take that, diabetes {beat the bridge}

What kind of stats do you want? Want to know how many times I almost cried during the run? 3 times (I was very emotional, not in pain...). Want to know how much money Team Zane raised to find a cure for T1 diabetes? Over $6200! Want to know if I beat the bridge? Heck yeah I did! And I finished in 51:15! My goal (that I never admitted to anyone, just in case I didn't make it) was to be under 55 minutes. Yahoo! And I am hooked. I don't have any desire to run any farther than 5 miles, but I'd love to keep this up and do other 5 and 8K runs for sure.

Now, get ready for a lot of pictures of me. Sorry, I was excited - I needed a lot of proof that I actually did it!

Lisa and Zane.

Melissa and Angela.

Beating the bridge.

The finish line! (Thanks to Angela for this action shot!)

After I crossed the finish line I scored this fantastic medal. : ) And because I'm a huge dork, I quickly took a picture of myself. (I tried to get the finish line in the picture but I was too embarrassed to take more than one picture, so this is what I got).

Thanks for giving me the push I needed to train for this, Zane. You're awesome! And with all the money raised for research, I have a feeling diabetes is going down real soon... I pray it does.

it's for a good cause

Week 6.

Nothing too exciting to report this week. I'm on track and even kind of wish I would've pushed to 4 1/2 miles on Sunday, but my training schedule had me repeat 4 miles and I'm a rule follower. : ) Only a couple weeks until my run! I'm not too worried about running the 5 miles - unless something crazy happens, I'm sure I'll be able to do it! I am a little nervous about beating the bridge, but we'll deal with that later...

As I've mentioned here before, I am running this race for our friend, Zane. I would love to be able to raise some money to support the research to find a cure for juvenile diabetes. Please check out my personal fundraising page for more info. And if you are able to donate (even $10) it'd be awesome!

Thanks for following me. I realized you were forced to if you check my blog, but it's still cool. I think my plan of being held accountable by posting on here has more than done it's job!! Only a couple weeks to go and I'll be done with my weekly updates and inspirational running quotes. (you're welcome).

Week 5.

I had to do my long run from my parents house this week. I think having a completely unknown route helped keep my mind off the distance. It was my favorite run to date! The only thing that caused me a little stress is that my parents live at the top of a ridiculous hill. I took these pictures on my way back up to their house.

I didn't run up it, but I did run down it. : ) And then after running 4 miles, I had to walk up it and even walking it was a killer. (That was me, casually mentioning that I ran 4 miles)...

I don't know how my friends who have trained for 1/2 marathons did it without blogging every step of the way. This has been such a cool experience for me and I'm only training for 5 miles! On my last run, I was even able to think about something other than trying to convince myself I can do it or checking how far I'd gone since the last time I checked a minute ago... It was kind of fantastic. I'm definitely hooked and will be keeping up with running even after Beat the Bridge is done.

rookie mistake : )

Week 4
3 1/2 miles is a long way, too long for me apparently... I was bummed today when I couldn't finish my long run. I do, however, blame it mostly on the fact that I wore pants today (on the hottest day of the year - about 73 degrees) and I was dyin'!! I hope that was the problem, anyway. I had to push pretty hard to make it to 3 miles and decided to call it a day. It probably didn't help that I had a fair amount of wine last night, but I'm not that committed to this running thing. : )

The normal me would say 3 miles is where I belong and would plan to just walk the rest of my 8k. Seriously, I would normally not have tried twice - how lame was the old me?! I'm not giving up that easily this time! Anyway, this week is really busy including an all day meeting on one of my usual days off. But, I have rearranged my workout schedule to take the crazy week into consideration. Here's hoping I can pull it off. I can't fail 2 weeks in a row, that would be discouraging. Even for the new inspired me.

Some success... This was the first week that I was willing to run a little farther than needed. I misjudged my route and rather than walking a lot longer than I had intended, I ran over a tenth of a mile more. I usually stop the second I step over my mile goal. And, even though I only went 3 miles today, I did it 2 1/2 minutes faster than the last time I did 3 miles. I wasn't trying to run faster, which makes it even cooler.

someone sign me up for a 5k!

Week 3.

I've thought about signing up for a 5k for at least a year, maybe longer, but never have. I have this thing with wanting to be able to run the whole race whenever I do finally do one, and 3 miles has always seemed like too much. As of Sunday, I now know I could do it!! It's exciting. I must say, if I wasn't training for an 8k, I would be content sticking with 3 miles for a while, maybe for the rest of my running career. But, I can't stop now! It's crazy to think that in about a month I will run 5 miles. It kind of makes me want to puke. But I guess that's the whole point behind gradually increasing the distance. So I don't puke.

I'm running this race for our friend Zane. Even though he doesn't care at all if I finish, for some reason it is giving me the push I need to train. I like it. If you'd like to support the cause - to find a cure for juvenile diabetes - or to sign up to run on my team, just go here. Thanks!

#ImPrettyRad

Week 2.

I did it! I ran 2 1/2 miles. On Easter. Yahoo. I also ran in the (unexpected) pouring rain one day and when it was dark enough for the street lights to come on another. In case you're keeping track, that means I'm not messing around!! : )

I like the accountability of reporting my weekly progress on here. You can expect 6 more weeks of rad posts like this...

training: week one

I rocked week one! I was really nervous for Sunday, thinking it was my first long run day. Luckily when I rechecked, I noticed 'long run Sundays' start this week. It was just what I needed to not pout. I didn't feel ready to up my distance at all, so once again, I think I picked the perfect training plan. It knew I wasn't ready.

If you want to do the run with me or donate to the research to beat diabetes, please do so by going here. Thank you to those who have donated and/or plan to run with me!! I love it!

yum!

I just had this sandwich and it was delicious!! It's avocado salad w/pepper jack. I toasted french bread and used full fat cheese which I'm sure made it even yummier. : ) Thanks again, Pinterest!

Ingredients:

Chive Spread
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
Salt and pepper, to taste

Avocado Salad
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
1 tomato, cored and chopped
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
Squeeze of lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (or basil)
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 slices whole grain bread or 4 small mulitgrain tortillas
1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts
2 to 4 slices lite pepper jack cheese

In a small bowl, mix the Greek yogurt and chives. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, gently toss together the avocado, tomato, cucumber, lime juice and basil or cilantro. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Spread the chive-yogurt mixture on all four bread slices. Divide the sprouts between two slices of bread, and top with avocado salad and cheese. Cover with the remaining slices of bread. (If using tortillas, spread the chive-yogurt mixture on the tortillas, and top with cheese, avocado salad and sprouts. Roll, and eat.)

Makes 2 large sandwiches or 4 small wraps

beat the bridge, for real this time.

I realize I've said it before, but this time I'm serious! I have signed up for Beat the Bridge (to beat diabetes). It will be my first time doing a run and it's an 8k. It feels like a bad choice for my first one, especially since right now 2 miles is the furthest I've ever ran, but it's for a great cause and I think it's the push I need to really do it!

I'm excited to be part of Team Zane. Zane is our sweet little friend who was diagnosed with diabetes a little over a year ago, at age 3. If anyone would like to do the run with me or make a donation to the research to find a cure, just go here and sign up. It's easy and it'd be awesome to be able to support my friend and her family in this small way.

This is the first time I've ever really challenged myself like this. I've never signed up to do something that at the time of signing up for it, I can't actually do. I have to train for it. I've never trained for anything in my life. I'm excited and a little freaked out because I want to be successful and I know it's my own fault if I'm not.

Last night while I was trying to decide if I wanted to do the run or just play it safe and do the walk, I looked up a training plan for an 8k to see what it looked like. It couldn't have been more perfect if I had planned it! The first week starts with 2 mile runs (which I can do - it wears me out, but I can do it) and is an 8 week program (there is 8 weeks and a couple days until the race). It was too perfect to not do it. I have no goal set for how fast I finish, but I'd be very excited to actually beat the bridge and to finish without having to stop. I'll be sure to keep you posted on the progress and on the race.

Let's do this!!

healthy Dyks

We're in a weight loss competition with some friends - it's boys vs. girls and we're all taking it very serious. It was supposed to start on January first, but we were so fired up that it actually started the day after Christmas. I plan to win, and when I do, I'll be rocking my first pair of designer jeans. If Matt wins, the guys will have a night out with some beer and a zip line at Red Hook.

Anyway, on to the real point of this post... The boys are getting healthy right along with us. If I do a video at home they jump around with me, when Matt gets done with his run they do push ups and sits ups with him. And yesterday they asked to go on a run with him. : )

And just because I took it, here's a picture of Mason playing with his finger flashlights...

bye for now restaurants, see you in July

I set a challenge for myself to not eat out for any reason* during the month of June. I'm doing this for a few reasons, in this order:

1. It has become way too easy for us to go out to eat lately. I'm hoping by taking a month off, it will be less of a habit.


2. To be healthier.


3. To be save-ier. Turns out we can't really afford to eat out, so we should really stop doing it.

Our send off lunch was at McDonald's - Andrew's choice.

* We have a tradition to go out for breakfast on the boys' birthdays - I do plan to go out for Mason's birthday on the 28th. I also will not turn down any free dinner invitations or lunch meetings. :)

donuts

On May 1st, I was supposed to do my first 5k (the Top Pot 5k). However, I got sick during the week that I was supposed to increase my running up to 2 1/2 miles and instead went backwards and found 2 miles to be tough again. So instead, we skipped the race and went straight for the donuts...

running*

*Warning... This is mainly a post for me to track my running progress in case I ever care to look back on it.

I have never been a runner in my life. Seriously. Even in high school PE I didn't run the mile. It wasn't until 2003 when I joined Weight Watchers (thanks, Jeannette) that I started to take my health serious. Even after I started working out regularly, I still couldn't run. I finally decided to start small and work my way up. (I had to train to get to a mile!). I'm now running 2 miles at about an 11 minute pace and I'm really starting to love it. I want to do a race, mainly because it seems like the cool thing to do, so now I'm trying to learn how to run outside. I ran an 11:40 mile on my first try. Today I tried again and cut off over a minute. Grrr! I need to learn how to find my pace outside that I do on the treadmill. Don't worry, I'll try a couple more times before I give up. :)

My goal is to finish the first race I do (and possibly only race - I'm not that competitive, it just seems like something I should check off my imaginary lifetime to-do list). To be realistic, I should start with a 5k. However, a friend of mine has a son who was diagnosed with diabetes in December and she is putting together Team Zane for Beat the Bridge (a race that raises money for juvenile diabetes). I think it'd be cool if this was my first race but there are two things that make me nervous. 1. I have to run a 10 minute mile for the first 2 miles in order to beat the bridge, and 2. it's an 8k! I have to decide soon if I can do it. If not, I'll at least walk with Team Zane. I can walk an 8k...

delicious!

I made the yummiest dinner of my 10 years of cooking tonight. Here's the recipe (altered, because although I think you'll enjoy it, this is for me to be able to find again, and I didn't follow the directions 100%).

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of white bread, toasted, crust removed


• 3 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese


• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives


• pepper


• oil


• 4 - 3 oz center-cut beef tenderloin

1. Preheat oven to 400


2. Crumble toast into bowl with blue cheese, chives and pepper and blend to coarse paste


3. Spray roasting pan with nonstick spray. Heat a large, nonstick skillet over high heat. Sear steak until just browned (about 1 minute per side)


4. Arrange steak on roasting rack. Coat the top of each steak with the blue cheese mixture. Roast until the crust is golden brown and the meat is done to taste. It says 3 - 4 min is medium rare but ours were in 15 - 2o min to get to medium.

Part of what made this so delicious is the type of steak I bought. I have never had a more tender steak in my life - so don't scrimp on the steak! It's also a Weight Watchers meal! I think the only thing that makes it WW is the size of the steak. It was seriously the best thing I've ever made.

ww

I am starting back with my old friend, Weight Watchers, tomorrow. I'm so tired of gaining and losing the same 10 pounds - I'm recommitting to be healthy(er).

My hope is that by sharing updates on here, it'll keep it fresh in my mind so I don't accidentally eat everything I can get my hands on. I might decide I don't want to share my stupid weight loss/gain/loss/gain with you all, but if I do, it will be titled 'ww'. Please feel free to skip over it if you're not interested in my weight. :)

One thing I love about Weight Watchers is that their cookbooks are filled with delicious recipes. I usually alter them to make them not so non-fat this and wheat that, but they're still healthy, light and delicious. If I come across any great ones, I'll be sure to share them here as well.