My pudgy brother is the gent on the left. Yes that is correct, the one that looks like his cheeks are about to explode. That is my competition in the game we call life.

His goal is to lose 60 lbs before my wedding on July 4. He is already 25 lbs of the way there!! I will have to get a new pic from this weekend while I am at home in Lowell to update you on the progress.

My secret hope is that the summer weather will make him thirsty again!! :) Then his pudgy cheeks will return!

...with the spring has sprung so has my asthma!!

So I have had asthma for a long time, and usually that is not a big deal. I generally don't use my inhalers or have reduced activity as a direct result...but when spring comes around pollen if flying it really gets to me.

I have a Dr. apt tomorrow morning to get a new inhaler, but until then I just feel short of breath, tired, and lethargic.

I did get out for a few good runs over the weekend! Friday I ran The Dish in 48 min. It's about 4.15 miles I think and it's all hills. I really enjoyed it! It was definitely challenging. That is when my asthma initially started bothering me.

Saturday am I went and did about a half an hour in the gym. 20 min on the elliptical and 15 on the recumbent bike.

Sunday I got up and did a quick! 5K! My fastest on my ipod record! That was pretty great! Lance Armstong came on and told me congrats! 27 min and 40 seconds.

And then Sunday afternoon I went to Rancho San Antornio the cutest park ever! There is a cute little farm and stuff adnd I did about 2 miles with some friends-mixed run walk!

Overall it was a lovely weekend! I hope the dr apt goes well and I can get back at pushing hard.

A relaxed running week

I must admit, the lack of posts is consistent with the lack of energy I have had this week as well as the lack of control over anything in life!! Ahhhhh I feel like I am spinning right now!

First let me rewind, because I had a MAJOR running life accomplishment last Sunday that I have neglected to share. I ran, finished, and did well in my first 5K race!! It was exhilarating! I ran in the Dublin Shamrock Fun Run! It was a community event to go along with all sorts of St. Patrick's Day celebration stuff. Everyone was decked in green and it felt great to be among salt of the earth people! It was filled with families running together, people that were there to enjoy physical activity, and even some people with just it lick of competitive edge!

It was a great combination to get out there and run, as fast and as hard as I could go with 1,000 other people running in a small space!

I finished 27th in the female 20-29 age group and I am totally happy with that time! I did approximate 10 min miles, but in my defense a couple of things. 1-It was crowded 2. We started way back from the start line and the gun was the official start time for everyone 3. There were hills I did not know about or train for 4. Most everyone ahead of me finished with like 6 min miles!! CRAZY!

I was really happy with my time and the experience! I will be doing another 5K in May and I am really excited about it! Maybe I can shave a few min off my time!

And my friend Anne did the run with me!! (that is her and I in the pic!) We had a great time and it was sort of re-begining of running for me! I loved it!

But then this week has been a crazy one...outside of my running life. I have not been sleeping well, I have some sort of a cold or viral infection or something. I just feel rundown and wierd, but I really have not had time to take a day for me. My ankle has been pretty strange lately. I gave myself 2 days off! (tuesday wednesday) and then I did a light warm up of cardio followed by an upper body and abs workout last night. It felt pretty good and I am pretty sore this morning.

Shortly I am going to go out for a run! So that is great! I am trying to keep taking care of myself by both getting enough physical activity and balancing it with the right amount of rest. It is a challenging balancing act for me!

Nervous

I am getting nervous! I know it sounds stupid, but I am nervous about my long run today. My plan is to run for 6 miles on the treadmill. Realistically I will probably job briskly for about 3.5 miles or so maybe even 4.5, but the rest will without a doubt be a struggle.

I am working on feeding/hydrating my body in preparation for my run, but it is always that nervous feeling until then minute I start my run and the first mile and a half. I wonder if it will be an easy day? a hard day? Will I need to pee so bad that I have to stop and restart, because that will not be good for finishing strong.

All the crazy things that run through my head pre-run are insane. I just hope it goes well!!

This was me last Christmas (Christmas 2007) I went home to see the fam for the holidays, and I knew that when I came back to CA post holidays I was starting my new life...on the road to a skinnier and healthier person.

I was significantly heavier then, think about 40 lbs heavier!!

I ate A LOT in preparation for the new life that started just post-new years. I think I got back to California on January 7?

And the journey began. It has not been an easy road! But it's a new way of life for me.

Here is a similar picture...hopefully you can see the change in my face silhouette since then! I sure notice the difference! Think double chin and face so pudgy apparently my eyes would not open! Ok maybe not that extreme, but there is a difference!

Feeling more fit...not showing a lot of loss on the scale

I have been working pretty hard the past two weeks at cardio as well as pushing myself farther/harder to build muscle. I haven't lost really anything at all. There are two reasons for that.

1. I have been eating more. It's simple math if I am burning more calories and eating more to compensate for that. I am not going to lose weight if I eat when I am hungry.
2. I have gained a lot of muscle. I am not a big subscriber to if you gain muscle you don't lose weight. The whole "Muscle weighs more than fat" excuse for not seeing a loss on the scale.

I do believe that muscle weighs more than fat. But I don't think it is a viable reason for not losing weight. If you body has more muscle than it burns more calories at rest? Right?

The bottom line is I need to eat less. I have been making decent food choices, I just need to eat less...the story of my life. Now...how to make that happen...it could be as simple as stop putting food in my mouth, but let's GE (get serious) that is not going to happen.

I think basically I need to make some food swaps...when I reach for ________ I should eat carrots instead or celery. Less calories same amount of food mass in? I wonder if that would work? I mean I know it would work, but would it really satisfy my psychological need?

another day and another spin!

I went spinning today against my initial excuse!

I had a dentist apt this morning and I had plans to give blood in the afternoon because there was a blood drive at my office. I tried to convince myself that giving blood was a good reason not to go spinning, but after I was about halfway through my dentist apt I felt guilty. But unfortunately I didn't bring my workout cloths with my.

So, I went to walmart right after my dentist and bought workout cloths! It wasn't terribly expensive (it was walmart after all) and I need some new stuff anyways. I have like 4 t-shirts and 3 pair of running pants in my rotation, so I am in pretty desperate need of adding to the rotation.

I felt so great after spinning! It kicked my ass like always, which was great. Most importantly I think I got over my mental hurdle. It was nice!

I also gave my blood! And luckily I drank enough water and had a hearty enough bfast and lunch that it didn't really have an affect on the way I felt after giving blood! And I secretly raced my friend, she had no idea, but I beat her!!

1pint of blood is equal to a pound! How great is that! Hopefully it shows on the scale also!!

run run run run

I just went for a 4 mile run on the treadmill!! It's crazy to think about how far my body has transformed in 1 year! Last year at this I was still feeling really good after a 1 mile run! i would push so hard to do 1 mile in under 10 min.

Today I did 4 mils in about 38 min and I feel good. I don't feel particularly winded or like I will be in a lot of pain tomorrow, so I am just really proud of my ability to push my body to knew and different territory.

I am trying to decide if I should do a half marathon in may. Technically I am on track with the training program that I could potentially do it. But I seem to have a commitment problem. It is hard to commit running every day or at least 3 days a week and cross training 5 days a week.

I should do it because really working towards a running goal will help me spur my weight loss and maybe help me get faster??

I am going to have to keep thinking about it. But in the mean time, I am definitely going to keep training as if I am going to run it. For the rest of the week that means spin tomorrow, 4+ miles thursday, 40 min cross of 5K on Friday, and 6 miles on Saturday.

DAY 1

I feel like every day is day 1. Day 1 of a million more days of trying to be a better steward of my body, trying to make better choices of food that goes in, energy spent, relationships built, bad habits broken....the list goes on. Today is day 1 of Confessions of a Pudgy Runner...my new exercise, food, life, chaos blog.

Just a little about Day 1 starting point. I am a 24 year old female who has never been particularly athletic, but I have always thought of fitness as something important and achievable. I played soccer in high school and got in decent shape towards the end of my 4 years there.

In college...I tried to stick to working out regularly. I definitely put on the freshman sophmore junior 15. I severely dislocated my ankle and broke my leg at the end of my junior year and put on a love 20 lbs probably. And I for sure stopped working out. I could barely run a mile when I finally decided enough was enough and I needed to get back to running.

Over the past year I have lost about 40 of my extra lbs that I have carried around. I would like to be running a half marathon in under 2 hours and I would like to lose another 20-40 lbs.

O and I am getting married! July 4, 2009. It would be nice to feel good wearing a white dress in front of 200 people.

Here is to day 1 of the journey of a lifetime!