Training with My Dad!!

Meet my Dad.  This picture is from my little sister's HS Graduation in 2009.

Well, you see, my Dad is on a weight loss journey.  He's tried several times through the years to lose weight, but this year is different.  I recommended a nutritionist and he went and spoke with her.  He's changed his way of eating and he's working out.  So far, he's lost 25 pounds this year.  The big thing is, he's doing it the right way.

Well, as I was studying/writing my paper yesterday, he called.  I could tell he wanted to do something, I just didn't know what.  He finally told me he wanted to go run a mile outside.  You see, my dad used to be in the Army.  He used to run 6 minute miles everyday.  Then, 30 years and weight gain happened.  Life happened.  Well, he has started running on the treadmill at the gym.  He's been able to run a 12 minute pace for about 23 minutes or so without stopping.  You can't even begin to understand how proud I am of him.

So, when my dad called and said he wanted to run a mile outside, I stopped everything I was doing and went and changed into my running clothes.  We went to the trail and we ran.  He did pretty good, too.  He wasn't able to keep his pace and run the whole mile, but he made it that mile in 13:47.  And proud doesn't even begin to explain how I felt!  He was a tad disappointed, but I told him that running outside and running on a treadmill are totally different.  Plus, he started out running WAY too fast (8:54).  So, we're gonna keep working on it and working towards his goal.

His goal?  Running a 5k the first week of May.  You better believe I'll be running that 5k with him, no matter what pace he's running.  :)

My Announcement!

Remember how I said that I've started training for something that is not running related?  Well, it's not just me, it's hubs, too.  We've decided to do the first annual Ranch Ride! 

The Ranch Ride is a ride that benefits Soaring Wings Ranch, here in Arkansas.  You might recall that the 2 half marathons that I've done also benefited Soaring Wings Ranch.  So, of course, when I heard about this ride I knew that I had to do it!  And since cycling is more hubs thing, I knew that I could probably talk him into doing it with me!  Score!

The Ranch Ride has 3 distances:  8, 34, and 54 miles.  The hubs and I have decided to do the 34 mile distance.  Originally I wanted to do the 54 mile distance, but since this will be our first bike race (what do you actually call bike races?? LOL) we decided that the 34 miles sounded more doable.  The furthest we've ever gone on our road bikes has been around 25 miles on one ride, so this will be a new distance for us. 

So, as you can probably tell, I'm pretty excited (and scared)!  I've never done something like this and truth be told, the thing that scares me the most is either falling off my bike or getting a flat tire!  Hopefully I'll figure out how to change a flat before June 4th!  (Hubs knows how; I'm sure he'll teach me.)

So, June 4th and 34 miles here we come! 

*Picture taken from The Ranch Ride website.

The Week Before....

It's that time again!  It's the week before my half marathon! 

So, this week is all about race prep....

First up is updating my play list.  It's been a few months and I feel kind of out of the loop since I canceled by XM Radio, so I'm asking you all - what are your favorite new songs to run to?  Or are there any older songs that you just love to run to as well?

Help me update my play list folks!  I listen to just about everything - including country - so leave me a comment with your favorite songs. 

For all of you non-runners out there - leave me your favorite songs to jam out in the car to! 


Also, I bought and tested my race outfit and I can't wait to show you all!!! 

....And I have to give a big shout out to Little Rock's own Leah Thorvilson for winning the Nike Women's Marathon in SF this weekend!  Woohoo!  :)  (Not that she reads this blog, but still....)

3 Things Thursday

1. Tonight I have another midterm exam.  This time it's in Operations Management.  I'm not done studying yet - so after work, I'll be swinging by a drive thru then hitting the study lounge at UCA.  Exponential Smoothing, Regression, Forecasting Models....here I come!  BLAH!  Fingers crossed that I do well tonight! 
2. Tomorrow after work, I'm going jeans shopping!  Maurices called me to let me know they have my size and preferred style in!  They're holding a pair of jeans for me till tomorrow!  My husband laughed when I told him the store called me. :) They love me!  Best thing is, I have birthday money to spend!  SCORE!
3. Next Saturday is my 2nd Half Marathon!  I know I haven't talked about running in a while, but I've been doing pretty standard.  Since I'm overwhelmed with school and only running once a week (yikes), I'll probably come in somewhere around last year's time of 2:45.  I'm cool with that, but I'd LOVE nothing more than to come in closer to 2:30.  This Saturday is my last long run - 10 miles!  Woo hoo!

Our Weekend

This weekend was definitely a busy one!  Since it's Monday and it seems I'm already behind, I'm using bullets.

• Friday night we had our usual "date night" at Larry's Pizza and then watched our DVR'd shows.  We also did a load of laundry for my parents since their dryer is out of commission.
• Saturday morning, I did my 9 mile group training run.  I felt wonderful - for once!  Yay!!
• After a nap and some laundry, we started packing our bag for our overnight stay at The Peabody!
• We met my MIL and friend there, checked in, and then headed over to Shogun's to meet the rest of the crew for dinner.  BTW, we were out celebrating my MIL's birthday.
• After dinner, we headed over to a dueling piano bar for some entertainment and drinks!  After a few hours, we headed over to The Flying Saucer for some more drinks!
• We closed down The Flying Saucer (1 am) and then headed over to our room - it was within walking distance to the downtown bars.
• We woke up around 9am and showered.  Around 11am, we went to see the ducks (it's a Peabody thing).
• Afterwards, we checked out of our room and headed over to the Olive Garden for some lunch.  We then parted ways.
• For the rest of Sunday, we spent our time taking naps and then I did a little laundry and the week's grocery shopping.
• And now it's Monday....which means work, school, and I finally get to see what I made on my Economics midterm.  Yikes!  Fingers crossed!
• Btw, one last note... They were sold out of the Latte singles I posted about last week, so this week I'm trying something different.  It's called Hills Bros. Cappuccino Mix - I used milk instead of water and it's wonderful!  YUM!

A First

My midterm on Monday night went pretty well with the exception of one problem that was worth 30 points.  I got 2 out of 3 sub-points on that problem correct, so I'm thinking I'll get some of those 30 points at least.  We shall see.  I knew going into the exam that I didn't know how to do one thing and of course, that one thing was on the exam.  I'll let ya know next week how that turns out.  ha.

Yesterday, my nerves and brain were telling me that they'd had enough school.  Honestly, I don't blame them, I'd studied for that midterm no less than 30+ hours.  So, even though I have homework that I haven't started yet (that's due on Thursday), I decided to join the group for a 5 mile training run.  I hadn't ran during the week in weeks, so I thought it would probably do me some good.

Since I eat lunch at 11am and we run at 6pm, I knew I needed something to give me some energy.  Well, my first choice is always Gu, but I was out.  I had to make a run to Wal-Mart after work and they don't sell Gu.  So, instead of driving across town after I went to Wal-Mart, I decided to give a Clif Bar a chance (since they sell those at WMT). 

Big Mistake.

I get out to the training run and we have a speaker talking about nutrition.  That's all fine and dandy, but I was tired and ready to get this thing going.  Twenty minutes later, we start off on our run.  Let me start off by saying that the ladies that I usually run the same pace as weren't there.  Awesome.  Now, I was tired, grumpy, and my friends weren't there.  I start off and about a quarter mile in, my stomach throws in the towel.  I tell it to shut up, but it doesn't listen.  I wanted to puke.

I kept going till .6 miles and just decided I didn't want to do this.  I didn't want to run.  My stomach was all jacked up, my friends weren't there, and I was tired.  So, I turned around.  I didn't tell anyone, I just turned around. 

That was definitely a first.  Never have I ever bailed on a group run like that.  But, sometimes you just gotta listen to your body.  Here's to hoping Saturday's 9 miler goes much smoother.  I'll be a little more rested, I'll have my Gu (and breakfast), and my friends will be there beside me!

Monthly Running Recap

School has basically taken over my life (in case you couldn't tell), but I've still been able to squeeze in my long runs - that's about all though. 

So, without further ado...

August 2010
19.33 Total Miles
15:09 overall pace  (give a girl a break, it was HOT!!)

September 2010
32.8 Total Miles
13:40 overall pace (getting there....almost..still pretty warm!)

So, you can definitely see some improvement... I can't wait to see if October improves any since the weather is cooling off now! 

Btw, I'm still not up to par on the mileage yet, but I'm basically running once a week due to school.  But, we don't want to talk about that anymore!  LOL 

Call Me Crazy...

Yesterday was day 2 of Half Marathon training. The training plan called for a 3 mile run with the training group. Now, we all know how I love schedules (I'm type A to a fault) and how I love group runs! But, what I don't love is insane, crazy, and icky heat! That's exactly what I got though!

It was 107 F degrees outside when our run started. Yes, 107F! Call us crazy, but there were no less than 50 people out there fighting the heat and getting our 3.37 miles done. We all had bottles of water and then there was more water and Gatorade set up at the half way point, plus ice cold cloths for us to use. Those cloths were almost dry by the time we were finished, but they started out cold and wet!

Not to worry though, we all went extremely slow and drank a ton of fluids. I had started drinking tons of water yesterday morning in preparation for the heat. The last thing I wanted to do was dehydrate. And, besides just being sweaty and hot - I felt fine. Crazy, I know.

BTW, I don't recommend doing this - so don't go doing it just because I did!

What's the hottest ya'll have ran in?

A Mixture of Emotions

Wow, this weekend had all kinds of emotions going on. Here's a recap of part of the weekend:

• Carb loaded on some pizza Friday night - long run jitters were definitely present. I was wondering if I was eating too much pizza - I was one hungry girl! I wont share how much I ate, because it's a tad embarrassing! :) Hubs didn't have to work Friday night = excellent!
• Saturday morning it was frigid! The Beast said it was 46 degrees COLD! So, I dressed in shorts (yikes), my new running shirt, then a long sleeve technical shirt over, and some awesome (throw away) gloves. Met the group at 8am and we were off!
• Immediately, this lady said she was going to be my partner for the 10 miles. I told her that I was doing 4&1 and to go ahead and leave me if I'm too slow. Side note - I hate being someone's pacer or buddy. It puts a lot of pressure on me! I don't like team sports for fear that I'll screw up the team and lose the game - so I definitely don't like being someone else's "partner." I'm okay with it if it happens on accident...LOL
• Anyways, the first 5 miles went by pretty quickly. At mile 5 we passed by a golf course, where a group of guys where teeing off. We talked about stealing their golf cart and finishing our last 5 miles that way, but decided against it. LOL
• Everything was going fine till I decided to try Gatorade at mile 7. Mistake. I knew this, but decided it wouldn't hurt to give it one last try. Yeah, I experienced that nice little vomit in mouth. Ugh.
• Mile 8, 9, 10 were rough. I'm not going to lie. I began to wonder why I was doing this to myself. I began to wonder if I was going to make it on race day. I began feeling the lovely blisters on my feet. My calves were starting to cramp- something that has never happened thus far in training.
• But, I powered through (slowly) and finished our 10.5 miles. My time - I can't even remember, but I do remember my overall pace fell to 12:55. So, with that pace, my goal of 2:45 is out of reach, but we'll find out on race day, wont we?!
• Anyways, I came home and told hubs he would get the pleasure of torturing me. That's right, it was ice bath time. I sucked it up and did an ice bath - first time ever. I must say, it wasn't too bad once I got used to it. But, dang is that cold!

So, that's a recap of PART of my weekend. It's getting a little long ...so I'll post part II later. Trust me, it isn't all that interesting! LOL

Starting To Get A Weee Bit Excited!!

It has hit me - the Half Marathon excitement! Tomorrow is my last long run and I hope to do well on it, but as I was reminded - it's only a training run! So, screw it if I don't do well - it doesn't count anyways! LOL

After work yesterday, I stopped by and bought another running shirt. I started thinking about my outfit and how I wanted to be easy to spot... Well, I went in for a bright pink shirt {to match the pink in my black and pink shorts} but I came out with a black shirt. I know...everyone will be wearing black. But, as we know, I hate shopping {mostly} and I just wanted a new shirt {truth be told}. I did try on a few bright pink shirts, but I didn't like the fit. This black one however fit perfectly and I'll be trying it out tomorrow on my long run. Also, I'm trying the Gu's exactly how I'll be using them on race day. So, I'm excited {and nervous} as I've never ran this long and I'm hoping the Gus settle well {they have been thus far, so why shouldn't they?}.

Anyways, I'll take a picture sometime soon of the race outfit. :) Something else I'm excited about is ...

We're going to Tunica this weekend! A little background, before I go further. The hubs works a ton - a TON - so I haven't seen him since Monday night. Yes, Monday night. Now, don't get me wrong, he does come home, but I'm already asleep by this time {think midnight and later} and I get up at the crack of dawn to come to work. Anyways, I mentioned earlier this week that I was ready to go back and eat at Paula Deen's Buffet at the Harrah's in Tunica. Well, I knew it wasn't going to happen, because hubs has been working weekends too. Well, he called me last night and told me to book a room - we're going to Tunica! Yay! Neither of us are big gamblers by any means, but we do like to visit about once a year. So, this will be a much needed mini vacation.

And I leave you with a picture from last year's visit at Paula Deen's Buffet {it's a cutout}:

GMAT & An Outdoor Wedding!

Well ladies and gents, I took the GMAT Friday morning. I needed a score of 500 and I scored a 580!! To say that I'm pleased and excited, is an understatement. I literally cried in the elevator as I was leaving. The test took me 3 hours to complete - I didn't take any of my breaks. I was just so stressed, that I wanted to finish as soon as possible! There were 2 essays, a math section, and a grammar section. This was the hardest test that I have ever taken - hands down!!! I'm very glad that I took the time and studied for 2 solid months before taking the test! Now, it's behind me and I can start applying to Grad School! Woohoo! Side note... The math section, I ran out of time on, and had to pick random answers for the last 4 questions - because you HAVE to answer the questions!! Wow. But, it's now behind me!!



Other than that, I've had a relaxing weekend. I skipped my long run Saturday morning due to poor planning. I totally forgot to pick up any Gu's on Friday and when I woke up Saturday morning, I knew that I couldn't do 9.6 miles without my Gu. Well, 9.6 miles VERY WELL without them! And, I was not prepared to have a bad run - so I skipped it. Horrible, I know. But, it's ok - I totally know I can do the mileage, so I'm not too upset.



Saturday evening, one of my great friends got married. It was an outdoor wedding - and a little chilly - but it was beautiful! She looked amazing and I loved how everything turned out. Right now, she's on her honeymoon in Hawaii. Sigh. Wish I was there!

Myself with the Beautiful Bride:

Running Review

It's that time again!

If you remember, August looked like this:

August
34.61 miles
13:26 overall average pace

Ready for September?

September
53.57 miles
12:55 overall average pace

Nice improvement, right? I was suppose to run more mileage than this, but I've cut back due to some issues with my shins. I'm having a slight pain in them both and I'm trying to avoid injury since the Half is 3 weeks away. So, we shall see!

I haven't posted my runs in a while, so here are the most previous two:


I failed to notice that I cut the last 1.5 miles off of this one... So, you can only see the first 7:

Thanks for all the comments yesterday. We received some not-so-great news about my grandmother's scan. To share a little bit, she has cancer in her spleen, lung, liver, and bones. Please continue to pray. That really means a lot to us all.
In case you haven't noticed {I'm hoping you haven't}, I'm running out of things to blog about so I'm opening up the floor to questions. Anything that you'd like to know about me, my job, my training, or anything - the floor is open. I'll answer all questions. So, lets hear them!

Weight Watcher's Wednesday

I usually don't participate in Weight Watcher's Wednesday, but I tried this recipe last night and had to share it!

Fusilli with Sausage, Spinach, and Peppers

8 oz uncooked fusilli (or bowtie pasta)
8 oz raw turkey sausage, casings removed
10 oz chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup canned chicken broth (I used one 10.5 oz can)
7 oz canned pimento, drained and chopped
1/2 tsp table salt (I used garlic salt)
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Cook pasta according to package instructions.

Crumble sausage into a large nonstick pan. Cook, breaking apart sausage, until no longer pink.
Add spinach, broth, pimentos, salt, pepper, and oregano. Heat to serving temperature (3 to 5 mins). Drain pasta, add to sausage mixture and toss to combine. (I continued to cook it all together for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.)

4 servings, 7 points each. Yum-o-licious.


In other news, I ran last night with no shin pain, but some back pain. Girls, it's time for new shoes. Today after work, I'm heading over to get the Asics GT-2140. Also, my time was a tad slower, a pace of 12:49 overall for 4.66 miles. Not too shabby, considering the back pain which caused me to look like I had been beatin up and was only running because I was being chased! ha!

A Great 6 Miles!

I met the group on Saturday morning for our 6 mile long run. I was a little uneasy due to the fact that my stomach felt a little heavy with the 7 slices of pizza I ate the night before. (They were small, thin crust slices... ) But, I'm thinking that maybe all those carbs helped me out more than I would've originally thought.....



The run started out pretty well. There are these 2 girls (who knows, they might be older than me) who I play leap frog with quite a bit. Now, usually this wouldn't bother me, but I find one of the girls quite annoying. Why? I'm pretty sure she's making smart remarks every time I pass her and she passes me. Which, btw, one of my friends told me that they do the same thing to her and she over heard them say "Jump complete" when they passed her. How rude. But, I digress... Anyhow, I was determined not to let these girls beat me in the end. I wanted to get past them and stay that way. So, I did my usual 4 & 1 routine and pushed up the hills even though I wanted to stop. All in all, I was feeling pretty good and somehow kept the leap frog girls at bay.


I think the running gods were in my favor. I could breathe pretty well, my legs weren't all that tired, I wasn't being a negative nancy, and my iPod was playing the "right" songs. I was running so well that I didn't even look to see what my pace was at mile 1. To be honest, I forgot. That never happens. I'm obsessed with numbers. So, when I made it to mile 2 and heard my Garmin beep, I looked down to see that I was in the 23 minute range. Holy cow. That hasn't happened ever. Never ever. I think I probably jumped a little when I saw that. So, after that, I was determined to keep doing well. I kept pushing up the hills.


I began getting tired at mile 5, but I knew I had just one more mile to go. My pace had slipped some, but it was still pretty decent for me. And those girls? No where to be found. Ha! Needless to say, I had a great run.. and here's the proof:




Take note of that overall pace. That is the fastest pace I've ever kept for such a long period of time. I think I've kept this pace for 2 miles before, but never 6 miles!! So, ladies, if this wasn't some fluke, I could potentially meet my goal of 2:45 for the Half! But, I'm trying not to get my hopes up. Right now, I just want to make it to the race, injury free. How's that going? Well, I had a very slight pain in my shin and a sharp pain in my foot at the very end of the run. So, I made sure to ice a lot on Saturday and then on Sunday as well. I took yesterday off from running. I was suppose to do 3 miles, but decided not to chance it just yet. I'm also doubling up on my calcium (and vitamin D) and tomorrow I'm going for a new pair of Asics. Which, btw, it saddens me that I can no longer find my GT-2130's and will have to upgrade to the GT-2140's. But, I'll live.
Let's hope that tonights 4.5 miles goes just as well!

Running...Running.. Running!

I've finally gotten my act together and have my running stats uploaded! Yay! So, let's see where we stand... shall we?


July (seems so long ago):
Total Miles: 13.96 (ha!!!)
Pace: 13:29

August:
Total Miles: 34.61 (getting there...)
Pace: 13:26 (a slight improvement)
Biking: 16.22 miles, time: 1:44:30

Now for runs so far this month... (Please excuse the quality.. Copy & Paste & Cut are my BFFs)




My pace here lately seems a little slower and all over the place. But, I'm happy to say that I finally feel like I'm beginning to run a little stronger. Last night's run was hotter than it's been in a few weeks, but I ran pretty decent. :) So, I'm pretty happy overall.
As my half marathon is getting closer, I'm beginning to think about goals. So... after much thought, here are my HM goals:

• Goal A: to finish. Last year, I made it to training week 8 before getting 2 stress fractures.
• Goal B: to finish under 3 hours. This was last year's goal. (Pace of 13:43)
• Goal C: to finish under/at 2:45. This is what I'm really shooting for. It's within reach...almost. (Pace of 12:35)
  

My Week In Review

So, here it goes! Today is the day where I show you how my runs have been going. Since I was M.I.A off and on last week, I thought I'd post those runs too.

So, here is last week's runs (you'll have to click to enlarge):

Saturday was my longest run at 5 miles. I did pretty decent trying to keep my splits consistent. I still have some work to do, but I was pretty happy with it. It did warm up some Saturday morning and that sun was brutal! But, we made it through!



And now on to this week. I was suppose to do 3.5 miles last night, but I wimped out due to a 2 hour nap. So, I'm hoping to make that up tonight. We shall see!

Also, tomorrow I'm suppose to do 5 miles again, but I'll be at work! So, I'm hoping to make that run up on Sunday morning. Maybe I can talk hubs into riding his bike in circles around me!! On a different note... guess who took her first math practice test yesterday....ME! And, according to the scoring sheet, I'm in the top third of the testing group! Yes! Now, on to the harder math practice tests...then verbal...yay. That seriously made my day yesterday. I can't tell you how much math scares the beejebus out of me! I've always hated it! I still have a long ways to go though! :)

Yippie!!!

Last night's 3.5 mile run went pretty well! I was concerned that we weren't going to be able to run due to storms and lightning, but it held out just long enough! The temperature was pretty decent too. It was around 80 and the humidity wasn't that bad!!


Now, as promised, here is Monday's run. I quoted the wrong overall pace. It was 12:27 not 12:24. But, who cares! Ha! (You'll have to click on it make it larger.)

Now, for last night's run! Another PR for me - 11:31 pace for a mile! woohoo! Not too shabby for the whole run either. I need to work on consistency...but who doesn't?! :)

Thankfully, tonight is a rest night. I'm dead tired! Not to mention, I have a ton of things to do such as...get my oil changed, tires rotated, and drop off a donation to the Goodwill....Oh and study some more stupid triangles (I'll elaborate sometime later...)...cook dinner... and do a quick load or two of laundry!

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

Another 3 Miles Finished!

Well, I was a bit concerned about last night's run. The weather station said the humidity was above 70% and it was 87 degrees out - meaning it felt like 97 degrees (they said). I didn't want a repeat of Tuesday night. So, I was worried.


Worried for no good reason. Hubs and I ventured out there and I can honestly say that was the best weather we've had for a run in a while. Don't get me wrong, the air was still thick and hot, but it wasn't near as bad as it has been. So below you'll see my stats:


Not nearly as bad as Tuesday, but still not up to my usual pace. But, I'm thrilled still. I was dead tired and didn't feel like running, but I made myself do it. Also, something to note, I did 4 & 1 and kept to it, only taking two unscheduled stops. :) Now, let's hope that tomorrow's 4 miler will be better! I'm a much better runner in the mornings than the evenings, but due to my work schedule I can't possibly get up any earlier to go running - I get up at 4am just to go to work!! So, I'm really excited about Saturday's run - even though we're meeting up at 8am and I think that's a tad too late. It's already starting to get hot by that time!

Anywho, tonight is either biking or yoga - I haven't made my mind up yet. Hope everyone has a great Friday and weekend!!

Some Like It Hot

...I do not! :)


Yesterday our Half Marathon training group met up for the first time. There were about 90 people there, which was far more than last year. It was really nice to see that many people out there and see some of my old running buddies from last year! Not to mention, one of the beginning group leaders was my step mom's friend who also lives across the street from my grandmother AND coached my siblings during cross country. So, I know this lady very well and have known her since I was knee high to a grasshopper :) It was awesome, she gives off so much positive energy.


The heat though, was not awesome, and the only energy it gave off was negative. FAIL. It was 97 degrees according to the Beast. Yes. Add the humidity in and it was the recipe for disaster. And disaster it was. I have the splits to prove it.

As you can see, I sucked it up. I did 4 & 1 on the first mile... then after that it just kinda crumbled. Oh well. The heat kicked my @$$. Not the first time and wont be the last.
I've noticed that I tend to get all Negative Nancy when I'm really sucking on a run. While talking to Brandi, I told her I was dying and that I had already seen Hell and was waiting on Heaven. Yeah, I'm not sure that makes sense, but at the time it did. Or at least I thought it did. I've gotta stop that mess, no more negative thoughts. Maybe I'll think of the Power Rangers like Chic Runner does. ha.
Anyways, today is a rest day, thank goodness. I have some much needed housework to tend to!
Happy Wednesday everyone! We're half way to the weekend!

Running With The Hubs

I don't know if I've written about this or not, but the hubs has started running with me recently! I can't tell you how happy this makes me - it makes me extremely happy!

We started eating healthier and exercising more, so that we could look a little better on our upcoming trip to the Bahamas (9 more days, woohoo!). So, we've limited our eating out to once a week and we've been eating healthier meals at home. So far, I've cooked some Weight Watchers Meatloaf, tons of grilled chickens, lean pork chops, lean cuts of steak, dressing-less salad, tons of steamed veggies, some fruit, and yogurt. So, we've been doing pretty good. Hubs has lost 12lbs last time he weighed (Sunday) and I've lost 5lbs.

And, hubs has started running with me again! He has ran with me for about 2 weeks now - atleast 3 times per week. Each time we run, we do about 3.32 miles - which is perfect for me, since that's right over the distance for a 5k - perfect training runs. We've also been doing what alot of you know as the program "Couch to 5k" or the "Galloway Program." This week we are doing the 3-2 exercises - run for 3 minutes, walk for 2. This program is what our clinic uses to get us ladies into shape and I must say - it's a great workout!

I'm really extremely proud of him for sticking with it - he doesn't enjoy running at all! But, we did buy him a nice Garmin 305 watch to run with. I use the NikePlus watch and enjoy it..and will use it till it dies on me. But, he wanted a watch of his own and so we've been thinking about getting a Garmin. And so, on an impulse buy this past Saturday, we did. It's a great watch with a lot of cool features and it being a new toy, he likes to run with it. :)

Anywho, it's been a good experience for us so far - running together. We don't usually get to spend much time together during the week due to work - so this works out really well for us. We get to push each other and spend time together. It's great. Also, it helps me for these next upcoming 5ks - that are in July! Note on that, I wanted to do a race sooner, but due to our upcoming vacation and the fact that I don't want to drive a long ways to do a short race - July it will be! Anddddd... I'm signing up for the SW Half Marathon again. This time, I'll hopefully get to run it and not get injured during training. Hubs said he'll train with me too - we shall see!! I hope we do get to train for it together - that would help a lot!

Anyways - I'll be quiet now! Happy Wednesday and thanks for all of the blog comments yesterday. It really helps to know that I'm not the only one out there who has these thoughts on female relationships! :)