In the last 9 months I have been a little busy:

Surviving a tornado (this is the neighborhood next to ours)

Getting engaged!

Setting a PR in a 5k

Getting a promotion at work!

Completing my second triathlon (9 minutes faster than last year!)

Getting married!

Going on an AMAZING honeymoon in Aruba!

And, oh yeah... eating like a PIG the last two months since I got married!

I’m jumping back on the blog to share a couple of things:

1. As soon as registration opens on January 1st, I will be registering for this Sprint Triathlon: http://www.fsseries.com/index.php?action=event&event_id=41 The date is April 29th, giving me 4 solid months to train! The scary thing is the length… while still one of the shorter triathlon distances, the swim is 3x longer than my past two triathlons, the bike is 1.5x longer, and the run is 1.5x longer. Eeeek! I will be competing with my friend Amy and I couldn’t be more excited to have some motivation and support from a friend

2. I am going to lose 20 pounds in the month of January. No, seriously. I am going to be one of those people. Someone who jumps on the January work out and weight loss band wagon. I have a ton of damage control to do for the last two months and while 20 pounds in one month may seem extreme, it’s really not…

I can’ t promise how often I’ll be posting or if I’ll ever get back to it regularly, but I did want to share all of the excitement! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

They actually got a lot grosser in the hours after I took this picture. Consider yourselves spared. I left work mid-day yesterday for a doctor’s appointment and have been home all day today. The good news is my fever has come down and I’m on a Z-pack, which usually knocks this kind of thing out for me.

Unfortunately, I am SWAMPED at work, so a mid-week day off has only added to my stress. Add to that that I’m leaving tomorrow morning for an overnight work conference so… dang. Some miracles better happen overnight tonight. I feel like I’m swallowing knives.

So I my last run was last Friday and with the traveling added to the sickness I won’t be back on schedule until next week. GAH! My 5k is only 23 days away and I really want to jog the whole thing!

Anyone have some miracle tonsilitis cures out there??

PS… here is my last run:

So I get the menu and start perusing the salads… but I really don’t want a salad. I really want a BLT. So I start adding up the points and realize that a BLT on wheat bread with very, very little mayo (I asked for it light and they took me seriously!) is only 11 points:

Add to that my small side salad with fat free ranch and lunch clocked in at 14 points. Not that bad for a girl who has 37 to play with in a day!

Next was the birthday party and thank gawd for Chrissy’s fruit skewers. I ate three (ok, seven) of them. So, it amounted to what would have been a very large bowl of fruit salad (pineapple, cantaloupe, and strawberries… YUM!) and knowing I could eat those without counting was great! It made it a lot easier to avoid the chips and really yummy looking corn salsa. I asked Chrissy a few days before the party about the menu and knew there would be chicken nuggets from Chik-fila, so I planned ahead that I could eat 6 of those. And OF COURSE I wasn’t going to skip birthday cake. I mean, really…

Do you know what’s amazing about the internets? You can find anything you need to know. Like, for example, the fat, fiber, protein, and carbs in a BJ’s yellow sheet cake with white whipped frosting and chocolate mousse filling. Seriously, I love the internet.

I really hate guessing on WW… the more exact the point count, the better. So I loved being able to put in the actual nutrition facts instead of just choosing generic “cake” in my etools.

So the hardest two parts of my day were over with only babysitting left to go. Fortunately when I got there, munchkin had already eaten dinner. Hooray! That means no string cheese or chicken nuggets or pizza or hamburger to tempt me. I had packed a fiber one bar, pretzels, and an orange, so when I got a snack craving after the kids went to bed, I was covered without raiding their cabinets that were no doubt full of things tastier than my orange

At the end of the day… I had eaten exactly 37 points. I could NOT believe that on such a tough day for temptations I was able to come in exactly on target. Unreal. That felt pretty freaking awesome.

So I bought a chore chart.

And it has worked out so well! I have filled it out almost every single week since I started WW and it makes me feel like I’m staying on track. This was last week’s chart (I take a picture on my phone at the end of every week. Not really sure why, just want to save the info). I didn’t get my vitamins or tea on Sunday and Monday since I was out of town, but you can see how well I did at the end of the week! I track vitamins and supplements, green tea, water, exercise, and points. There’s something really gratifying about seeing the whole chart full of stars

I always strive for “The Perfect Week,” but I haven’t done it yet. There’s always next week!

This is what Couch to 5k week 3 day 1 looks like. Not too bad… two 90 second runs and two three-minute runs. Running for three minutes is definitely a challenge. I can do it, I just find myself looking at the timer a lot more often.

What do you mean it’s only been fifteen seconds since the last time I looked at my phone?!? haha! But it’s worth it for that awesome accomplished feeling I have when it’s all over.

And this is what Couch to 5k week 3 day 2 looks like. I felt extremely sluggish today and really wasn’t up for this. But I have so much determination in me right now, there was no way I was going to skip the workout. I just wasn’t as psyched about it as I could have been. I got a killer side cramp in the LAST minute of the LAST jog and I just had to stop. It was that bad. But I made up for it by running one minute of the next walk segment once the cramp subsided. I didn’t want to cheat myself!

So here’s what I can’t figure out… just two days ago Nike+ said my best mile was 12:53. Today? 12:32. I’m not really sure how I shaved 20 seconds off my best mile when I wasn’t trying. And I wasn’t running the whole time. Hmmmm. I’ve read on some forums about a Nike+ glitch where it only counts your first mile as the best mile. Which means my best may be faster since the first mile always includes the warm-up. I’m not really sure.

I feel silly even talking about a 12 minute mile being an accomplishment. I read other runner’s blogs and they talk about their 7 and 8 minute miles and it blows my mind. I don’t know that I will ever be there. Or that I ever want to put in the work that it will take to GET there! I like to think of running as just one part of my physical fitness plan… which brings me to a promise. I PROMISE all of my posts will not be C25k updates. I do have other things to write about! A whole list, actually.

Maybe I’ll get to that tomorrow

Friday: 1.7 mile run/walk

Saturday: 20 minute (relatively easy) strength circuit

Sunday: 1.74 mile run/walk

And I HURT! All over! The strength circuit was mostly arms to give my legs a break, but now I’m wishing I’d skipped it so at least only one half of my body would be in pain

Here are my Nike+ stats for today. No glitches this time!

I did C25k week 2, day 2 and felt really good again. It actually surprised me when the lady’s voice said, “Cool down!” I thought I still had a while to go. For my next run I’m going to skip ahead to week 3 and from that point I’ll follow the regular schedule.

Any runners out there have tips on easing muscle soreness??

I really love this app! It makes the C25k program so easy… I can’t imagine trying to do it on my own with a stopwatch or something. It talks to you so you can concentrate on what you’re doing and just listen for the cues. So this is probably my 3rd (?) time restarting the program. Last time I think I got to week 6. So I reset everything and started with week 2, day 1. I was actually SHOCKED at how good I felt. I hit a little wall at the halfway mark when I realized I was …halfway! lol, I thought I was almost done till I looked at the phone. I got over it though and kept going. I covered 1.7 miles in 30 minutes with a walk/job combo. Apparently the connection between my sensor and the Nike+ in my phone was lost at one point, because it has my stats for today all wrong:

The clock on the Nike+ was running the whole time, so it’s not like I turned it off accidentally. I’m going to consider it a fluke until my next run and I’ll see what happens then. Anyone else have that problem?

So, the weather is supposed to be nasty outside this weekend. Highs in the 40s and rainy. About as disgusting as you can get. So my plan is to get in a run both Saturday and Sunday on the treadmill since I have no plans to leave the house. I know you’re only supposed to do 3x a week on C25k, but my training time for this 5k is cut short, so I feel like I need to bump it up a notch to get further in the program. So what is my race goal? I just want to A) jog the whole time… no walking! and B) come in under 40 minutes. I know to some people that sounds like a joke. 40 minutes? For a 5k? But I’ll be happy with that!

No, really… guess! Because I seriously have no idea!

So I think I have about 5 or 6 weeks (guess I should figure that out) to prepare. My best idea is to start over with C25k, but moving a little faster than the 9 weeks it is designed for. I think I can do that. The weather is improving and we have the treadmill for the days when it isn’t. No excuses! Let’s get going!

1. I really wish I had planted daffodil bulbs in the fall.

2. My body has decided to reject my internal stitches and one of my incisions abscessed. Two others are sore. Apparently there is nothing I can do about this except wait and see. If I get a fever from infection I will go back to the surgeon.

3. From the statement above, you can imagine there hasn’t been a ton of exercise. I had a small window between the “all clear” for exercise and the abscess. In that window, Jared and I went to a local park and played tennis for two hours. I suck, but it was FUN! And a lot of work… I was so super sore the next day. So, I see a lot of that in our future.

4. Work is keeping me on my toes. And that is a major understatement. One day off in the last 10. The up side? A possible promotion in my future. (not getting my hopes up… not getting my hopes up… not getting my hopes up… not getting my hopes up…)

5. Daylight savings time is HERE! This weekend!

6. I’m heading to New Jersey next weekend to see my niece and nephew. Excited about that and hoping staying on WW won’t be too challenging during that time.

7. I really need like 3 days in a row at home to do nothing but spring clean, clean out, and do yard work. I do not see that anywhere in my near future

8. Weight update: 1.4 pounds lost since January 1st. Seriously? I am officially back to my pre-Christmas weight though… so at least I’ve finally undone that damage!

9. I didn’t give up anything for Lent.

10. I think that’s all for now.

I did give you guys the head’s up that although I would be blogging again, I couldn’t promise any kind of consistency. So, I hope to see you before another month goes by! How are you guys doing with your weight loss? Anyone else on the new Weight Watchers program?

This was the best I could do holding my iphone out in front of my belly (mental note: one more excuse to get iPhone 4 = better blog photos). You can only really see two of the incisions in this photo, but let’s be real… you probably didn’t even want to see those! (oversharing?) I have a Facebook friend who had gallbladder surgery a few weeks ago and posted a picture of his big, hairy, freshly cut open belly on FB for the world to see. I figured I could at least wait a few days and only share it with you guys

So anywho, a few things to update on. First, I need to make a correction to my last blog post updating my resolution list. You know how you can work really hard on a diet and see no results and then BAM! you lose 1.6 pounds overnight? Well, that’s what happened the day after my last post. So, on February 1st I weighed exactly 1 pound less than January 1st, instead of the gain I posted. WOO HOO! (A loss is a loss, right?)

And on the weight loss front since surgery, this morning I was at 222.6. I’m actually a bit surprised that after eating nothing for an entire day and then like eating like a bird the following two days that I’m only at 222.6. I had several people tell me about friends who lost weight after GB surgery and I’ll be honest, I thought that all the pain and missed time at work and medical bills might be a teeny tiny bit more worth it if I came out 15 pounds lighter Yes, I know that’s a sick way to think. I’m still working on my healthy attitude.

The good news is is I am ULTRA pumped up to get back to my regular routine, including Weight Watchers. As I told Jared this morning, my goal is now to “plow through 200s!” I’m not putting a time limit on it, I’m just saying that I’m going hard core, gung-ho, with no excuses, until I hit 199. The sooner, the better. I seem to do better with really concentrated bursts of dedication. The bad news is I am not allowed to exercise for 3.5 more weeks. At least not intensely. I’m not even allowed to lift more than 10 pounds right now I think it may be time to bring the treadmill back in from the garage so I can at least walk in the meantime.

And to close tonight, I wanted to share something that brings a little joy to me: The Blog Girls Podcast. I’m picky about fitness and weight loss podcasts, and this one makes me laugh out loud. Definitely worth checking out!