I'm 25 and own a fanny pack

Because it takes slow runners, like myself, over an hour to run 6 miles, it was advised that we get hydration packs.

They might as well call them geek packs. I went to REI the night before our run looking for the coolest hydration pack I could find.

What I ended up with was a fanny pack that holds a water bottle.

Poor Matt is such a trooper, our pre-shopping conversation should have gone something like this:

W: Hey, even though it's Friday night, do you want to go to a store that you're mildly interested in to help me look for the least dorky looking fanny pack? Just as a heads up, I'm already pretty insecure about my running gear, so I'm going to be impossible to please."

M: Sigh, "OK"

It was pretty funny, once I was running along Burke Gilman I realized 90% of runners out on the trail had hydration packs... not to mention the other 10 gals I was running with.

So I guess it's cool to wear hydration packs, but I think I'm going to get a new one because mine only holds one bottle and it's pretty heavy. I might need the one with little bottles... I'll have to go shopping again :)


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Our run started at Gasworks Park and we were supposed to run to where our run began the week before then turn around and come back. The run was mostly flat. We started at a pretty fast pace for me, but most of us stayed together in a group. I think we did the first mile in about 11 minutes. Which is pretty fast for me. My heart rate was hovering around 170, which can be a little uncomfortable.

Around mile two I decided to slow down a little, I knew I still had a long ways to go. I ran mile two and three alone. Which was fine, I felt like my pace was maintable and I wasn't too tired, my hear rate stayed around 160. When I was about to hit the turn around point a couple of gals had caught up to me, so we ran together. I had the cliff shot blocks with me, so we took one at this time.

By mile 4 the blocks had kicked in and this seemed almost easy. My heart rate was still at 170, but it definitely took less energy.

Once mile 5 hit, I really felt a burst of energy and was able to really pick up the pace for the last mile.

I was super stoked that I finished on such a high note! It felt great to have run so far. I can't believe in 4 weeks I've already doubled the distance I'm able to run.

A couple of the girls and I were talking about how walking effects distance running. The whole point is to build your endurance, so is it better to run the whole thing, even when your pace is really slow? Or is it better to stop and walk for a second?

This round we had a couple stop lights and opportunities to stop for a few seconds, and I felt energetic by the end. I finished in an hour and 15 minutes. Which isn't too bad.

**It turns out this run was actually closer to 6 and a half miles.

I'm not Irish, kiss me anyway!

Our long run this weekend started at Cafe Zoka behind U-Village, then we ran into Ravenna park (trail running is the bomb!), then up into UW, then down to the Burke-Gilman trail, and we followed that along until we got back to Zoka.

I couldn't believe how far we got after only running for 50 minutes or so. I did stop and walk 3 times, but for no more than 30 seconds each time. The first two were as a result of running up a hill. But when i finished the run, I still had energy left. I think I could have kept going...

So maybe that's the answer? A little walking never hurt anybody, right?

My HRM said I burned 783 calories after that jaunt... not too shabby!

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Ask anybody, the St. Patty's Day Dash was a blast! It was pretty awesome to have Deb show up at my apartment at 7 in the morning where the exact same shirt I was. Great minds think alike! :)

Here's Deb and me at the start:













Here's a pic of Matt and me at start:














and here is Matt's recap of the run

3.58

He has more to say on the topic... my general disposition is:

woo hoo! We got to run through the city and on the viaduct! Here's a pic from Deb:












Pretty sweet, right?

The difference a year makes...

So I recently came across pictures of Matt and I at a St. Patty's Day Party, and we've come a really long way!

Here's a glimpse:

Gasworks

Gasworks offers a fantastic view of the Seattle skyline, and I had always known it was on the Burke Gilman trail, but I met Deb after work here for a light 30 minute run (oh, and my interval run), and it is really a perfect place to run!

I had gotten super sick Tuesday, so today was my first day back in the exercise world. Even though I had hardly eaten anything, I was really jonesing for a good run.

It's totally flat, and very scenic. Our warm up run was perfect. A good pace, a nice conversation... then I had to do my intervals. We're supposed to run your hardest for 45 seconds 4 times. It's hard, but I'm starting to enjoy it. I can feel myself getting stronger.

I felt really strong after this run... and I'm looking forward to Saturday's run!

Week 2 - 4 mile Hill Run

Wow! I ran 4 miles! It was surprisingly not much different from running 3 miles... except for that hill part in the beginning. I found that I had pushed way too hard in the beginning, so I was out of mustard by mile 3. I slowed down quite a bit for the last mile. I'm starting to wonder if I had just stopped and walked for 30 seconds if I would have been able to conserve enough enegery to run the rest of the way at a quicker pace? Something to try during my training runs this week :)

I came home, iced my legs, then went for a 2+ mile run with Matt and Jason along Alki. Although this sort of behavior is border-line obsessive, I was fascinated to find that it was more painful for me to walk than to run.

After our run we grabbed some lunch, did some wine tasting, then I was pretty much worthless the rest of the day :)

Cardio Cross-Training

My friend Holly turned me onto a boxing class at our gym. I was, of course, intimidating by the shouts echoing throughout the gym while I would be chugging along on the treadmill. Holly arranged to get me some gloves, so I was free to try it with nothing to lose...

Oh man! What a workout! Even though it was really hard, I was really proud that I was able to keep up and, frankly, survive. Even more exciting was even though we did a million lunges and other leg work, my legs weren't sore!

I am a machine!

Healthy Goddess Half Marathon Training

So... I think I'm crazy. The furthest I've ever run has been 3.1 miles, which was the exact distance of our first long run. We'll be adding a mile a week from here. This is going to be insane.

We'll be working out 6 days a week. We run twice during the week, alternating between intervals and hills. I'll also be doing a yoga for runners class, cardio cross-training and strength training for the next two months.

I was relieved that my running pace put me in the middle of the group. I've been running for a few months now, so I think I've built up enough endurance to run three miles at about an 12 min/mile pace. At my last 5K I averaged about 11.5 min/mile, which is pretty great considering I weigh 230 pounds.

Although I am officially scared for our next long run (which consists of hill training and will be 4 miles long), I'm excited to feel like an athlete again... it's like being in high school... only I'm making less mistakes and have less homework to do :)

VH1's Worst Week Ever

Finally, back in Seattle, and back on the bandwagon!

My trip started off successful. I was amazed to find that I had lost 0.6 lbs at my weigh-in Thursday morning. Especially after the week I had. The problem with eating healthy around the holidays is not JUST Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner. It's all the meals that surround the holidays. We had our company holiday luncheon where I managed to eat 2 days worth of points.

I think I'm feeling better about my food choices, because even though it felt like I was off the bandwagon, I was still making much better choices and managed to lose weight anyway!

I had done so well until my weigh-in in california. After that it was a free-for-all! I had full cheeseburgers, mexican food with fresh hand-made tortillas and butter... my 0.6 gain was worth every bite.

Considering the typical american gains 7 pounds over the holidays, I faired pretty well, but I feel like next year I'll be prepared!

VH!'s Best Week, Ever...

the Shiny Hair edition!

So I feel like I rarely get the opportunity to say this, but last week was my week! Here's the recap:

- Gave my notice at my current job, because I start an awesome job on January 2.
- I ran 2.8 miles all by myself in 40 degree weather, without stopping.
- This week marked not only losing 10% of my body weight, but also 30 pounds.
- Yesterday I ran my first 5K, it was 30 something degrees and it snowed, and there were hills, but I still didn't walk.

I think it's crazy how what you might think are small choices can severely impact your life. I think it was about 6 months ago that I had a small break down. I was so depressed about everything; my job, my weight, my laziness, etc... And in jut a couple of months I've managed to turn it all around.

A year ago if you had told me I would be running a 5K on a Sunday morning in the snow, I would have told you to shut up, and then we would have laughed at how ridiculous that would be.

Let's hope this week can live up to its predecessor!

Here's the 11,000 people waiting to begin this race:

Restaurant Report Card

I know it's been a while, there was so much going on with work, side projects, a birthday, thanksgiving, black friday... so many excuses.

BUT, I found this interesting link for Restaurant Report Cards.

There are plenty of restaurants that have shockingly high amounts of fat, carbs and calories per dish (hello, outback steakhouse... Over 2,000 calories for one of the appetizers!), and it's not only irresponsible, but to top it off they hide access to that kind of information (believe me, you have to work for it!).

We know Americans are eating more calories than ever. So is it really that reasonable to assume the restaurant is doing the hard part for us?

Why do so few American's know anything about nutrition? Why is it so easy to believe that whatever trend is out there is what we should try. Apparently, our low-carb fascination has now led to a huge increase in our carb intake. More than we were consuming before the craze.

We need to support the restaurants that will disclose their nutrition information and let the other companies know we don't want to be in the dark anymore. We need to know how many calories we're consuming if we ever want our country not to be the fat girl in the corner. I know I'm tired of being that fat girl hiding in the corner.