I joined the gym...

I joined the gym, y'all.

You definitely already know this if we're Instagram friends, and I sort of hinted to it in my last post,  but I felt like I owed you guys a standalone post on this topic because it is definitely a huge deal for me.

In high school, I worked out every. single. day. I played sports and did cardio/weight training during the summers, so the gym was my second home. After I graduated, though, and the sports disappeared, so did my devotion to the gym. I began to hate working out (particularly as I gained more weight), and it was the last thing I ever wanted to do.

You may remember when I lost a lot of weight before I got pregnant that I up and decided one day to become a runner. So I trained for and ran a 5K. I had honestly grown to really enjoy it but injured my foot just before the race, so I was out for a month or so. And then I got pregnant and used my pregnancy as an excuse to stop working out altogether. 

So.

Here we are, two years later, and I decided it was time to do the thing I've been dreading most of all. But I worried that if I started running again, I may fall off the wagon like I did before. I've been inspired by several women (Meg and Diana, as two examples) who started lifting heavy weights, and their bodies are transforming. I always liked lifting, and I figured I'd roll out of bed in the mornings more willingly if I was headed to the gym to lift.

So I bought a membership to the gym down the road from my house, and I've been going faithfully for about three weeks now. That means nothing, obviously. It's not an ingrained habit yet, and I could totally quit tomorrow. 

But I don't think I will.

If you can believe it, I'm already seeing a difference in my arms and legs, and I feel stronger. (I'm probably not actually stronger, but the placebo effect is nice. Ha.)

The thing that was holding me back from taking the plunge was the idea of exercise cutting into the time I have with Grace and Micah. But I'm working it out so that I do two workouts a week in the mornings before they wake up. The 4:30 alarm is not fun, but I force myself to get out of bed. Once I do that, I know that I might as well get dressed and head to the gym. (There's usually no one else there, which is definitely creepy.) And then I do one other workout on Sunday nights after Grace goes to bed. Micah's usually watching football anyway, so I tell myself we're not really missing any quality time together. :)

In terms of the actual workouts I'm doing, I've been starting with a modified version of this HIIT (high-intensity interval training) treadmill workout:

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I bump the warm-up and cool down to 3.7, the fast walk/jog to 4.3, and then the sprint to 6.5/6.5/7.0. I also add in an extra cycle for a total of four sprints. I realize this is slow, and many of you would probably do this whole thing as a warmup, but I'm slow and out of shape, so this is tough for me.

Today I tried doing actual sprint cycles instead of the above. I did a 5-minute warmup and then a total of 15 sprints at 9.0 speed for 20 seconds apiece (I straddled the sides of the treadmill for 40 seconds in between each sprint). It kicked my butt, but I have no clue how many calories a workout like that burns. I literally just ordered a heart rate monitor watch (I went with this one) so I could make sure I'm in the optimal range for fat burning and make sure I do enough cardio to burn 250 calories or so.

After whatever cardio I do, I either do a legs or arm weights workout. I like this arm workout and this leg workout (I add weights), but I also like doing squats, leg press, seated leg press, the abductor/adductor, and essentially all of the arm machines, plus free weights. But I have no clue what I'm doing, so I won't go into detail quite yet. I'm very likely going to use a trainer for a couple of weeks so I can get a feel for what I should be doing.

And just so I'm really clear about this, I have no intention of making this weight loss/fitness journey an idol. I know I'm talking a lot about it. And I've seen many relationships fail when one partner becomes preoccupied with a lifestyle change and the other isn't. And none of you probably planned on reading a weight loss/fitness blog (though so many of you have sweetly reached out and encouraged me in my efforts, and you'll never know how much it has meant to me). I also know that whatever strength and/or dedication I can miraculously muster every time I step into the gym are not my own. They're His. Without Christ, I would have forever been stuck in the place I was a year ago.

Believe me, I know all these things.

My appearance and my health will still never be something that divert attention from the things in my life that really matter. I've just finally decided to bump them up above the things that don't.

I'm running tonight...

... for the first time in approximately two months.

I'm going to make it happen, even though I have about a bazillion things going on right now.

So I'm telling you all so that, when I finally make it home tonight and feel the urge to strip off my work clothes and collapse onto the couch, I'll remember that I committed to getting off my lazy behind and put on my running shoes instead.  It certainly won't be pretty, but at least it'll be something.

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(And if you need some inspiration to get moving, go check out my Feelin' Good board on Pinterest.  It's definitely to blame for my newfound motivation.)

Real talk...

If you've been reading this silly little blog for very long, you probably know that I started a weight loss journey at the end of September and celebrated losing 50 pounds in the middle of March.  I also got the crazy idea at the end of January to start running and actually managed to finish a 5K in the middle of April. 

But you've probably noticed that I've been pretty quiet about the weight loss/running for last couple of months.  And, to be fair, I haven't been posting about much of anything for the past month (which is probably a direct result from the fact that I worked 80-hour weeks for the entire month of May).

But if I'm being completely honest?

It's because my heart hasn't really been in it.

I hurt my foot just before/during my 5K, and it hurt to walk on it pretty much until I got back from London in mid-May.  So it's definitely good that I gave it a rest and let it heal up.  But it has been almost three weeks since then (and a full week since my schedule cleared up enough for me to even think about working in exercise), and I still haven't had any inclination to put on my running shoes.

And as for the dieting, I definitely haven't totally gone off the rails, and I miraculously haven't gained any weight.  But I'm absolutely eating more "junk" than I had been.  More chips.  More queso.  More sugar.  And the numbers on the scale have been pretty constant for the past month.  At first I told myself that it was okay for me to have a "break" from the hardcore Slim4Life diet that I'd been on.  Heck, I deserved a scoop of ice cream or a yummy appetizer after all the hard work I've been putting in.

But if you've ever struggled with your weight, you know how dangerous that state of mind can be. 

I'm teetering on the edge, here, y'all.

But here's the good news.  I'm not the same girl I was.

I used to be this girl.

And today I'm this girl.

And this girl can dig down deep and get her stuff together. 

This girl knows how GOOD it feels to live healthier and achieve goals.  This girl knows how fun it is to be able to buy cute clothes and wear skirts.

So here's to getting back in the swing of things.  I'm going to use this blog and my sweet blog friends as motivation to keep moving (literally! :) ... and I seriously can't convey what a blessing y'all have been to me on this journey so far).

Because who knows what kind of girl I'll be six months from now if I just keep going... :) 

3.1 miles...

I promised details from my 5K, and I'm delivering. :)

I woke up yesterday morning feeling excited/terrified.  After getting dressed and doing my semi-signature side braid, I made myself eat a granola bar because I knew I needed some fuel to get me through the race.

Then we headed to White Rock Lake, where the race was being held.  I didn't make it over there to pick up my race packet the day before, so we spent a little time trying to figure out where to get it.  We finally figured out where to go and parked.

Walking up, I started to realize that my foot was probably going to be a problem.  After my run on Thursday, I started having pain on the outside of my left foot.  Strangely enough, it felt better in heels, so I thought it might be better after I worked all day on Friday and it didn't hurt too bad.  And I thought it'd definitely feel better in running shoes, so I wasn't too worried about it.  But I should have been.  No amount of stretching made it better, and there was a dull pain every time I walked.  And if I'm being honest, I might have bailed out on the race if I hadn't blasted it to all of you guys (and everyone else I've ever met).  But I thought it might get better as I ran, so I decided to just go for it.

One of my friends from work sweetly agreed to run with me, (Micah had decided to let us girls run together and became the designated stuff-holder/photographer... which maybe wasn't the best idea based on past experience... ;)).

(Yeah, I accidentally ripped off my name tag-thingy, and Micah had to rig it up below my number.  I was so obviously a newbie...)

Once Ashley got there, we went ahead and got lined up.

Ashley has done several other races (and a triathlon!), and she suggested that we start in the back so that we didn't get run over.  It wasn't actually a super-big race anyway, but I figured I'd be better safe than sorry.

And then, before I knew it, the gun had gone off, and it was time to go.

Since we were at the back, it was a few minutes before we could actually start running, but once we got going, I actually felt really great - apart from my foot.  I started out with a good pace, and a little Call Me Maybe. :)  And then we hit a pretty humongous hill, so I decided to let myself take a one-minute walk break when we finished the first mile.  My foot was hurting, but it was bearable.

The time between the first and second mile markers is pretty much a blur.  I remember getting pretty tired, but feeling okay.  Ashley was so sweet to stay with my pace, even though I know she normally runs much more quickly. 

And then about 2.5 miles, my foot started cramping.  I had to stop and walk for another minute, and I worried that it wouldn't stop.  But it finally did, and I started running more on my toes, which seemed to help.  My stupid headphones wouldn't stay in, so I finally just took them out, without having made it to Chris Brown's Forever, which was definitely a bummer. 

I finally made it to mile 3 and saw the finish line and took off with much more energy than I should have had at the end of 3.1 miles.

Here I come!

Almost there!  It was right about this point that the announcer guy called out my name and commended me on my strong finish. 

And then I crossed the finish line!

(and this picture totally makes it look like I finished dead last.  I swear I didn't... there were actually quite a lot of people who walked the whole thing, which made me feel a little more hardcore. ;))

Ha... I sort of wanted to cry at this point.

Micah took Ashley's and my picture.

And then it was all over.

I can't really say how it felt to be done.  I was so, so glad to have done it, but I was definitely disappointed to have not been in peak condition, and my time was so much slower than it had been in the past several weeks.  Plus, based on the fact that I was able to turn it on and finish so strong at the end, I know that I could have gone faster.  I think I just needed to have a little more confidence in my ability to finish.  I was so worried about losing steam at the end that I held back a little more than I should have for most of the race.

But, honestly, I was never looking at the race, itself, as the end goal.  It was just my "insurance policy" to keep me running, and it definitely served that purpose.  I wouldn't say that I've fallen in love with running yet, but it is definitely something I'm going to keep doing (after I take a week or so off to let my foot heal).  And technically, because I missed a few days, I haven't actually finished Couch-to-5K, so I'm going to get those last couple of runs logged on the app so that I can officially call myself a Couch-to-5K grad. :)

Bottom line, it was a fantastic experience, and I'm so happy to have done it.  Who knows if I'll sign up for another race anytime soon, but at least now I know what I'm capable of.  And there's no telling what I'll be capable of if I just. keep. running. :)

Um, I'm running a 5K tomorrow...

Holy crap, you guys.

I run a 5K tomorrow.

I keep telling myself things like this:

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And this...

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And this...

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But mostly?

I'm telling myself this:

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Love,
The clumsiest girl you'll ever meet

Guess who ran three miles last night...

... this girl!

Technically I only ran 2.75 miles because the I walked the first lap (quickly) as a warmup lap, but whatever y'all.  I saw this on the screen last night, and I was thrilled.

(And yes, I run a 12-minute mile. I'm slow as Christmas, but I'm still running, and that's all I can really hope for right now. :))

I ran on the track last night for the first time (since high school), and I really loved it - mostly because there were NO HILLS!  And for some reason I was able to zone out a little bit more than I do when I'm running around the pond by the house. 

It was especially encouraging because my 5K is on Saturday, and I was not feeling ready.  Like, at all. 

But you know what? 

I can only do what I can do.  No more, and hopefully no less.  So if I have to take a few one-minute walk breaks, I'm going to take them.  And if I am the last person to cross the finish line, then so be it.  I'm still going to be insanely proud of myself for getting up off the couch and pushing myself far beyond what I thought I was capable of.  And plus...

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Right? :)

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

I'm linking up to The Vintage Apple and This Kind of Love on this lovely Wednesday morning!

{I'm loving} my Shellac manicure.

The polish has grown out a bit (and they actually left a teensy bit of space when they painted them, anyway), but that stuff hasn't budged at all! I've heard that getting too many of the Shallac manicures in a row can be damaging to your nailbeds, but I'm hoping that this first one can keep me from messing with them long enough to let them grow out a bit. :)

On that note, {I'm also loving} my Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream.

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It keeps my cuticles moisturized so that I'm less likely to mess with my nails.  Love.

{I'm loving} that, after the utter failure that was the last run I attempted, I had a fantastic 25-minute run last night (with just one one-minute walk break in the middle).  It's still so incredible to me that I've gone from barely being able to run for a minute at a time to cruising for fifteen minutes before it even occurred to me to take a walk break. (And even then, I only stopped because I worried that I'd run out of steam at the end.  I think I probably could have kept going and been just fine.) I swear, you guys - Couch-to-5K works!

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{I'm loving} these things I've pinned recently.

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And lastly, but certainly not least, {I'm loving} this guy.

... because he's a lean, mean, fish-catching machine. :) 

Real life...

Today's run pretty much sucked.

After the high of last week's 20-minute run, I was expecting to breeze right through today's 5-minute/8-minute/5-minute run.  Except that I started walking about a minute early on the 8-minute run and couldn't even come close to finishing the last 5-minute run.

Yuck.

But oh well.  I've got to remember that I've come SO far from where I started, and I'm not always going to be able to perform at 100%.  That's just real life. :)

Other than that, we've had a fantastic weekend!  We had "date night" yesterday, which was great.  We started at Pottery Barn, made our way to NorthPark and Cheesecake Factory, and ended with some rentals from Redbox (and for those of you who were wondering, the Footloose remake was pretty abysmal, although I really do love me some Julianne Hough).

Today we had lunch with Micah's family to celebrate his dad's birthday, and Micah's brother's wife and I made this cute candy card that she found on Pinterest.

(Don't mind those two missing airheads... :))

This afternoon, we just picked up some groceries (so be looking for a meal-planning post tomorrow!) and chilled at home. I made Micah a sweet treat (and will be sharing the recipe soon!), and now I'm really looking forward to a nice, long bubble bath.

Hope you guys had a phenomenal weekend! :)

What counts...

Tonight I ran for twenty minutes without stopping.

It was awful.

And awesome.

And I feel like my legs might fall off. (Especially after the dadgum "sexy legs workout" I did last night.)

But I did it, and I suppose that's what counts. :)

Good in the hard...

Truthfully?

I was dreading the run last night.

I hadn't run since last Saturday because I got violently ill on Sunday and didn't feel 100% until yesterday, and I knew it was going to be tough getting back into the swing of things. Plus, I was moving up to Week Five, so I was losing the security of the "easy" three-minute running intervals that I had finally gotten used to and bumping up to all five-minute running intervals.

But you wanna know what?

It honestly wasn't that bad.

There were a few tough spots (mostly up hills), but I ran the whole five minutes each time, and I could feel that I was going faster than I did last week. And I remembered how good it used to feel to me to finish strong during my workouts in high school (I know it's sad that high school athletics is the only point of comparison that I have, but at least it won't be for long :)), so during the last running interval, I found myself all-out running during the last thirty seconds or so. And I actually could have kept going when Lola (is it weird that I gave my virtual Couch-to-5K trainer a stripper name?) told me that the workout was over.

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It's probably so lame, but Francesca Batistelli's Beautiful Beautiful came on during my cool down, and I actually teared up listening to it. Because this thing that I'm doing isn't pretty. I'm a chubby, sweaty, red-faced mess every time I finish a workout, and I'm still slow as Christmas.

But even so, I can feel God making something beautiful out of me. Sure, I'm losing pounds, and I'm slowly starting to look like me again. But He's also teaching me self-control and patience and persistence. He's teaching me that I'm stronger than I think and that, even when I'm not, He's more than capable of carrying the weight. I'm learning what it means to push myself beyond what I thought I was capable.

And I'm also learning that this man is a saint.

Truly. He runs with me, night after night, staying behind me so I don't really even know that he's there. Letting me have these moments for myself, but supporting me in his quiet, perfect way. (And all the while, dealing with our crazy dog who isn't always easy to handle.)

I'm learning that there's good in the hard. And that what's hard today probably won't be quite so hard tomorrow.

But then again, I do bump up to eight-minute runs tomorrow, so maybe it will. :)

Running Must-Haves: Couch-to-5K App

I know that I just posted about how Couch-to-5K was going and that it's all I can talk about lately (I really hope I'm not totally boring you guys), but I really wanted to make sure everyone knew about the Couch-to-5K app.

Maybe I'm the only idiot, but for my first couple of Couch-to-5K workouts I didn't realize that there was an app that would make my life a million times easier, so when I ran I'd just take my iPod with me, set my workout playlist on shuffle, and then keep an eye on the stopwatch on my iPod to figure out when to run and when to walk.  The problem was that I was constantly fiddling with the iPod and couldn't really relax enough to focus on the run, especially at the beginning when the intervals were at a minute and 90 seconds - I was constantly looking down!

Then I found this app:

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Things that are awesome:

- When you're ready to start a workout, you open it up, select which workout you want to do (e.g., Week 4 Workout 1), and it does all the hard work for you.  It loads up a timer, which shows you which interval you're on, how long you have left on that interval, and which interval is coming next.  When that interval is over, and it's time to start the next one, she gives you verbal cues to tell you what to do (e.g., "Let's jog!").

- If you have music on your phone, you can add songs into the music player.  To keep it simple, I just pull up my "Workout" playlist and add all the songs.

- You can see your overall progress for the workout in the little "track" around the timer, as well as the total amount of time left for the workout. 

- One of the best things about it is that it uses the GPS on your phone to track your route, calculate your total distance, and determine your pace (e.g., X minutes/mile).  When you finish a workout, you can add it to your "log" which shows you your stats for all of your past workouts, so you can see how you're progressing.

Things that aren't awesome:

- The app isn't free.  I can't remember exactly how much I paid for it, but I think it was $2-$3.  And I have a weird thing about paying for apps (I seriously have maybe paid for one other app), but I think it's totally worth it.  There's actually another Couch-to-5K app called "Get Running (Couch-to-5K)," which looks like it's pretty similar, but I went with this one and love it.

- If you're not following the Couch-to-5K plan pretty closely, you might not find it super helpful, as the timers are all based upon the workout as designed. 

- The music player doesn't seem to have a repeat functionality, so if you get through all the songs you've added, it doesn't start over with the first song again.  You have to go back and add them all again, which is a pain to do while you're running. 

Overall, I'm in love with this app, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's attempting to get off the couch and out on the pavement.  :)

One month...

As of today, I have been running for exactly one month.

This is, by far, the longest I've stuck to any workout regime since high school.  And it feels really good to have not given up yet. 

I've run in the rain.

I've run in the cold.

I've run until my shins are throbbing (from the pain of repeated heel strikes) and my calves are burning (from the effort it takes to try and run on my toes so my shins don't hurt).

And you know what? 

I'm going to keep on running.

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I'm not telling you this out of any sort of pride.  I am lazy and short-sighted, and I've given up on so many "I'm going to start working out" kicks that I've lost count.  So, believe me, there is absolutely no pride here.  I'm only telling you what I'm telling myself so that maybe I'll eventually believe it.  And so that maybe you can help keep me accountable?

But just in case, I invested in a little extra "insurance" to keep me motivated to stick with it.

I registered myself and Micah for the 2012 White Rock 5K on April 14th.  I'll be running a 5K in less than two months, y'all! 

It's so exciting.  And terrifying.  And I have this weird fear that I'm going to fall on my face in front of everyone (which wouldn't be altogether surprising), but I'm going to do it anyway.  I'm going to find my strong and do this thing that's difficult.  And I'm hoping that one day I'll look back at this goal that seems huge and insurmountable to me right now and smile at the strength I didn't know I had.

Thankfuls...

It's Friday!  Whoo hoo!

In celebration of the coming weekend, I thought I'd post some things I'm thankful for today.

In no particular order...

I'm thankful that I had the best tall, skinny peppermint mocha (with extra peppermint) of my life this morning.  Seriously... SO good.

I'm thankful that Pottery Barn put these cute moss sphere vase fillers on sale (with free shipping!). 

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I've been scouring the earth for more things for the plethora (yeah, I just busted out an SAT word on you) of glass containers lying around my house, and these are just perfect.

I'm thankful that I allowed myself an extra workout at the Week Three pace.  I'm just not quite ready to bump up to five minute running intervals.  The transition to Week Four on Sunday is not going to be fun at all.

I'm thankful to have so much support from you all on this weight loss/running journey.  Seriously.  I can't even tell you how wonderful it has been to know that y'all are rooting for me.  It motivates me to keep going so I don't let you down. :)

I'm thankful that we finally broke down and got DVR last year.  Because what in the world would I do if I actually had to choose between Private Practice and Jersey Shore? (Man, I'm pathetic...)

I'm thankful that I was quick enough to score a gorgeous bookshelf from Noteworthy Home for our bedroom.  (Her stuff goes so quick {because it's all gorgeous}, so when you see something you like, you have to snatch it up before someone else does!)  It's being delivered tomorrow, and when I get it all set up and accessorized I'll post pictures.  For now, I'll show you her picture.

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Gorgeous, right?  I just love the bun feet and molding!

And last but definitely not least, I'm thankful that I got to have sushi at lunch today.  Because, let's face it, sushi is always a good idea. :)

Linking up to Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday!

Find your strong...

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After unintentionally taking a few days off from running, we got back on track (pun definitely intended) last night. 

And I'm not gonna lie... it sucked. 

I was working really hard to find my strong but still couldn't quite finish the three-minute running sections of the workout, even though I had been able to the last time I ran.  It was an important reminder that, for me, consistency is important.  Because when I take a few (or five) days off and remember how blissful laziness feels, I have absolutely no desire to put on my running shoes again.  And the longer I go between workouts, the higher the chance that I'll just give up completely.  Again.

But thankfully I made myself put my shoes on and take the first step out the door last night.  And, believe me, it definitely sucked.  But I finished.  And I feel certain that it'll suck at least a tiny bit less tomorrow, and that is what's keeping me going.

If there's anyone else feeling defeated or tired or ashamed for having given up yet again, remember that every day is a new day.  Every morning brings a new opportunity for us to find our strong.  And when we can't find it, we can always rely upon His. :)

I feel like confessing...

Fridays just feel like a good day for confessing, don't they? 

1)  Yesterday was a running day, and by about 4:00 in the afternoon, I was actually... looking forward to it.  I can't even believe I just said that, but it's true.  I'm just halfway through Week Three of Couch-to-5K, and I'm already looking forward to running.  Holy cow.  Who would have thought?  Now, make no mistake, about halfway through the workout last night, I was cursing the world and wondering why any sane person would voluntarily submit themselves to such torture (clearly, I could never survive any sort of interrogation... or anything even remotely challenging, apparently), but I powered through.  And my time was even better than my previous workout! 

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2)  Micah has been out of town since Tuesday, and I've been reminded how crappy and boring my life would be without him.  Even just watching TV is more fun when he's sitting beside me.  I also didn't love the fact that he wasn't here to hold Lilly's leash while we ran, so I had to deal with her, instead.  (She's just too pitiful when I put on my running shoes and go out the door without her.  Micah said the last time I left her home, she whined for about five minutes.  Poor little princess.)  I spent a stupid amount of very precious energy keeping her from spazzing out every time another person/dog/car/leaf came near us.  I definitely won't take him dealing with her for granted anymore...

3)  I've got a pretty significant dent in my windshield on my car, and the crack is starting to spread quickly.  I've been putting off getting it fixed, but I'm pretty sure my time is about up.  Ick.  I guess I'll go ahead and get my squeaky brakes, dented bumper, and cracked stepside fixed at the same time.  My car's a hot mess.

4)  I recently pinned this sweet, sweet story.  Instead of paraphrasing it, I'll just post the story and the letter written by the daughter of what must be the cutest couple in the history of time:

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"We always give a small metal box with this story inside to friends who are getting married. Tim likes to include $50 and a note saying, "the first 50 are on us." We've loved making this tradition a part of our marriage and hope you do to. It's never too late to start!

Dear Ann Landers,

Last weekend, we celebrated my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. This morning they left on a long-awaited trip to Hawaii. They were as excited as if it were their honeymoon! When my parents married, they had only enough money for a three-day trip 50 miles from home. They made a pact then that each time they made love, they would put a dollar in a special metal box and save it for a honeymoon in Hawaii for their 50th anniversary. Dad was a policeman, and Mom was a schoolteacher. They lived in a modest house and did all their own repairs. Raising five children was a challenge, and sometimes, money was short. But no matter what emergency came up , Dad would not let mom take any money out of the “Hawaii account.” As the amount grew, they put it in a savings account and then bought CDs.

My parents were always very much in love. I can remember Dad coming home and telling Mom, “I have a dollar in my pocket.” She would smile at him and reply, “I know just how to spend it.” When each of us children married, Mom and Dad gave us a small metal box and told us their secret, which we found enchanting. All five of us are now saving for our dream honeymoons. Mom and Dad never told us how much money they managed to save, but it must have been considerable because when they cashed in those CDs, they had enough for airfare to Hawaii, plus hotel accommodations for 10 days and plenty of spending money. Before they boarded the plane, Dad winked and said, “Tonight we are starting an account for Cancun. That should only take 25 years!”

Ann, I thought you’d enjoy this story about 50 great years of intimacy in marriage!

From a loving daughter in Abilene, Texas"

 

Is that not the sweetest, most adorable thing you've ever heard?  I feel certain that I'll be giving this as a wedding present sometime soon.

 

Alright, loves.  I think that's about all the dirt I can scrounge up right now.  Happy Friday, and enjoy the weekend! :) (And if you have your own secrets to spill, be sure and link up to A Blonde Ambition!)

Three minutes...

Oh my goodness, y'all. 

The past few days have been crazy.  Like, insane. 

But before I get into what we did this weekend, can I just tell you about how awesome it was to start Week Three of Couch-to-5K tonight and to be able to run for three minutes without stopping??  I honestly never thought I'd be able to do that, and it was an amazing feeling.  AND, I'm working on my running mechanics (running more on my toes), so my shins and knees don't hurt near as badly as they did last week.  I'm so excited!  (It's the little things, apparently... :))

Anyway, so back to our crazy weekend.  Here's what we did from Saturday through tonight:

I met Lauren for a BFF pedicure and lunch date.  (Whereupon I bought this cute little "@" for the side table in the living room.  And a sweet tea-scented candle.  Yeah, I said sweet tea-scented.  It smells like heaven.  Like a delightfully Southern heaven.)

Micah went to the Dallas Boat Show with his Dad and brother.

We drove to Josephine to have turkey and dressing with my extended family. (Apparently my Mamaw was craving dressing and didn't want to make a whole pan for just her and Papaw, so she invited all of us to come eat with them.  It was delicious.)

We went to a work friend's birthday party.

We brought breakfast for our Sunday School class.

We had shrimp creole (marry me!) at my Mom's house. 

We went to a Superbowl party with our Sunday School class.

I went to a women's event at church.

I survived a big presentation at work for one of the partners.  Whew.

Micah went to his first men's group meetings with our Sunday School class.

I kicked off Week Three of Couch-to-5K.

All that in four days, y'all.  I'm exhausted just typing it all out.  And the food... ugh.  Let's just say that I was NOT a very good dieter this weekend.  I'm definitely back on track again, but I'm rocking a pretty gnarly sugar headache today.  I will definitely not be indulging in peanut butter balls, pretzels dipped in chocolate, or donuts again any time soon. 

But all in all, I think I've still earned myself a nice bubble bath.  Don't y'all? :) 

My Music Wednesday - Running Edition!

Miss Allie proposed that I share all about my running faves and must-haves, which I definitely want to do in a month or two when I can really share what has worked for me and what hasn't.  (At this point, I'm mostly still just trying to not fall over.)  

But I thought I could go ahead and share with you guys how I went about setting up a "running" playlist to get me in the mood to pound the pavement.  For me, music can be a huge motivator and can significantly affect my mood, so it was really important to me to find music that makes me happy and really gets me going.

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At this point, I was mostly interested in finding songs that would help me set a really nice pace for the walking portions of the "run."  This might sound counterintuitive, but just hear me out.  See, I couldn't care less at this point how fast I'm actually running so long as I'm running.  I'm still so out of shape that I just can't realistically expect to run at any particular pace yet.  So right now I'm just focusing on being able to run (at any pace!) for as long as I can, and I'll worry about how fast I'm running after I get more endurance.

But I think it is important for me to keep walking quickly, even though I'm tired, so that I keep my heart rate up throughout the workout.  So I wanted to figure out a good walking pace that kept my heart rate up but didn't wear me out too much.  By a happy accident, the shuffle on my iPod started one of my runs out on Your Love by The Outfield (you know the song... Josie's on a vacation far away, come around and talk it overrrr.  So many things that I WANNA SA-AAAY, you know I like my girls a little bit older.  Yeah, I like cheesy 80s music. So what?), and the pace was absolutely perfect.  Not too fast, not too slow, elbows-bent-at-waist, power-walk PERFECT.  (For me, anyway.  You real runners are probably laughing at how ridiculously slow I am. :))

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So I set out to find out how "fast" the song was.  I googled "your love the outfield bpm" and found that it had roughly 130 beats-per-minute.  And then I found jogfm and JogTunes, which are amazing (and free!) sites which categorize songs by how many beats per minute they have, so you can search for songs that will help set a consistent pace throughout your workout.  I looked for all the songs I could find with close to 130 bpm that I thought would be fun to walk to (and wouldn't annoy the crap out of me... I'm not in love with most of today's pop music).  That way, I could use the beat of the song to determine when my feet should hit the pavement during the walking portions of the "run," and I'd still enjoy listening to the songs during the running portions. Here's the list I came up with:

Your Love by The Outfield

Hot N Cold by Katy Perry

All Over You by Live

Love Song by Sara Bareilles

Forever by Chris Brown

Long Hot Summer by Keith Urban

Marry the Night by Lady Gaga

California Gurls by Katy Perry

I Gotta Feeling by The Black-Eyed Peas

Kiss from a Rose by Seal (for cool down)

It's not a long list, but since I'm just jogging 25 minutes right now, it's pretty perfect.  (Plus, I've ended up putting Forever by Chris Brown on repeat a couple of times because I just love it so much, so I don't usually get through all the songs anyway.)  When I get a bit faster, I'll probably buy a few of the Xtreme Cardio Mix albums, which are mostly 140-160 bpm (a girl can dream, can't she?).

So there's my overly methodical, totally lawyer-ish method for finding the perfect workout music.  If you want to find songs that work for you, just shuffle through your iTunes library during your next run and find a song that sets the right pace.  Then check out jogfm and JogTunes to figure how how many beats that song has and to find more songs at that speed.  Voila! :)

So here's what we did this weekend...

1. I finished up Week 1 of Couch-to-5K!  It mostly sucked, but I will tell you this.  About halfway through the last run, while listening to Chris Brown's Forever, I actually smiled while running for the very first time.  I know most of it has to do with the fact that I think of Jim and Pam's wedding every time I hear that song, but I also was just truly enjoying the run at that point. And I could almost sort of understand that "runner's high" I've heard people talk about.  Right after that I broke through the trees, and began running directly into the wind.  I was definitely not happy at that point.  But all in all, I can definitely see improvement from the first run!

2.  Our pool table was delivered!  It's all set up and leveled, and it looks great! 

We've obviously got a LOT more to do in the game room, but it's definitely a good start.

3.  We got to watch this little princess by ourselves for the first time ever!

5.  We spent the hours between 1:30 and 5:30 am this morning at the emergency room.  I'm totally fine now, I swear.  But yesterday evening I started having trouble breathing, and it just got worse and worse as the night went on.  When I tried to lay down and go to bed, I started gasping for breath.  I knew I was starting to panic, so I tried to stay calm and took a bath.  And sitting up in the tub wasn't horrible, but the minute I tried to lay back down, I started having trouble breathing again.  At about 1:15, I finally woke Micah up and told him that we needed to go to the ER.  I was just horrified that I was having an asthma attack (even though I don't have asthma) or pneumonia, and I knew I wouldn't be able to calm down enough to sleep.

After a breathing treatment and X-rays, we found out that it's just a bad case of bronchitis.  Which is so weird because I wasn't feeling bad at all before the breathing problems began.  But whatever.  The breathing treatment really helped, and the doctor prescribed some steroids and an inhaler for the next couple of days.  And after the upper respiratory and sinus infections in the last month, I've decided that I really need to start taking some vitamin C and using hand sanitizer more often. :)

6.  We finished up a cute project at the house that I'll share with you guys tomorrow!

We also gave Lilly a bath, got some workout clothes at Target, laughed at each other a lot, danced around the aisles of Home Depot (well, that was mostly  me... not we), and slept until 11:30 am (this morning after being up all night).   What did you guys do this weekend?

No, I don't want any cheese...

... but I am going to whine for just a second so that I can tell you that I feel like an old woman today.

My legs and butt are so sore that sitting down in a chair has become a cruel form of torture.  And I can definitely blame some of that on the running, I guess.  I did Week One, Run 2 of Couch-to-5K last night, and my shins feel like they're bruised.  And I know it's because I'm running all wrong, it's just hard to remember to lean forward while also trying not to collapse from exhaustion. 

(I might invest in a pair of Vibrams {check out MckMama's post about how you can score a pair for $39!}, which apparently force you to run on your toes. But I'm pretty sure I'm way too vain to sport those suckers in public.) 

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But I feel certain that most of my soreness stems from the fact that I did this "sexy leg workout" on my "off" day on Tuesday night:

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Let me just tell you... for a girl who hasn't done so much as stretch her legs in at least two years, I am FEELING all the freaking squats and lunges.  The whole "you're most sore two days after you work out" thing is definitely true because I almost cried when I had to sit down on the toilet to pee this morning.  (Probably TMI, but I'm keeping it real here, y'all.  And also, I'm pretty sure I never wished that I was a guy and could pee standing up more than I did in that moment.)

I posted this status on Facebook last night: 

"Running still sucks. And also, how is it possible that I can't remember what the capitol of Spain is, but I still remember the lyrics to Salt N Pepa's Shoop? (I spend all my dough... re mi, cutie... Shoop Shoop be doobie, like Scooby Doobie...)"  (I amaze even myself with my insightfulness and depth.)

One of my Facebook friends (hey, Allie!) asked me how I am motivating myself to run.  My answer was basically that, in addition to the fact that Micah's coming with me and walking Lilly (which she totally loves), I'm really just so curious about how people can come to love running so much that I'm making myself try it. That and the fact that I intentionally blasted it on my blog and my facebook to incentivize me to keep doing it so everyone won't realize what a quitter I really am at heart.

(And can I also just say that it drives me absolutely insane that Micah and Lilly totally kept up with me last night, and he wasn't even close to being winded when we finished, while I was doubled over and practically doing lamaze exercises to catch my breath.  Men.)

So bottom line -- I'm a big, fat whiner about the running and getting in shape, but I'm going to do it.  So you should probably prepare yourself for a teensy bit more complaining from me in the near future.  I'll go ahead and apologize now.