About two weeks ago my best friend Liz convinced me to sign up for a half marathon...Liz talks me into everything, I'm starting to think it was her who made me fat...she's still always feeding me! Liz started dieting with me in December and she's lost 50 pounds, and we both started straying at those last 10 pounds, so she thought if we started training for this marathon we'd lose rest of the weight we wanted to lose. I know training and actually running the marathon would be a real life experience and so I thought I should start writing about it so I'll always remember these next twelve weeks.

Well, I've lost almost 90 pounds since I started my 1200 calorie, 20g fat a day diet, and started exercising, and over the past few months I've become less disciplined, the other day I put on a pair of pants and they were a little snug, it got me worried, so yesterday I did the necessary shopping and today I guess I could officially call it my first day back on my plan, I've written everything down today, and I haven't been going outside the plan, so far so good. I have a real unnatural fear of gaining back the weight, so although I was pretty pleased that I could eat a little extra and sneak in a few red vines and have ice cream every now and then wasn't going to make me gain weight, it's been pretty frustrating that I haven't lost much weight in the past few months. The only time I lose weight is when I exercise four days a week, and follow my meal plan and write down my calories...Lately the exercise has been 2-3 days, the meal plan has been cutting out salad and fruit for red vines and extra helpings here and there and I haven't been very good at writing things down.
So here's my first week of training.....
My babysitter is out of town, so I couldn't train with San Francisco Nike Club Run this week so I had to do it on my own, I walked about two miles on Monday, ran and walked 3.4 miles on Tuesday, ran three miles on Wednesday and jumped/jogged on the mini trampoline for 45 minutes, which made my legs really hurt later that night! On Thursday I did some videos, cadiopilates and the balance ball for about 30 minutes, on Friday I did cardiobootcamp for 26 minutes and pilates abs for 15, on Saturday I did my first long run, 5.5 miles, the first four miles were too bad, it was that last mile and a half that killed me! I totally ran out of energy. At my halfway point (McDonald's) I bought a water and took a 15 minute break, next time I run by my house I think I'll bring an energy bar or a bagel or something to help me with the rest of the run. On Sunday I couldn't move, but I somehow made it to Liz's house, and we swam in the pool, my son threw those weighted sticks and I swam out to them and brought them back, we were in the pool for about three hours, and a lot of the time I was in the hot tub pressing my sore legs against the jets!

Week 2

Monday I ran 4.6 miles at the gym on the treadmill.....boring! After that I decided I'm never going back there again. It was torture. I think I'll have to go back to the gym when it gets too cold to run, unless I get so into running I have all the thermal/dri-fit stuff to keep me warm enough to do it, otherwise I'm never going back!

Tuesday was my hubby's day off, I didn't get any exercise so I'm calling that my off day, which means I'll have to make up for it on Friday. Under Nike's fitness schedule I get one day off a week from the exercise.

Wednesday I got up at the crack of dawn...okay, it was about 7, I had to drop off the kids at the babysitter's house, I volunteered to work at the San Francisco Giant's game for my daughter's cheer team, which is always fun, especially in the beer booths, you get lots of tips, we brought in about $60, which we don't bring that much in tips for a day game, so I'm guessing those smiles go a long way....I get to thinking sometimes if they would tip the same if I was heavy, but then who cares, if guys want to tip more and its all going to the cheerleader's then who cares about the reason behind it, right? After the game I went window shopping, but I realized I looked pretty icky in my dirty shoes and I smelled like beer so I changed into my running clothes, then I just looked like a dork, until it was time to meet my friends at Niketown in San Francisco Union Square for Club Run. Since I signed up to the half Marathon in October, Club Run is a good way to meet people and get to know the course for the Marathon. On Wednesday nights about 6:30 you can go the Niketown and check out a pair of their newest shoes, get some water and stretch out, then you go into groups with a pace keeper, and first all the fast runners go, then they release a group every 30 seconds, and its a fun sight to see all these people running through the financial district past the people in suits, and down to the ferry builiding and along the waterfront, and you turn around, there's points for 1, 3, and 5 miles...Me and Liz ran with the 11:30 mile group, we ran four miles, and except for the stoplights, we didn't stop. It was good we had each other, every time I was ready to stop I'd look over at her and she was going strong so it made me keep going, and she said the same about me, so we kept each other going and stay with the group, we even passed a few people....woo hoo... When we got back to Niketown they have raffles, and they punch your member card (its free) and they give you bagels and cream cheese and water and fruit, but by the time we got back all the fast people had eaten the fruit...
After we got back into our other clothes we met some of her coworkers and went out for sushi, I think I was already so sore and tired I wasn't too hungry. It was pretty late when we got home so I don't think I'll do the run every week, because I can run at home, but I think I'll do it every other week or so to get used to the course and the weather, its a lot cooler in San Francisco than it is in vallejo right now.
Thursday I woke up so sore I didn't want to move. After I did about 20 minutes of stretching and yoga I felt better, and later that night me and Liz went out to dinner with our younger kids, which was fun but somewhere I lost track of my son's blanket and I callled Mall security and the restaurant a few times but no one has turned it in, which really breaks my heart, I think I'm more attached to the idea of him and his blanket than he is.
Friday ---Augh, didn't exercise today, but I officially got back to my meal plan and I haven't strayed today yet so I'm feeling about half pleased with myself. Later tonight Mike and I are going to go out for dinner and a movie, so I'm being smart and bringing some salad dressing for myself. We're going to Outback steakhouse, which normally I would never eat at, but they have fresh fish and they'll grill it without adding oil or marinating it, and some steamed veggies, and I can have some of the bread. The movie theater will be a little more difficult, they have red vines there....Red Vines are going to be my downfall...I love them so much, but 35 calories each adds up fast, and before I know it I've eaten the whole box (560 calories!) so its going to take all the strength I have to resist buying them tonight! I'll probably sneak in a bag of my lite microwave popcorn ( I still don't understand why the movie theater doesn't carry light popcorn, its crazy ---they could totally charge me $3 a bag and throw it in the microwave and I'd pay it!) and some crystal light, and I'll try to avoid the candy section.... Tomorrow Liz and I are running 6 miles with Club Run, we meet in the Presidio, which I believe will be on the course when we run the marathon, and then we have a BBQ to go to for cheerleading with our families, I'm thinking about bringing my own food, but I'll see what's there before I get stuff out of my car.

all i can say is "WOW" - go girl ! :cheer:

Beth

Saturday morning I actually got out of bed at 6am.....What the heck am I doing?
I had some fat free toaster waffles with sugar free syrup and an orange, and Liz came to pick me up about 6:45, I was relieved she rolled out of bed and put her hair in a bun too, I was starting to feel a little icky in my running shorts and tank top. We got to San Francisco with just enough time to borrow a pair of shoes and stretch, then we started out 6 mile run with the 11:30/mile pace group. Like always, the first mile is pretty easy going, you've got some bounce when you're going up and down the sidewalks and crossing the street, you're even jogging in place when the light is red, about halfway through mile 2 I think we were going straight uphill, I was a little dissapointed in myself that I walked part of the hill, I was almost to the top, but the pace runner kept cheering us on anyway, and I promised myself within the next month I won't have to stop at mile 2. Every two miles they have rest areas with water and snacks, so Liz and I stopped and had some powerade then we ran with the 11:00/mile group, and we made it to mile 3, then it was time to turn around. Unfortunately, halfway though I had to go to the bathroom so it put us back a few minutes, but I know that all I would do was think about how bad I had to go if I didn't stop while I could, nothing worse than near peeing your pants at the finish! After the bathroom break the sun decided to come out and beat down, so that run up the hill was pretty rough, so we stopped again and walked, and this time at the rest area they had little smores Luna bars, they were really good, and they gave us some energy to run the last 2 miles, we stopped a little running back uphill to tie our shoes and catch our breath, but we were able to run that last mile without stopping except for the stoplights. We got back to the Nike tent and turned in our shoes and split a bagel and cream cheese and oranges, even though we burned a ton of calories during that run I was still wondering if the cream cheese was light or regular and wiping some of it off with my napkin, it was really good though, it was whipped with strawberries in it....mmmm....I slept most of the way home and when I got through the door I could feel all that dried up sweat, it felt really gross, I practically ran to the shower!
Sunday - after my daughter's cheer practice we swam in Liz's pool, my son's favorite thing to do now is throw the toys in the deep end and watch me swim and retrieve them, not lap swimming exercise but pretty tiring all the same.
Monday- After Liz got off work and it cooled down outside we went on a run in the neighborhood, its very hilly so we wanted to get some practice going up and down the hills, we did 3 miles but timewise I don't think we did that well, we goofed off a lot and talked, which still, good for endurance, but I wasnt' even sore at all the next morning so I don't think it was a very good workout.
Tuesday- I went to the gym and did the elliptical machine for about 45 minutes, which should have burned off lunch and part of breakfast, normally I justify my calories burned with how much red vines I can have but I'm really trying to be good and lay off the candy.
Wednesday-Went to a birthday dinner and I had some veggie pizza which would have been okay, but I had a slice of carrot cake too...which was loaded with cream cheese filling....It wasn't even that good. I scrapped off the top frosting so maybe that cut some calories, but I felt bad I didn't run with Liz in San Francisco, so after my husband came come from work I went to the gym again and did 100 minutes on the elliptical, which ended up being about 5 miles, Liz has it in her head we're going to run 8 miles on Saturday, I've committed to 7......I guess we'll see how I feel after mile 7....oh who am I kidding, I'll probably run the 8!
Thursday- I've done really well today sticking to my meal plan, we were at the store and I avoided the whole display of red vines (they're on sale!) and I didn't buy any, although I really wanted to! I'm making lowfat chili tonight, I used to use ground sausage and not drain it, now I make it with the 96% lean ground beef and drain the heck out of it before I add the other stuff, so its just about fat free, and half the beans I use are low sodium so I cut the sodium too, now I just need to make sure I don't eat half the pot! If my husband gets home from work before dark I can go run, if not I'll have to go to the gym. The gym's okay but I like being outside and actually running instead of being on a machine watching tv. I think I'll do a few exercise shows too, we have cable now and have on demand fitness shows, every now and then I'll do quickie abs workouts. Well, gotta go jump on the trampoline....

Yay you, and you go girl on the 8 miles! :)

Corinna

JEEZ., I can't believe its been that long since I last posted.....So much for being good and posting at least once a week!

Friday 7/29 - Ran around the block at home a few times, about 3 miles
Saturday 7/30 - Babysitter cancelled, I didn't get to go run and instead of running I sat on the couch and moped all day about it 8-| --didn't feel so bad about it after learning from my friends that it was the hardest training run so far, lots of hills and even some stairs...
Sunday 7/31 - Got an email that I wasn't registered to run the half marathon and that it was sold out, moped some more.....
Monday 8/1 - Still moping (Jeez, what's the matter with me!) until I got a phone call that it was an error, they had charged me twice on my credit card for the half marathon and so they refunded and unregistered me for the duplicate sign up, it would have been nice if the message wasn't so standard!!! Realized I had missed out on a few days of training and needed to get back into the running.
Tuesday 8/2 Weigh in at California Weight Clinic...I gained two pounds X-( My hubby had signed up last month over there and he had lost 18...So while I was happy for hime at the same time I was insanely jealous and couldn't figure out how come all he had done was cut out soda, coffee, and cheese, ate subway for lunch, only ate the dinner on the diet menu and ate whatever he wanted in between, didn't exercise at all and managed to lose 18 pounds....Still moping..no exercise.
Wednesday 8/3 Ran 5 miles at Niketown in San Francisco with Club Run, felt great at the time but on the way home it hurt to move, I think I pulled a stomach muscle too, I could feel a quick little tear when we were running but it went away the next morning.
Thursday 8/4 Volunteered for Cheerleading Fundraiser, we worked the Sugar Water Music Festival, lots of walking around the Concord Pavillion, legs were a little sore but I did some yoga and pilates shows on the ON DEMAND feature on my cable box and after that I was fine.
Friday 8/5 Did another Cheerleading Fundraiser, this time it was Los Lonely Boys, I didn't get home until about 1am, no exercise, sort of glad now that Wendy's had a long line and I didn't get to grab a late night snack before I went to bed.
Saturday 8/6 Didn't get to run, my daughter had a competition in Stockton for her cheerleading team. I was very tired, but I managed to get up and walk around for about a half hour in the parking lot between teams. I'm very excited about the new team my daughter's on, they're awesome! I wish I was that talented when I was 8, I did cheer for about a year when I was 8, I don't even think we could do a cartwheel, these kids are doing flips across the floor like its the Olympics or something!
Sunday 8/7 - getting a little worried I haven't been doing enough running, or cross training, or yoga, went to a celebration pool party for my daughter's cheer team, met some of the moms, she's on a big team of about 30 girls and I only know about 6 of them, after awhile I was able to match moms to kids, but I'm so bad with names some of the mom's will be "Laura's mom" (Don't know who Laura is but I know her mom is Laura's mom!), and I know a few of the mom's names but I have no idea who their kids are, and vice versa....Son's 3rd birthday, went to chuck e cheese for family fun, at a salad and only one piece of cheese pizza, blotted a lot to get most of the oil off it!
Monday 8/8- I was going to run but at the last minute I got really lazy.
Tuesday 8/9 - My one year anniversary of the day I started my diet last year, Mike bought me 1.5 carat diamond earrings....So glad I say I finally have him trained (YES! :D ) Went to dinner with some friends, behaved myself but I had some peach cobbler a la mode for dessert....
Wednesday 8/10 - Ran 5 miles in San Francisco, it was really cold so I think I ran faster because I knew I'd be warm back at the store! For some reason I had a lot of energy, My best friend I run with, Liz was tired so it wasn't a good run for her, later she remembered she probably ate too much at lunch and had a cramp from it.
Thursday 8/11 - Yoga and Pilates shows, about 30 minutes, trampoline 20 minutes
Friday 8/12- Prepared for my son's birthday party, did some shopping, realized I have only one week to become hot for my high school reunion, wishing I could run into some makeover show taping somewhere to make me look awesome, no such luck.
Saturday 8/13 - I RAN 8 MILES! I'm still awestruck on how I managed to do that. Again, I RAN 8 MILES! OMG! Its the most I've ever run before...ever. The crazy thing is that I think I could have gone for 10......Got home, had son's birthday party, I still feel pretty stiff.
Sunday 8/14 - took a 3 mile walk that morning to get the legs back in working order, felt okay after that, still have some pain on lower stomach muscle, if I was smart I'd call my doctor and have them look at it but I'm more concerned now about buying clothes. Worked another concert.
Monday 8/15 -No exercise, but I went shopping to make sure I had enough fruit and veggies, I haven't been eating enough of those lately.
Tuesday 8/16 Got my hair dyed and cut, still decided whether or not I like it, bought a dress for the high school reunion, can't find shoes!
Wednesday 8/17 Got to SF too late to shop for shoes to go with my dress, ran 4 miles, I had a cramp and felt like I was going to throw up the whole time, my stomach was growling the whole time I was running and I was burping a lot (wierd) and Liz was tired ---after the run we went out for sushi at one of those sushi boat places where you take what you want off the little boats that go around the table. I try to stay away from white rice as much as possible but its fun to go out with some of the ladies from the running club and unwind before I go home.
Thursday 8/18 - Didn't get a pedicure or manicure like I planned, didn't get waxed like I planned, didn't clean the house like i planned, didn't pack for the reunion like I planned, didn't find some shoes to go with my dress like I planned, instead of doing what i should have done, I alternated exercise shows with watching TV all day. I know once I get down to my home town I'm going to eat at all my favorite places within those three days so I guess I'm preparing ahead of time for a calorie filled weekend. Pismo Beach has some great Clam Chowder, Sourdough bread, saltwater taffy, and my old high school job had the best fried zuccini and cheeseburgers in town....I better pack some rolaids too! The reunion is this weekend so I'll miss the Saturday training run, Liz is going to call me Saturday morning and make me get out of bed and run. It will be fun to go run on the beach, I've never done that before, I don't know if I should wear my shoes or do it barefoot. Probably wear the shoes.....Sort of nervous and excited about the reunion, definitely glad I'm not 90 pounds heavier than before, I know it sounds bad but I dont think I would have gone if I was still big. Right now I weigh about 10 pounds less than I did my senior year. My hubby had the dealership buy a Porsche for us to drive down there, so I think it will be fun, even though I'm still looking for shoes to wear with my dress and I really need my lip and eyebrows waxes and I need a manicure and a pedicure........At least my acne cleared up a bit and I won't be going down there with a huge zit on my nose!

I am sore and tired just reading your last few posts lol :laugh:

You are doing :super: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Beth :dn

Friday 8/19 - Drove down for my high school reunion to Pismo Beach, my forhead and my nose were so sunburned, and I got sunburned on my arm, so I had this stripe and now I'm going to look like an idiot. Oh well, it was fun to drive down there in a Porsche Boxster. The owner of the dealership my husband runs said we could buy a fun car to take out, so it was fun, but next time I'll remember to wear a hat and bring some higher SPF.
Saturday 8/20 - My pedometer says I walked 9 miles, it sounds about right, we went for a walk on the beach that morning because my husband doesn't run but he wanted to come along, and we shopped all day in downtown San Luis Obispo.
Sunday 8/21 - The reunion was last night, it was so much fun, everyone said I looked great and I was able to cover my sunburned nose with lots of makeup, although it still peeked through.
Monday 8/22 - 1.5 hours of exercise shows, I tried a hip hop show, discovered I really can't dance and should stick to the yoga and pilates!
Tuesday 8/23- Ran 2 miles, discovered I really need to buy some better shoes, at the training runs I use their shoes, they're expensive but they don't hurt my feel like mine do.
Wednesday,8/24 Ran 5 miles, strangely enough I wasn't sore the next day, I think I'm ready to start adding more miles.
Thursday 8/25 1.5 hours exercise shows
Friday 8/26 - I ate junk food, and said, hey, I'm running 8 miles tomorrow, I can eat whatever I want (did that come out of me?)
Saturday 8/27 - I ran 8 miles, it was almost all uphill, and had it not been for the massage therapists offering free 15 minute massages after the run I would have been hurting pretty bad. My knee is starting to bug me, it hasn't bothered me since I was heavy but all the running is probably straining it so I'll have to keep an eye out for that one.
Sunday 8/28 - I got an email from the marathon asking participants for "their story", I wrote about losing all the weight over the past year and training for the half marathon to lose the last 13 pounds! It would be cool to get picked, and be featured on some of the advertising.
Monday 8/29 - It was my daughter's first day of school, everything was fine except getting out of the parking lot, parents are so rude and they think nothing of cutting everyone off and making the parking situation harder on everyone else just so they can get out before me. I walked three miles.
Tuesday 8/30 Pedometer says I walked 9.2 miles, we went to the mall, I walked while my husband and some got their haircuts, and I also walked around the neighborhood. I went to weigh in at the doctor's office, I lost four pounds, I wasnt trying to lose weight, I'm trying to firm up my stomach! Don't get me wrong, I'll take it, but I would have taken an inch of my stomach and stayed the same weight anytime!
Wednesday 8/31 - I ran 6 miles and actually kept up with the 10:30/mile group, I couldn't believe it! Liz and I ran with two of our friends that are running the whole marathon and have run marathons before, so to be able to keep up with them was really cool! We fell behind them at a stoplight on the way back, but keeping up with them for the first four miles was pretty awesome. I think I need to buy a water bottle that I can keep on a belt around my waist, around the 4.5 mile mark I was feeling a little dehydrated, and they said at the marathon there's tons of lines around the water and food stations so I'm thinking more about positioning my friends around the path to hold stuff for me and bringing my own powerbars, powershots and water or gatorade. I went to a store to look for a water belt and actually found one that looked like a toolbelt, it had measured water bottles and compartments for snacks, but it weighed a ton!
Thursday, 9/1 I woke up pretty sore, I guess thats what I get for trying to jump up another time class! Its good to push it a little bit here and there, but my knee really bothered me.
Friday 9/2 Did a fundraiser for my kid's cheerleading team, we ran a food and beer booth at the Concord Pavillion for Earth Wind and Fire and Chicago. It was fun, everyone was dancing and the tips paid for my kids babysitter! Hurray!
Saturday 9/3 I was supposed to run but my knee is really bothering me and I didn't think that it would be good to run 10 miles on it today. I don't want to push it too much and not be able to run on it, so I'll give it a break today and be lazy! I'll do some abs classes on tv and maybe some yoga or pilates.

Jessica which marathon are you doing? The Nike one in Oct? I have recently started training for marathons too. But Nike was booked so I am doing Big Sur instead. I am then hoping to do death valley in december, but I have heard that a month after a marathon you should only be back to about 50%, but then if you are doing a half marathon I wonder how that works.

As for the shoes, I dont know if you have been told, but make sure to buy shoes at least a 1/2 size bigger.Since your feet swell. You are supposed to replace your shoes pretty frequently if you are a jogger, and I know I have bought 3 pairs of shoes in the last year hat kill my feet, so I have been wearing the same grubby ones, and getting harrassed for them. Yesterday I went out and bought a runnign skirt and a pair of asic gels, so hopefully they will work for jogging.

Keep up the awesome work.

9/4 Ran 4 miles around the neighborhood, and gave my hubby a big sweaty hug after I got home....He said I could have first shower that morning!

Hey Elsie!
I'm doing the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco on October 23rd, and I'm following the training guide from the website, I think in a few weeks after I get up to 12 miles I'm supposed to go down to 6-8miles as my long run, and build back up to 12-14 before the marathon. The Nike people running the training sessions pretty much tell us what the max we should be running each session if we're a beginner or if we've finished our run card already. You should come to a Saturday session sometime, if you check Nike's website and look at the running club sections for san francisco they have the run mapped out, and they have aid stations with water, gatoreade and luna bars and powershots every 2.5-3 miles, and when you get done running they have fruit, bagels and cream cheese, and powerade and water, and every now and then they have massage therapists for a free 15 minute massage, and raffles and other fun stuff, plus all the pace runners with Nike are all really nice and encouraging! On Saturdays we're at the Little Marina Green by Laguna Park and the Presidio.

My hubby calls my running shoes "clown shoes", they're a full size bigger because I have this freak little toe that needs lots of room or else it blisters! At the training runs we get to try out their shoes, I like the Nike Pegasus 2005, but they're $80, but I found the 2004 Pegasus at Macy's on clearance for $45, and they're a little heavier but confortable to run in, and for short distances I like the Nike Kantara, but they're $120, and I like the Nike MotoMax, I haven't found a good sale on those yet. Since it's Nike's run I figured I would wear Nike's.
I like the dri-fit clothing too, its a big difference from wearing sweats! The only problem is that I'm between sizes so either the running capris are falling off my waist or tight around my thights... X-(
Jamba Juice is doing a Banana Man run, its a 5K fun run, On Sept. 18th in San Francisco too, for running you get a shirt and a free smoothie, and for every banana you beat (there's people running in banana costumes!) you get an extra entry into a raffle for free Jamba Juice for a year.
Are you training to run a full marathon? I want to run the full marathon for Bay to Breakers next year and do 1-2 a year after that, and do 10K's every other month for fun. My friend and I are joking we're going to go all over the world now and run marathons so we can travel without the kids! We're planning on running one in Hawaii, Paris, (yeah right!) and figured after a few years we'll be able to be good enough to qualify and enter the raffle to get into the New York Marathon!

Big Sur sounds nice, There's a few in Napa and Sonoma Valley in the early spring too, I want to do some of those too!
Have fun with the runs, after I get some lower abs I'll think running's great!