An unoriginal New Year's resolution

I like to try to avoid the cliches when it comes to New Year's resolutions, but sometimes you've just got to admit that losing weigh and healthy eating is a popular resolution because it's one that most American's need. 

We are no exception.

DH weighed in at his all time highest weight ever a day or so before January 1st, and promptly resolved to do something about it.  I was totally on board as I am always looking for a workout partner and if DH isn't interested in eating healthy food then it's a waste of my time to cook it.

We both took some "before" pictures although I'm not going to post those here. But here's a nice picture of DH on his first workout of 2011.

The main focus of our resolution is actually NOT to lose weight (at least for me it's not.)  DH needs to lose weight, so that will be a definite perk, but our main resolution is to focus on healthy eating.  The past few weeks we were sooo far away from that, although ordering pizza or making french fries and buffalo chicken instead of something more nutritious. 

So on December 31st we went to Giant Eagle ready to make an enormous shopping purchase since we had 20% off Food Perks (by the way, I do NOT recommend doing a massive shopping trip on New Year's Eve day; it took nearly two hours and I was so exhausted I was ready to faint - seriously.)  We stocked up on healthy foods - fresh and frozen vegetables, whole grain breads, and lean meats.  We bought lots of legumes and I even bought some yogurt (which I hate) and almond milk, in an effort to try to get more calcium.  We are counting calories, yes, but as long as we're putting good foods into our bodies and getting exercise, we're not going to worry ourselves to death about going over our daily recommended calorie allowance.

I got a shiny new pair of running shoes for Christmas from DH's dad and stepmom, and I LOVE them.  This is my first pair of actual, real live running shoes. 

Ewww.. is my skin really that scaly and dry?

 
Before, I always opted for relatively cheap basic street sneakers that I would then use for running.  I had no idea what a difference a pair of real running shoes could make in terms of comfort on my feet, even when I'm just walking.  It took me a solid hour - my first full workout in them - to get used to the feeling, because they definitely feel different (not bad, just really really different.) They're far tight in the heels and roomier in the toys, and are made primarily of mesh so they're really flexible and pliable compared to other shoes.  I could go on and on but just know that I love them.

I also got a set of resistance bands that I intend to use for building some upper body strength, since I currently have none.  I learned some basic resistance band exercises during the CCAC fitness class I took last fall, and I hope to incorporate some of those exercises in my evening routine.

So, that's all I'm going to say about our New Year's resolution for now.  I'm not going to write about it every day.  I'm not going to "weigh in" on any sort of regular basis (although for the record, I'm currently right at 150).  If we missed a workout or have a bad snack I'm not going to harp on it.  We're going to do good things for us, and we're going to do those good things because we want to.

And hopefully, that will be a recipe for success. 

We Ran The Lights! Well... sort of

On Wednesday morning I remembered that the Run The Lights event at Hartwood Acres was tonight.  Hmmm... what's a girl to do?  Wednesday morning was something of a hurricane, with crazy wind and tree branches everywhere.  Would I really want to run in that?

I e-mailed my sister that afternoon to see if she was still interested in going.  Turns out she was not.  Shoot.  So now I either need to make the decision not to go or try to convince my husband to go with me.

Thankfully he made that decision for me.  He agreed to go with me as long as I was with walking instead of running.  I was ok with that.

So we headed out shortly before 7 p.m. and arrived around 7:20 or so.  It was then that we both realized that this is event is waaaaaaay bigger than we had ever imagined.  We had to wait in line just to pull into the parking lot.  Then we had to be directed by at least a half dozen police officers who were directing traffic until we were finally pointed to a parking space.  Phew.  I'm happy to report that that was the worst part of the evening.  I was majorly regretted my decision to do this when we were sitting in traffic for 15 minutes prior.

So we loaded a school bus and headed to Hartwood.  Once off the bus we gave a monetary donation, got some jingle bells, and utilized a really nasty port-a-potty that was so dark it was only usable thanks to the flashlight app on the Droid.

And then we were off.

First, I will say this - after walking through the lights at Hartwood Acres, I can't understand why anyone in their right mind would want to drive through them instead.  Walking through them is such a better experience.  You can see everything without having to crane your neck to look at your window.  You can hear the music.  It's a more all-encompassing experience and I highly recommend.

That said, Hartwood needs to extend this event to two nights instead of just one.  There were SO. MANY. PEOPLE. there.  It was ridiculous.  Some people were trying to run (it's called "Run the Lights" after all) but the majority of people were just walking.  And by "walking" I really mean taking a super leisurely stroll.  The path is really just a one lane road, so a family of 5 walking side by side can easily fill the entire path.  On top of that, many sections of the course were two-way traffic meaning that usually meant that only 3 or so people wide in either direction was appropriate unless you wanted to run into someone.

Whenever there was a clearing in the opposing traffic DH and I would jog around the clusters of slow walkers, then go back to walking until we caught up with the next cluster of slow people.  It was sometimes annoying, but we actually got a better workout since we don't usually incorporate short jogs in our normal walks together. 

We decided to skip the free cookies, hot chocolate, and coffee that was offered just after the Hartwood mansion.  After all, I skipped my CCAC exercise class to do this, so there was no way that I was going to negate my workout by eating more calories!

We finished in what felt like record time.  My general thoughts on this experience are as follows:
1. Do this at least once in your life - it's worth it
2. Go early or go late - do not go right after dinner

And, well, that's pretty much it!  It's so much cooler to walk through them than to drive, your donations go to charity so you can feel good about yourself, and you get a workout. Of course, it's not happening again until next year, but mark your calendars now!

(Or don't... since the date for next year hasn't actually been determined yet.  I've failed.)

Run the Lights - With me!

Ever since I ran a 5K on the treadmill in 29 and a half minutes, I've been thinking about ways to get my butt outside to run. I'm not very motivated outdoors - there's no TV watch to there!  But seriously, how pathetic am I if I can't run without watching television?  I know "real" runners probably already consider me to be a fraud for running on a treadmill in the first place.  I want to like to run outside, I just need to get the motivation to do it.

Anyway, I'm not really ready to run a "real race" yet, but I do want to try a run outside. 

Would anyone be interested in joining me?

There are a few races left this year, and I learned about one recently that sounded like it was right up my alley.

The Hartwood Acres Run The Lights event.  http://www.alleghenycounty.us/parks/calendar/2010/hw_1117runlights.pdf

The concept is simple - Hartwood Acres opens a day early for this run, and runners (or walkers) can come anytime between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. to complete the race.  You pay $10, which goes to charity, and get to run through the beautiful Hartwood Acres lights. Outside. 

Flickr image from user Epoch

I think it sounds like fun!  No stress or pressure to finish in a certain amount of time, cool temperatures and beautiful lights.  Is anyone interested?  It's on a Wednesday night (November 17th) and if I can convince anyone to join me I'm thinking we would meet between around 7:30 to catch the shuttle for the run. 

I think this would be a great way to introduce myself to outdoor running.  If you've ever been to Hartwood Acres, you know that the whole thing is a ridiculous over-stimulation of bright, pretty lights.  That's sort of like watching television, right???

If you're interested, please let me know!  And if no one is interested, I may even consider doing this one myself!

If I Can Distract My Brain, My Body WILL Keep Moving

On Monday night I got home from my toning class at CCAC North and was feeling energetic.  I decided to get on the treadmill even though I had just exercised for an hour already, and I was amazing.  I ran 2 miles at 6.5 mph, far faster than I normally run on the treadmill.

That night I decided to set a goal for the next day - run a 5K (3.1 miles) in less than 30 minutes.

I have already mastered the skill of running a 5K; in fact, some weeks I've run as many as 4 in one week.  But I was always leisurely about it, usually running at about 5.5 to 5.7 mph, which is quite a comfortable pace for me.

Enough with comfortable already, I decided.

So Tuesday night I double knotted my sneaks and hit the treadmill (after a 10 minute warm-up on the exercise bike.)  I put the mph's at 6.5 right from the start, and away I went.

At four minutes in, I breathlessly announced, "I'm not sure if this is going to happen tonight...." Only four minutes in and I was ALREADY out of breath with a side cramp and tight calves?  No way was this going to happen.

So I turned my mind off, focused on the television in front of my face, and told myself that if I was still hurting after 10 minutes I could stop.   I didn't feel great at 10 minutes, but I wasn't dieing either, so I decided to persevere.  I focused on watching the Grey's Anatomy episode from 3 weeks ago and my legs just kept moving.

A little past the 1 mile mark I decided to bump the speed down to 6.4 mph.  After I completed the second mile I bumped it down to 6.3.  But I kept going, and I refused to think about anything other than Meredith and McDreamy's baby woes, Christina's continued fear of surgeries, and that new guy that was hitting on the blond doctor for surgeries.

At 29 minutes and 26 seconds, I crossed the 3.1 mile line.

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed to my husband as I threw my arms in the air.  "Proof!... " *pant, pant, pant*, "That if I can just distract my brain long enough," deep breathe, "...my body WILL keep moving."

It was a huge milestone, and AMAZINGLY huge milestone for me.  My first 5K, under 30 minutes.  One of my long term goals on my "life list" (sort of like a bucket list that I've been keeping, but more geared towards just life in general... I'll have to share it sometime soon!) is to run a 5K in less than 30 minutes, outside.

I'm two-thirds of the way there.

A horribly cheesy running pic from a previous post

 NOTE:  I am fully aware that running a 5k is no big deal for anyone who does any sort of running on a regular basis.  But it IS a big deal for me...  I have incredible admiration for people run 10Ks and half-marathons and - good lord - full marathons.  I can't imagine that I will EVER get to that point.

Running Outdoors - WAY harder than you think

I've been a little cocky lately.  Ok, maybe a lot cocky.  I've been strutting around all "I can run a 5k any night of the week, cuz I'm cool like that."  Or perhaps, "Look at me! I'm running at 6 mph and I can have a full conversation with you!"  I'm pretty proud of that accomplishment, so I can be a little cocky, right?

Look at that smile on my face.  Cocky, right?

But the other night, I was SHUT DOWN.  By my own self...

It was an incredibly cool night out and I wanted to take a stab at running outdoors.  After all, I used to run cross country and I was in great shape then!  My major complaint with running outdoors is that I hate getting my clothes all sweaty, so in general, when I'm home I only wear shorts and a sports bra to exercise.  I know that some people think that it would perfectly fine for me to wear that same thing while running outdoors, but I do not have the body to go running around outside in a sports bra, no matter how good I feel about myself.  Trust me.  Plus, my ritzy neighbors would probably call the police, or something.

Just kidding.

Anyway, it was a nice cool night, I wanted to try to run outside.  I wasn't feeling great - my one meatball sub for dinner was so good that I doubled it to two and my belly was not happy about the addition - but I decided to persevere.

After a brief warm-up walk with DH and the Murph dog, I put my earphones in and headed off!

......

Only to stop immediately because the sound on my iPod was so loud that I temporarily went blind from the blast. 

Once I got that figured out, I started running again.  It was hard.  It sucked.  My knee starting hurting almost right away and in less than 60 seconds I encountered my first hill.  (If you saw this "hill" you'd probably laugh at me and tell me that it was basically totally flat, but trust me, it was definitely a hill.)  That hill was HARD, with a capital H A R D.  But I pushed through it and continued on.  I probably went half a mile - if that - when I encountered the massive hill at the end of the development.  I stopped briefly, panting like I was dying, and paced around, trying to get up the nerve to try that hill.  Then I saw some ladies who were walking coming up behind me, and in an effort to not look like a total wuss, I took off up the hill.

Oh. My. God.  It was sooo hard.

My lungs hurt, my heart was pounding.  I couldn't feel my legs and it felt like I couldn't take in enough air to sustain my existence. About three quarters of the way up I said "Screw this," turned around and headed back down the hill.  I avoided making eye contact with the ladies.

Second later, DH and Murph rounded the corner.  Wow.  Seriously? I'm so bad that walkers basically caught up with me?  Hmm...

So, the moral of this story is that running outside is WAAY harder than running on a treadmill.  Way harder. WAY HARDER.  Did I mention that it was harder?

Now I know why real runners hate us treadmill runners, and call treadmills things like "dreadmills."  I'm going to start calling it the "lovemill."  Because at least on the lovemill/treadmill I can pretend that I am healthy and in shape and strong and beautiful, which I love.  Outside I am sweaty and hurting and suffocating and hating it.   

And of course Murphy was being a royal jerk.  He's usually a jerk when we're walking - he hates other dogs and does everything that he can to kill them - but tonight was even worse than normal.  I think he was pissed that I went jogging without him.

And I think I'm going to try to it again tonight. I know... I'm a glutton for punishment.  But I can't let outdoor running get the best of me.  I'm much happier when I'm confident and cocky.  This dejected/defeated feeling is definitely not for me....