Marathon training and such...

Believe it or not, I'm not talking too much about the boy today, I'm focusing on me and my weight loss endeavors and 1/2 marathon training.

John and I met in 2005, married in October of 2006, found out we were pregnant with Matthew in June of 2007. The thrill of our lives and we couldn't have been more ecstatic to have a little one on board. Granted, this is tough on any marriage, to be newlyweds and to be expecting a new bundle of joy has its ups and downs when it comes to a relationship. This is especially true of a 37 year-old woman who was a hormonal wreck during most of the pregnancy.

Just to let my readers know, I've been a workout girl since my senior year of high school, so pregnant or not, I was going to exercise. I ran or walked my whole pregnancy and tried to eat correctly most of it. I gained 40 lbs during my pregnancy, but dropped all of it six weeks post Matthew's arrival, and was really proud of myself. He would nap, I would jog and nurse accordingly. I nursed for a year! I still can't believe I handled it, but I did, pumped in my office twice a day, stored the milk in the fridge here at work, made bottles when I got home, and still worked out. Almost daily, I was up at 4:30 a.m. to go for an hour long run on the treadmill, while Matthew still slept in his bouncer. Looking back, it wasn't too bad, I could be quite grumpy some nights though, just from being so darn tired at the end of the day. I survived however, and life continues to be a blessing.

Upon quitting the nursing thing, and despite continuing the running, I gained 20 lbs rather quickly. I wanted to continue eating like I was still nursing (an extra 500 calories a day) and my body didn't like it. So, in September of last year, I began Weight Watchers online. By December I was able to get back into my size 8 Levi's rather comfortably. Yay! I began training for the Richmond Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K and was up to running 8 1/2 miles per day, which is super. :) We then all got the stomach flu, thanks to Matthew picking this up at school, and dropped 4 more lbs, and got down to 136. I looked horrible, too much weight loss and being sick were not a good combination.

Anyway, I have continued on Weight Watchers for the time being, and still have those six darn lbs that just won't leave. Everyone seems to think my body may be at its point of stopping, but I disagree. I think it's poor food choices at times for me. Weight Watchers is all about portion control, so literally, I can eat what I want as long as it is in moderation. I still get the hankering for a box of reduced fat Wheat Thins at times, and seriously, I'll munch on the whole darn thing while I'm here in my office. They are yum!

Besides being a running fool, I've also been doing Jillian Michaels DVDs on alternate days. She works me, and works me hard, and the results have been pretty amazing. I've never had abs where I can actually wear a two-piece, now I CAN and I did when we were at the beach this past summer.

Now onto my most recent endeavor, I'm training for the OBX half marathon. 13 miles and I have 5 hours to complete it (the course that is). I've just started running outside on the weekends, and holy smokes, it's quite different from running on a treadmill. I logged 6 miles in an hour on Saturday and 4 in 40 minutes on Sunday. It was so hot on Sunday, and I literally thought someone was going to have to pick me up off the ground. I opted yesterday to run inside on my treadmill, and logged 6.32 in 50 minutes, which is pretty darn good. The pounding however, has seemed to have irritated a condition I have called IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Nice eh? All of the pain will pass, literally, in a few days. I hate having this stuff, and in the huge scheme of things, it's truly nothing compared to cancer or some other awful disease. I'll get through this!

The run is in April, and with perseverance, I'll get there. Six miles will hopefully turn into 13 easier miles. We're actually looking forward to a little time away from Goochland and the thought of seeing John and Matthew at the finish line, brings many tears of joy to my eyes. So, I'll see all of you there as well :)

Make it a great week!
Cindy