Better Day Today

Morning!! (on my way to work this morning)

So after feeling so horrible yesterday, after hubby got home from work, I lugged my bike into the back seat of the van and took off to a new bike trail about 5 miles from my house. This trail has been in the works for 10 yes, 10 years now and just opened 2 months ago. It runs through the woods in the deep suburbs by us and you can spot tons of wildlife at times. A friend of mine has seen 3 turkeys and our fox friend already (we have quite a few fox around). The kids were INSANE yesterday, like someone gave them an IV of red dye, so I was thankful to get the heck out of there!
I wasn't able to do the whole trail, since it was 7:20 when I arrived, and I was alone, I didn't want to ride after dark. It's scary even if you are close to home and know the area. The path is 4 miles long one way, and I decided I would ride to the 2.5 mile mark then turn around to get a good 5 mile ride in. I did just that,stopping a few times for pictures and water breaks and made it back to my car at 7:53, just as it was starting to get dark. It was so calming and relaxing and it was a perfect, not humid evening. The trail turns out is RIGHT around the block from where Courtneys cheer practice is. I could hear the girls yelling from where my car was parked (courtney didn't have practice last night, but other teams did) SO on the nights that hubby is home when it's time to leave for practice (which are FEW) I am going to drop her off, go run/walk or ride the trail and be done in time to get her 2 hours later. It will be so much easier then driving 20 mins to the gym and being stuck inside when our summer months are already so short.

My original goal, as I mentioned yestrerday was to run. For some reason, I am having a running mental block. I am scared. What is UP with that??? I think it's becuase I am SO afarid of hurting my heel more and not being able to walk after that I am blocking the running from happening. I need to work through this. I know I can and will, but mental blocks are MUCH harder to climb then pysical ones sometimes. Yes my heel is healing (LOL) but still have some problems with it. I can't soley bear any weight on just that foot w/o pain. Trying to balance in the shower on just that foot to shave the opposite leg is hard, and I feel the pain a ton then. I am going to have to go the pharmacy and see if they have any type of braces for your heels (???) that I can wear for the extra support.

Here are some trail pictures. Cell phone camera of course, so they are blurry.

When I got home yesterday, I thought I would do some shopping in my closet to see what bottoms were fitting. I was able to get into a pair of 22 jeans that I haven't fit into in 2 years. They are a wide leg and I love them! I am wearning them today.... Hang on I'll go get a picture.

Ok, so while trying on pants, I can't understand why clothes fit SO different. Why I button up a size 18 but not a 22?? Seriously yes, I was able to ZIPPER and BUTTON my goal jeans (Thanks BECKY!!) However there is NO way I could wear them in public yet, I had about 20 lbs of fat hanging over the top of them, but hey I zippered em right?? But yet a pair of black curdoury pants in a 22 I couldn't even get to BUTTON let a long ZIP! Geez! I am excited to eventually get into a 20 and 18, because I have SO many jeans in these sizes. I was an 18/20 forever until 3 years ago when I ballooned to where I am/was 8 months ago. I am slowly surely making my way there. Yes I've lost 30 lbs. But not much of that was from my waist belly area. Figures huh???
Ok, enough for now. Happy Hump day

Weigh In

Yet another gain. It is what it is. It's a small one, only about 4-5 ounces, but I am doing it to myself. I can't figure out why i can't get myself back into this. Is it really THAT easy to fall out of habit and things you know you really enjoy?? Seriously?
This time of year is just a challange in itself for me. It's getting close to back to school time. We have cheer practice every night from 6-8 (I get home from work at 5:15) and my hubby typicaly works long days and doens't get home until 7 or later. This makes it very hard to get the gym (my guys with sensory issues don't handle the day care part of the gym, or I'd take them with) once things get settled down it's after 9- the gym is open until 10:30, and once upon a time that is when I went. NOW I can't bring myself to do that when at 9pm all i really want to do is sleep!! I haven't ran since the race after vacation and my heal injury, which is still acting up. I did get to do some ST last night and minor cardio, but had to really PUSH to finish it. To get back on track, I know I need to start running again. It's what I really enjoy doing the most (outside of strength) and gives me my time alone. I am going back to basics. I am going to go back to the C25K program. start around week 4. I know I dont' HAVE to do this. I've run 9 races in 5 months time. BUT i feel like I need to start back up slow and really baby this heel of mine. My next race isn't until 09/25, and although I keep thinking I need to pick up one here and there, I am not going to. I am going to use my program, use the tools I've found over this 8 month journey and work my hardest. I am going to get past this. If it takes a month, fine. If It takes a week fine. I just know that I've come this far, and I can keep going. I WILL keep going. Just need to get back to the basics

Hidden Pictures

So the idiot that I am, had no idea that professional photographers actual shoot most of the races that I run in. The site that I pull all my race info from, I just go to the site, and skip directly to either, race schedules or results. well it's AWFULY slow at work here today, so while browsing the site, I found a link for pictures..... Hm.... Click. 2 of the 9 races I have done are listed. ok..... Click on them. Ah Ha! Who knew I was being shot! LOL Not I! They are HORRIBLE pictures. next time I know to not look so worn out when I crossing the finish line. So here are a couple from the 2 races I found on the site.

This is the St. John Vianny Run ON thursday the 22nd. It was an evening one and I didn't do so well. This was the race I decided that I like morning runs MUCH better! Caden actually made it into this shot as well!

Another SJV one.

And here is the most discusting picture I have EVER seen of myself. I am only posting here, no where else. it's horrible. this is my last race. Last Weekend, where I hurt my ankle and had only been home from vacation for 2 days. I'd gained 5 lbs and the humidity was about 91% and the temps in the 80's. it was just plain gross out and yes, I felt as HORRIBLE as I looked in this picture.

and there ya have it. Me at the Mississippi Mudds 5K.

So in other news, I now know I did the right thing by taking about 4 days off from everything. My heel is doing SO Much better. thank you all for the well wishes for it as well! I did get to the gym 2 nights ago, did some weights (upper body only) then took Becky's advice and did about 25 mins on the Stationary Bike. it as a good 25 mins and I had quite the sweat working there! I took last night off again, and hope to get back out there tonight, if not for sure Sunday (out of town for the day tomorrow) All in all though, I am glad I took the time to get better. Each day I feel more and more better and am walking w/o even limping now! Hopefully i'll wake up tomorrow and be fine!

My first TOO big shirt!

I am SO pathetically excited! I found a shirt that is not only too big, but WAY to big. Like I can't even get away with wearing it without looking a slob!! I am SO excited, can you tell???  

30 lbs lost, pictures, drama and HRM

Wow do I have alot to share, Sorry if this ends up long.

First of all, Today I WI in 2 lbs lighter at 237.6, I NEVER lose 2 lbs in a week, so this is huge for me. That 2 lbs brought me to a new milestone of 30lbs lost. I am SO excited. And even more excited becuase I get to justify the pedicure that I have scheduled for Friday! LOL I scheduled it yesterday beucase I really wanted to get it done before we leave for Colorado, BUT I also didn't think being the same weight for over a month that it would happen, so I went ahead and booked it and just did the reward early. Now i don't feel quilty at ALL!! yay !!
I was also leary about WI today becuase there has been alot of family drama going on this week. My brother is now an estranged family member and no longer welcome in my home. It's sad yes, however it's for the best. I learned after dealing with PPD that you have to rid yourself of toxic people in your life in order to be happy and healthy. He in the end along with his girlfriend and her family were very toxic to me. In the past 3 days I have been called many things, told I need to grow the F*** up, that I was a spolid selfish bitch and inconsiderate to others (not even by my brother, but his girlfriend???!!!) . that hurt. So much so that I found myself second guessing it for a second. I spend alot of time crying, and feeling bad that I was taking my children away from their uncle and godfather, but in the end, I also relalized that they haven't seen or heard from him in over 7 months, so it's not really hurting them. And when they do hear from him, it's not even positive, it's negative and hurtful. So I think this is the best possible outcome of the whole thing. I have family, my mom and dad, Mike's family and a TON of friends who loves us and my children, and that means more to me then any negative person being around can. So needless to say, I am THRILLED for the weightloss considering all the stress and (extra bowls of ice cream) that have been involved in the past 4 days.
So this past weekend as you know I had to yet again go dress shopping (guh!!) My dear friend put these 2 pictures side/side for me to compare and show off, since I for some dumb Reason can NOT figure out how to do it by myself yep!! (DOH!) SO here you go.

The picture on the left is from a wedding last July 267 lbs. the one of the right is from this week, 28lbs down at 239. Although I am not nearly where I wanted to be by now, I am quite proud of how far I've come!
Also!! I am a frequent shopper of onesaleaday. if you have never visited this site be sure to do so! www.onesaleaday.com I've been wanting a heart rate monitor for quite some time now. We just don't have the extra money in our budget to justify it. So today, as I was making my morning rounds for my deal web site, I found the Bowflex HRM on sale for $17.99 from $199.99!!! I HAD to order it!

Who knows if this is the right type to buy or not, who cares? it was only $20!! Here are the details on it,

Easy-to-use fitness watch for aerobic activities

Lightweight and comfortable changeable battery chest belt

Accurate continuous heart rate

Sleek and comfortable design for a good fit on the wrist

ECG heart rate

Counts calories and fat burned during workouts

Programmable heart rate zone with a high and low alarms

% of Max heart rate

High and low target zones w/ alarm

% of average, maximum and minimum heart rate

Stopwatch

Time, Calendar, Alarm

User menu

Personal profile

Chronograph

Memory

Night Vision

Countdown timer

Pacer

Water-resistant
Looks good enough to accomplish what I'll use for for now anyway!! can't wait to get it.

Ok, I think that's it for now. Sorry for the lenght. How is everyone else doing today??

The dress I got.

Races

2 races in 3 days this past week. Needless to say I've been busy! Thursday I had a kickoff run for St. John Vianney. I thought I had finished in 40:03, when viewing the results today though, turns out my official time was 39:53, hey 10 seconds is 10 seconds! 

So here I am before the Race. 
 

And here I am coming up to the finish line. We forgot to put the memory card in the camera so we ran out of memory for any other pictures! DUH!! 
 

Then on Saturday I ran the Crabapple 5K right down the road from my house~ I was excited about this one, since most of the course is what I run when I go running 4 miles on my own, so that was nice! It was SO hot and humid though. When we woke up at 8am it was already 79 out and humidity was sky high. I had Sweat pouring down before I even started running! 
 
 
Taking off 
 
Almost there! 

This is a horrible picture, but I was laughing SO hard. The boys were cheering me on at the finish line, must have been saying Go Mommy, and the guy with the speaker phone said "BRING IT HOME MOMMY!" I was cracking up! 
 
 
 
Mike tried to get my crossing the finish line. he was close 
My final time was 38:44, much better then 2 days before. 

And here is Colin enjoying the free Subway Subs and popcorn after wards!