Running Mix

I'm starting to really love running. Once I got over that mental hurdle of "you can only make it to this point" and just kept running through that point, I've discovered that my body is capable of running 3 miles without dying!!! Your heart is supposed to beat faster and your breath is supposed to get heavy. If you quit just when that starts to happen, you never get stronger and you're stuck in a mental rut. I've discovered that the voice in my head is powerful and can be very negative. I've been trying to change that into a more positive voice, but the negativity is always there somewhere. So I've learned to tune out that negative voice with some tunes while I run. Here's what I'm listening to right now:

I Run To You - Lady Antebellum (warm up)
Let's Get It Started - Black Eyed Peas
Stronger - Kelly Clarkson
Love is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
Fighter - Christina Aguilera
Miss Independent - Kelly Clarkson
One More Night - Maroon 5
Independent Woman Pt 1 - Destiny's Child (is that right right title?
Hey Ya - OutKast
Rock On - Blondie's cover
Body Work - Morgan Page
Rumor Has It - Adela
I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz (cool down)

Need to get Going the Distance by Cake.

I read on my cousin's blog that her best friend from high school only listens to her running songs when she runs. That has changed my world. I think I have a Pavlovian response to these songs now. I just run. It's becoming just as easy to run as it is to stop and walk. I think I need to start working on my speed.

What songs do you work out to?

The Words I Never Thought I'd Hear

I took my kids to the dentist first thing this morning. Ellie took a little longer than Jack so I took him back to the waiting room so he could play while we waited. After talking to the people at the front desk I sat down. There were some ladies sitting on the other side of the room. I'd guess they were mid-20's. They were with a little girl who was waiting to go back. So one calls out to me and said that she just told her sister, "I like her shoes, I like her shirt" (Note: I was in my workout clothes because I was going to run when we were done). Then the sister says, "And I said I like her stomach! It's flat!!"
Who me? After I had Jack (and by after I mean a year), I couldn't even suck in my stomach to go flat anymore. My stomach has never really been flat, mind you, but I used to at least pretend it was for about 16 seconds before I had to exhale.
So that's awesome. I am struggling a little bit though. I'm getting too lax. I notice that I'm slipping into old habits, only I'm keeping active. It's starting to show a bit on the scale though. I just can't kick myself into gear. I keep forgetting to track. I start out great, then by lunch I just space it. By the time I remember, I don't want to track because I know I've snuck too many things in my mouth and I just don't want to be accountable for it. It's not like I eat a whole key lime pie or anything. I eat 2 or 3 PointsPlus values at a time. But those totally add up. I've got to get in gear. I'm supposed to be the example now! This has been going on for maybe 2 or 3 weeks. I've stayed within plus or minus a pound or so, but I want to lose about 5-10 more and the way I'm sliding by is not going to cut it. I blamed it on my period at first, but that so can't be an excuse anymore. I'm going to clean my fridge tomorrow. Maybe that will help things. I've noticed before that when my fridge it clean, I'm more likely to go there to find a snack than my cupboard. The fridge always has better snacks for me. And if my kitchen is clean, I'm more likely to cook something in it. That makes my kitchen dirty and thus the downward spiral begins. But I'll try it. I'm going to clean out my fridge and keep my kitchen clean. I'll check in next week and post my progress.

What does 35 pounds look like?

First off, I'm still living off my Color Run high.
Second, I decided to take some measurements this morning. I haven't done it for a few months and I was just curious. Here's the differences.
Since September 2012 I have lost:
4 dress sizes
4 inches on my hips
3 inches on my arms
6.5 inches on my waist
4 inches on my bust
and 3 inches on my thighs.

Sometimes I look at 35 pounds and think it's not that much. It's Biggest Loser's fault. They make it seem like you need to lose 100 pounds in 12 weeks to be awesome. People there lose 35 pounds their first week. So I'm glad I did this little measurement. 35 pounds is an awesome accomplishment!! I've lost a Jack and a half! I think this calls for some clothes shopping :)

COLOR RUN!!!!

The Color Run claims itself to be the "Happiest 5K on the Planet." I can verify that the Color Run IS the happiest 5K on the planet! I was smiling so much even though my teeth were blue.  We had such a blast!!!

My run was fueled by adrenaline. I didn't sleep much the night before due to children in my bed (read: elbows in my side, legs in my eye). I was up at 5:40 and we were ready to go at 6:30. In the morning. We arrived and there were literally thousands of people ready to run. The energy was fantastic. There was a dress code of white shirts. It's a sight to see thousands of people dressed in white ready to look like a rainbow sneezed on them. Here's us before:

Left to Right: Connie, Erricka (Aleasha's sister), Aleasha (my sister-in-law), Ashley (Leash's friend and Connie's daughter), Me, Abby (Aleasha's friend, Ashley's sister-in-law, Connie's daughter-in-law), and Chris (see Abby's description, it's the same for Chris.)
Got it?
We were so clean and neat as we set off on our race. My goal was to run the whole thing. Guess what? I DID IT!!!!! By about halfway through I said to Aleasha, "It's just as easy to keep running as it would be to stop and walk." The energy was so contagious that it was hard not to run and high-five people as we passed. Our team name was "Kickin' Asphault". Aleasha, Ashley and I put it on the back of our shirts. 3 people stopped us asking if they could take a picture with the back of our shirt. Um, yeah you can! People were in tutus, crazy hats and funky socks. It was seriously a party.

And after!!! This guy photo-bombed us.

So we embraced it. I was totally eating a Kind bar when they took these pictures. They gave them out at the finish line. I am now a HUGE fan of Kind bars. 

We had crazy elbows after the race. All of that sweat made cool diamonds. Gross and awesome all at the same time. My hand is there at the top. The one with the crazy long thumbs.

We also got crazy tie-dye tacos. I think I won for best tacos. Greatest tacos ever!!!

This race marked my weight loss of 35 pounds!! That's me saying 35, not 8. Although we can lie and say I did an 8-minute mile... As fun and carefree as this race was, it was also deeply emotional for me. I have reformed my life and am morphing it into a healthier, happier, crazy runner, awesome life. I ran the whole thing. I want to do a 10K now. It was AWESOME!!!!!

Victoria wanted me to take a picture of me breakdancing like the guy in the official Color Run video. This is my attempt. Pretty close.

After a 20 minute shower, I was pretty cleaned off. One armpit is still a a little blue and my toes look bruised but I view them as a color badge of honor. I'm still sneezing blue but my teeth are white again. It was so stinking fun. I am so glad I did this. I had an amazing time. The people I was with helped make it such a fabulous experience. I'm sure we'll be kickin' asphault again!

Elbows

I noticed something this week. When I straighten my elbows, there is no longer a bulge on top of my elbow in the back. It's just arm, wrinkles over the elbow, and then arm again. Before, it was like my elbow was a dimple and there was a big bulge of pudge over my elbow dimple. I know, it's totally weird, but it's awesome! I'm up to 35 pounds lost. I run the color run tomorrow. Bring it.