Zooma Half Marathon

Today I ran the Zooma Half Marathon which was in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. This is a women's race series. My running partner, Lisa, and Lisa's friend Heather and I signed up for it about 3 months ago. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in downtown Fernandina and it just happened to be right by the start! It was great because we were able to walk out to the start just a few minutes before the start.

Ready to start!

The course winds through downtown Fernandina...

On Center Street

...turns north on 14th street and crosses over a bridge which then leads you through a back gate into Ft. Clinch State Park. 

Beautiful morning!

After running to the beach access area, you turn around in the parking lot and run out of the park, onto the beach road and then end at the Ritz Carlton. The worst part was running through soft sand. It was a bit longer than 13.1 (more like 13.3.)

ALL DONE!

Although I did not set a personal record, I had a great race. It helped to have Michael and Annie along with Lisa's daughter, Rachel and her friend, Shelby cheering us on. We even had our good friends, John and Denise, cheer us on! They came up and stayed with other friends Lu and Sandy, who hosted us the night before for a tasty Tex Mex dinner!

Zooma had a nice after-party on the lawn at the Ritz but we were starving and ready to eat our well-deserved post-race burger, so we didn't linger long.

Our blingy medals

Thanks to Lu's suggestion, we ate at T Rays and had a great burger!

I even ate the bun and the fries!

Now that that one's behind me, I've gotta find something else to train for. My Sonlight pals have invited me to run in their hometowns. Hmmm...I'll have to see when those races are! Destination races are fun!

Trim Healthy Mama (it works!)

Back in March I learned about Trim Healthy Mama (THM) from a friend. She shared Gwen's book review and her quick start guide with me. I ordered my book, read over the quick start guide and began learning how to separate my fats and carbs. By April I was getting a hang of the lingo, the process and the special foods. May 1st was my official start date.

Here I am with my friend (and exercise partner) the week I started. We were working a convention together.

Three weeks ago I hit my goal of losing 10 pounds. That doesn't sound like much, you say. Well, they were 10 pounds that wouldn't budge, no matter how much I tried, how diligent I was at logging calories consumed and calories burned on My Fitness Pal, no matter how many miles I ran training for the Breast Cancer Marathon.

I am 5'1" and it doesn't take much for 10 pounds to show up and throw me from a BMI of normal to overweight. My goal was to get in the normal range. Barely. Just barely over the mark. Well, I made it and have been there for 3 weeks now. My new goal is to get more in the middle of that normal range.

With my darling husband last month (he's also lost 10 pounds loosely following THM).

I am told you can see it in my face. I've always had a round face so I can't really see it. But I can tell in my clothes. I've had to go shopping because my pants were falling down and I had to wear a belt with them. Plus they were bagging and weren't flattering at all. I've discovered thrifting as a new "hobby" since I didn't want to spend too much (Would I really keep it off? What if I keep losing sizes?) It's been fun finding brand name clothes for CHEAP in sizes I haven't seen in over a decade. (That necklace in the picture above came from Goodwill for $3!)

What I like about this way of eating is there's NO COUNTING! No counting calories or Weight Watcher points. I had grown so weary of counting that it sabotaged my efforts on days I couldn't figure out how to count what I ate. And the food is REAL food! Not "diet food." (You are allowed, indeed *encouraged*, to eat fat!!)

I warn you, there IS a learning curve. You WILL mess up! It's okay! Just learn from it and move on. Every little bit you do right counts towards forward progress. Just DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING! And when you hit a plateau (and you will) don't lose heart! Keep at it. I think it's your body readjusting and shifting things around.

May you be blessed by health and joy in life. I am so thankful for both.

Monthly challenges

My workout partner, Lisa, and I have been doing monthly workout challenges that we've found on Pinterest or on Shrinking Jeans. Last month we ended up not liking the challenges that we had found so we ended up not doing them. So I decided to create my own. Would you like to join us? Here it is!

August 2013 Challenge by Sheila DelCharco

Resolution Mid-year Check In

We are more than halfway through the year so I thought I would do a little check-in to see how I'm doing. Maybe you'll be inspired to do the same with your resolutions.

Physical

Run the Donna and the Gate RR. I completed both. I did not beat my Gate PR but I did beat my marathon PR by about 10 minutes. I have signed up for the Disney half in 2014 and I've started track workouts on Wednesday mornings to drop my times. Although it's a HARD workout, it seems to be working. My new goal is to run a sub-30 min 5K. I haven't decided yet if I'll join the Galloway group again. We shall see. It was a great experience running with friends and running injury free but my running pal, Kim, isn't going to and I'm not sure I want to do it without her.
Strength train. I've been pretty consistent going to the YMCA on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My friend, Lisa, and I did another round of working out with a trainer. We also added monthly challenges, beginning with a squat and ab challenge, adding in push-ups and arms.
Log food and water. I found a book called Trim, Healthy Mama that I began following in May. (It's a low-glycemic way of eating.) The BEST thing about this way of eating is that there's NO TRACKING! So far I've lost approximately 8 lbs and am within a few lbs of a healthy weight. I'm still not good about drinking water but I feel good about my health and I hope by the end of the year I will have lost all the weight and will have kept it off.

Spiritual/Ministry
Keep up with YouVersion's Daily Reading Plan. I'm only a little behind on the Rick Warren's YouVersion plan from when we went to the Bahamas and we had no internet. I really like him. Now if I can just keep up with it for 365 days. I did finish the 21 day Made to Crave 
Finish reading through the New Testament this  year. Starting with 2 Corinthians, I'm up to Peter. I will keep at it.
Read 4 Spiritual Books. I finished  Mark Buchanan's Things Unseen and am currently reading In Plain Sight. I still have Out of the Saltshaker by Rebecca Manley Pippert  Mark Buchanan's The Holy Wild. I am also working on Priscilla Shirer's Gideon Bible study this summer with a group of friends.  

Meet with young married (with children) couples group. This completely fell through. Not really sure why. I suspect that these families are just busy, busy, busy. I understand. I was there once too. (Well, still am really!)
Meet with my mentor. We have been consistently meeting. This summer has been busy and we haven't met in a while, but soon. Very soon.

Mental/Personal
Blog. Nope. Really, really failing at the "2 posts per month" goal. So much for being doable. Starting NOW, I'll climb back on that wagon.
Pursue hobbies. Um kinda. These last two days I completed 6 projects. But before that I hadn't done much.
Scripture memory with Timothy and Annie. Yeah, another one I'm slipping on. Gonna get cracking on this one too. I'm so glad I did a mid-year check in! 

What about you? Have you kept up with resolutions? If not, it's not too late! You still have half a year left (I like to round off; ask my kids!)

New Year's Resolutions written

They seem kinda weak this time around but I finally did come up with something. As I was reflecting on things I wanted to change/improve upon I kept being reminded of things that I am thankful for. So let me begin with those, in no particular order:

1. A warm, cozy house. Despite the fact that we want to sell and get something a little bigger with 4 bedrooms (so the boys can have their own room) and a separate room for the kids to hang out in (and play Rock Band, drums, and a place to put all the school stuff, etc) I am grateful for the home we DO have with our good neighbors. It could be worse...
2. Michael's job. In this season of lay-offs Michael has a good job and he really enjoys what he does. What else can one ask for?? Do what you like and like what you do.
3. Health. After last year's cancer scare we are not taking our health for granted. Despite feeling a bit older (needing a little help reading from glasses, not as flexible as we used to be, reoccuring plantar fascitis that keeps me from running) we are still very healthy and able to do a lot! So thankful for that!
4. Family. Having our extended family so close -- my brother and parents right down the road, Michael's parents and sister in the same town, seeing Michael's twin brother and older brother at holidays. We rejoice in having a close, tight-knit family where my kids can know their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.
5. Homeschooling. After losing my oldest to private school this year, I hold onto the priviledge of homeschooling my younger two that much closer to my heart. I've been reveling in their hugs and kisses, reading aloud, going out during school hours for a treat, and scheduling field trips. I love being so involved in their lives and learning right along with them!

So after counting my blessings, here are those things I will endeavor to improve this year:

Physical:
Continue weight loss. After reaching an all-time non-pregnancy high at the beginning of last year I have lost about 15 lbs with another 5-10 to go.
Continue exercise. After joining the YMCA this summer I have started weight lifting, pilates, yoga and other exercise classes. I had been walking then started running but in Nov. my plantar fascitis came back with a vengeance. Consequently I had to find other ways to be physical. I will contiue doing whatever it takes.

Spiritual:
Read 4 books - one per quarter. I wll continue to grow mentally in the spiritual dept by reading books (other than the Bible, which is a given). For sure I want to read The Jesus of Suburbia, and Out of the Salt Shaker along with my FP4H bible studies and my Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life devotional. I will leave the other two open for now.
Serve the poor. Michael has felt the need to put our faith into action by serving those less fortunate than us. I will join him in that.

Personal:
Knit a sweater. My goal last year was to knit something other than a scarf and I failed. This year I have started a sweater (which I had begun last year but ended up ripping out 3 times!!!) and plan to continue until completion!!!!
Blog more. I began blogging last year and although I enjoyed it I never made the time. I resolve to do more of that this year.

And that's it! Feel free to ask me how I'm doing! I love accountability and work well when I'm feeling guilty :)

Summer workout

I am motivated to get (and STAY!) in shape. I have invited several friends to "join me" (not literally but in spirit) in order to keep me accountable to someone. I do so much better when I have to answer to someone else! So I have created a workout schedule in order to be able to run a 5K again (and to think that I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in '04!). Plus my family gifted me with the Wii Fit for mother's day. I am having so much fun with it!

I am also going back to Weight Watchers to get my weight back down to my goal weight. I had made lifetime but am right back to where I was. I'm glad that I know the program am motivated to get back to it. Anyone else care to join me? Email me for a copy of the workout schedule!

I love summer! A change in seasons inspires me to change! Check out my summer schedule on my other blog! What do you like to do in the summer?