I'm a blogger slacker!

I admit - I got a little off-track with this blog but I'm happy to report that my activity level didn't slack off as well. Well maybe a little - with school starting, it was harder to adjust our schedules to accomodate picking up kids, making sure everyone gets dinner, homework and all the other fun things that come along with a family. But I've been walking everyday with my co-worker Rich and we have a great time. Its great knowing that no matter what I do during the weekend, that if I'm having a day from hell, that I can count on Rich being outside at 11:30 for our walks. We've ventured up into the hills of Pogonip, we go downtown via a path of 77 stairs or hike up a pretty steep bike path. Its a good source of consistent work out that I know I can count on.
Its pretty real to me that W2W is approaching and all the little runs that lead up to it. A 2nd harvest food bank fundraiser, the Turkey Trot, etc...they are all coming up quickly. Somehow - Rich signed me up for the walk/run club through our employer and all of a sudden - I'm not only accountable to myself and my friends, I'm answering the call to this group. Wow.
The gym is going well - I'm finding new machines to work out on and constantly pushing myself to go further, harder, faster. During the say - I wish that I'm out running or walking, I like that feeling.
I've given up on Zumba - I like it but the timing is crappy for the time being. So I'll stick with the machines and my ipod. Which reminds me -- I need to revisit my playlist. Somehow when I'm sitting in my office a particular song will sound like its good running music and then when it comes on - I can't move fast enough to skip past it.
The weightloss is going good - I'm 1 pound away from losing 20. It doesn't sound like a lot to me esp when I look at the calendar and see that its been 16 weeks. I feel like I should have lost more than that by now, but I keep telling myself that its better to lose it slowly and keep working at it than to lose it fast and not have learned how to maintain it.

I am striving to do more, do it harder and faster. Thats my goal.

Reflections & Tools Learned

My apologies for not keeping up to date with this blog this past week. No good excuses - just life. I sort of fell off the WW wagon this week and I'm quite scared of what little red digital number is going to pop up tomorrow at weigh-in. I learned something though, that even when I'm "bad" so to speak, I'm still making slightly better choices than I would have before starting WW. Friday - I'm pretty sure I ticked off the people behind me in the drive-thru at Toxic Hell (taco bell) as I just couldn't decide what to have. Finally decided on those new soft corn tortilla tacos that come with a slice of lime. But it had wayyyyy to many onions to be edible in my book so I stopped at the next exit and got Wendy's chili. I was on my way to an all day/night scrapbook event where buying food once in is like buying food at Disneyland. You know its not going to be really good to begin with and then you get the double pleasure of paying triple the worthy amount? So I had half the chili on my way there (yeah you want to talk about talent? Try eating hot chili while starving while driving Hwy 17 in the middle of the day). For those that are not familiar with said Highway 17 -- its probably the worst stretch of highway in our county/area. Its windy and twisty and for those of us that know the road well -- we test our limits on it. Easily pushing 85-90 in some areas. Its really easy to get going. But in the middle of the day, you are sharing said space with i-d-i-o-t-s who don't realize that yes, Virginia while you are in the fast lane, you MAY pass the big scary truck to your right. If you don't? I will scream obsenities at you from my car. Phew....thank you little subaru for pulling over and letting the rest of us speed our way to our destinations.

I'm sorry -- this isn't about speeding or driving is it? Its about the choices I've learned to make. So at the show, couple of hours in, I'm hungry and facing those lines. I opt for one of the pre-made sandwiches with turkey and cheese. Pull the cheese off, mustard and turkey is always good. Instead of chips which provide little to no comfort. I instead, trade those points for a candy bar. I know -- I can hear the groans now. But its 8pm people and I've got 5 more hours to go and I need that second wind. But with the choices I've made today, that butterfinger bar fits easily within my daily range. I'm pleased with myself.

Saturday - I'm dead tired and we order pizza for dinner. Whole wheat organic crust and yummy veggies make for a delicious change from the typical cheese and crap from RoundTable.

So I'm sitting here reflecting on my week and wondering what tomorrow will bring and knowing that I have strayed a bit from the diet portion of my journey. But I'm somewhat comfortable knowing that these are everyday situations that I am going to have to face as time goes on. I'm happy knowing that I know better choices to make now and how to handle set backs. If I gained back some weight, sure I'll be dissapointed but I know how to reflect back and know what didn't work and what I need to work on. WW has taught me those tools.

I do know that going to the gym is absolutely vital for me - and its funny, I feel yucky when I don't go. I really enjoy going there and pushing my body to see if I can do more than last time. If I can pass up that number from last time, burn more calories, etc. For awhile, I've been told to spend most of my time on the eliptical machine until my achilles tendon stretches out and heals. I have very strict instructions on how to stretch before and after -- hopefully this will help alleviate my whole foot sensation problem. And...I'm really really wanting to get back to that weight training class that hurt so bad 2 weeks ago - I'm wondering if I've made any progress in my lunges. I've been practicing here and there.

Who knew proper lunges were so hard to do? I still wonder why that wasn't covered in PE? I mean seriously? They taught us to bowl and how to shoot basketball granny style but they couldn't spend 15 minutes teaching us the proper way to lunge? Or did a I cut Ronnings class that day? All my SCHS peeps will appreciate that. I've been walking at lunch time with a co-worker and we laughed until we cried when we learned that even though he graduated 27 years before me - we had the SAME PE teacher. Classic.

Day 2 - oh crap.

Well...welcome to my personal journey. I don't quite know where to start other than I'm excited, scared and thrilled all at the same time. I don't know who will be reading this as time goes on but I feel compelled to list a cast of characters since I will be talking about people in this blog as time goes on.

• Clint - my husband
• Rob & Tori - my kids (10 and 5, respectively)
• MichaelAnn - my oldest friend in the whole wide world. We've known each other since 1st grade. So..thats well...27 years worth. She lives in Texas and is pure inspiration.
• Veronica - one of my bffs. Love her. She keeps me laughing, smiling and our kids are great friends.
• Bob & Sharleen - my parents
• John & Sherry - my inlaws

I think those are my main players that will be re-occuring.

A few things about me:

• I'm married with 2 kids. I'm a fairly young mom. 33 with an almost 10 year old and a 5yo. Got started early and we're done early. Pregnancy and I don't mix. We're done.
• I curse like a sailor. I'm trying to be better about it. Its not cool when your kid gets to the repeating age.
• I work FT outside the home. I love where I work. If I have to work (which I do), I'm glad I get to work in the office I do.
• I'm active in my sons' school with the PTA. I'm coming back as PTA VP with the expectation I will be President next year. I'm scared shitless.
• I'm sarcastic about 98% of the time. I can't help it. You ask dumb questions, I feel compelled to give you a dumb answer. Sorry - its in my blood. If I only had a dime for everytime my mother exclaims "you're just like your father". Chuckle...gets her going everytime.
• We bought a house 2 years ago that I now loathe. I want to move back to the City of Scotts Valley where there are sidewalks, nice parks and things are clean. I'm slowly but surely working on the husband to sell the house and move.
• I hate chain-link fences. Can't expain it, just do. I think they're ghetto.
• I love love love to cook and bake. My mother and aunts are amazing cooks and I hope and pray that one day they take the time to freakin write down their recipes because I cannot remember all of these things ladies!

Moving on. I live in Santa Cruz, California. I'm 33 years old and in the worst shape of my life. There, I said it. I've struggled with my weight my whole life. In HS, I got it under control by not eating well and playing sports. After graduation, the weight slowly came back on. With pregnancy and kids - things got worse. So here we are. My husband god bless him - decided one day that he wanted to lose weight. He starts eating bird seed type food and running. Man dropped like 60 pounds what seemed like effortlessly. Meanwhile, I'm still running around doing the work and mom and PTA thing. Coming home after late night meetings eating McD's while watching the Biggest Loser. Irony No?

About a 8 weeks ago, June 7th to be exact, I decided I was sick of not fitting into my clothes and watching my kids struggle with their weight. I joined Weight Watchers at my office and joined a gym. I love my gym. I don't love WW but it is working. 7 weeks in and I have lost 15 pounds. Its going well.

There is a 10K race in my town called the Wharf to Wharf. Its a big deal. People come from all over the world to run this thing. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking a local hasn't won it in oh...well a lot of years. Usually a dude from Kenya wins the thing. Clint (again, the husband) and my friend Veronica decided they wanted to run this thing this year. I supported them and was at the finish line. They did awesome.

Few days after the race, Veronica, MichaelAnn and I are on FB chatting on a thread. It gets mentioned that MichaelAnn should come out to California and do the race with us next year. We go around and around and MichaelAnn agrees to come out IF and ONLY IF I do the run with her. Wow....to say the least. I agreed. Instantly.

So somehow in the midst of late-night Facebook conversation, I wound up committing myself to run a 10k in 363 days & and I will get to see my long lost friend that I haven't seen since 2007.