Changing My Life

Back in high school I was always in great shape. I ran Cross Country and Track & Field, which really helped me to stay active (obviously). Once I went off to college though, fitness and exercise took a backseat. I'd be lying if I said that schoolwork took priority, but my focus was definitely not on exercise.

Exercise and health continued to take a backseat when I entered the working world. Not only was working full time stressful, but I was involved in a long distance relationship, so oftentimes I would make excuses that I had to get home to talk to D or other things like that.

In 2006 a few of my family members signed up for a half marathon and I decided that I wanted to run it. I went to the gym every day after work and ran for an hour on the treadmill. I didn't use a training plan, I didn't have any idea what I was doing. I ran my first half marathon, The Rock 'n' Roll Phoenix Half in January 2007 finishing with a time of 2:12.

I stopped running. I didn't workout at all again for a long, long time. Life got crazy.

In April of 2007 I changed jobs, then in May D and I got engaged. I spent a lot of time traveling to see him and in December we went to the courthouse and got married. Our big church wedding was planned for May 2008, and instead of exercising to lose weight for the wedding I just cut back on my eating habits. I was never unhealthy, but I managed to lose about 20 pounds.

I moved to Ft. Benning in April of 2008 and a month later we got married. One month after our wedding D deployed for 10 months. Instead of using my free time to get in shape and be healthy, I found myself eating unhealthy foods and drinking alcohol. Nothing to the point of weight gain, I actually lost a little weight.

Once D got home from Iraq, we came down on order and moved across the country. We found out we were pregnant with AJ the day after moving into our new house. Since I was already in the habit of not exercising, it wasn't a stretch for me to continue my sedentary lifestyle while pregnant. I didn't gain an insane amount of weight, but I wasn't as healthy as I know I could have been.

Somewhere during those two years I realized that my body was different. I didn't have the same activity level as I did in high school, and I enjoy cooking and eating too much to not be active. I wasn't happy with the way I looked and I knew something needed to change. But what? Its very daunting to go from zero to sixty without help. Working out seems so challenging when you're out of shape.

It was while I was pregnant that I knew I wanted to change my lifestyle. I wasn't about to start a new workout regime while pregnant, but as soon as I was cleared by my doctor to start exercising after AJ was born, I got started. I signed up for my second half marathon. I started by walking with AJ in her jogging stroller and eventually I was running 20-23 miles per week. In November 2010, 8 months after giving birth to my daughter, I ran my second half marathon, The Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Half, finishing with a time of 2:05.

It hasn't been perfect, heck, there have probably been more days that I sit around than days that I exercise, but its a work in progress. I'm currently at the beginning of a long training program for my first full marathon. Am I scared? Hell yeah! Am I excited? Yep! Am I always motivated to run? No way.

I guess my point is, just because it seems intimidating doesn't mean you can't do it. You should try it! The worst thing that will happen is you decide its not for you. (I can tell you, I'm not a Zumba, Jazzercise, etc. type of person. That type of exercise wouldn't work for me. That is okay.) There are lots of tools out there to help novice athletes. I used the Couch 2 5K program to get in shape for my marathon training program.

My main goal in all of this is not to become a great runner (although I would love to improve my pace). I really don't even care about having a great body (although that would be awesome, too). I really want to set a good example for AJ. I want her to realize that even though its hard work, and sometimes I'm not in the mood, I exercise. I want her to realize that just because its been a few weeks or months since I last worked out, I can always start over. There is nothing wrong with taking some time off. That is the beauty of physical fitness, you get out of it what you put into it. You can decide to be a better you, any time you want.

Oh, Hi There....

My name is Beth and this is my blog. Remember me?

I ran a half marathon this weekend. 13.1 miles. I didn't finish in under 2 hours, but I also didn't really think I would. I did finish in a personal best of 2:05:53. My previous best (and only) half marathon time was 2:12:andsomeseconds. I'm pretty happy that I was able to shave 7 minutes off my time, especially since the last time I ran 13.1 miles was before I had created human life.

Now that I've finished this race, I'm parked somewhere squarely between being super pumped for my next race in February and really, really, dreading it. I am dreading all the training runs that lie between me and my next race, but I'm also very excited about running the race.

Before this weekend I hadn't raced in almost 4 years. The last half marathon I did was in January 2007. I forgot about how much fun it is to run in a race and know that you're going to beat people. I forgot how motivated I get when people pass me (competitive, much?). I forgot how much fun it is to tour a city while you're running through it.

I'm also uber excited about February because I know tons and tons of people who are going to be converging on Disney World to run the race. It should be a big, amazing, awesome time!

So, with that being said, the countdown is now on...I have three weeks off before I start my 12 week training session for the Princess half!

Sorry, no pictures today, but I'll try and get on and upload pictures from this weekend and get those posted ASAP, because, um, San Antonio is a super cute and fun city.

There's also a lot of other stuff going on in my life right now that I'm going to be updating about very soon, so stay tuned! Oh, and I promise that I'm going to start reading all of your blogs again (and then subsequently commenting as well). I. Promise.

A Big Month!

First and foremost, Happy November! Its finally starting to feel like Fall here. I love it!

The tree in our front yard, taken this morning.

As for me, I have a lot of plans this month.

This weekend I'm heading to my alma mater to have a little reunion with all my college roommates. We (all 7 of us) lived on the same floor in the dorms Freshman year and then continued to live together the rest of our four years there. Sophomore year we were in the dorms again and then Junior and Senior years we rented a 6 bedroom house off-campus! I haven't seen (most of) them since last September when Mandy got married!

Me and most of my girls (Mary is missing from the picture) at Mandy's rehearsal dinner, 2009.

I'm super excited to see them all again but I'm leaving AJ home with D for the weekend and I'm already having mini panic attacks about being away from her all weekend! I know that she'll be fine, its not that, its me missing her so much that I'm worried about.

My second big event for the month of November is the 1/2 marathon in San Antonio. To say that I'm worried about it would be an understatement. Not only am I having the same reservations about leaving AJ home with D and his dad (her grandpa) but I'm also worried about being so sore I can't walk after the race. I have just under two weeks before race day and my vow is to get back out there and run the next two weeks. I reall wish that D and AJ could make the trip to San Antonio with me, but we just decided that it made more sense for him to stay home with her instead of spending all the extra money for them to come. With that being said, the weekend should be super fun. The race is part of the Rock 'n' Roll series, which are always a good time. I ran the RnR half in Pheonix in 2007 and had a blast!

My sister and a friend at the expo before the Pheonix 1/2 marathon, 2007.

The next weekend, my baby sister is coming to visit! Its been a long time since she has seen AJ and I think she's having withdrawals. :) My brother lives close to us, but my sister doesn't so she doesn't get to come out here that often. She's getting ready to spend part of her second semester in Australia, so she really wants to get all the AJ time she can before she leaves!

My sister and me in FL, 2010.

After that, we have Thanksgiving! We're heading back to Hometown, USA for the families' annual traditional Thanksgiving festivities. We'll most likely run the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning with my family, it should be fun!

If you are still with me after all that, I applaud you! Now just imagine how exhausting this month will be. I'm exhausted after just typing it all out. lol Even though it will be a busy month, I'm super excited about all the fun things we have planned.

What do you have going on this month? Any fun plans? Does your family have any Thanksgiving traditions?

Half Marathon Training Update

We're currently in the midst (of tail-end I guess) of week 3 (of 12) of my half marathon training. I think I've been doing pretty well so far. I only missed 2 runs in the past 2 weeks (which is pretty good), but at the same time, I'm really starting to get worried about running 13.1 miles without stopping in 9 weeks. Eek!

Here is what the past 2 weeks of training looked like (according to the schedule) and what I actually did (in italics).

Monday 8/30: 3 mile run (3.01 miles)

Tuesday 8/31: 2 mile run (2.05 miles)

Wednesday 9/1: 3 mile run (3.07 miles)

Thursday 9/2: Rest (Rested.)

Friday 9/3: 30 minutes cross train (3.06 miles)

Saturday 9/4: 4 mile run (4.18 miles)

Sunday 9/5: Stretch and Strengthen (Nothing)

Week Total: 15.37 miles

Monday 9/6: Rest (Rested. If you count traveling all day with a 6 month old to be resting.)

Tuesday 9/7: 3.5 mile run (3.55 miles)

Wednesday 9/8: 3.5 mile run (3.55 miles)

Thursday 9/9: 2 mile run (Nothing, it rained all.day.long.)

Friday 9/10: 4o minutes cross train (3.75 miles)

Saturday 9/11: 5 mile run (5.15 miles)

Sunday 9/12: Stretch and Strengthen (2 miler from Thursday)

Week Total: 18 miles

Making progress folks.

Wednesday Workout Update!

I decided this week that AJ is officially big (and strong) enough to sit in the jogging stroller while I run. Unfortunately, I did not take into account that I am not strong enough (or in good enough shape) to push her in it while running. Ugh. I have some serious work to do before 1/2 marathon training can start.

My goal is to be able to run with her in the jogger so I can do my 12-week training plan pushing her. Then when the time comes to run the race sans baby, I should do awesome, right?! Well, let's just say that its a good thing I went to the CYS briefing yesterday. I now have the option of putting AJ into hourly care so I can get a good baby-free run in every once in a while.

**For those non-military/non-moms who read my blog, CYS is Children and Youth Services, they run the CDC (Child Development Center) otherwise known as on post day-care.**

On to my update...Please pardon my lack of exercise over the past week. Monday officially started my pre-1/2 marathon training, so I'm going to be much more active over the next 6 weeks or so, then I start my 12 week program for San Antonio!! Ack!

Anyways, Monday I took AJ out in the jogger and started out on the 5K route I mapped. I think we made it .75 miles before I had to walk. I did (most of) the rest of it alternating between walking and running. I have to admit, the route was an out and back, and I turned around a little bit before I was supposed to. I logged it at 2.66 miles and it took me 43 minutes. Not super proud of that, but hey, I can only go up from here, right?

Seriously though, running on the sidewalk/pavement is so much harder than running on the dreadmill and I do not want to make the mistake I made for my last 1/2 marathon (which was training 100% on the dreadmill) so for now, I'm sucking it up until I am in better shape.

So for the past week my workouts looked like this:

Wednesday 7/7: 3.1 miles on the dreadmill in 33:15
Monday 7/12: 2.66 miles on the road w/jogger in 43:00; 200 crunches on the exercise ball

I'm off to run the mean streets of our neighborhood now. Wish me luck!

How are you doing with exercising? Anyone have any new goals or achievements to share?

Registration Day

First off, I'll start out by saying...."We're home!"

It feels good to be back home and relaxing on our own (albeit crappy) furniture. AJ was amazing on our drive home today, she only got crabby one time and that was towards the end of the ride. Seriously, she rocks!

We had tons of fun back in Hometown, U.S.A. but I think we were all ready to come home. We have to go back again soon because the registration on one of our cars expires in August and we forgot the paperwork we need to get it renewed this trip. On to the real (and exciting) reason for my post....

Today the registration for the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon officially opened! I am registered as of 9:35 pm CST. I know 2 others who are already registered as well and I am SO totally looking forward to this race and the trip in general! It is going to be so much fun! My mom is watching AJ for me and I'm going to do a big weekend away with the girls while D finishes up all his crazy schools before we head to our next duty station at the beginning of March.



I'm running another 1/2 marathon in San Antonio in November, so I think I'm going to have just the right amount of time to rest a bit after that race and then start a new 12-week training program. My next step is to get registered for the San Antonio race. Race registrations are expensive though, so I'll probably wait until after payday to do that.

I'm starting to ramble now, but I will be back tomorrow to update you all on how our trip home went and hopefully to post some more pictures of the trip! Also, I need to seriously catch up on all my blogs that I follow, so I'll be back, but it might be a while before I catch up and start commenting again!

Lofty Goals

So D decided that he doesn't want to look 9 months pregnant when I am, so he wants to train for and run a 1/2 marathon. I think its a great idea and I told him that I have been thinking about training for one and running it after the baby is born. We are researching the races and training schedules now.

Some of the races we are considering are:

1. The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA (September 5, 2010)
2. The Chicago 1/2 Marathon and 5k in Chicago, IL (September 12, 2010)
3. The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in San Jose, CA (October 3(?), 2010)
4. The Great Turtle 1/2 Marathon in Mackinac Island, MI (October 23(?), 2010)
5. The Miami Beach Halloween 1/2 Marathon in Miami Beach, FL (October 30, 2010)
6. The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in San Antonio, TX (November 14(?), 2010)
7. The Seattle Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in Seattle, WA (November 28, 2010)
8. The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in Las Vegas, NV (December 5(?), 2010)
9. The Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon in Orlando, FL (January 9(?), 2011)
10. The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in Phoenix, AZ (January 16(?), 2011)

We obviously will most likely only do one of the races. We could hypothetically do one of the first ones in Virginia Beach or Chicago, and then one of the last ones in Las Vegas, Orlando, or Phoenix. I think we are pretty sure we will be doing the 1/2 marathon and not the full one.

I am personally excited to start running and training after the baby is born. I have done some research and am planning to take at least 6 weeks off, but more likely 8 weeks after the baby is born. With a 16 week training plan, we would be ready at the end of August towards the early part of September. I think my parents would be excited to come to wherever we decided to run and watch the baby (or run) with us. Since we are planning on training with the jogging stroller, running the race with the stroller shouldn't be too much of a stretch.