November in Review

Hey there,

It's the last day of November so I thought I woud do a little recap of the month. At some point in the beginnning of  the month I made some goals. Some of my goals are for the year to come, and some of them were for the immediate time. For the month of November I set a goal for myself to lose 10 pounds. As of my weigh in today, the last day of the month, I am down 8.4 pounds. So I didn't meet my goal of 10 pounds, but I am still very happy. Thanksgiving was not so long ago and i must admit that I did not really limit myself all that much. I made a delicious cake for the family meal and I indulged. But that's ok. If I try to cut everything out of my diet I will be totally miserable. I may not have lost 10 pounds but I am happy with myself for what I have done so far. The number that I see on the scale now is lower than I have seen in over a year!

Also for the month of November I decided that I would set a goal to run in an event every month for the next year. Ashley and I had both already registered to run in a color run in Oshkosh on January 1st so it was going to be a year of runs starting with the new year. But then we discovered a local run that happens to be tomorrow. So, we are going to be running tomorrow, my first timed running event, and my year of runs begins. I even bought a scrapbook to document my journey. I am a fan of the scrapbooking and I am pretty stuck on this goal. I can't wait to get my first post run picture tomorrow!

I have to admit, I started getting nervous about the run around Wednesday. Now that it's Friday and the run is so close, I am getting very nervous. I mean, there will be people, lots of people. And I'm going to be that fat girl that's just putting along. I have been training really hard, I am doing the Couch to 5k program, which I totally love, but with having shin splints pretty awfully, I have been doing most of my runs on a treadmill because it is so much more gentle on my shins. I did run outside this week and it was....okay....I suppose. I do not expect super great times for my run, and I figure worst case I can walk the two miles in a little over half an hour if I have to. But, I will not have to. I am going to put my earbuds in blast some music (but not so much as to damage my hearing...have to put that disclaimer in there as my best friend will be getting her doctorate in audiology in a few short months so she's all like protect your hearing...oh and if you are reading this Ash, I love you!) and just do my thing. I think one of my biggest issues is setting a pace. I just want to go and then I end up having to walk because I try to go too fast. I guess I need to work on not caring how many people finish ahead of me. I need to care that I am finishing. Not that long ago I couldn't even run for a minute straight without getting a side pain and having to walk for the next three minutes.

Last night during my run my workout added 3 minutes a piece to each of the running intervals, and when I hit the 5 minute cool down I thought to myself, really, that's all? I mean, I ran for 8 minutes straight more than once! That is just huge for me. Then next workout kicks it up to a 20 minute straight, and I am worried, but I will push through. The best feeling about this is that I can honestly say that I am doing the work. I am running the whole time that I am supposed to be. I'm not cheating and that feels great. I guess the 8.4 pounds I have lost serves to show that I am putting in the effort. So far I can't see the difference, but one girl at work said my ass is getting skinny and another one asked how much weight I've lost becasue she said she could tell I was losing some. That feels really great to me. Even though I can't see it becasue I am still so focused on how much there is to lose, I know it's coming off and my work is paying off.

With November coming to an end, and starting my year of runs tomorrow, I am looking at more goals. For December I hope to lose 10 pounds, it still seems like a realistic goal. Another goal that I had for November was to give up Mt. Dew. I had a serious problem, I was drinking 3 bottles a day, it didn't even taste good anymore, and was killing my stomach. I am happy to say that in the last 3 weeks I have had a total of 2 Mt. Dews and one of them I opened took two sips and dumped it. I think it's safe to say that I have kicked probably the worst habit that I have. Except when we go to taco bell, I am sure I will still get the Mt. Dew Baja Blast, but that's a special occasion, that's the only place you can get that flavor and we don't go there all that often so I think it's allowed. Also in December I plan on starting to work on some muscle toning and things. Ashley and I are hoping to do some obstacle course runs this year as part of our year of runs, so I need to start getting ready for those. Just becasue will be able to run a 5k by then doesn't mean I will be able to do an obstacle course if I don't start training.

Wish me luck with my first ever timed run tomorrow, I guess the time doesn't matter it's getting it done that matters so here's to finishing in a place whether it's first or last, it's a place that isn't the couch!

Til next time!