Disney - Day(s) 1 - Hollywood Studios & WDW Half Expo

Disney! Disney! Disney! This trip had been circled on the calendar for ages and I was PSYCHED!! It came at the perfect time...

On Thursday, January 10 at 8:30am, we headed to the Pooch Hotel in Newton, MA and dropped the two pups off for "camp" (I can't bring myself to say kennel) and it was officially vacation time!

WOO!

Since I am a worrier and HATE being late, we headed to the airport earlier than we needed to ... but you never know how security will be at Logan.

Getting to the airport early has perks like being able to sit down and enjoy a couple Harpoon IPAs before boarding the Delta flight.

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Do you like my drinking companion?

The wife and I charged up the iPhones and iPads so they would hold up through the remainder of our travels and headed over to the gate to unload of our stuff and grab lunch for the 2pm flight. The wife hit up Wendy's, while I was determined to get my Fresh City which was a far cry from where our gate was. But, with determination comes speed and I ran as fast as my TOMs would take me from our seats to Fresh City ... and did so in plenty of time. Thank you! :)

I was rocking the casual fit gear look for the trip ... when I travel it is all about comfort.

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Funny how before losing weight I wouldn't be caught dead in these Reebok pants in public!

Do you like how I carried the Red Cowboy Hat for my Jessie hat throughout this entire endeavor? There was no way I was letting that baby get bent before Race Day.

So when we boarded the plane and realized we had an empty seat in your row? You know who became the newest passenger in Row 12 Seat D?

You guessed it ... my red cowboy hat!

We landed about 5pm and headed straight to the Disney Magical Express Bus desk to catch our ride to the Caribbean Beach Resort.

The bus was amazing. It was a free service from Disney and took us door-to-door from the airport to our hotel. We had to make a couple stops at other hotels, but it was better than paying for a shuttle!

Plus the entertained you on the trip with info about Disney World and some old school Disney cartoons.

We arrived at the Caribbean Beach Resort and had a quick and painless check-in thanks to the great staff and were off to find the hotel shuttle bus. The Caribbean Hotel campus is ginormous!! The shuttle bus was the only way to make it from the Custom House (check-in) to our room (Trinidad South) in a reasonable amount of time. Wow!

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We arrived at our room to find out (definitely to the wife's delight) that we were staying in a Pirate-themed room!

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Oh yes, Pirate ship beds!! :)

Before I did anything, I had to lay out my Jessie race costume/fit gear ASAP - pre-race tradition. Plus, I had to make sure I didn't forget anything before heading to the Expo the following day!

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Okay now we could meet up with my parents (who had arrived earlier in the day) and head to Downtown Disney for some much-needed dinner.

We had a great time walking around Downtown Disney and seeing the nightlife, but called it an early night since we had to be up early the next day to head to the Expo.

Friday - January 11, 2013

Of course I can never leave home without some sort swag from the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series :P So I had choices for the day's outfit. :)

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We tried to find the scenic - aka by the water/pools - route to the hotel's Centertown (aka food/shop area) and successfully did so on the first try. We had breakfast and devised a game plan there before heading to the Expo.

I LOVE Race Expos and was really looking forward to my first Disney Expo!

We grabbed the special Walt Disney World Expo busses (thanks Disney for that) and headed to the ESPN Sports Zone.

We arrived and headed left to pick up our bibs before heading to the right for the swag pick up and Expo itself.

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Big thanks to Robin, who let me know I should change corrals at bib pick up since I was apparently in the wrong one ... Oops!

Corral A - WOW - never thought I would be so close to the Start in such a big race. Eek!

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Countdown to Walt Disney World Half

But it was swag time baby.

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What a grand entrance...

We did some laps around the Expo checking out the merchandise and I successfully kept my credit card in my wallet the whole time. Success.

But, I was really there to finally meet my Twitter friend and fellow Fitfluential and Sweatpink ambassador Kat in person. We headed to the Brooks booth and there she was. :)

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It is always amazing to meet online friends in real life, but it was great to click with Kat so quickly. Plus, we got to have a moment with Joey Fatone. Okay okay he was rushed by us by his handlers, but we saw him and were within 5 inches of him. :P Right after Kat had been talking about him. ;)

We bid farewell to Kat and proceeded back to the hotel to catch the Disney Shuttle to Hollywood Studios!

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Aaahhh it's THE hat!

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This was so surreal.

(Note: I had been to Disney previously 3 times in my life and the last was in 2001 so it had been awhile!!)

But, my friends at home hooked us up and helped rank which rides/attractions we had to see and how to best navigate the parks so we were off.

We grabbed a fast pass for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Starring Aerosmith before hitting up Star Tours and Muppet Vision 3D (one of my personal FAVES).

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As we exited Muppet, there they were ... Phineas and Ferb!! My wife and I LOVE that cartoon so we immediately got in line to snap a couple pics with them!!

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phinease

This easily made the vacation! :)

We then headed to Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Tower of Terror and rounded it out by cashing in our fast pass for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Starring Aerosmith. All amazing rides!

I stopped by to pick up a nice set of sparkly Minnie Mouse ears to match my Sparkly Soul Inc headbands! :)

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Cute right?

Since the Half was the next morning (and started at 5:35am) we had an early dinner - yes 3:40pm reservations - at Mama Melrose's Restaurante, which was delicious!! I <3 Carbo loading! :)

We rounded out the day by taking a walk through the Honey, I Shrunk The Kids Movie Set Adventure and taking in The Great Movie Ride.

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Yup, this soaker actually squirted water and got me ... of course!

We hopped on the Caribbean Beach Resort Shuttle and headed back to call it a night.

Alarms were set:

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And I was fast asleep by 7:15pm ... dreaming of the next morning's Walt Disney World Half Marathon!!

Oh hey Mojo, There You Are!!

One event can throw one's whole mini universe into a tailspin. Yup. That happened to me.

On December 21st, my mom sat me down and told me that my Grampa was diagnosed with cancer - melanoma to be specific.

So please friends wear sunscreen!!

My mom told me he had about 6 months to a year to live. Okay, not long enough but a timeframe I could work with. Especially since I am running The Boston Marathon with Tedy's Team in honor of my grandparents (who are both Stroke Heroes) in April and he would still be around for that.

... and then I got the phone call that I didn't expect.

On December 27 as I drove from one Weight Watchers meeting to another, my mom called to let me know my Grampa had passed away ... just 6 days after getting the original news. Well, that isn't the same as 6 months to a year now is it?

I broke down. Bawling my eyes out in my car.

And  enter the emotional eating.

I know better. I know that isn't how to handle the feelings.

But in the moment the fries and wine  ... and tears ... and quick fixes ... and "why bothers" won out.

I did keep my workouts up throughout the time, but as we all know you cannot out run/out work out a bad diet. Plus the runs had lost some of their lust even though I knew I was running/training for him.

So I finally stepped on the scale. And my jaw dropped. I hadn't seen that number on the scale in well over a year - maybe more.

The home scale said I had put on like 11 pounds in the week of Christmas and the week of Grampa news.

So right there. I knew something had to change.

I knew my Grampa didn't want me to undo all the hard work I had put into my weight loss.

So I just got off the scale and got back to business and basics.

And 3 days later 6 lbs were gone - so I didn't think that 11 lbs were right - most was definitely bloat.

And 5 days later 9 lbs were gone - back in business.

But seeing the number on the scale got me back in the mindset I needed.

My Grampa's wake/funeral was January 2-3 and I did the best I could to control the eating/drinking during that time with the family, but allowed myself to stray if it happened ...which it did. Mmm carbs. :P

But as soon as I got home I was back to my routine. And that routine sent me to Disney feeling healthy, happy and fit.

The Holiday/Sad/Emotional weight was gone and I left for Disney just 0.8 lbs over goal. Success.

Especially since I left for Disney on the One Year Anniversary of me reaching that goal weight with Weight Watchers. :)

And then there was Disney!

Did I enjoy a Mickey ice cream? Yes.

Did I enjoy a post race beer or two? Yes.

Did I run one of the best races of my life? Yes.

Did I have a freakin' blast? Yes.

Did I come home ready to get back to my packed snacks, my fruits and veggies with every meal, and my Ninja blender? Yes.

So I got more than just...

-a PR

-a great weekend with my wife & family

-the chance to meet Twitter friends in real life

-being able to experience 85 degree weather in January

...during that trip!

I got my mojo back!

I got that little spark that I needed to show no matter what I can conquer dreams, I can attain goals, I can indulge, but I can still be healthy and fit.

So now the Hell Yes I Can ... the I Am Worth It ... the "This Is My Life" moments now win out.

I don't NEED to bury my emotions or sadness with food. And if I do, it's okay - tomorrow is a new day.

I. Am. Human.

Most of all: I can make my Grampa proud with my actions, by continuing to reach for new dreams and sharing my story to try and show someone else that anything's possible.

1st Run 5k - 1/1/13 - 23:07 (7:27 min/mile)

The race that almost didn't happen. I found out on December 21st that my grampa had cancer and had about 6 months to a year to live ... then on December 27th I found out he passed away. Well apparently 6 months was really 6 days.

We thought the funeral would be on New Year's Day so I didn't think I would run this race. But then I found out the wake would be held on January 2nd.

So the race was back on.

Since hearing about my grampa's passing, I had been using running as a great - cheap - version of therapy to work out my emotions. I was really looking forward to just cutting loose on the race course and just enjoy the time.

This marked my 3rd straight New Year's Day 5k.

1/1/11 - I had a herniated disc and had to walk the New Year's Day 5k in Chicago so it took the wife and I finished in 48:37 (15:41 min/mile)

1/1/12 - I was healthy, besides a small knee injury and was able to run the New Year's Day 5k in Chicago in 25:27 (8:13 min/mile)

1/1/13 - well....

The wife and I signed up for the 1st Run 5k (which offered a 10k as well) in Lowell, Mass - about a 30-45 minute ride from our house depending on traffic. It's funny that this race was the closest one to our house offered on New Year's. Slightly different from the 15 minute bus ride we took in Chicago. :P

The 1st Run 5k run had me at: the medal was a wine bottle topper. Oh yeah!!! :) :)

We didn't get out the door as early as I had wanted so we made it to the race with about 5 minutes to spare and still had to pick up our bibs and our hats. I love when races move outside the realm of t-shirts and offer different fitness gear as race swag.

While waiting in line to pick up my bib I ran into Amy and Janine!! I love seeing fit friends at races. :)

Of course I had to hit the bathrooms before the race started :P so we tried to use the one women's bathroom inside the VFW but the line was pretty lengthy. So us females took charge and took over the men's bathroom as well. ;) My dad was there to act as a lookout for us thankfully.

It did the trick until we walked outside and realized there was ZERO line for the port-o-potties ... uncharacteristic for a race.

After finally getting all squared away we made it to the Start Corral just in time. :) I even ran into Amy again (who was going to rock the 10k course).

They did a 10 second countdown in honor of New Years and we were off...

In a shocking turn of events, I didn't look at the course map ahead of time so I wasn't sure what to expect.

As we approached Mile One or so, I ran by two people I know - Robin, who was running with her sister, and Sara, who participates in my Boston Marathon training runs on Saturday mornings. Yay more familiar faces. :)

It was the halfway point or so through the race when we took a turn towards the River and BAM enter the wind!! We ran straight into the wind for the second half of the race. I felt as if I was running in place for most of the that trek.

I was mentality out of the race and ready for it to be over so the final couple tenths of the race felt like they would never end. :P

We passed the Mile Three sign and I was pretty happy I had signed up for the 5k instead of the 10k - especially the 10k was just the 5k loop AGAIN. No thank you.

I tried to turn up the legs and push myself past the finish line as quickly as possible.

Thanks for the great action shot race photographers

I knew it wasn't a PR (which I know I don't need to get each time out), but I was pleased with the race overall and was happy I beat that darn wind. :P

So the Yankee Timing Company did this really cool thing where you could swipe your race bib up to this computer on the side of a truck and up popped your results on a TV screen - right after the race. Cool, right?

I will definitely take 23:07 and be happy!! :) How could I not when my first 5k time was 38:21 in March 2005. I am constantly amazed and thankful for how my body and my running has improved over the past couple years especially with the herniated disc/back surgery in January 2011.

Plus how sweet is this medal?

We caught up with Amy's husband, Chris, Janine. Sarah and my fellow Tedy's Team member Nanci after the race before heading out to refuel with some Dunkin Donuts. :)

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So my New Year's Day races are:

1/1/11 - I had a herniated disc and had to walk the New Year's Day 5k in Chicago so it took the wife and I finished in 48:37 (15:41 min/mile)

1/1/12 - I was healthy, besides a small knee injury and was able to run the New Year's Day 5k in Chicago in 25:27 (8:13 min/mile)

1/1/13 - I ran in honor of my Grampa and hopefully made him proud in the 1st Run 5k finishing in 23:07 (7:27 min/mile)

I Tried Crossfit ... Seriously!

This is a sentence I never thought I would utter: I went to a Crossfit session.

Yes, me.

Wow!

I follow so many people on Social Media that are Crossfitters that I had to give it a try.

I worked the Red Sox employee Wellness Fair for Weight Watchers earlier this month and my table was set up next to CrossFit Fenway. I got to chat with Eric, who ended up being the owner of CrossFit Fenway, and he let me know a lot about CrossFit and that you could try a class out for free.

He gave me his card and the seed was planted.

I decided that I had to try Crossfit before 2012 ended so last week I emailed Eric and let him know I was down for the December 26th 6pm "basic training" class, aka beginners.

Basic Training is:

"Our Basic Training class is an opportunity for new CrossFitters to work on building a solid foundation of movement, or for veteran CrossFitters to brush up on their technique.  It currently runs Monday through Thursday at 6 PM on a 2 week cycle."

I arrived at CrossFit Fenway 10 minutes early in order to sign the waiver and see what I got myself in to. ;)

After filling out the waiver, Eric had me wait for the instructor, Mandy to start.

It really worked out in my favor to pick a class the day after Christmas because it ended up just being 2 of us, Vida & I, in the "basic training" 6pm class.

We kicked it off with some great dynamic  stretching. I actually felt more flexible than normal and I think I owe a lot of that to Pure Bare Burlington and the techniques I learned in my month there that I still use now.

After the stretching portion, Mandy had us work on the correct form for squats. We started with air squats then worked on it using a pvc pipe instead of the bar.

But then it was bar time. :)

This was my squat station when we moved up to using the actual bar. :0) We did 5 reps of 5 squats. I decided not to up the weights as the reps went on because I really wanted to make sure I had the technique down.

Plus I had just done hill repeats earlier in the afternoon so I wasn't going to push the quads too much. :P

After squats we moved on to the W.O.D. (Workout Of the Day) and today we did the "Half Cindy," which meant we needed to do as many reps as possible of the workout in 10 minutes. A regular Cindy workout would have been 20 minutes.

Our workout was:

5 Pullups

10 Pushups

15 Air Squats

Here is where the pullups happened.

No no no I didn't do pullups on this with my own strength. Thankfully for weaklings like me they have bands that you can use to assist you with the pullups. As JT said "You can have the sensation like you're flying through the air."

(Note: since it was a slow post-holiday night, we ended up with man-on-man help during our class. Wicked beneficial for this newbie. Mandy helped Vida through the W.O.D. and JT helped me)

Since I also am new-ish to pushups (started regularly in November), I used the box below to assist me.

I owe a big thanks to JT for keeping me going and helping me with my form throughout the workout.

10 minutes passes really quickly when you are trying to fit in as many reps as possible. :P

This means I am weak. :P

Okay it means I completed the workout 5 full times plus 5 pullups and 9 pushups (hence 14). Vida dominated it.

Then before I knew it we were done.

It was over ... and I hit my snack! ;)

I want to thank Eric, Mandy and JT for giving me a great CrossFit experience.

I sucked. I felt weak. But I am proud of myself for walking through the door and giving it a try. As I said at the beginning, I never thought I would walk through the door to begin with.

This just showed me that I need to keep working, keep pushing and anything is possible.

Have you tried CrossFit? What did you like about it? What didn't you like?

Tedy’s Team Group Run – 10 Miles

A word to you all - check your training schedules. :P Okay this is really a note to me.

I knew that on Saturday we would be running 10 miles.

But where those 10 miles would be ... I did not know.

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On Friday, I ended up running 9.3 miles total (a 6.2 mile in the morning and a 3.1 mile run in the afternoon). I only had the 3 mile run on the schedule, but since I slept through the 6 mile run on tap for Thursday I had to do some make-up work.

The average speed on both was 8:22. Crazy that both ended up at the same exact pace. Well, I think the torrential downpour helped that happen. The weather was atrocious and it was wicked tough to enjoy either run, but they were done and that was more important.

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Now I don't normally run that much the day before a long run, but I needed to get some frustrations out and thought running would be the best way, but it ended up working out to the opposite with the rain, technical difficulties and other such things.

I ended up yelling most of the run - yelling at the rain and wind and my random stuff - and couldn't hear any of my music over the wind/hail that was coming sideways.

But Friday night, I got some sad family news and it all seemed trivial. It reminded me that there was more to life and a good or bad run.

So I got up ready on Saturday morning to enjoy my Tedy's Team 10-mile group run.

Thankfully my teammate Meg and her husband Josh picked me up again and we headed to FitCorp on Beacon Street.

It was in the car that I learned we would actually be running 10 miles on the Boston Marathon course itself including...

HEARTBREAK HILL

Ahhh, I was actually - finally - going to run Heartbreak Hill.

Woo hoo!

I was psyched ... yet also frightened from all the stories! But mostly excited. :)

I had decided to bring some Holiday Cheer to the group run so I broke out some Christmas favorites:

Thanks Sparkly Soul for adding some sparkle to my run!

We all headed to the train. Instead of running an out and back 10-mile loop we were taking the train to Newton and running the final 10 miles of the Boston Marathon course. :)

Thankfully Meg has run the Boston Marathon with Tedy's Team before so she was giving me the lowdown on Heartbreak Hill as we started running as soon as we got off the train.

We ran a few hundred yards ... and BAM ... there was the start of Heartbreak Hill. :P

I expected it to just be one large hill, but it is actually a series of smaller hills followed by a large hill (which Meg forgot to mention to me ;)). She had just told me about the rolling hills at the beginning.

But it was a great accomplishment to conquer it for the first time.

Heartbreak Hill is at Mile 16 of the marathon. My legs were feeling tired from the previous day's run so I kinda felt like I did at Mile 16 of the Savannah Marathon. :)

Instead of popping in my headphones 2 miles into the 10 mile run, I decided to just enjoy the sights and sounds around me - see what I will be enjoying on April 15.

Plus I was really just so thankful to be healthy, alive and running that I didn't want any technical difficulties messing up my run.

The first 5 miles of the run were new to me so it was wicked nice to just take in the lovely houses of Newton.

And seeing all the other runners and running groups out working on Heartbreak Hill and training.

I even saw a woman who had more Holiday cheer on than I did. ;)

We had water stops 4.6 miles in and 7.3 miles in to the run.

Meg flew in front of me for the final part of Heartbreak Hill so we ended up catching up at the final water stop and running the final 3 miles together.

It was great chatting and getting to know my teammate better.

Then it was time for the final hill of every week - Beacon Street heading up to the Massachusetts State House.

Ugh.

Neither of us were looking forward to it so it was time to dig deep and power through.

I turned to Meg and said "Today this is our marathon."

Yes, overdramatic, but we both needed it.

And it worked.

We both pushed our way up the hill - which is the longest 0.3 miles ever - and finished the run strong.

That run felt great. It was also the exact same average speed as the previous week's 10-miler.

It's great having FitCorp available after the run to stretch and foam roll! :)

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I also owe a big thanks to my friends at Samuel Adams for giving me one of the 26.2 mugs from earlier this year.

It will come in handy after these long runs. :)

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I can't wait for next week's 12-miler!

If you are interested in making a donation, please feel free to do so here.

I appreciate all the support! 

A Month At Pure Barre

Lift. Tone. Burn. The mottos behind Pure Barre.

"Pure Barre is a total body workout that lifts your seat, tones your thighs and burns fat in record-breaking time. Utilizing the ballet barre to perform small isometric movements set to fantastic music, Pure Barre is the fastest, most effective, yet safest way to change your body. Students see results in just 10 classes."

And exactly how you will feel after a Pure Barre Burlington class.

I went into Pure Barre with absolutely no idea what a class truly entailed, but with the guidance of my friend and Pure Bare Burlington owner Jess I gave it a whirl. Jess and I have known each other since college and she had yet to steer me wrong so I knew I could trust her.

Since losing over 60 lbs through Weight Watchers, I have been working on breaking out of my comfort zone and trying new workout/classes I wouldn't normally try.

So on November 16, I walked into Pure Barre Burlington for the first time and kept an open mind! :)

Well, I was nicely asked to leave ballet when younger for my lack of grace so a workout that revolved around a ballet barre seemed out of my element. :P

But Jess, Danielle, Becca and Dana really make every person that walked through the studio door feel welcome!

Also, in every class I attended I was surrounded by women of all shapes, sizes, athletic abilities and backgrounds. Everyone was there to have a good time and make their muscles shake.

Yes your muscles will truly SHAKE each and every class.

As someone who had a back injury and subsequent back surgery in January 2011, I am always weary of unknown workouts, but Pure Barre is prepared:

"Pure Barre is intelligent exercise. The technique protects your joints as it does not involve any bouncing or jumping."

There was absolutely no point in any of the classes, where my back felt too strained and if it needed extra support during the 7 minutes of abs at the end of class (yes 7 minutes) Pure Barre provides balls to place behind you back for extra support.

The personal attention shown by each instructor towards every individual in the classes is unmatched and makes the experience that much more personal.

I thank Dana for one Monday morning in particular when a simple "perfect form Dani" settled my nerves of doing every single move incorrectly!

During my month at Pure Barre Burlington I even got to share the experience with a contest winner, who happened to also be a fellow Weight Watchers Leader Heather (who has lost over 75 lbs).

It was the second to last class where I finally made it through the whole thing without stopping during any of the segments. I like to refer to that day as Pure Barre Perfection! ;) I was beyond ecstatic when it happened. A day that will live in infamy.

What I truly loved about the classes were the consistency in the areas of the body worked, but the exercises themselves varied by class and instructor.

You normally start a class with:

*warmup - abs and arms

*thigh work

*seat work

*7 minutes of abs & 2.5 minutes of bridge work

Because...

"The workout launches a full blown attack on the areas of the body all women struggle with: abs, hips, seat and arms. It defies gravity by tapering everything in and lifting it up."

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But my entire time at Pure Barre Burlington could be summed up in just one picture

and just one blog post - here!

If anyone has any of those qualities, you will LOVE this technique.

And if you are thinking, I could NEVER do this.

Yes, yes you can! Give it a try!

What A Difference A Day Makes...

I uttered the F word yesterday ... Failure! And releasing the feelings that had such a hold on me was freeing.

Plus It allowed me to truly enjoy one sweet Wednesday!

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I was able to sleep in until 7:30am ... woo!

You don't know the power of a good night of sleep until you have one!

Well, I had a decent one besides a middle of the night nosebleed that my wife helped me take care of - think blood all over my pillow, hand and face. Yeah, I'm apparently a child! That is my second nosebleed in the last six weeks.

But once I recovered from that I slept well. :)

I dropped the wife off at the train and headed to do my normal daily routines - drop off Weight Watchers paperwork in the mail, deposit Weight Watchers money in the ATM, grab my Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee and hit up Stop & Shop for any necessary produce.

Thankfully I was able to get home and post the blog post before heading out to lead back-to-back Weight Watchers meetings, but thankfully the work day was over by 2pm and I was able to head over to Watertown and visit with my best friend and her daughter Joanna.

 

How could I not smile with that face??

Plus I'm starting her early on the Dunkin' Donuts craze...

Plus, Sarah grabbed a great pic having the Dunkin' cup that says "Joy" since I was feeling nothing but Joy in that moment. That little girl is adorable!! I am an only child so I can't ever be a true aunt, but thankfully Sarah is giving me the honor of being an aunt to Joanna!!

After a wonderful afternoon with Sarah, Joanna and the pup Wyatt, it was time to head home, which with traffic normally takes about 45 minutes. Normally during that time, I'm annoyed and the road rage rises. But, as I sat there, I couldn't help but think about how lucky I am to be able to spend an afternoon with people I love. Focusing on all the blessing really helped the time pass in traffic.

When I got home, I had a couple packages waiting for me --- YAY!!!

The first was my sample Bulu Box.

The second was my first order from PV Body

It's a 15love black shirt (size L) and Performance Sportswear grey pants (size M)!!!

Those pants are definitely in the Top Three most comfiest pants I've ever owned.

After looking through my haul and knocking out some core work...

 80 situps, 15 real pushups, 20 modified pushups, & my plankaday: front forearm plank & reverse plank

I had a lovely low-key evening with the wife and pups ... exactly what I needed.

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This is exactly what I needed.

So thank you all for listening to my rant yesterday. I had to release the feelings that were pushing me down and now I can move on and start to figure out what I need to do next, but for now I will enjoy the special days!

What a day indeed!! :) :)

I'm A Failure...

... in every sense of my life! Yes, that was the feeling I carried around all day yesterday. I don't really know where it came from or why it came on so aggressively at one time, but it did.

It snowballed. With everything that went wrong throughout the day yesterday, the "you suck at life" feeling grew and grew.

Maybe it is a December tradition now for me to have a breakdown this time of year.

Right around now is when I had a little breakdown in the car with my wife driving back from spending the Holiday with her family. I just LOST it in the car. You wanna talk about an ugly cry - that night took the cake.

I just get really really REALLY good at bottling up my emotions - my annoyances, my frustrations, my sadness, my self-loathing, my unhappiness - until it all boils over in a big huge ugly cry fest.

After that night, the wife and I had some serious talks and we decided to move back (for me) to Boston - partly so I could lead a less stressful life. The whole deciding to move and it actually happened was a 3-week span.

On January 29 (the day after my half marathon), we loaded up the uHaul thanks to help from my dad and took the 2-day drive to Boston.

Flash forward to this week and for some reason I'm back to that person that is holding in the annoyances, the frustrations, the sadness and the self-loathing.

Maybe it has been happening gradually (probably the case), but it all seemed to come to fruition now.

Is it something about this time of year?

Was it triggered when I started thinking about what I wanted to do/accomplish in 2013?

Am I second-guessing the decisions made last December?

I really don't know what is at the bottom of it, but I needed to get the words out before I eat my way through this emotional struggle.

Food is not the answer, but for the past few days it worked quite nicely.

So I'm done turning to food and instead I turned to this space to let out the thoughts. To stop burying them with fried foods because that's what put me into Weight Watchers to begin with ... and I'm never going back to that person again.

Now, I will dig deep down to find out what is causing these emotions because in my heart of hearts I know I'm not a failure, but when I look at my life - the degrees I have, the jobs I've held - I wonder if I'm living up to my full potential.

But, I know in the meantime I need to focus on making healthy decisions and allowing all my emotions to flow through instead of weighing me down.

Hey, there's a reason I called this blog Weight Off My Shoulders ... so now I will use it to do just that.

Release!

Pure Barre Perfection

On Friday (December 14) the stars aligned and the Pure Barre gods shined down on me as I went through my second-to-last Pure Barre Burlington class and I was able to complete every single move Jess had us do. Oh yes folks!

My smile after leaving class that night couldn't be bigger!

I couldn't - and still can't - believe it...

I went into the class having had two horrible days of back pain - overall soreness with some sharp pain mixed in for fun.

So I reluctantly went to Jess' 5:20pm class on Friday, but I knew I would be able to make it through since the class is geared to keep people injury-free and to work around existing injuries/impairments.

I think taking the two days off before class made the difference. I truly listened to my body and tried to rest as much as possible.

Jess was ready to work on Friday from the get go...

I love how in Pure Barre they keep the warmup the same each time, but the remainder of the class changes each and every time.

Now the areas you are working are the same - thighs, seat, lower abs/back then the class ends with 7 minutes of abs/bridge work.

I like the consistency in the beginning as it lets you - as it is so aptly called - warm up without wondering what the heck is coming next.

I got the groove down of knee lifts with folded arms, arm pull downs and twists before heading into the 90 second varied plank (forearm with leg lifts, straight arm with knee pull-ins and side planks on both sides before breaking out some pushups and tricep pushups).

Then comes the arms work! Oh man, I love a day where I can make it through the entire arms section without putting my 3 lb weights down or taking a break.

And on that fateful Friday night, I didn't! I can see a tiny muscle starting to form and it bring me SUCH delight!! I don't want to be all big and bulky but I would like some definition ... which is what I am really working on now. So the arms section is a great help.

The thigh burning, the seat lifting and the abs toning is truly life-changing. "Tucking the tailbone," while simultaneously squeezing the Pure Bare ball between your upper thighs and standing on your tippy toes "like you're wearing your highest pairs of high heels" truly works EVERY SINGLE part of your body.

If you leave this class without your muscles shaking, you must be doing something wrong OR you are the most toned/in shape person in the world. :P

It was sad to walk out of Friday's class and know I had just one class remaining - Sunday at Noon - before my month at Pure Barre Burlington would be up.

But I was riding a high so I was really looking forward to Sunday's class ... even though I would be taking it right after back-to-back Spin and Body Pump classes.

Eek!

My 30s Freakin' Rock So Far...

We are just 3 months into my 30s and I already have a Top Ten list of moments that have happened! Whhaa??

Am I serious?

Hell yeah.

Since my 30th Birthday weekend in September, I have had some freakin' awesome experiences.

So I decided to share the Top 10 so here goes:

10) Climbing 2,000 stairs in honor of this blog's Facebook page hitting 2,000 likes

[embedplusvideo height="281" width="450" standard="http://www.youtube.com/v/vu2XJX5kk6A?fs=1" vars="ytid=vu2XJX5kk6A&width=450&height=281&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=" id="ep3115" /]

I still can't believe that happened and I am still so thankful for each Facebook like my little blog has!

9) Completing my first Warrior Dash the day before my 30th Birthday

(Yes, I am including anything that happened in my 30th birthday weekend as fair game ... my poetic license! ;))

On that day, I faced many fears, but the biggest one my fear of heights - by climbing up the Big Wall on a rope and climbing down the Big Wall via a ladder. At first I didn't trust my arm strength - or lack thereof - to get over the wall, but then as soon as I got to the top - it happened. The cape on my Batman socks got stuck and for a moment, I panicked and thought I would have to live atop the wall for the rest of my life.

8) Earning enough votes to join Got Chocolate's Milk Team REFUEL

I filmed a video at Fitbloggin' in September 2012 and begged, pleaded and went to social media to try and earn enough votes to make the team and on October 26 it was announced that I was in! YAY!

I couldn't thank everyone that voted for me enough.

I am honored to make the team and can't wait to see what comes next...

7) Being selected to run The 2013 Boston Marathon with Tedy's Team in honor of the American Stroke Association

I am running in honor of my Stroke Heroes - my grandparents - and am so thankful to be able to spread the risks/warning signs/tips about Strokes to the masses. As well as, raising $5,000 for the American Stroke Association.

So far I have raised just over $1,500... if you are interested in donating, you can do so here.

6) Attending Fitbloggin' and meeting some of my Social Media Icons in person

When I got home from Fitbloggin' I really didn't think I had deserved to be at a conference with such amazing bloggers, but since climbing out of my pit o' insecurity I realized I really did belong there. I was meant to go there, get out of my comfort zone, meet some of the most incredible people I know IN REAL LIFE and have my world changed forever.

Plus, it didn't hurt that I got to have one amazing road trip with Tara and Meegan, get amazing hugs from Alan and room with the phenomenal Sue, Steve & Kia (my bedmate)!

To pick a favorite moment from that weekend isn't possible - there are too many to list and just thinking about that time puts a big ass smile on my face!

Now is it time for Fitbloggin' 2013 yet? ;)

5) Appearing on Fox 25 News with Dr. Sherry Pagoto To Talk Weight Loss & Twitter

If you missed the segment, here's the video.

I never thought I would be in front of the camera. While working in PR, I was great at putting other people in front of the camera so it was a tad shock to be on the other side of the situation. But, boy was it fun!

I couldn't believe how quickly the 4-minutes segment went. It was over before I knew it.

I owe a huge thank you to Dr. Pagoto for suggesting me to be a part of the segment in the first place.

4) Something I NEVER EVER EVER thought would happen ... I tried on a bikini and shared the picture with the world

This definitely happened before my birthday, but it was tied in to the milestone of hitting 30 that I conquered the fear and finally walked in to Sports Authority and tried on a bikini.

The whole experience is documented here.

I still don't know if the bikini will see the light of day. But at Spin the other night my friend Linds said something that gave me a moment that maybe it may some day.

Linds: "I'm going to keep Spinning for every Pina Colada I will have in Aruba."

Dani: "Well I don't have a vacation coming up. So what am I pushing for?"

Linds: "To make sure you wear that bikini next summer."

Dani: "Hmmm..."

Anything's possible, right? ;)

3) On December 12, I hit the lowest weight since probably Junior High

I weighed in 0.4 lbs lower than the day I hit Goal (which was my previous low) on January 10, 2012 (153.8). Wow, I was so excited I started crying - not to the point of an ugly cry - but pretty close!

Hard work + Believing in yourself + Weight Watchers = Impossibilities become Possibilities

2) Savannah Marathon

2 feats: for beating my previous marathon time by more than 2 hours and for finishing in under 4 hours

Again - things I never thought possible actually happened. With each mile that passed in the race, every time I saw my dad cheering me on along the course, I got a little push that I could do it. That it just might happen.

And it did.

And after catching my breath (that took a lot longer than usual), I wept and wept - big happy tears. I had done it.

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It comes down to this! The number one event since turning the Big 3-0 is...

Drum Roll Please

1) Hosting my own charity 5k for my 30th Birthday

Is anyone really shocked at this choice?

I didn't think so!

That day was one of the best of my life. I still can't get over that it really happened.

Feel free to relive it now - here.

And the great news is????

I'll be doing it AGAIN in 2013!

YYAAYYY!!

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Wow, just reading this list again makes me so excited for what is still in store. I mean this was just the first 90 or so days of being 30 ... I have a lot more to go!

Are you 30? Have you had a decade or age you feared turning, but then it happened to be amazing?