Truth Tuesday - 5 lb Gain (2 weeks)

Okay well I knew that this would be a gain. I mean hello I was traveling and out of town in Hawaii on my honeymoon for about 8 days total. I knew there would also be some bloating due to all the salt/beer/wine from the previous week as well. I was expecting a 7 lb gain since that is what my home scale was telling me, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a ... 5 lb gain. I will take it, accept it and move on.

Today: Gained 5.0 (first weigh-in in two weeks)

Starting Weight: 217.4

Today’s Weight: 168.2

Total Lost: 49.2

Pounds From Original Goal: 4.2

Pounds From New Goal: 13.2

Since I am trying to be more positive, I will list good things that came out of today's Weight Watchers meeting: I am still in the 160s, I was asked to be a success story at another WW center opening, my size 10 pants still fit and the most important ... I faced the scale and lived! :P

Overall, I am really am feeling positive. I am on Day 3 of my latest attempt at a #7daychip. This is four-fold:

1) Do a #plankaday everyday

2) I need to hit all 5 of the food-related WW healthy checks (liquid, healthy oils, vitamin, fruits/veggies and dairy)

3) Track EVERYTHING

4) Get in at least 30 minutes of moving/exercise everyday

This has been great. I am feeling empowered and overall healthier. Despite trying to keep moving/running/exercising while in Hawaii, I was eating crappy since we had to eat out EVERY meal and feeling gross. I am happy to be back in my comfort zone and back to my workout routine. Next time I go on vacation (should be sometime in the next decade :P) I want to go stay somewhere where I can cook/make my own breakfast/lunch.

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As we talked in today's meeting about the impending Holiday season, I realized that I am pretty off the hook for the rest of the year. I only have one holiday party to attend for work and that is it. I am not traveling home for Christmas. I don't have cookie exchanges to attend. I don't have visitors coming in to town. The remainder of 2011 will be pretty status quo for me. I am hoping this gives me time to really buckle down and get closest to my newly set goal weight as possible. Only time will tell.

I am going to start a new December challenge for myself. I think I am going to look back at my successful Stupendous September challenge and take a couple notes from that.

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Did you face the scale today despite the holiday?

Hawaiian Honeymoon

I still can't believe we actually, ok finally, were able to take our honeymoon ... a mere year in the making. ;) We headed to Hawaii - the island of Oahu and more specifically the Honolulu/Waikiki area. As I had mentioned before it had been a looong time since I last had an entire week off from work so I was more nervous about getting this whole "taking a vacation" and "relaxing" thing down. I can tell you honestly it took me until Day Four to finally feel relaxed. :P The wife fell so in love with Hawaii that I thought I would be returning to Chicago alone on Friday. ;) I enjoyed the area as well, but a lack of Dunkin Donuts, missing the pups and being frustrated with having to eat out every meal - I was ready to come back!!

The travel was brutal. We left on November 18 at 9am. Well, we were supposed to leave at 9am, but finally let about an hour after that - thank you delays. As a result we ended up having about 30 min between flights in Los Angeles. Overall, we survived and arrived in Hawaii just before 6pm. That is right. It took us in total about 12 hours to travel from Chicago to Honolulu. Whoa! My back was not a big fan of having a 4.5 hour flight then right into another 5 hour flight. Thankfully, a couple glasses of wine and a snack on the second flight and I was feeling better. :)

We picked up our bags (ours were actually the first two off the flight), headed to pick up our rental car and proceeded to sit in horrendous bumper to bumper traffic en route to our hotel. Gotta love Friday afternoon rush hour, right? Anyway, we finally made it to the hotel, went up to our room and realized they gave us 2 double beds. Let me tell you, NOTHING says romantic honeymoon like double beds. The front desk person was sweet and was able to move us the next morning to a room with a king size bed. It was late, I needed a drink so we took it. We had a snack and a couple drinks before crashing since I was still on Chicago time (four hours later than Honolulu time).

Saturday morning I proceeded to wake up at 2am. Yay time differences! (I can tell you this crash early/wake up early lasted the entire trip for me - I never got used to the change). We decided to take this day in stride: got breakfast, took a walk around Honolulu, window shopped, stopped by the beach and was out by about 8pm. :P Aren't I a wonderful travel companion?

Sunday was our day of relaxation ... I got up and did a nice 10k (6.2 miles) run along the beach at 5:30 (why not, I was up :)). The wife and I decided to pamper ourselves. We went to the fancy Spa at a hotel nearby, got a pedicure and an 80 min lomi-lomi couples massage. Wow! It was awesome!! I felt completely relaxed. It was also great to just play the rest of the day by ear ... enjoy some lunch, some drinks and some sun before hitting the "tourist" ground running.

We kicked off our tourist spots with Pearl Harbor. It was a truly overwhelming experience and I am so happy we took the time to go there. We saw the USS Arizona Memorial and went aboard the Battleship Missouri. While on the USS Arizona Memorial, it was just crazy to wrap my head around that 1,177 people were trapped/died inside the boat below where I was standing. Powerful.

Thankfully once we got back from the bus tour, the wife let me watch the Patriots play Monday Night Football. BUT, it was even better since MNF started at 3:30 in Hawaii so it was over before dinner. Amazing. Nothing like multi-tasking between a Patriots win and an amazing sunset. Rough day, I know. ;)

We finally put the rental car to good use on Tuesday. We headed to to the North Shore of the Island (we stayed in the South Shore) to take in Turtle Bay. I heard so many people talk about it that i needed to see it for myself. It is a stretch of beach where all the turtles congregate. My friend in February saw 8-9 turtles on the beach itself, but we didn't have that luck. We saw maybe 3 turtles in the water, including a little baby. But, hey seeing three is better than none. Especially after driving around searching for the "off the beaten patch" entrance to the beach.

On the way back, we hit up a bakery that a friend recommend - Liliha Bakery. People, it was lifechanging. ;) They are known for their coco puffs and they did not disappoint. Yummy!

We continued back towards our hotel to get ready to attend an actual luau. We hit up Germaine's Luau, which is one of the best in the area. It was amazing. Man, can those girls move their hips. I respectfully declined getting up on stage to take a hula lesson and instead took advantage of my 3 free drinks included in the price of my ticket. :)

Of course we put our late night right before our earliest morning. On Wednesday, we had to meet our bus tour at 6am to head to a dolphin tour/snorkeling. By far, this was the coolest thing we did. We actually got to swim through the schools of fish - all which reminded me of fish from Finding Nemo. Yes, the entire time we snorkeled (about an hour) I quoted Finding Nemo in my head. Especially, when we saw three giant sea turtles. They were sooo cool. I totally geeked out during this part. I was the last girl to get out of the water and third to last person overall. I didn't want to leave.

We even saw about 20 or so dolphins. At one point, they even surrounded our boat. It was just an out of this world experience for me to be so close to these amazing creatures. The boat also served on delicious spread: pulled pork, rice, terriyaki chicken, strawberries and some adult beverages of course. ;)

I think this was the first time on the trip that I was in my bathing suit (only second time I had put it on) and didn't feel so self-conscious in it. I was really just enjoying the experience.

After realizing that I had missed the Honolulu Half Marathon on Sunday, I decided to sign up for the Turkey Trot 10-Miler on Thanksgiving. It was a great experience. The views, colors and atmosphere were great. I even shaved seven minutes off my time and ran into an old friend. :)

Following the run, the wife and I had decided to climb Diamond Head Crater. That turned out to be a little tougher for me since I hurt my knee during the morning's run, but I pushed through the pain. And I am sure glad I did, I cannot put into words how awesome the views were from up there. There aren't any active volcanos on the island of Oahu so this old Volcano crater was the closest we could do. We had planned to hike a waterfall after that, but my knee was not having it!

We decided to take Thursday evening easy since we knew Friday would be a loooong day of traveling (left at 2pm Hawaii time on Friday and got to Chicago at 5am on Saturday). But, we did manage to finally catch a full sunset from the beach. All week other things had come up: clouds, being on a tour, etc so it was great to see just one in full before we left.

I was proud of myself for being as active as I was, but I know I should've done more/eaten better. But, I enjoyed my time and am back in healthly life mode now.

It seemed as if as soon as the vacation started, it was over. It was an amazing week and actually the first time the wife and I had spent that much time together straight without work or the pups. Maybe we should do it more often... ;)

I will leave you with some final pictures of Paradise:

Honolulu Turkey Trot 10-Miler - November 2011

I can now say I have officially run a road race of some sort in four different states: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Illinois and now Hawaii. :) Not gonna lie, it was extra motivation to get up and sign up for the Honolulu Turkey Trot on November 24. The website I found said the run was just $5 so I was not sure what it would actually include, but I definitely got more than I bargained for.

I had no idea how registration would go (since it was only day of) so I was up at 5:30 even though the run started 5-7 minutes from the hotel. I had my clothes, iPhone holder, headphones and sneakers laid out the night before like usual. :)

I jumped out of bed and headed to register. I had my normal pre-race butterflies, especially since I was out of my comfort zone, but I was ready!

As I approached the sign-up area, I heard my name being called. It was my old coworker Hiro! RAN-DOM! I had no idea he was in Hawaii let alone running in the same race as me. Yay! I had someone to hang with before the run. He had two friends with him to so it was nice to meet new people.

While we waited around for registration to open at 6:30am sharp, I found out that the race was put on my the Honolulu Marathon Clinic group. It is a group that helps people train for the Honolulu Marathon - open to all levels of runners.

On Thanksgiving, the 10-mile run is part of their training and used to work on pacing. As a result, people aren't allowed any technology on the run - no iPhones, Garmins, Runkeepers, watches, etc. It is geared to help you work on your pace for the full marathon - listen to your body.

Wow! I was not prepared for that. Thankfully Hiro drove to the race so I was able to stash my iPhone in his car.

The other kicker of the run - since it was designed to work on pace - had no chip times or numbers, but a tongue depresser. On the depresser, you wrote your predicted finishing time for the race. I wrote 1:38.35 since that is what I ran 10 miles in in Chicago on November 15.

When you crossed the finished line, there would be someone there to write your "actual" time next to your predicted time.

How did they determine the winners? Whoever's actual time was closest to their predicted time won. Well, I figured I had to be spot on since I had just done the same run about a week earlier. I liked my chances.

At 7am, they finally had us head over to the start line. I felt so naked without my iPhone - I do EVER run with it. But, I was up for this challenge.

I started out in the back and quickly did my bob and weaving, ending up next to Hiro's two friends for the first part of the run.

I felt great. Without music or my Runkeeper updates, I really just took in the surroundings, I was able to listen to my body and could feel my feet hitting the pavement.

The views were breathtaking. The only reason I wanted my iPhone was to snap photos. I was wicked jealous of the people who brought disposable cameras. Had I known I wouldn't have my phone - I would've bought one.

I also didn't know there would be two HUGE hills on this run. Wow! I really had to thank Spinning for giving me the muscles and concentration to power up the hills with ease.

It was oddly refreshing to have no idea how long or how far I had been running. But, I was still curious. I finally found a couple guys who decided to "cheat" and had GPS watches on. They let me know we were halfway through. Okay I thought, feeling good.

Then I realized how hot it was getting. Man that sun/heat really snuck up on me ;)

The houses in the neighborhood we ran through were gorgeous. I can't imagine how much they cost ... but definitely out of my price range. :P

I overheard someone saying that the last mile or so was completely downhill. As I ran up the second hill, I figured we had to be getting close. As I started the downward portion, I caught up to another gentleman who looked like he had done this before. :)

He told me we were about 9 miles in and getting close to the finish. He asked me what my estimated time was, I said 1:38 and he let me know his pace was 1:30 so I was ahead of schedule and could take it easy if I wanted. Yeah, not my MO. ;) I knew I wanted to push myself since I was not working on my pace time for the marathon.

I kept up with the gentleman for the remainder of the run. He was originally from Chicago so we had a lot to chat about.

Not going to lie - the final mile felt like it would NEVER end. I wanted to stop. I wanted to walk. But, I couldn't.

I crossed the line at 1:31.04. A 9:06 minute/mile pace. Whhaaa?? Despite the heat and being out of my element, I cut about seven minutes off my time. I was PSYCHED. (Note: the time is as official as they could do since it probably took me at least 30 seconds to get to the start line)

I hate running with things in my hand so thankfully I kept the depresser in my Sweaty Band, while I ran. :)

Overall, it was a wicked cool experience. I am so happy I did it. I proved to myself that I could power through a run with two hills, no music and an unfamiliar route.

Of course I made Hiro (who finished in 1:05, fast I know) take a pic with me after the run to prove to everyone that I really saw him :P

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Next official race is the Santa Hustle 5k in Chicago on December 3! :)

Half Marathon Update - 10k (6.2 miles)

I have finally returned from Paradise - aka Waikiki, Hawaii - it was in a word: amazing! But I will write a whole post on the honeymoon once the pictures are all uploaded for now I will focus on my first run along the beach. Well, before I left I knocked out a 10 mile run on November 15 in probably 40 degree weather. So, I knew that I needed to take advantage of Hawaii's amazing temps and take the new running shoes out a couple times.

I decided on Sunday, November 20, to knock out about 5-6 miles since I was most likely going to sign up for the local Turkey Trot 10-Miler on Thanksgiving Day.

Here is the view I saw as I started my run at about 5:45am

Pretty breathtaking, huh? :)

I had decided on this run that I really wouldn't worry about time. I just wanted to take in the amazing view as I just let my feat his the ground. I ran down along the main drag of Waikiki, passing all the expensive stores (Coach,  Burberry, Ferrari, etc) and finally found a little patch of green area that led me to the beachfront.

By the time I hit the beach I was about to hit Mile Two and felt it okay to slow it down and snap a couple photos to share with you all. So, here they are :)

You can see how it was pretty easy to keep running, right? ;)

I ran along the beach as long as I could before I was thwarted by a beachfront hotel and forced to turn back around. I headed back to the green patch, past the stores and back along the beach near my hotel. I actually hit my hotel at about Mile Four, but I wanted to keep going :) So, I headed to new territory near the Honolulu Zoo. I ended up seeing a bunch of other runners wearing numbers.

Damnit! I didn't even know the Honolulu Half Marathon was that day! Ahhh, I totally would've signed up. Oh well, next time I will do better research :)

I turned around at Mile Five and headed back to my hotel. I approached six miles and figured what was another .2, right? Might as well make it a 10k.

Despite taking it easy and stopping to snap pics, I finished 6.23 miles in 1:01.01 (9:48 min/mile pace). Still decent for me.

It am so thankful to have the opportunity to do this run: the atmosphere, the views, the fellow runners and just taking in the warm air! ;)

Truth Tuesday - 0.2 lb Gain

Well, I knew this week would be a toughy. I had lost 2 lbs the week before, hit goal and wasn't sure how my body would react. I also knew that on Saturday of this week I would be celebrating my one-year anniversary. I tried to do as much prep work as I could before Saturday. I used just 7 weekly points and worked out like it was my job! Overall this week I earned 40 activity points - yes you read that correctly. So I was planning on having 42 weekly points and all activity points on hand for Saturday's events! I thought that would cover me. Well I ended up feeling nervous about the weigh-in so I did double workouts on Sunday and Monday as well and started today off with a 10-mile run. I was just hoping to be down at least 0.6 lbs to reach 55 lbs lost. Well, I hit the scale today and ... I was up 0.2 lbs. I think I dropped a big F%^& when I saw that. Today: Gained 0.2

Starting Weight: 217.4

Today’s Weight: 163.2

Total Lost: 54.2

Pounds From Original Goal: -0.8

Pounds From New Goal: 8.2

Well, let's just say I didn't handle the gain very well. I was super upset with myself. I left the meeting after weighing-in and immediately ate a pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese. Did I need to eat it? Nope! Had I planned for it? Nope! But I was upset and immediately turned to food. Not good. Really not good since it was 0.2 lbs. If my friend had gained 0.2 lbs, I would've said "C'mon it's a wash. You just didn't pee enough." But it happens to me and I lose it. I just wanted to head into Hawaii on a positive note - a loss.

So I sent out my usual mass text and tweet about the results and was thankfully brought back down from the ledge my my ever supportive support group. Phew! That could've turned into a downward spiral pretty quickly.

I need to remind myself that I am human and that you can't always control how your body handles a given week. I had to be reminded of the positives. I am still under my original goal by 0.8 lbs. I have still lost 54.2 lbs. I did complete a 10-mile run this morning in a kick ass time (for me). I went out of my comfort zone this week and tried a Hip Hop/Funk dance class and braved a new Zumba class. And the best news ...

I was contacted by a newspaper today that wants to interview me and include it in their article "How I Lost It." Wow! I had responded to a tweet about it a couple weeks ago, but never thought I would really be picked. That honor definitely turned my spirits around.

So after talking to a couple people today, I have calmed myself down. I tracked the bagel and reset my food plan for today so that I still hit my 29 Daily Points. I moved back into a positive mindframe. I told myself again that it is just one week in a lifetime journey.

Now, I need to refocus my mind for my next weigh-in (November 29), which will be following a week in Hawaii. I will know that there will be a gain, but I will try to be as active as possible while I am gone to combat being out of my comfort zone foodwise. I am going to indulge in as much fresh fruit as I can, but make sure to really enjoy a place that I have never visited before ... and probably won't again.

Life is about balance. Sometimes I just need to remind myself of that because ...

Half Marathon Update - 10 miles

This training run was slightly different than what has been happening. I switched the run from Thursday to Tuesday because it was going to be 10 degrees warmer this morning and I wanted the extra help before my Weight Watchers weigh-in. I ran solo - El was sick and nursing a hurt ankle so I had to hit the trail all by my lonesome. I also listened to music the entire time - well I had to otherwise I would've been the weird girl running along the Lake talking to herself. ;) Well, I kept my routine pretty standard this morning - hopped outta bed at 5:30am, had all my clothes already laid out, made sure to move around the house as quietly as possible to not wake up the wife or the pups and headed out towards the Lakefront.

It was in the low 40s for the start of the run, which felt like a heatwave after last week. :P

I started out slow since I have been experiencing some back pain the past couple days after going a little too hard during a Hip Hop/Funk class. I kept feeling pains in the right side of my back and in my stomach, but I vowed to push through. I just kept looking at my GoSportID band and saying "Stand Up And Finish What You Started."

I kept a pace just below 10 minutes per mile and remembered to check in with my body every so often. I wanted to give up after Mile Four, but I just kept taking the run 5 minutes at a time ... and it worked. Next thing I know I was at Mile Seven. Now at this point, there really was no looking back. I had a goal in my mind of 8-10 miles, but really a goal of 10 miles. I wanted to head into vacation on a good note.

I would be lying if I didn't say the last two miles were tough, but powerful. I felt my body getting stronger as I came to the final mile. I think all my time on the Stairmaster and in Spin classes is really paying off.

I ended up completing 10.02 miles in 1:38.35 (9:50 min/mile pace). I was thrilled!! That is a full seven minutes faster than my first attempt at 10 miles this year (July 8 - 1:45.56). It also meant my pace was 16 seconds faster per mile than my Half Marathon in August (10:12).

Today gave me the belief that I can knock some decent time off my Half in January. I finished the Rock 'n' Roll Half in August in 2:12.15. It would be great if I could get a time closer to 2 hours. Of course, this is all pending on how the weather is that day!! It will be January ... in Chicago ... by the Lake! :P

But for today, I am proud of myself. I fought through, dug deep and completed my mission!

Chicago's Perfect 10 10k - November 2011

I cannot believe I have finally completed my four-straight weekends with road races. :) It has definitely been fun though. Yesterday, I actually completed my first 10k race in years. I have been really sticking with 5ks since my back surgery besides the Half Marathon in August. Yesterday marked our one-year wedding anniversary and what better way to celebrate than making the wife get up at 5am to run a 10k at 7am :) Doesn't she look happy. :P

The race was supposed to start at 8am, but because of scheduling conflicts with another 5k in Chicago that day ours was bumped up to 7am. Thankfully my friend Miguel was running the 10 miler that day (it was Chicago's Perfect 10 miler or 10k run) so he was actually able to give us a ride, which saved us a lot of time in the AM.

We got to Navy Pier, one of the biggest tourist stops in Chicago, and got settled. This was actually the first year of the run so it was a kind of lackluster pre-race scene. I also wasn't sure whether the runs had separate starts or if everyone was starting at once. Well I walked up and down the Pier until I finally found someone to ask - the photog. He was able to ask someone else and determine we all started together. Nothing like finding that out about 10 minutes before the run started.

We went back to our corrals. I was in the 9 min/mile group and Miguel/Tori went to the 10 min/mile area. I couldn't really hear anything from where I was, but finally figured out we were started when I heard a random horn. :P

The run was to take place along the Lakefront, which I have run a lot so I sort of knew what to expect ... or not at all.

We started heading South and I was around an 8 min/mile pace. I wanted to make sure I didn't get swept up in my new 5k speed so I made sure I wasn't pushing too hard since I had an extra 3.1 miles to run.

As we embarked on Mile Two, I saw the aquarium ahead. Damn! I was not happy. There isn't a lot of running space around the aquarium. It was actually a problem the Hot Chocolate 5k run used to have before they changed their course this year. Thankfully it didn't bottleneck too much, but it was still a tight portion of the course and slowed everyone up in my group.

Once we got by the Aquarium, we encountered a hill. I did NOT expect that. But, I just powered up it. I really think my Spinning classes helped me with that extra push to get over the hill. After the hill, you either continued straight for the 10 mile run or turned around (at 3.1 miles) for the 10k. This was perfect. Now my big running group thinned out.

I was finally able to get into a groove now that I wasn't running on top of people. But, just as you turned around you had to climb back up the hill. :P Thankfully once again Spinning helped me and I just dug in.

As I hit the Mile 4 marker, I looked at my Runkeepr and it said 4.1 miles. Not sure if they measured wrong or if my GPS was slightly off. Either way I hit that spot still on a sub-9 min/mile pace. Wow! I was super proud of myself.

I just kept telling myself to keep going. Even when at Mile 5, I had to take off my hat, undo my braid and put my hair back in a bun - all while continuing at my current pace. I was sure I would wipe out, but thankfully I survived.

It was finally time to head back down the Pier. It felt like I was running in place. I never thought the finish line would come. Finally, I saw the Mile 6 marker and I just gave it everything I had. I really wanted to finish in under 55 minutes (even though my original goal was to finish under 60 minutes).

Crossing the finish line was an amazing feeling. I grabbed water and a banana before getting my medal. I heart medals!!

I chatted with a couple girls while I waited for Tori to finish/find her amongst all the runners.

It took awhile to find the results online, but I officially finished in 54:30 (8:48 min/mile). I was 175th overall out of 952 and 27th out of 184 in my division.

It was my first 10k in years and it was a blast. I felt good the whole run. I didn't have any of the wardrobe or technological setbacks that I had last week. The weather was amazing. Overall, it was a great way to kick off the day!

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We are off to Hawaii November 18-25 so my next race is the Santa Hustle 5k on December 3.

I'm Not A Morning Person...

... I just play one in my workouts. As I was running with El this morning, I was thinking how much I enjoy working out in the morning rather than in the afternoon. I was planning on writing down my thoughts on the matter when my buddy @SuperErizzle asked me to share my secrets to getting up at 5:30 almost every morning. So here goes nothing ... no pressure, right? ;)

1) I set out my clothes the night before. I do this every night. I will put out either my running clothes/workout clothes and sneakers either in the bathroom, kitchen or living room to make sure I see them en route to the bathroom in the morning. :) If the clothes are out, you have to go, right?

2) I get a workout buddy so I am held accountable. I hate letting people down so if I know that someone will be waiting for me, I am more apt to get up and get going. Thankfully I have my friend Rina for Wednesday's 6:00 am spinning class and El for our 6:00 am Thursday morning runs.

3) When the alarm goes off, I remind myself how less crowded the gym will be at 6/6:30 am compared to after work. Other people really don't enjoy working out in the morning which frees up my favorite machines. We all know how annoying it is to wait in lines for machines.

4) Find morning classes that you want to try or love. I have fallen in love with Spinning. It is an amazing workout that is really helping my running. My gym offers Spinning M-F at 6am then not again til maybe 6:30 pm or 7:30 pm. For me, once I am home it is harder for me to find the motivation to leave the house again. But, if I go in the morning, I get a great burn, I am ready to start the day and ... leads to number five!

5) Your evenings are free!! I no longer need to keep an hour or two free after work to head to the gym and fight the crowds. Now, I am free to do whatever I want after work . Nine times out of 10 that means get back in my PJs and catch up on the DVR. ;)

6) I read somewhere ... don't quote me on this ... that it helps your metabolism to do your workouts in the AM. I don't honestly know where I got that, but I always think to myself that I will burn more calories throughout the day if I get the workout done in the morning. Hey, it may not be accurate, but it gets me out of bed. :)

Well, there are a few of the things that go through my head and actually get me out of bed at 5:30 or 6:30 in the morning and either hit the Lakefront Trail or visit my gym.

Let me know if you have any other motivators that get you up and moving when it is still dark out! ;)

Half Marathon Update – 8 miles

I finally took my race singlet for the January Half Marathon out for a spin today. It was great … besides the fact that I look like a marshmallow with all my layers. :P

Last night, I went to the Fleet Feet Chicago fashion show. Wow! I wanted to buy almost everything they showed off. :P Especially since most of the items were geared towards cold-weather running.

The fashion show also got me super pumped for today’s training run with El. We met at 6am per usual, but this time it was actually light out. Why thank you Daylight Savings Time!! :) It was such an odd feeling walking to the Lakefront and not having it be pitch black.

As you can see from the pic above, I was layered. I wore the same stuff as last week, but added a nice Fleet Feet Chicago hat (which we got in our goodie bag from last night’s show). The hat was a great addition. Next up: gloves!!

We kicked off our run and I did not plug in my headphones. It was nice. I really wanted to get into the groove of running … just like last week. It felt awesome to just hit the pavement, get in a groove and chat with El.

I switched up our route a tad bit on her. Muah ah ah - having the power in the run. :P I had us run farther North so that we didn’t have to get hit by waves again like last week. The Lakefront path ends at a certain point so we kept running up along the sidewalk. It was nice to take in a different view of Chicago.

As we hit just short of 4 miles, we turned around to start the trek back. We both thought the pace was slower than last week, but comfortable. Well, come to find out. We actually finished about a minute faster than last week. We finished 8.02 miles in 1:17.46 (9:42 min/mile pace).

Overall the run felt great. I was happy with my clothing options, but I know I will need to adjust as the temperatures continues to plummet. The fashion show last night gave me some options to think about and I will really have to sit down and create my “cold-weather running plan” soon.

What do you do to combat the chilly weather? Any brands you recommend?

Hot Chocolate 5k - November 2011

Sorry for the delay all! I was waiting on the final results from the race, which we were posted last night after a late minute change in course race morning, but I will get into that later. Saturday (November 5) marked my third-straight weekend with a 5k race. I did not intentionally do that I just kept signing up for races. :P Yes, I am plenty aware that I am back being addicted to running ... and I am A-okay with that!

The Hot Chocolate 5k was actually the first race I ever did in Chicago (November 6, 2010). It also marked the first race I had done since the marathon I completed in September 2006. After that marathon, I labored through injuries and just an apathy to working out/running in general. Last year, I completed the 5k in 29:25, which was a PR at the time so I was really hoping to dominate this year's and improve my time by at least 4 minutes.

I woke up race morning and it was cold. The Hot Chocolate race consists of a 5k, 15k and a walk so the 5k is the first race to kick off and it starts at 7:40, which meant a nice 5:30 wake-up. I was really looking forward to this race not only because of the chocolate fondue at the finish, but because they updated the course from last year.

We actually got a late start, but still managed to get to the race grounds with about 40 minutes to spare. We located the gear check, which was on the opposite side from the start (closer to the finish line). We dropped off our stuff and headed to the corrals. I was pretty proud that this year I had jumped from the open corral to the C corral (Corrals go A, B, C, D and open)

I was in the zone, listening to music and ready to get to work. Then there was the announcement: the start would be delayed 15 minutes. Ugh! It was getting wicked cold just standing around so I was looking forward to starting on time. But, apparently, a semi truck got stuck under one of the bridges along the course and the organizers/police had to quickly re-route the course.

I give RAM Racing and the police a lot of credit for being able to lock down streets, etc in 15 minutes.

We finally kicked off just before 8. My start was horrible. I felt anxious being near the faster runners - completely out of place. Then I had some wardrobe and technology malfunctions. I was wearing my new Lululemon long pants for just the second time and had to get the strings all set, while running. Then my arm band with my iPhone kept sliding down. Either way the first half mile felt like a disaster.

I came up to the 1 mile marker at what it said was 9 minutes. Man, I felt like I was really hauling butt and 9 minutes seemed off.

I knew my Runkeeper would be off since we were running downtown and GPS + Large buildings = totally skewed numbers. So I basically gave up on trying to figure out my pace as I went along.

As I mentioned, we were running in the streets and there were people trying to cross the street, bikers trying to get across, which just gets frustrating. I was almost taken out by a biker. If I had tripped, I was going to let him have it. :)

I got to Mile Two and the clock said 17 minutes. Okay well that put me at  8:30 min/miles, which seemed okay. But, I wanted to go for a PR.

So I just let my body go. I was booking it until I hit the final bridge/hill. Where that came from, I have no idea. Who puts it so close to the finish is beyond me. :P Same thing happened during the Half Marathon. Damn old city!

Anyway, I booked it. I pushed my body and crossed the finish line at 26:05. Noooo!! I wanted to finish under 26 minutes. So no PR. I was really bummed. But, I got my water, my free pieces of chocolate and waited for the wife. Okay, while waiting I hopped in line for a solo post-race pic then got back to waiting.

She finally came through and she was saying how she felt the course was longer than 3.1 miles. We took a final picture together then headed to gear check so we could get to the real prize: the chocolate fondue!!!

Mmmm... it is the main reason I do this race and it is soooo worth it. But, I was a good Weight Watchers girl and figured out all the points. The entire tray came to about 6 Points Plus then I had 2 free chocolate squares for an additional 5 Points Plus. Thank you weekly points!!!

Overall, RAM Racing did a great job. It was a smoother course, no bottlenecking at any spots and quicker lines to the fondue than last year. Of course, it stunk that the course was longer than 3.1 when it came to official times, etc - but that was out of RAM Racing's control. A fellow Hot Chocolate runner made a good suggestion - maybe a chocolate medal next year? I would definitely take that over the Hot Chocolate. ;)

The final numbers were announced last night. I finished 3.25 miles in 26:05 and RAM Racing estimated my 5k time was 24:52 (24 seconds faster than my previous 5k PR). This broke down to a 8:02 min/mile pace - a PR by 0:12 min/mile. I finished 862 out of 18,361 overall, 66 out of 3,111 in my age group and 263 out of 13,721 females!

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Now I look towards my fourth-straight weekend with a race: I am kicking off my one-year wedding anniversary on Saturday with the Chicago's Perfect 10 10k! :)