Jumping and Napping

Today I met up with my meetup group of mommas and kids and went to Jump Mania out in Plano. The last time we went (which was our first time), the kids kind of stuck near me and didn't really venture out to the bounce-houses very much. This time, though, they were everywhere! Piper mostly played with the cute play kitchen/house/BBQ stuff that they have there, but Danny bounced through every play structure that they had. Twice. He loved it. And I was able to actually talk to the moms (and one dad!) which was nice too. I love my moms group, but I sometimes wish that we had like weekly moms only activities to really get to know the moms a little better. It's hard to interact when one of us is constantly chasing a kid!

The kids both came home tired though, and for 20 minutes, they both napped. It was glorious! I was working while they rested/napped, so it wasn't like I really had genuine time to myself, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. I'm trying to work extra this week since I'm not focusing on working out, but that is SO hard to do when there are so many other things I would like to be doing. Namely, not working haha I'm reading the second book in the Outlander series - Dragonfly in Amber. I think technically it's supposed to be a period romance novel, but I think it is so much better than a romance novel! Not that I've really read many romance novels, but I have a ton of preconceived ideas about them ; ) and this book is better than those preconceptions, so clearly, it can't be a romance novel. It has a lot of Scottish history in it too, and I am really liking that. The point is, though, that I am enjoying reading this book and don't really want to put it down. Especially when my choice is reading or working. But reading books doesn't bring in extra money, and working does. I'm a slave to my part-time paycheck. What can I say?

I have been tapering very nicely. And by tapering I mean not exercising at all. Tomorrow morning I'm going in for a one - two hour workout, but tonight, I'm just icing and resting and preparing mentally for my race. Hungry Runner Girl had a great post today about mental toughness and I really thought this was timely for me. I think running half marathons (and I'm sure further distances) requires a certain amount of mental preparation and "toughness" to finish the race. I think that's why I love distance running because it is a mental sport. And I love it.

Update on the Reset

I am so proud of myself! While I haven't hit the 160's yet, they are RIGHT around the corner. This morning I weighed in at 172.0 - which is huge because it was the Monday after a holiday weekend and a Mom visit. Family visits (which we have a lot of here recently) and holidays are super hard for me to lose/maintain weight. There are just so many treats around and so much going out to eat. But all this weekend, I just told myself that if I really want to see the 160's then I have to realize that family visits and holidays are going to happen and that I can't let them stand in my way. So I didn't. We even ate out and I stayed right on track. Go me!

I've also been drinking water like crazy. Like 90 - 120 ounces a day. I had been drinking about 40 ounces of water a day and about 48 - 60 ounces a day of pop. It was diet pop, but still, not all that great for you. I'm hoping the increase in water is helping me flush all the junk out of my body and filling me up so I'm not just mindlessly snacking.

I kept pretty busy this weekend too. I ran 10 miles on Saturday (in 2hours, 10 minutes!) and then did the Run Like a Mother 5k on Sunday with my Mom (race recap coming soon). It felt good to run so much and keep my legs moving. Today, I'm taking a rest day - which is good because I have a major headache. These weather changes we are having here in Texas are killing my sinuses!

I joined a running group this weekend too. It's a meetup group that meets on Saturday mornings in Plano and does their long runs together. I'm going to my first one this Saturday and I'm hoping that they can help motivate me to run a faster pace. I really want to run my marathon in 5 hours or less. That just means I have a lot of work to do between now and December. My last half marathon was done in 2:53 minutes - and my half in two weeks (from today - eek!) I'm hoping to do closer to 2:45. I'm contemplating signing up for the Hottest Half in August - but I'll probably take that one slow because of the heat. It will definitely be a challenging run!

Monday Weigh In

I stepped on the scale yesterday morning, totally expecting to see a loss. Even a little loss. I hadn't been eating very good at all. But I ran a half marathon the day before my weigh in, so I figured it would all even out. I thought at least I would lose 1 pound. Well, I guess the good news is, I didn't gain! I lost .4 pounds. The week before, I had gained .6 pounds, so I'm almost back to where I started. I'm at 172.2 right now, and I really wanted to be at 169.8 by my birthday on Saturday. I'm realizing that this is not really an attainable goal right now. I just don't know if can happen. I am re-committing to losing weight, however. Losing weight to me is important for a number of reasons.
1 - To be healthier.
2 - To not have to haul as much junk in my trunk across the finish line at races. Even a 5 pound weight loss makes a difference to my knees, I'm sure!
3 - To feel good about how I look. I would love to say that I'm almost 30 and that my weight doesn't affect my happiness, but it does. I feel like a failure when I gain and it makes me depressed. I'm just tired of being overweight. When I lose weight and am at a maintenance weight, I feel good. I love being able to fit into my clothes. I realize I'm always going to have a little bit of a muffin top, but that goes down when I lose weight.
4 - As a person with a degree in health education, I feel that I *should* be at a healthy weight. I know the benefits. I know the why's and the how-to's. I want to be a role model; modeling being healthy in all of it's many facets.
5 - I want my children to understand what healthy is, and what a healthy weight is. Obesity runs in my family's genes. I want them to know that being healthy is something that you have to work at and balance the good and the bad in life to be healthy. I want them to be proud of themselves, confident in themselves, and to not have to struggle like I did. By choosing to stock my pantry with healthy foods, and modeling healthy behaviors to them, they will pick up on that and eat healthily and hopefully follow in my healthy footsteps.
6 - I would love, love, love to be a size 6. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a size 6. When I lost 60 pounds back in 2004, I made it to a size 8. But I wasn't really exercising at all. If I keep exercising while eating healthily, I think I can make it to my size 6. I don't know why a size 6 sounds like the end-all-be-all of sizes, but it does to me. Right now, I'm in a size 12, so I have a ways to go. I will get there....eventually!

I have lots of reasons to lose weight. Lots of reasons why I should believe in myself, that I can do this! It's just so easy to lose sight of why I set out on this journey in the first place. It can be overwhelming when I think that I would like to lose almost 30 pounds still, and have only lost about 5. It seems like I have worked so hard for that 5, that it's just unreal. Next Monday, though, I WILL see a loss. I know it!