to share at work and to enjoy with family. Of course the longer I fought off the urge to bake, the more I wanted to do it.  I adopted this attitude, of "Why shouldn't I be able to make and enjoy my favorite cookies this holiday season? What's wrong with me that I have to outlaw all of my favorite foods from my house?"  I was really being pretty rational about it thinking that I could bake the cookies and enjoy a few, but then take some home to family, take some to a few parties, etc.  I really don't have to eat all that I bake. Isn't the best part of baking about sharing anyway?

There are two cookies that are my absolute favorite in the month of December (and really any other month), peanut butter blossoms and Christmas cut-out cookies. 


Peanut Butter Blossoms






My mom has always baked these at Christmas time, and I have great memories of helping her roll out the cookie dough, cut out the shapes and later, ice the cookies.  Mom won't be doing as much baking this year because of her need to live gluten-free, which gives me even more of a reason to bake n' share with family. 

I made the dough for both last night and will bake the cookies this weekend. I'm a little nervous and unsure about whether I can bake these delicious cookies in my house and not gobble them all up.  I succeeded in not taste-testing any of the dough, but that's not nearly as difficult as resisting the smell.  I suppose we shall wait and see.

*To be clear, these pictures are not pictures of my cookies. I stole these images from the internet.

97 Pounds Lost, Week Two

I don't know about you, but when I made it to 97 pounds lost last week, rather unexpectedly, I sort of started thinking that I could be done by today (I always weigh on Thursday mornings).  Certainly, I thought I could be done by next Thursday, which just happens to fall conveniently two days before Christmas.  Visions of sugar plums danced in my head, "Yes! I'll be done before Chrismas!" What a great Christmas present for myself.

It's not unheard of to lose three pounds in a week. True, the "experts" say you should not lose more than 1-2 pounds a week to be healthy, but it's doable. Three pounds in two weeks could almost be considered standard. So I went into this week, the third since my diet reboot, gung-ho and ready to conquer it all.

Last Thursday (the beginning of a weight loss week for me) was our office Christmas lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, where I did splurge on cheesecake. However, I took half home and ate that over the course of three days.  So while I went over my calories on Thursday, Friday and Saturday I was back on track and very well-behaved, which is almost unheard of over the weekend.

Sunday morning I decided to weigh to see how close I was to my goal.  I have a rule that I should only weigh once a week.  Weighing more often really messes with your head. I know this. It has happened to me many times over the last 17 months.  However, the pull of the scale and the numbers means that I break this rule almost every week. 

So when I stepped on the scale Sunday morning and saw that I had gained two pounds, it made me angry.  Now, please know that I had just had two GREAT weeks of weight loss before this.  I lost more in those two weeks than I really should've, but I took it for granted, and it made me greedy.  These two pounds on a Sunday morning were probably just my body adjusting to the big drop the two weeks before. Still, it was a big deal.  Five pounds from my goal means definitly not before Christmas.

It made me angry and in the past, this would've given me the attitude of "What's the point of being good, if I'm not going to lose?"  If I'm honest, I did have that attitude Sunday, but I'm still close enough that the end is in sight and that, combined with laziness (there really wasn't much "bad" food in my house, readily available for me to eat), kept me from going wild.

Since Sunday, I've weighed every day.  (Which, for the record, I don't believe anyone should do. It makes you even more crazy.) I've also worked out extra, doing two workouts a day, three days this week (I also don't really reccommend this. It makes your body and your brain extra tired, instead of giving you extra energy.)  Each morning when I weighed, I was still up two pounds, so each day I was fighting the "What's the point of being good?" argument.  Somehow, I was largely able to stay on track with my calories.

So this morning rolls around and I have inexplicably lost the two pounds again. I'm at the same weight I was last week, 97 pounds lost.  This is good, but it means I won't be done by Christmas.  But really, what's the big deal if I'm done by Christmas or not?  I think I thought that if I was done by Christmas I wouldn've have to be as strict over the holiday.  The fact is, I'll really never be "done." When I reach this goal, I will set another weight goal (more about that in a future post.) Even when I get to a point where I am comfortable with my weight, I will still have to be careful with what I eat. The whole point is for it to be lost and never found again, right? 

So I guess it all boils down to, I put a lot of unnecessary pressure on myself this week for no reason. Does it really matter if I've lost 95 pounds, or 97 pounds or even 100? (Except 100 brings a wicked sweet reward.)
No. It doesn't. 

Ode to the West Center

This is my ode to the Center of West

When it comes to gyms, it's simply the best.

There are so many activities to do within its walls

I might jump on the elliptical or play racquetball.

Kicking through Turbo or swimming in the pool,

Running on the track when the weather's too cool

And a few times a week, I visit the weight room --

 When big guys drop weights they make a big boom.

I can get my sweat on, all on my own

or work out with friends, in a whole other zone.

Without your help, I'd never have dropped pounds

Or know what to do with the energy I've found.

As I've lost inches, you've helped make me strong,

A transformation that really is just never wrong.

So thanks, West Center, you've helped change my life,

and made exercise way more fun, and not strife.

Graphic Short Story

If the Harness Fits...

Another edition of Memory Mondays...

A lot of times people who have lost a lot of weight have this moment where it all began. This is often some supremely embarrassing story where they were overweight, and they broke a chair when they sat in it or didn't fit in an airplane seat or had a child say something bluntly honest about their weight in front of strangers.  In stories of great weight loss, this is the origin, the turning point, where they decide to change their lives.

My supremely embarrassing incident actually came about three weeks into my weight loss journey, back in August 2009. Our annual back to school staff party was at the campus gym.  It had a  "fun and games" theme, so they had set up a lot of different games: air hockey, board games, Wii, etc.  They also had the two-story rock climbing wall open.

I had attempted the rock climbing wall once when I was in college, but that was way back when and in a different gym. At the party, I really wanted to give it a try. After all, I had already lost some weight and I was working out, so I couldn't be too horrible. 

Except that I didn't even fit in the harness. The student who was monitoring/working the wall showed me how to step into the harness and then stood there awkwardly as I tried to pull it up over my hips. I let the straps all the way out. I struggled. I tugged. But no matter how I tried, I could not get it on. I turned to her and hopefully said, "Do you have any larger harnesses?" She said no, and I said, "I guess I'm not climbing the wall today," and walked away. 

It made me feel absolutely horrible. There is no adequate way to describe the embarrassment I felt. The only good thing about it is that none of my coworkers had seen me approach the wall and none of them knew what had happened.   I had been talking about trying to climb all night and several people asked me later when I was going to try. I just told them I had changed my mind. They thought I was just scared, and I was okay with that. 

Ever since then, as I've shed the pounds, I have wanted to try again. But even as I lost 60, 70, 80+ pounds and became stronger, I was too scared to try again. I was scared that even with the significant weight loss I wouldn't fit in the harness again and I would be subject to further embarrassment.

Last Wednesday, I was walking out of our Red, Green and Bling Zumba/Hip Hop Dance Off when I saw the rock climbing wall was open. I knew that now was the the time to try again, so I asked my friend Kimberly to tackle it with me. 

I was extremely nervous as we talked to the workers, got our shoes and our harnesses.  I was nervous right up until that harness slid up over my hips with ease.  I really have changed!

We had to first learn how to belay each other as we climbed. (Belaying is the person who stands on the ground and holds the other end of the rope that the rock climber is attached to. That way if the rock climber falls off the wall, the belayer and the attached rope keeps the rock climber from falling.)

Kimberly volunteered to climb first, which meant I had the pressure of making sure I was belaying correctly. Luckily, Kimberly is an excellent climber who even once took a PE class in rock climbing. She went straight up to the top and then it was my turn.  

While I had spent a lot of time over the past few months thinking about the rock wall and its harness, I hadn't actually given much thought to whether I would be able to climb. On Wednesday I did better than I thought I would, really. I only made it, maybe a quarter of the way up the wall, but that was enough to make me happy with my first try.  I was really just ecstatic to fit in the harness.

Some pictures:

Excited to be in the harness!

Anchored in and ready to belay

Just getting started.

Conquering my personal mountains.

Calendar of Power

Okay, so since I've mentioned my daily goals a couple of times, on this blog and this blog, I thought I'd let you in on a little secret. Last year for Christmas I got this awesome calendar from my parents. It allows you to track up to four daily goals, as each day is divided into quadrants.  This is how I keep track of my daily goals. It's a very visual reminder, and satisfying to see all the little boxes checked off. I would include a picture of mine with all of the little check boxes, but it was hard to capture.  Instead, here's the pic from Sparkpeople, where it is available here.

*The top of each page is a cheesy picture and inspirational quote, but the quotes aren't that inspirational, so I just keep the calendar side showing.

10,000 Strong

Friends, today I witnessed something inspiring, exciting and touching all at the same time. Today, I rose before the sun to watch 10,000 runners attempt either a marathon, half marathon or a 5k on the streets of Charlotte.  For lack of better words, it was amazing.

Particularly, I went because my good friend and running buddy, Jess, was running in the half marathon.  Because I know how good it feels to see people cheering you along the sides of the course, I wanted to be there for her when she accomplished this goal yet again. (I believe this was her third half marathon, correct me if I'm wrong, Jess.)

When Jess went to line up, I walked down the street a bit to so that I could have a good view of all the runners when they came past.  When they lowered the flag to start the race, I could not believe just how many people there were. They just kept coming and coming and coming. I stayed there until the very last runner had run past and I cheered for her just like I cheered for the thousands of others before her.

As a bonus, Amie was running in the Jingle Jog 5k this morning.  It started 30 minutes after the marathon and the half started, so I went back down the street to watch her. Amie is a very fit person, but she is not a runner.  She volunteered to run today, even though she has never run three miles in her life, because of a program called Girls on the Run.  Girls on the Run is a non profit group that helps pre-teen girls develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running. Amie is a teacher and the GOTR group from her school needed more adults to run with the girls in the big race.

Let me tell you the many, many people lined up for the 5k were no less inspiring than those for the marathon or the half.  After seeing them off, I went and put my stuff down in my car and ran two miles myself because I had to get a work out in today, and I had some time to kill while I waited for them to come back around.  When I was done, I walked down to the near the end of the 5k finish line and stood there clapping and cheering for hundreds of young girls as they neared the finish line.  I was there at least thirty minutes, and it was the best part of my whole week.

I saw tiny, tiny girls running alongside grown women. I saw girls running with their dads, holding hands as they crossed the finish line. I saw a couple of girls crying, but I saw so many more light up when they realized they had made it, they were within sight of the finish line.  I yelled, "Way to go girls, way to run!"

By the time Amie and her girls finished, we didn't have time to go out on the half marathon course to see Jess, so we decided to just wait for her at the finish. She finished strong after running 13 miles that took her all over Charlotte. Amie has some great pictures of Jess crossing the finish line, but I'm not quite as good of a photographer, so here's what I got:

The very first runners of the marathon.

Jolly Jill waiting for the races to start!

Over-prepared and Under-prepared

I was super prepared for this week. I had written this post last weekend about the food challenges I could anticipate in the week ahead. This turned out to be a great thing. It got me thinking and planning about how I would tackle each event; it gave me a game plan.  I did great food-wise this week and made it to 97 pounds lost at my weigh-in on Thursday.

The weird thing was that this week I thought so much about Monday through Thursday that when Friday came, and I hadn't thought about it at all. So today, when I was kind of tired and not feeling the mid-day work out and suddenly* found myself thinking that I needed to eat lunch out, I had no defense against this train of thought because I had given Friday no advance thought. (Note, I did have a prepared meal for today's lunch available.) An unscheduled lunch out on a Friday is a particularly poor choice because I usually eat dinner out with friends on Friday and eating out two meals in one day makes it virtually impossible to stay within your calorie count for the day.  

Anyway, I went to Moe's with a friend and suddenly* found myself thinking, "Well, if I'm going to eat out, why not 'go all out' and order the Billy Barou." The Billy Barou is their nachos, which I love, but are practically a full day's worth of calories. I came so close to ordering them, I really did. The guy at the counter even had to wait while I had an internal battle with myself about. He was seriously staring at me for like 30-45 seconds while I was debating about it. (This is after debating it the whole time I was waiting in line to order.)

In the end, I ordered the Joey Jr. burrito, which is one of the better options, calorie-wise.  Victory #1 of the day.  I was still certain I would eat dinner out though, just because I always eat dinner out on Fridays.  However, after work I decided to do my weekly grocery shopping early to get it out of the way before a busy weekend.  After spending 45 minutes shopping for healthy food, I decided to go home and eat the chicken dish that I was supposed to eat for lunch today and didn't, instead of going out with friends.  Victory #2 of the day.

Against all odds, I met my regular food goals today: I stayed within my calorie count, ate all five servings of fruits and vegetables and I drank all of my water. I didn't work out, but I think my body deserved the rest. It was a successful day, even though it was a battle. Now I'm beginning to think about the week ahead. I want to be as dedicated in the upcoming week as I was this past week, because even though I have no big events on my schedule, there are no easy weeks. I need to be ever vigilant as I close in on my goal!


*I love how I use the word "suddenly" in this blog. I am very good at sneaking up on myself!