I'm such a sap!

Am I the only one that gets emotional watching the Biggest Loser? 

That show really gets to me.  (Spoiler Alert) Last night when Bob was making Patty say that she was worth it, I almost lost it!!  Then when Jillian was making the girl run at 12 mph and she didn't think she could do it....and she did it.....wow!  Man, I love that show! 

I just love Bob!  I could handle him yelling at me anytime!  ;)

I really feel for the people that only lose a couple of pounds after a week of hell at that place.  It really makes me think back to the weeks that I beat myself up for staying the same or barely losing......if they don't lose much with 24 hour food/exercise support, then we really shouldn't beat ourselves up.  Please remember that when you are having a bad week!

Jeez, I'm getting old

My oldest daughter is turning 16 next Monday.  YIKES, that makes me sound so old.  I guess it's good that I don't feel old anymore. 

I've told her that she needs to start referring to me as her older sister in public.  ;)  I think it will work.  The last time I picked her up at school, we were stopped in the hall three times by teachers and the vice principal for a hall pass...after I explained that I was her mom signing her out earlier, they profusely apologized.  LOL.  I told them that "REALLY, it's no big deal."  :)

How does time fly so fast?  My youngest child will be 7 this month.  That's hard to believe too.  I guess in a blink all the kids will be grown and out of the house.  On a good note, after that happens, I will get to experience the wonderful world of being a grandmother.  I can't wait for that.  I hope I have about 25 grandkids.  It's feasible.....I have 5 kids, and if they all have 5 kids each, that's 25!  :)

I'm going to keep up my healthy lifestyle and take care of myself so I can be an active grandma that can run around and play with the grandkids!  I hope you guys all do the same.

Family Affair

More and more of the family is jumping on the fitness bandwagon!  How great is that? 

You know that my mom has been running/walking with us for a few months; the dogs are on a diet and successfully losing weight; my 15-year-old daughter has been running/walking with us for a few weeks; and now my 6-year-old son has decided to join our weeknd run session. 

Two weekends ago, my 6-year-old son said he wanted to come run with us.  I told him that he could go on the first mile, and then I would bring him back.  To my surprise, he ran/walked the whole mile and loved it. 

This weekend, I asked if he was coming and he was very excited to go again.  So yesterday, he got dressed (including a headband...picture that in your head) and was ready to go.  We did the same route again (a little over a mile), and he was so proud of himself. 

Now, I want to find him a 1-mile fun run so he can "win" a medal.  He always loves wearing our medals after we race. 

I hope everyone is doing good.  I will check in with you soon.

36th Place!

I finished the half marathon in 36th place!!  Well, that's for my age group, not overall.....of course.  But I'll take it!  36th out of 85 for my age group. 

Hubby and I did pretty good.  We started at the back of the pack so we wouldn't try to keep up with the initial pack taking off and wear ourselves out.  But it didn't take long for us to pass a lot of people.  We ended up #577 and #578 out of 914 finishers.  Most people were worn out and slowing down after about mile 6, but we were still feeling strong (thanks to our run/walk method.)  We were really expecting to be very near the last people in this race since it was a Marine Corp race! 

Hubby has improved so much over the last month or so.  He really pushed me in the last mile.....I thought I might die because we were running at about a 7:00 minute pace on that last mile after already running 12 miles.  But once I saw the finish line clock ahead, I realized that we were going to have a new PR (personal record) so that motivated me to kick it in gear.  We finished at 2:11:07, which is 5 minutes faster than our last half marathon, which was only 3 weeks ago.  I thought shaving 5 minutes off in 3 weeks was fantastic!!  :)

The weather was overcast but very humid.  We were soaking wet by the end.  Mile 8 through 9 was horrible, there was a huge hill (more like a mountain) that we had to get up.  YIKES!! 

We utilized our walk breaks throughout the race, but took them a little less often and for less time.  We walked at every odd mile marker for about 10 seconds and then at every even mile marker, we walked for about 20 to 30 seconds.  For the next race, our 10-miler, next weekend, we are going to try to only stop every 2 miles for a walk break. 

I hope everyone is doing good.  I'm off to check in on you guys!

Hot Half Marathon

Tomorrow we have another half marathon.  I really expected that the weather was going to be nice and cool.  I heard yesterday that the forecast is for temps in the 80s.  YIKES.  I'm glad this race starts at 8:00 instead of 9:00.

Has anyone heard of runners drinking Pedialyte instead of Gatorade?  It's supposed to replenish you faster.  I haven't tried it.  Has anyone tasted it before?  It looks like it would taste gross.

Thank God it's Friday.  Work is starting to get crazy again and next month is destined to be horrible.  I'm ready for the weekend!!  I hope everyone has a great Friday.

900 pounds

This is such a sad story.  Did you guys here about the 900-pound man that had to be cut out of his house to go to the hospital? 

Has anyone heard of Prader-Willi Syndrome?  I'm going to do some research on this.  I haven't heard of that syndrome before.  I guess it causes chronic hunger, which led to him reaching 900 pounds. 

It boggles me that a person doesn't or can't do something before reaching 900 pounds?  How can a person afford to eat enough calories a day to maintain 900 pounds?  That is a LOT of food a day.  It would certainly be in the range of 12,000 calories, right?

I hope this man gets the help that he needs before he eats himself to death.  The pain, both physically and emotionally, that this man must go through daily just tears at my heart.  I really hope that he gets help for his disorder.  He is in my prayers.

The Biggest Loser

Have you been watching the Biggest Loser this year?  Wouldn't it be nice to have the opportunity to go there and get your butt whipped into shape?  I think it would be so worth it.  It would be horrible for the few people who only lost a couple of pounds this week, though!!  How frustrating would that be?!? 

I am so inspired by the show.  I wish Bob could be my personal trainer!!  He is so HOT! 

Which team are you for?  I think the black team will end up winning because Jillian is a machine, but I'm for Bob's team (blue)! 

5K, Biking, and Half Marathons......

This weekend my hubby, my mom, my daughter, and I did a 5K.  The weather was perfect!!  There were a few hills that we weren't expecting, but overall the race went well.  My mom wanted to beat her 40-minute record, but we weren't expecting the hills.  We came close, a little over 41 minutes.  I'm very proud of how far she has come this year!  Who knows, maybe next year she will be in a half marathon?!?

Sunday, hubby and I decided to ride our bikes to a park (12 miles away).  The route includes several steep hills.  It was tough, but we made it.  My hubby loves biking, so it was a breeze for him!!  My parents met us at the park with our truck and bike rack so we wouldn't have to ride our bikes home.  Once we were at the park, we ran about 4 miles, which was also hilly.  My mom and the kids did walking and bike riding at the park.

So overall, it was a very active weekend!

I just signed hubby and I up for a half marathon this weekend at Quantico Marine Base.  I expect we will finish dead last against a bunch of Marines, but I guess someone has to finish last, huh?

I'm off to check on some of my great EP friends!

The Dogs Too....

I'm sad to report that my dogs have gotten fatter and fatter over the last year.  We have two not-so-mini schnauzers and one cocker spaniel.  We recently put them on a diet too (changed them to lite dog food).  I'm happy to report that they have all lost weight over the last 2 weeks!  YEAH, DOGS!!  Maybe I can enter them in a 5K soon too!!  ;)

I'm safely back from my trip to Tampa.  The weather is so much cooler back home!

I hope everyone is doing great this week.  I'll check in on you later.

Baggage Found and On The Road Again

Well, the airport ended up finding my luggage and everything was intact!  Now, I'm on the road again.  Tampa, Florida this time!  :)  It's so humid here.  WHEW!!

On the exercise front, hubby and I tried a new run on Sunday.  We went trail running.  YIKES, was that hard!!  There were lots of obstacles like hills, stumps, horse poop.....We did a 7 mile loop through the woods.  We took a couple of wrong turns, so it ended up being 7.3 miles.  ;)  It was certainly one of the toughest runs we have ever done.  I ended up tripping over a stump and almost falling on my face.  Luckily, I was able to catch myself before the fall.  It sure made me pick my feet up a little higher after that.

My mom is getting faster and faster with her running every week!  She does a weekly Saturday run with us.  She had her fastest 3 miles this week, 40 minutes.  We do walk/run intervals, and she is doing so good!  I signed us all up for a New Orleans Rebirth 5K this coming Saturday, so I'm very excited to see how she does in a race!!

I hope everyone is doing great.