If the shoe fits...RUN! Sea Witch

After taking a week off from running due to the holiday and then getting sick, I hopped on the treadmill today for my last run in 2013.
I ran 3 miles making my total miles for 2013 - 471 miles!! That includes 13 races (5ks, 10ks, 8 miler, 5 miler)

I earned the If the shoe fits... RUN! Sea Witch medal for my run today. It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be after taking a week off.

Run, Mom, RUN!!! My 2013 in races

Running Au-some

I am sad to say that I haven't run in exactly 1 week. If you know me, you know I'm not one to slack, so let me explain myself.
Normally I run Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday. Last Tuesday was Christmas Eve and I would not have the time to fit a run in, and I haven't missed a run since Tink training began, so I decided to give myself a pass & skip that run 'just this one time'.  But then on Christmas day I came down with an awful cold. And I was unable to get my Thursday run in. This cold has kicked my butt!
But I woke up feeling somewhat better today so I decided to give it a try. I knew it was going to be rough but it was just plain awful. I'm still so stuffed up that I could barely breathe and had to keep stopping to walk. My overall pace was 12:30 a minute. My normal pace is 10:30-11 a minute so that 12:30 pace really hurt! Plus, I gave up after about 2 miles, there was no way I was making it to 4 miles. My body was telling me it just wasn't ready to get back out there yet.
I will try again on Tuesday.

However, I did earn this cute little Running Au-some surfboard medal. I love hibiscus flowers (even have a tattoo of them on my back). So even though it was a rough run, I still earned some cute bling.
And yes... the picture of me is all bundled up in my bathrobe and blanket after my run. that's the best picture I could get right now. lol

As the year comes to a close...

As the year comes to a close, I wanted to reflect on some things this past year & jot down my thoughts. This is a serious post and might get a tad emotional.

I have made it through another year of maintaining my weight & healthy lifestyle.
Last year at this time of year, I was about 150ish and had been maintaining there for most of the year. 150lbs was ok, but I had dreams of 140, which was half of my heaviest weight, being my goal. The last 5-10 pounds are always the hardest to lose & I know now that's not a lie. I never gave up the fight and I finally reached my goal of 140 pounds in July. But since then, the scale has settled  at 143-144ish and seems to be happy there. While the number on the scale doesn't always make me happy, I need to remind myself of a few things.
I have done great things this year. My year started off with excess skin removal surgery - removing excess skin (due to losing almost half my body weight) from my stomach & arms. And then I spent a few months recovering from that. I have worked hard on building & reshaping the muscles in my 'new' arms. And I have taken my running to a whole new level. I ran my first 5k in June and since then, I have run 13 races in 2013. (7) 5ks, (4) 10ks, (1) 1/2 marathon relay - 8.1 miles and (1) 5 miler. And I am now a month away from running my first half marathon!  I am pretty sure that I have more muscle in my legs now - while my legs haven't changed much in size, but they definitely seem more muscular & strong. Therefore, I need to stop being so hard on myself over 3-4 pounds... because that is probably muscle gain.
I'm living a healthy, active lifestyle, eating right and maintaining my current weight. It's not always an easy thing to do, but the more time that goes by, the more I never want to go back to the way I was and will continue to keep this up.
I still don't have the 'perfect' body or even a typical 'runner's body'. but I have MY body. And I need to remember that this is who I am and be proud of it.

Jingle Romp

Today, I ran 12 miles. It was unseasonily warm for Dec 22nd - 60 degrees out but humid as ever!  The humidity pretty much killed my good pace so I ended up finishing 5 minutes slower than what I was hoping for. I guess it was natures way of saying "here's one last humid practice run before Princess."

I am having a lot of mixed emotions right now. 2 weeks ago when I did 11 miles, I felt confident that I was ready. But today, after doing 12, I don't feel confident at all. I don't even feel proud that I ran 12 miles.... I'm just feeling blah and I think I'm starting to get burnt out so I'm going to start tapering. In 2 weeks, I should be doing 14 miles, but I think I'm only going to do 10.

Anyway, I ran this 12 miles in honor of the Jingle Romp - a Christmas Minions run because my kids LOVE the Minions!
And I wasn't really in the mood to take a picture of myself with the medal, so here's what you get..

If the shoe fits...RUN! Bad Apple

The weather was beautiful today and I got to run outside for the first time in 2 weeks.
I runner slower on the treadmill than when I do running outside and I thought all the treadmill running would slow down my regular running pace. It did a tad - my pace was about 10:31 per minute and before the cold weather hit I was doing almost a 10 min mile. I guess it is what it is. It's better than where I started earlier in the year around a 12 minute mile.

It felt great to get outside & run!!

If the shoe fits...RUN! Grecian Goddess

And I even channeled my inner Greek Goddess by wearing my Megara costume (which I will be wearing for the enchanted 10k.)

And that also finishes up If the shoe fits...RUN! Princess set 2