All Star 5K

What a fun race this was! It was my first ever 5K race and my second race ever. My first race was a 10K. This was a HUGE race. There were over 10,000 participants. Thankfully they had us spread out a little to start. That really could have been coordinated better though. There was a tiny little sign off to the left saying that if you could do 10 min. miles to start there. That's where Shauna and I started. We were in the second group. There were so many people crossing the barrier that should not have been in the group ahead. So, even though we were supposedly a slower group starting second, we were passing walkers when we did start.

There were several baseball players and people from each of the charities that were being supported at this event. They were all cancer charities. Jillian Michaels was there speaking to us. I could hear her voice booming out, but couldn't really see her til we got started. She told us she was proud of us that we got there at 7 in the morning to run. She brought her friend with her who had just "beat breast cancer". The first group was allowed to go and then they moved the second group up. I'm assuming there was another group behind us too. When we got to the start line we could see Jillian. She was being mobbed by people by then so I could only see the side of her face. Plus, she's so short it would be easy to not see her at all. Now I know from seeing her why Bob calls her Mouse.

We all had chips on our shoes to tell them when we started and when we crossed the finish line so that it didn't really matter which group you started with. I really liked that because it was more accurate. I loved that my Nike+ was only 2 seconds off. And considering that after you cross is when I'm holding the thing down to stop it, that's 2 seconds right there. So, it's exactly right with the time.

The actual race was good. I started off way too fast. I was dying by 1/4 mile. I was like, what the heck am I doing? So many people were passing me. I just had to remain focused and remember that I had to go at my pace. I was not actually racing these people. I was in competition with myself. There were only 2 up hills so that made the course easier. What was awesome was when we got to go on the field. Since the race was at Angel Stadium, they let us run on the warning track of the field. That's the outside edge of the field (all the way around it). I touched the green wall and the dugout. It was fun. We were so close during that part though so it was hard to go at your normal speed through there. They had us all pass a camera (that went to the jumbo screen). By the time you notice the camera you already missed yourself on the screen. Oh well. They were calling out names and where people were from while we were in there too. Since we had our chips on, they knew who was actually in there. That was near the end of the race.

Jillian was supposed to be at the finish line cheering us on, but I never saw her. I was sooooo looking forward to this. I wanted to hear her cheering. Come on! Keep going! You've got this! Faster! DIDN'T HAPPEN. Oh well....maybe she was there for the big finishers and left before our group went through. I did however get my medal handed to me by Tim Salmon!! That meant a lot more to my hubby than me. lol It would have meant more from Jillian. I know I know...I'm obsessed with Jillian. It's ok. I just would love to meet her. She has inspired me so much. The medals were pretty nice too. Actually medal. I was thinking they were going to be plastic with how many they had to buy.

My time was 34 minutes 26 seconds. This was my second fastest 5K yet. (And my fastest running outside/not on a treadmill) I was VERY proud of my time. I was even more excited about the possibility that I have increased my pace. This was the second 5K in a row (this week) that I had done in the 34 minute mark so I am hoping this is a trend. I used to constantly be doing 35 or 36 minutes so this would be awesome. Shauna was much faster than me. I believe her time was 30 minutes 36 seconds.

Shauna and I walked around and found Scott working afterward. He was working the booth that had all of the race times on the computers. He helped look ours up for us. It was fun to find him while he was volunteering among the masses of people.

Michelle, Me, Shauna

We also found our friend Michelle there. I actually knew a bunch of people who were at this race, but we only found Michelle. Thankfully she took a picture. :) It was so fun to talk to her about her race experience too.

We waited in a couple lines to check out some of the sponsor stuff. I had my run checked out and found out that I need a stability shoe. I forget what he called it. Inward Instep or something like that. It was fun. We even got some awesome burritos on the way home. :) It was a fun experience and I would do it again.

Weekend MADNESS

Ug! I gained .4 this week. Not much, and I could have worked out in the morning to lose it, but I didn't really want to have to do that. Especially since I was such a workout queen yesterday. I was so determined to lose this week, but it just wasn't happening. I had done too much damage over the weekend to recover from that.

The weekend madness is OVER! I'm sick of it. I'm so tired of having to make up for whatever I did on the weekend. A couple friends of mine are having the same problem. So, we are weighing in together on Mondays as well. Just to make sure we did well on the weekend. I really need this. And I need to exercise on the weekends too. I have been slacking on that too. Then feel rushed to lose the weight during the week. I hate to do it, but I think for the next challenge, I might have to switch it to Monday weigh ins. Fridays seemed so much better because then I didn't have to be as stringent on myself on the weekend. Well, that is NOT working.

On a good note, I got one of the best workouts of my life yesterday. It started in the morning with doing the 30 Day Shred DVD (with Jillian Michael's). I did Level 1 and Level 2 with no breaks. That alone was insane. Then I told Skyler that we were going to walk to go get Courtney from school. She told me she wanted to run. How do you like that? I got a challenge from my 4 year old. So, we ran to school. Skyler did so well. She's really a runner anyway. She loves it. She only stopped a couple times to pick a flower. :) That's so Skyler too. We picked up Courtney and all 3 of us ran home. We couldn't go quite as fast on the way home because Courtney is not a runner. She needed more breaks. I was so proud of them. Then at night I went to the gym because it was so late (and dark). I really wanted to run outside because it felt so great. I waited too long to leave. I ended up running 4.55 miles there (5.67 total for the day)and doing stretching and abs too.

It felt so good to push myself past what I thought I could do in one day. It felt like a Biggest Loser workout day to me. It was my last chance workout for sure. And I still gained. I guess I just need to take it from here.

Today was not a good start to that goal, however. I went out with my hubby for a date lunch to Chilli's. We hardly ever eat out so eating out was not good. I did eat well though. I had their guiltless grill chicken sandwich (however I had to substitute a different roll because I'm not supposed to have wheat) minus the sauce and minus the onions (yet another thing I'm not supposed to eat). That came with a side of steamed broccoli (and tiny pieces of carrot and a little cheese). I tried to take off as much cheese as I could. It was just a tiny bit on it but still. Then we tried Frugos for the first time. Also not a good choice. It's a frozen yogurt place. I didn't have a ton, but shouldn't have had any. Then my parents wanted to come over to have dinner with us. They wanted to have pizza. Ug! They ordered mediums at least so the pieces were smaller. I had a little salad and one piece of pizza. I'm going to be working out tonight at home. Scott is at a Dodger game tonight so I have the night open after the kids go to bed.

At least I tried to make the best of the situations and I am going to work out tonight. I need to be more accountable for my actions. That's why I'm putting it on here.

10 on Tuesday

Ok, so I logged into my blog on Tuesday, and as I'm writing this it is already after midnight. Why am I still up?

1. I went to Disneyland again today. My sorority sister's daughter was celebrating her birthday at the happiest place on earth. I'm so glad that we went. The girls all had a blast together. So compatible as friends. And it was great reconnecting after so long.

2. I let Jillian kick my butt tonight. I did the 30 Day Shred LEVEL 3!!! This was only the second time I have done level 3 and it was easier this time. I was actually able to do the full sit ups. I couldn't even do it last time. I was so excited. I also did a few other moves better/easier than last time too. woho!

3. I am determined to make this week a great week for my weigh in on Friday. Last week I lost 1.8. It's good, but I want to be losing more. I know I can if I just get better on the weekends. A couple friends and I talked about our weekend battles today. We decided that we are going to pretend that we have another weigh in on Monday as well. So, the 3 of us are actually going to weigh in together just to make sure we were good on the weekends. Keeping each other accountable. I'm so excited about this. I think it's just what I need. Motivation to stay the course.

4. I hear Skyler coughing in her room right now. Oh, how I pray that she isn't getting sick. The poor girl seems to be getting sick left and right.

5. Oh the drama with the doctor. I will have to elaborate more. I have a follow up appt. on Monday.

6. The girls and I ditched the BMX bike show tonight. I seriously did not want to go. And I totally forgot about it and had thought we were doing Disneyland. Then I get the illustrious "golden ticket" home from school that Courtney won. This entitles her to get there early for better seating. Still no desire to go other than to make her happy if this is what she wants to go to. So, I gave her the choice. I told her all about the bike show and that her friends would be there or Disneyland where she would meet some new friends. It was such a quick choice. Disneyland it was. Then she kept going back and forth, but ended on Disneyland. :)

7. Oh good. No more coughing sounds from the other room. I hope she can get some good sleep tonight. They both should with all of that fun and exercise tonight at Disneyland.

8. I asked the teacher about the "3rd grade phonics book" because it was hard to believe. She said that she didn't really know for sure if it was 3rd grade for sure, but that it was the 3rd phonics book. So, even if there is one per year, it would be 2nd. Regardless, it's above reading level.

9. I also found out that she started the Accelerated Reader Program at school too. And from the mouth of her grandma (who is the librarian), she didn't think there were any kindergartners in that program. How exciting. Charting new waters. So, she will be reading the book and coming to school and taking a test on it. Then she gets a new book. There are points and prizes and fun stuff like that. We read the book today and she did so well with it. Several new words and she is learning them fast. She could probably test on it tomorrow. I'll have her read it again just to be sure before school. Ya, ya....I'm a bragging mom tonight. So proud of how well she is doing and excited about her eagerness to learn.

10. Only a couple more days until weigh in. More workouts coming my way. :)

10 on Tuesday

1. Once again, the baby item exchange stuff in my house is driving me nuts. And of course, there are people who are still giving me stuff for the exchange. ahhh...The exchange is on Thursday. I just know people will be coming over all day. We really appreciate any donation. But it takes time to sort it all. At some point I'm just going to tell people that it's going to have to wait for the yard sale. Because I don't want to be sorting all day today and tomorrow only to have to do set up tomorrow night.

2. Set up for the exchange is tomorrow night. I have lots of stuff at several houses so that carting it all to church is possible. And even with that, my house is stuffed full. Thankfully it's sorted, so I know what's for the yard sale and what's for the exchange.

3. The actual exchange is Thursday morning at MOPS. Once it all gets in place, it's pretty fun watching people shop for stuff. Then the joy of trying to get everyone to put stuff back in bags according to the label on the bag. If only they would do it. I hope.

4. I keep trying to sneak toys out of the girls rooms. I got a bunch out today. Skyler seemed almost oblivious to what I was doing.

5. I've been thinking about friendships and how they change over the years. Sometimes for the better and sometimes not. When you get closer to a friend and start hanging out more, or intentionally going places together and making time to spend together. That's wonderful. It's the friendships that drift away to almost nothingness that make me a little sad. I know it's a fact of relationships that we aren't all going to be each other's best friend. Just sad when a good friend drifts away. Stops calling, calling back, emailing, caring if you are at a birthday party or not. Or not ever inviting you anymore. Oh well, I guess. I don't always invite the same people to our parties. And it's nothing against those we don't invite. It's just a matter of numbers sometimes. Too many people invited can be a bad thing if they all show up. I guess I long for the time in our lives when those friendships meant a lot to both parties.

6. The Biggest Loser challenge starts back up on the 23rd at my house. I'm excited to be using our scale this time too. So I always know where I'm at. We have 14 people signed up so far!!! Lots of room for more! And I'm so excited that my cousin decided to start the same challenge in her area (Huntington Beach).

7. I started Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD a couple days ago. It's fun. I love getting new exercise things. So much fun to have variety in my workouts so I don't get bored. I started with Level 1 on the first day and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. Then the next day I did Level 2. Now that was a workout! I was breathing hard, couldn't quite do all of the moves with Natalie (who does it full out and hard), and was dripping in sweat. Loved it!! That's the kind of workout I want to do. And I can feel it in my muscles more last night and today too. Especially my butt. :) Not in a super sore way. Just in a, I feel my muscles, kind of way.

8. I want to run again soon. I really pushed myself the last time. I would like to see how fast I can do a mile again. I know my second mile last time was faster than the first. But I don't know by how much.

9. This week (Friday) is Scott's birthday!!!! We are celebrating by going to a Dodger game that night.

10. Saturday is a game for Courtney and a pizza party after!