It's been a long time! SUPER exciting news!!

Well, it's been awhile since my last post and a lot has changed!
I'm pretty much healed up from surgery and onto my next adventure.

I've been running on & off for a few years now - just for exercise. But recently, I decided that my running needed a purpose and I made the decision to run a 1/2 marathon - the Disney Princess 1/2 marathon at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL to be exact. And that turned into me wanting to do the "Glass Slipper Challenge" - the Princess 1/2 along with a new race, the Enchanted 10K. Which then lead to me wanting to get the first edition PINK Coast to Coast medal by running The Tinker Bell 1/2 marathon at Disney Land in CA along with the Princess 1/2 at WDW. So yup, on June 11th, I lost my sanity and signed up for TWO 1/2 marathons and a 10K for a total of 32.4 miles!! . After 2 expensive weekends, I will earn 5 medals. And I'm still deciding if I should add on the Never Land 5K at DL for a total of 6 medals. CA-CHING, BLING! It's exciting and nervous all at the same time.

I will post more SOON! But for now, some pics!

102 days PO - a YAY and a NAY!

102 days.... we're in the triple digits, baby!! Sorry the updates are few & far between, but not much is happening now. I'm currently working my butt off following the Chalean program.... I want to start seeing some definition in my arms! And also working on continuing to slim, tone & firm up the other areas that I didn't have skin removal surgery on (hips.butt.thighs. back.)

Here's the YAY! My arms are actually looking good.... check out these bad boys (lol). Definition is coming along well. Also, I thought my arms were looking good at 33 days PO, but now looking back at that picture, i can tell how swollen they still were at that point.

And the NAY Now, I wish I could say I'm as happy about my stomach as I am my arms. I'm mostly pleased about the way it looks, but I still seem to be having A LOT of swelling in my stomach, especially the lower section. And recently, I felt a hard lump down there - it's painful, hurts & could be causing some changes in my cycle (over the past month or two I've had some mid cycle spotting, heavier period, bad cramps, etc). I think it's a cyst or pocket of fluid because that his how the pockets of fluids on my arms felt. I don't think it's been there this whole time... or maybe it has but has gotten bigger and that's why I can feel it now? so I'm not really sure if it was caused by my surgery or not? I am a little worried about it. I'm going to see my OBGYN for my annual exam on Friday so I'll have him check it out and see what he thinks. Hopefully he can do an ultrasound to check it out. But I'm worried that if he thinks it's related to the surgery, he will make me talk to my plastic surgeon about it. My next appt with him isn't until June 3rd, but I will call to change it if my OBGYN tells me to talk to him.
Along with Chalean I'm also still running. I'm going to do a Color Run (5K) with my boys and a bunch of friends in Sept... my first race, even though it's not timed, we will still have a blast, I'm sure!! I'm also hoping to do the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon and Enchanted 10K in Feb 2014. But the cyst or fluid in my lower stomach has caused some pain the last few times I went for a run, so I'm a tad worried about that. Hopefully after seeing my OBGYN this week (and possibly my plastic surgeon too) we can figure out what the issue is & I can move forward with my training for the Disney races. This is something I really really want to do so I will do everything I can to make it happen!!
As for my running - before my surgery I was running about an 11:45 pace - slow & steady. my legs aren't that long & I'm not looking to win any awards. lol. Then after my surgery I had to take things slow & build myself back up. The other day I ran 3 miles with a pace of 11:26... my best pace to date (even better than before surgery). But now that I might run a half marathon (something I said I would never do! lol) I've got to start increasing my distance. My motto is still slow & steady. As long as I can keep up a 12 min pace, I'm happy. Like I said, I'm not looking to win the fastest runner award, I just want to complete the race =)

PO Day 65

PO Day 65?! Is that for real? I had to do a calculation using a website to figure out how many days it's been & that's what it said! lol

I figure it's been awhile so I should update. 

Around the 6 week PO mark is when I really started to feel like things went back to 'normal'. I'm back into my old routine, I'm feeling good, pretty much all healed up and I'm able to move around without any pain or restrictions. 

The scars on my arms (especially the one on my left arm) are pretty ugly. The one on the left arm is still really thick & whiteish pink. 2-3 months PO are the 'worst' they're going to look, accourding to my doctor and then they should start to look better, so we'll see. 

I'm getting back into my exercise routine. My running progress has been slow, but I'm getting out there when I can. 
Next week I will be starting a new Beach Body program - Chalean Extreme. Hoping to get some definition in this new body!!