Running.

I started running last week in order to get ready for my FIRST 5k on August 28. I also wanted to do/try something new instead of just doing the ellpitical all the time. Let me tell you how scared I was to just run. I have hated running ever since I started playing sports. I could never get my breathing down and I was always so slow. It honestly scared me to run. Recently my sister made me a running schedule for the 5k so I wouldn't suck totally in my first race. The first day my sister and I ran together. We were going to only run on lap, which is a mile and then walk another lap. When I started running, it was so simple for me. It kinda took me by surprise how I wasnt struggling to get my breathing under control. We were even having a little conversation here and there, which back 6 months ago would never have happend. We ran the lap and she asked me if I could keep going..."HELL YEAH!" I said. We ran another half of lap before we stopped. She didnt want me doing too much too soon. We ran for 15 mintues straight and it didnt even seem that long. My sister was impressed with how well I did and actually so was I.

The past week I have been running everyday and I enjoy it a lot. Running feels so good right now. I jam out to music and I have time to think about a lot of things. I love the feeling after I get done running, I feel so accomplished. Six months ago, I was out of breath walking up stairs. I weighed 231 pounds and I was in the worst shape ever in my life. Today I am 34 pounds lighter, I weight under 200 pounds (197 baby!) and I am running and loving it.


Do you enjoy running? How much do you run? Why do you enjoy running?

Deep fried what?!

Ask anyone who lives in Wisconsin or is from the beer and cheese state about the Wisconsin State Fair and you will not believe some of the stuff they say. Most people come to the fair to try numerous different food(s) that only come around once a year. But your probably wondering, what food is worth a trip to West Allis, WI? How about anything you can think of on a stick, chocolate covered bacon, anything you can find to deep fry and the infamous cream puff. My best friend Andi and I went to this once a year occasion, which usually marks that the end of summer is near. When we went we had in mind what we wanted to find and try. It was kind of like a treasure hunt. All I wanted was some $.25 milk and a cream puff. Andi wanted to try deep fried cream cheese, deep fried PB&J and root beer milk.

So, most of you right now are probably thinking. What the hell?! Rootbeer milk? Deep Fried cream cheese?! Holy shit. Here are some pictures to prove that I am not pulling your leg.

Our first stop in this adventure was the $.25 glass of milk. Of course WI being the dairy state and infact where REAL HAPPY COWS come from, the fair always have a shit ton of cows. They milk the cows daily and use the milk to make different flavors. The flavors are chocolate, strawberry, cherry vanilla, and root beer. I tried the root beer and strawberry for the first time and they were both delicious.

Yes, three cups of different flavored milk. Total cost $.75 

We next wondered through the fair to find the new iteam this year. Deep.Fried.Cream Cheese. I new I was not going to try this, just because the thought of it made my heart hurt. But my friend loves cream cheese and what could be better than having it deep fried.

I just wanted to hold it. Did I mention it came with a small cup of ranch dressing...

 The first nibble of the heart attack on a stick...

Don't let that face fool you, she enjoyed it.


After I let the 3 cups of the most tasty, creamy, ice cold, refreshing milk settle, we decided to go hunt for my cream puff.

Yes, you can watch them make cream puffs. It's kinda a big deal.

This is something you want in and around your mouth...

Worth every calorie..don't worry I burned them off the next day.

After I was done eating that once a year cream puff, we walked around for a bit and people watched. We then went to find the deep fried peanut butter and jelly for andi. Andi tried it last year and she loved it, so she got it again.

She's really excited to eat this.

I was forced to try it. As you see Peer Pressure really works on me. I'll have to admit- It was good.

So, as you see there are many weird and yet tasty foods on a stick at this fair. I'm pretty sure the Food Network could come here and do a week long show with all the stuff we have. Hope you enjoyed the pictures to prove how crazy us Wisconsinites are.

It's Official.

Yes, I finally did it! I signed up for my first 5k EVER! Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post, you all gave me a lot of encouragement to JUST DO IT! The race is Aug 28th. That doesn't give me to much to train but I just want to run one for the hell of it and to know what it feels like. If all goes well, then I will sign up for another one on sept 4th.

Today, I started running in preparation for my first 5k. Let me tell you, it felt so good to run. I used to hate running. Like I would rather swim with sharks than run. I just never really enjoyed it. When I started blogging, a lot of the people that I talked to started doing 5ks which turned into 10ks which turned into half marathons. They looked so happy after they were done racing. I wanted that. I wanted to feel a sense of accomplishment when I cross that finish line. I want to enjoy running, I want to love running.


August 28th = The start of something new and awesome!

First possible 5k.

So, alot of the amazing people I blog with run. I started running during the first couple months of my weight loss journey but now since I stay home and do my workouts in the garage, I go on the elliptical. Sometimes I'll take a jog around the block but for the most part, I haven't really just ran in a while. As I've been reading blogs and looking at pictures they post before and after races, it looks like they are having so much fun. I miss being competitive ever since high school. Sports were my life. I want to get that competitive nature back and I can do that by racing.

My sister has been bugging me all summer on trying to find a 5k to run before the end of summer. Yet, I've put it on the back burner because of number of excuses. I think I have found a my first 5k to run. It's at a huge church just down the street from my house. I think know this is my first 5k. I am nervous to sign up because of how much I haven't run. I think I might just do it to get the nervousness out of the way. What do you guy and gals think?

My first 5k


Any words of wisdom?

Operation B-e-a-utiful.

Today as I was getting ready to workout, I was reading Mary's blog. I loved it so much because it reminded me of one of the reason I knew I HAD to lose weight. Last year at my job I was with a group of girls. We were getting ready for swimming. I was standing waiting for the rest of the girls to get ready, while I talked to a smaller group of girls who was already done and ready to hit the pool. One of the girls literally looked at me and asked "Are you pregnant?"... I was so embarressed. I tried to make it into a joke by saying something else and it just made all of the girls laugh. That moment has stuck with me in the back of my head ever since.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, I was outside with two girls playing a game of mancala. One of the girls started talking about her weight and grabbed the excess skin on her stomach and said the she was fat. This girl is 12 years old and is no where near fat. I looked at her and told both of them that they are beautiful the way they are and I grabbed the excess skin around my stomach and said that I was working on getting rid of it. They both told me that I was skinny and beautiful and that I didn't need to lose weight. I was wearing sunglasses, thank God because I teared up a bit. That only happened about a month ago, but that has stuck in the back of my head also.

I believe today girls need good role models to tell them that they don't need to be a size 0 to be pretty. They need role models to tell them to play sports, to try new things, be adventurous, dress appropriately for their age and to just enjoy their childhood. Too many time they are calling each other Fat and talking behind each others backs. When I go to work, I try to be the best role model possible for these girls because some of them don't have one at home.  I try to encourage them to step out of their comfort zone and try new things, to play with the boys and to just try and make them enjoy this stage of their lives. You only get one childhood, make the most of if.

Now, back to Mary's blog. Operation beautiful. You take a post-it and write something positive about yourself and take a picture and post it on your blog. As I was on the elliptical this morning, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to write on it. Something that people would look at and be like, that's an awesome post-it. Here it is...

STRONG is the new Beautiful. Do you agree?

Coffee and its benefits to losing weight.

So like a lot of other people, I love a good cup of coffee in the morning. It just puts me in a good mood. Coffee has a lot of benefits to drinking it, but did you also know that it helps in weight loss? I looked up some articles online and here is something I found. Read it. Share it with others. Maybe this will help you in your weight loss.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article856751.ece

http://www.articlesbase.com/weight-loss-articles/drinking-coffee-for-health-and-weight-loss-65694.html

Back to the state of Beer and Cheese.

Wow, I havent been on the internet in awhile- a week to be exact. The reason, I went on vacation with my friend, heebs and her parents. We drove from Wisconsin to North Carolina. We stayed in Sunset Beach, which was kind of close to Myrtle Beach. This vacation was what I needed to just sit back and get some well deserved R&R. I did manage to work out a bit. We got a pass for the fitness room and worked out 4 of days we were there. They didn't have too much to chose from in there fitness room, so I stuck to my elliptical. I went on it for 50 mins each time at a good incline. After we were done, we would just go lay by the pool until 3 and then head back to the condo to get ready for dinner. It was the good life. Easy to get used to but hard to leave from. The hardest challenge for me on vacation was eating, especially when we went out to dinner. Since we were down south, a lot of foods were fried. I also noticed that I drank a lot of diet coke at dinner. As we got to the end of the trip I tried getting water with my meals. I just really missed cooking my own meals by the end of the trip. It was really hard being out of my routine and comfort zone but I managed to get through.

It's funny, the thing I missed most while on vacation was my blogging friends. I wanted so bad to talk to them and hear their words of wisdom to give me. I have become accustom to talking with these people everyday and then for a week I couldn't. I also noticed that when we would be on the road and stopped at a place to eat, I would get a weird feeling after I was done eating at a restaurant. It was like I felt dirty or something. Back home, I rarely eat out or try to not eat at certain restaurants. Before I lost weight, I would eat out a lot with friends and wouldn't care what I ordered or how much I ate or if I felt full I would still eat. I noticed that if I was full, I stopped eating. That's a big deal for someone who has been reteaching them self to eat for four months. I'll admit, I did make poor decisions some night eating out, I'm not going to cry over it. I know that this week, come monday- I'm going to work hard and get back into my RAWR mode. I got to get back to losing weight instead of just maintaining. Tomorrow, I get back to work, I get back on track, I get back to eating good and start losing weight.

Here are some pics from the trip, enjoy!

Me at the UNC basketball Museum, so cool!

We got to go into Duke's Gym...be jealous.

Duke's Chapel, we would have gone in but there were weddings going on.

What's up Sunset Beach! Getting out tan on.

Virginia Tech's mascot...the hoakie- Don't know his name but we look pretty B.A.

Woke up the last morning to leave and watched a beautiful sunset rise. Good way to end vacation.


If you had to chose one which would you chose... UNC or Duke?

Me- UNC all the way! (That's right Eric, UNC ;) )