I think I'm ready for my race on Saturday. No records will be broken, as this is my first 8k. No records, except it's my longest race to date.

Had my last run tonight. I walked two miles at a 16 min pace and ran the last whole mile at 12:15ish. I think even with the hills, I shouldn't have a problem keeping a 14 min pace. I wasn't even panting after running a whole mile at 12:15 non stop, and this folks, is progress!!

Since I haven't done or checked out the course, my strategy is going to be run when I can, walk when I have to. I'm going to attemp to not look at my phone as much as possible. I tend to keep a pretty good pace when I DON'T stress about the numbers. I'm going to run, enjoy myself, and if I have to walk, I have to walk.

I'm going to look damn cute doing it;)

Race outfit pictured at bottom. Blog won't cooperate;)

I know it as awfully pink for a run green event. But I love pink. There's some green. Deal with it;)

Here is the shirt and my number for the race. Shirts are cute!

Here is the shirt from the training program I completed and a free pair of very nice socks we got tonight!

And here is the ugliest cat tshirt on the planet. I guess subliminally, since I dreamt that I flushed my cat down the toilet, I felt the need to purchase two ugly cat tshirts today, to show remorse.

Had a good day over all. Need to get Bode to the vet. I'm suspecting he has some kind of food allergy or yeast infection going on. He crapped a nice ripe pile of poop on the kitchen floor that I stepped right in when I got home tonight in the dark;( I didn't get mad. I knew he wasn't feeling well. Plus, it was on the kitchen floor. That can be remedied.

I certainly hope it's just the diet and not something more serious;(

That's all for now!!

Well. I've done it again. Managed to get my big mug on the WRAL "seize the day" morning news edition, again.

Don't think I'm special. I'm not, really. When the run group page asked for volunteers again, I said I got my face in last time;) but no one was able to go, and they wanted at least 20 people... Even then only maybe 12 or so showed up. I was just a warm body. Trust me. It's not because I'm cool. It's because I have the time to fill the space, and plus... Who doesn't like seeing themselves on tv? And I wanted to show off my super cute kilt!! I have on my kilt that you can see a little in this pic, and a light gray pull over, and of course...braids. Shorter looking this time, because I bent them in half. Keep 'em guessing!

Will be aired Friday am between 6am and 7am so set your DVr!! I'm in the front on the end next to a real kilted man playing the drums. I look like Cindy Brady staring at the red light her first time on tv!

In order to make the shoot, I did crossfit this am. I was the only in the class;)We did front squats. Then some rowing for time. I had the option to do running. I chose to row, due to the race on Saturday.

Dinner is nitrate free dogs and kraut and some buffalo chicken dip and stop light peppers for dipping.

YUM!

Mystery stress has caused misery today. I just feel yucky. I know part of the problem. I got a phone call for a pt job and I had to write a cover letter and send a resume. Took all of twenty minutes. But that gets my brain moving in fifty directions, and causes stress. Will I get it? Will I not get it? Do I want it? Etc etc etc. Misery.

Had a miserable walk with Juno today in the pouring cold rain. Was soaked.

Had a miserable cf workout. I couldn't even skin the damn cat. I could get my legs up to almost do it, by not quite. But I'm not complaining. Being miserable and complaining are two different things.

I even wore my special cat socks tonight.

Then I went to the grocery store. I couldn't find anything I wanted to eat. So there I was in cat socks carrying a personal watermelon around for 20 minutes. I got the watermelon. The people in front of me in line absolutely disgusted me with their transaction. I'm not going to go into detail, because it's going to make more misery!! I hope my personal watermelon and cat socks caused misery for them as well.

Got home stared at the freezer. Stared at the fridge. Nothing. I know I need to eat. So I cried. And Andy went and got us food.

Greek Fiesta. Greek salad, taboule(sp) and a kebab.

I'm going to eat my dinner. Eat some chocolate. Watch 90210. Get the miserables out and tomorrow's a new day!!!

Had an eyedr appt today. Ordered the exact same pair of glasses!!! Except in green instead of pink. Creature of habit!! There are only so many options with a prescription as strong as mine, unfortunately. Thank you, Kate Spade for these beauties!

I mentioned to the eyedr about occasional floaters. She said my eyes looked great and healthy. Said could be due to low blood pressure. I checked it at Cvs today. 121/65 which is on the low side for me... I'm curious to know since I've drastically changed my eating habits and I exercise every day, if maybe I don't need this Bp med anymore? I am finding I get dizzy some when I rise from lying down and sitting etc. I do like the diuretic effect of the med. I don't know. I guess I'll stick with it for now, although I don't think I need it. I'll check with the dr in a few months when I force myself to go. I'm actually excited to see my bloodwork. I think it's going to be awesome!

Tonight's workout was fine. We did overhead squats. Only did 55. Worked on form. Did high bar back squats 3 sets of 105. Did some new crazy drills at the beginning that I had a love hate relationship with.

WOD was 3 rounds of

10 overhead squats at 50 percent (I just used 35)
250 jump ropes for time

So total of 750 jump ropes!!

I finished in 10:13.

I actually didn't trip much. I did stop twice to catch my breath. I really wish I could do the double unders so that it would have been 50 each round instead of 250...

Oh wells. I burned more calories;)

Steak fajitas without the fajita for dinner;) yum!

Didn't do much today. About the only thing of importance was going for a run. 5 miles in 1:06:38! Beat my goal of 1:10. Now I just have to do it in the race next weekend.. But there will be hills, which makes me nervous.

Not sure what strategy to take..attempt to run the whole thing, because I know I can, or stick with intervals, in which I probably will get the same, if not better time?

I may just fly by the seat of my kilt and run the downhills and flats and walk the uphills, as needed. I haven't even checked out the course. I don't think I want to know. Maybe it'll go by faster. Maybe I'll learn that I do need to check out the course by not checking out the course. Oh well, it's five miles. I'm not competing for a medal. I'd like to finish in under an hour and ten minutes, and will try my best to make that happen!

I do know I felt pretty darn good after today's run. I was not even out of breath one bit! Which indicates, I can probably up my pace some. But my muscles are sore. All of them!! I rolled on the foam roller and it seemed to help.

Crossfit HAS made a difference in my running in only a month. I honestly believe this is because my legs and whole body is getting stronger. Perhaps dropping a few pounds has helped a bit as well.

Can't wait to drop the next ten and see if it gets even easier, because there WILL BE a next ten... Within the next six weeks or so, I predict!!!

Til next time!

We went to Crossfit this am, Bootcamp edition. It was pretty good. We did a partner workout. I was like the leftover kid, picked last on a kickball team. Actually, we were just randomly paired up in twos, there was an odd number of people, and I happened to be the lucky one at the end. So I got to be Steve's partner. Steve owns the gym.

That should be indicative of how hard I worked on this workout. All went really well, the burpees were disastrous. Steve did the last 15 with me. He's really nice. And really in shape.

We finished our 60 (each of us doing 30) push ups, ring pull ups, alternating lunges, wall balls and burpees in 10:47. Still a good time, even with me crawling off of the floor the last few.

Then we went to Bob Evans. Made good choices. Steak, salad, naked broccoli and fruit cup.

Bob Evans was not ready for my knee socks.

Then we bummed around and went to the swim gym. I used the other nike app. Not using the chip on my shoe on the inside track instead of the treadmill. This is what I got. I also counted laps, and it was pretty accurate for distance. I still am in awe of the time. The track at the gym says 20 laps equals one mile. I counted 67. I may have missed one or two but it was definitely close. This is great for no treadmill. Once again, this is on a flat surface, inside.

I'm definitely feeling stronger. I can remember the first time I ran three whole miles without stopping on that track and it definitely was more difficult than it is now. Baby steps!! Then we swam for a little bit.

Came home and had gluttony!!! Pizza and wings! This isn't regular fast food papa johns gluttony so don't even go there. I don't feel one bit guilty about this. The pizza has 350-400 calories and the wings? I had three. Baked, not fried. Made some homemade blue cheese using organic ranch with very little sugar and some bc crumbles. I'd say the entire meal would be about 1000 calories. Putting my daily total somewhere around 1800-2000. I burned a fair amount today, so I'm moving on!



Tomorrow's supposed to be nice, in going to rest up, and try to get in a final five miles before the big race next weekend!!

Have a great Saturday evening my friends!

While I was tidying the deplorable conditions of the Snead household today, I noticed the Valentine's Day flowers were getting a little droopy. It occurred to me, that since we hadn't gone out lately,I hadn't taken any glamour shot senior pictures with my flowers! Noting my already radiant beauty, I put on some Chapstick and started snapping.

For the love of flowers!! After all of that photo shooting, all ten minutes of it- normally would take longer, but these ones turned out ok, with little effort. Pretty flowers make a difference! I spent the majority of the day napping. I finally gave my legs that long needed rest from running..

Until crossfit time. We did a bunch of work doing snatches- my least favorite lift. I feel awkward doing it. I guess I'll improve with time.

Then our WOD was 5 rounds of 10 box jumps and 10 toes to bar. I can't do toes to bar, but I am able to get my legs out a little higher than 90 degrees, and straight, which is improvement from where I started. I'm actualy half decent at box jumps. I finished in 5:47.

I also tried my hand at some band assisted pull ups after the class. This is going to be a PROCESS. I could do all of about ONE. And that ONE was UGLY.

Someday, my friends, someday!

Excitement happened this morning while looking for a bag for Andy to pack to go visit his dad..(that part-not so exciting). I found a dress I had saved because it had always been one of my favorites. The last I had worn it was probably eight years ago. It's not really out of date.. It's just a sundress. It's probably a little worn, but I don't care. I always thought the cut looked great on me and the color looked good with my eyes.

I picked it up, knowing full well how much I weigh right now and I knew how much I weighed when I wore the dress, because one of my favorite pictures is taken in this dress, a few months before our wedding.

I had to log into MYSPACE to find the picture;)

Now, I tried on the dress, and much to my surprise, I could get it on AND zip it up
And it actually didn't look too horrible!! It is definitely on the tight side. I'd say about ten pounds and it will look perfect, but when I wore it before, I was probably 25 pounds lighter.

I think two factors come into play here.

1. I've been lifting weights. Body shape may be slightly different.

2. The whole breast reduction gave me and advantage to getting my boobs comfortably into the dress

Not complaining!!

Pic was taken in May, 9 years ago.

I will be wearing this dress again this year, perhaps before May!!

I've looked at this lonely dress many times over the past few years, longingly. Hoping for the time that I would get to wear it again.

Soon, dress. Soon!!

Not real happy. I think I may have the starts to an injury;(My right knee and ankle keep popping. No real pain, but audible popping. Which, from what I'm reading, is probably related it the IT band.

Here's my plan... To stick to the mileage I want to keep for the month, I need to average 2.4 miles a day for the rest of the month. I'm going to walk all of it, except Saturday's 4 miles.

I'm going to foam roll and stretch the crap out of my legs and butt muscles and see if that helps. I'm going to go to the hot tub at the gym tomorrow, and I'm going to try out my new shoes.

God. I hope this works. I will totally walk that 8k if I have to. I just don't want to not be able to exercise at all!!!! It's essential for sticking to my plan!! I have to try to take it easy for a few days to see if this popping improves...

I've read conflicting info.. Some sources say the popping could just be a tendon, nothing to worry about if there's no pain... Well, there's not much pain.. It's more ass muscle pain than knee pain, and conjunction with ankle popping leads me to believe it's the band..

I hope I'm running some of the race next Sunday and not sitting with the band;(

Must hold back for a few days and see if it improves!!!

Unheard of!! I'm not doing this because I drink every day, because I don't, or didn't rather, anymore... Used to probably in college and for maybe a rough patch or two, but just mostly every weekend or every other weekend. Tired of being tired and hungover and wasting time being wasted all of the time! FIFTY DAYS! And to be quite honest, I haven't really complained about it a whole lot, believe it or not!

As a result, in addition to no drinking, no fast food, no packaged food, little cheese..(just stuff like some hot sauce, mustard, canned orangic veggies, olives and pickles..and my chocolate)

-19.5 pounds are gone. Hope to never be seen again!!! This is a little embarrassing to say, but..I am 45.5 pounds less than my heaviest weight!! That was probably about two maybe two and a half? Years ago! I'm also about 40 pounds from my goal. Although I'd be satisfied with 30;) More than half way there!!

I honestly believe it will happen this year!! I look at those numbers and ask myself how in the world did this happen to me! I know I am not alone based on what I read about others and how they struggle, so I know I'm not alone. What I do know is that I am doing something about it, and I am doing it with great perserverance.

I went to Crossfit this morning. It was some Tabata training. It wasn't too bad compared to last nights tough workout. It was 20 second intervals with ten second rest of deep squats, the bike and the row machine. I also got in about 3.5 miles of walking.

I also made the purchase of a foam roller and a massage thingy because my right knee joint is getting "clicky". It may be due to a tight IT band? It doesn't hurt..YET.. So I'm trying to be proactive!!

I'm going to roll around on the floor for a bit and take a nap. Tonight I'm doing some mock jury thing for pay.

Dinner tonight is from Earthfare deli!! Half price!! Chicken breast, broccoli salad and asparagus.

Sweet dreams!