A few nights ago, I was on Facebook and a post from a friend of mine popped up.

She had just signed up for a half marathon.

My breath caught in my throat.

Two years ago, I was on the cusp of running and completing my first (and only) half. I was in the best shape of my life.

Let me go back…just before seeing her post, I had been editing photos from my daughters first birthday. There were several of me and they were all ‘aha’ moment photos. You know, the kind where you don’t even recognize yourself. Really bad.

I mean, how sad is it that I wanted to edit myself out of all of my daughters first birthday pics?

Seeing my friends post for the half, and her invite for others to join felt like divine intervention. Like someone was throwing me a lifeline, a chance to get back to me.

Before I could over think it, I clicked through to the race page, whipped out my credit card and signed up.

And just like that, I’m going to be running a half marathon in October. The panic has set in and I’ve questioned my sanity, but I honestly need to have the fear of humiliation seared into my brain to motivate me to get my weight/health/LIFE under control. The fear of the sweeper van will push me to train.

I feel like I have a great support system…both here, with my newly formed training team, and online, with my Sisters. From time to time, I’ll probably show up here all whiny. Please feel free to verbally kick my ass.

I never knew peer pressure could be so necessary, so positive. But that’s what it took for me. And I will continue to bend to this positive influence all the way to my next finish line.

If it’s Tuesday, it’s time to start tooting some horns. I know of several people who did some amazingly tootworthy things this past week. Were you one of them?

My most tootworthy fete this week was participating in a two and a half hour zumbathon. It was so much fun. I got hot and sweaty, but had a blast. My ankles were a little sore by the time we got done, but felt fine in the morning. I even won a club t shirt and a gift certificate for a one hour massage. The thought of a total body massage by a total stranger kind of creeps me out, so I’ll be choosing a chair massage. With all the knots and kinks in my neck, shoulders and back, they’ll have no problem spending an hour there.

I’ve also been doing a weekly link-up with Jamee at a New Kind of Normal called Sharing our Spoons. I am really enjoying this. Each week, you have goals to set in different areas of your life with a bonus challenge for stepping out of your box. Here’s my post from last week. You’ll get the idea from that. You should really come try it with me. It will give you something to definitely toot about.

What about you? What do you want to brag and toot about this week? I can’t wait to hear. Please come toot your horn and leave your accomplishments or blog link in the comment section.

p.s. I can’t wait till next Tuesday when we are all tooting about Run the ‘Hood 2012 Virtual 5K/10K Race to Remember!

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself. ~Anna Quindlen

Here we are! It’s time to start off the year long series Becoming Me. I got the idea for the name from the Anna Quindlen quote I put at that top. I’m excited to start this process of digging a little deeper and getting to the heart of some of my esteem, body, and food issues.

If you haven’t had a chance, please go back and read this post from Christie Inge and this post giving a little (long) history of me.

This month’s question…

Do you trust yourself and your body? No? What do you think would happen if you did?

The honest answer is no. I don’t trust myself OR my body.

I’m not sure at what point I got this skewed sense that my WANT was more important than my NEED.

When I sit down to a meal, I very often eat way past the point of comfort. My stomach is beyond capacity, my mind is telling me to stop eating, and I look at the plate and think “It’s a waste to leave food there.” If I’m eating at a restaurant (which is much more often than I care to admit), I get the additional “I paid for the food, I should eat the food.”

Then, when dessert rolls around, my stomach is beyond capacity, my mind is telling me to stop eating, but all I want is sugar. How could it be wrong to want something sweet to end my day? I’ve had a great/exciting/awesome/bad/busy/crazy/emotional/stressful day, why shouldn’t I reward/soothe with something sweet.

I end up sitting on the couch at the end of the night, telling my husband “Don’t ever let me do that again.”

Because at some point it became HIS responsibility to get me to stop eating.

Now, that’s just the food side. When it comes to exercise, I’m just as bad. My mind is telling me to get off the couch. My body is telling me to move and stretch and lift. But I think I know better. There’s too much on my to-do list, I don’t need to work out right now. I could get hurt, I definitely shouldn’t push myself beyond my comfort zone. It won’t matter anyway if I did push myself because I am a slow runner and I will always be slow and why try to change it?

I don’t trust my body because it scares me that if I did, I might have to change the status quo.

I am comfortably entrenched in status quo, friends.

I think if I did learn to trust my body, I would very simply eat less and move more.

It seems oversimplified, but that’s what it really comes down to.

If I learned to trust my body, I would listen to its signals telling me to stop eating when I’m full. If I learned to trust my body, I would know the difference between real hunger and emotional hunger. If I learned to trust my body, I would know that answer to my problem du jour  is not at the bottom of a peanut butter jar.

If I learned to trust my body, I would not take walk breaks during runs, knowing that the need for one is all in my mind. If I learned to trust my body I would know that exercising is more important than making the kids macaroni & cheese for lunch 2 days ahead. If I learned to trust my body I would push myself a little bit further out of my comfort zone.

If I learned to trust my body, fear of failure (or honestly, success) would not be an issue.

Beyond that, the sky’s the limit.

All questions for the Becoming Me series come from Christie Inge.

Christie Inge, HHC is an intuitive eating and body image coach and is the creator of The Body Love Alchemy Community. After years on the diet and binge roller coaster, she realized that the answers she was looking for had nothing to do with the size of her blue jeans or the food on her plate. She set out onto a quest to make peace with food, her body and her weight once and for all. She began sharing her experiences on her popular, heartfelt blog. Overtime, she found that her greatest gift was helping women, just like her, overcome their struggles, too.

She has taken what she learned in the school of hard knocks and coupled that with what she has learned in her professional trainings to create a system that has helped thousands of women to make peace with food and to stop hating their bodies. She offers support, insight, and real world tools for creating a body and life you love. You can stay in touch with by subscribing to her inspirational weekly eLetter or join the conversation facebook and twitter.

Coffee. I love coffee. I drink mine black, but when I stop at a coffee shop, it’s easy to get lured into ordering something a bit more adventurous, which often means more calories, sugar, and fat. Did you know that if you drink a Grande Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino, you will be consuming 500 calories, 9 grams of fat, and 98 grams of carbs? And that’s WITHOUT the whipped cream. Oh my.

I’ve done some investigating and have come up with ten drinks that you can enjoy without feeling the guilt. Enjoy!

Did you know that it was National Women’s Health Week? Me either. I wish I had found this out for last weeks post. That’s okay though. It’s not too late to find out what it’s all about.

The government website gives this definition of National Women’s Health Week…..
National Women’s Health Week is a weeklong health observance coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health. It brings together communities, businesses, government, health organizations, and other groups in an effort to promote women’s health. The theme for 2012 is “It’s Your Time.” National Women’s Health Week empowers women to make their health a top priority. It also encourages women to take steps to improve their physical and mental health and lower their risks of certain diseases.

1. Visit a health care professional to receive regular checkups and preventive screenings.This one is pretty self explanatory. We all know that we should be getting yearly check ups and screenings appropriate for our age. How many of us actually do it though? I am guilty of being not very good with this.
2. Get active.
We all know that an active lifestyle is a must for a fit and healthy life. There are so many ways to get active. Running, walking, biking, cardio workouts, strength training, zumba and yoga are just a sampling of the hundreds of things out there. The list goes on forever. Find which activites work best for you and do them.
3. Eat healthy.
This is something that I have really been trying hard to get right. Healthy eating is one of the most important things we can do for our bodies. Eating the right kinds of foods makes a huge difference in the way we feel. If you put in the right fuel, your body runs at it’s peak performance. Kind of like putting quality gas in your car. The website has a great section on healthy eating.
4. Pay attention to mental health.
Good mental health is an important part of a woman’s overall health. I admit that I never even considered a lot of the things they talk about on the website as being part of my mental health. A couple of the things they talk about are getting enough sleep and managing stress. I am the worst at getting enough sleep.
5. Avoid unhealthy behaviors.
How about smoking and not wearing a seatbelt or bicycle helmet. I can tell you from experience that quitting smoking is so hard, but so beneficial. I felt better within days and four years later, I can’t believe the difference in how I feel. If you are still smoking, they have a great section on how to quit.

Last, but certainly not least, you can join the 2012 WOMAN Challenge! The 2012 WOMAN Challenge has partnered with the President’s Challenge. Remember when I wrote about joining the President’s Challenge last month. I just started Week 5 and I am really enjoying tracking my workouts and watching my points add up. I am on track for a medal from the President in another few weeks.

It has taken me a long time to get to this point in my life. I am finally seriously working on my fitness and eating. I am enjoying finding things like this to help me keep my efforts fresh and not boring. Check out the website and see all the information they have to offer. I think you’ll be impressed and you just might learn a few new things.

Hey!

Guess what!!

It’s Wednesday, guys! Time to weigh in. You didn’t think we were going to leave you hanging did you?

Just because we are between challenges doesn’t mean it’s time to rest on your laurels! We’ve got three weigh ins before the next official challenge starts so let’s get to work!

You’s got to have goals, people!

So, what’s it going to be? How are you going to spend the next three weeks?

Are you going to flounder away because there is no official challenge?

Or are you going to set yourself a mini goal and continue toward your bigger goal of HEALTH?

So. First things first. If you’re a weigher, go get on that scale.

Secondly, set some goals. Three weeks is plenty of time to get something D-O-N-E, done!

Thirdly, blog about it. Let us know how it went this week. Let us know what your goals are. Let us know what you had for lunch yesterday. Let us know if you have a pet!

O.K. You get the point. Talk to us! We love hearing from you!!

This past weekend, an opportunity landed in my lap to try out a type a race that I have never done before- a mud race.

What is a mud race?  It’s usually a fun run that includes obstacles of some sort.  The length of the run can vary.  The number of obstacles can vary, but there is ALWAYS mud involved at some point.

You can read my race report here, if you like.

No mind you, I had not trained for this race.  I mean, I still have my running background but I was not prepared for hoisting myself over any kind of obstacle.  My only plan was to have fun and not lose my shorts in the mud pit- mission accomplished!  I did, however, get very very very muddy.

 This was my first time to do a race of this kind, and I LOVED it.  It kind of makes me wish that I had done it sooner.  I vividly remember thinking at one point in the race- this is so much better than straight running, I get to break up the monotony of running with obstacles- yippee!!!!  It was harder in some respects, since I was using different muscles for the obstacles and then a different set for the running/hiking.

Now, I want to do more, especially given my hate disdain dislike of HOT RUNNING.

Since I am no longer a Mud Run virgin, I am anxious to find another run to do in my area and soon.  ’Tis the season for mud!

I did a quick google search on Mud Races and was surprised on the number of options out there.

• Muddy Buddy
• Spartan Race
• Tough Mudder
• The Original Mud Run
• Diva Dash
• Survivor Mud Run
• Warrior Dash

This is by no means the entire list- just a beginning. Also, I’ve heard of Zombie Runs, Urban Adventure Races, Foam Fest 5K’s.

So go ahead. Try it, you just might like it.  I did!

Tell me – what fun races have you done?!

As I was sitting around thinking about what to write, I realized that I’ve been going through my closet a lot lately. Which made me think of this post I wrote a couple years back. It’s definitely still pertinent, so take another look, if you please.

image courtesy of Dee West

While clothes may not make the woman, they certainly have a strong effect on her self-confidence – which, I believe, does make the woman.Mary Kay Ash (1915 – 2001)

What’s in your closet? Right now. Need to check? Go ahead, I’ll wait…
…………………………………..

Did you look? Cool. So what’s in your closet? Did you answer clothes or did you answer saboteurs? Can you tell the difference? Am I making any sense at all or have you already stopped reading?

Let me explain. But wait, one more question. How many clothing sizes do you have in your closet? Do you have categories (fat clothes, skinny clothes, good clothes, etc)? O.K., that was 2 questions. Sorry. But anyway, if you have several sizes of clothes or more than one “weight category”, it’s time to clean house (or closet).

If you have clothes that are too big for you hanging in your closet, you need to get rid of them. That’s right. Toss ‘em. Nothing is a bigger saboteur then thinking there might ever be a time when you would need those clothes again. You are giving yourself permission to gain the weight back. And you are sending little subliminal messages that you don’t believe in yourself enough to keep it off. So go get a big garbage bag and get rid of them. You can donate them to a local charity. You can sell them on Ebay. Heck, you can start a bonfire with them if it will make you feel better. Just get rid of them.

And the same goes for clothes that are too small. Sure, they can give you something to work towards, but don’t you think you deserve new stuff once you hit your goal weight? When I was helping my sister purge her closet, I told her that she could choose 2 pieces that were too small for her. She hung those on the back of her door and they became her motivation. The rest of it she bagged up and donated. She thought that she would miss them, but she actually felt some pressure being taken off that she didn’t have half a closet full of clothes that didn’t fit her.

Holding on to clothes that don’t fit is just one more mental hurdle that you need to cross on your road to weight loss.If they’re too big, they’re holding you back. If they’re too small, they’re causing you stress.So toss ‘em.

Leave a comment to let us know if you’ve gotten rid of anything lately. Was it hard? Easy? Do you feel better about it now or did you go rooting through the trash the next day to get it out? Let us know!

If you are anything like me, it’s hard to find the time in a busy day for exercise. The month of May is manic for me. We have seven family birthdays. The last month of preschool gets really crazy. We have preschool olympics (which I love) but, it takes so much planning and getting ready for. The actual day itself is awesome, but so exhausting. We have preschool graduation. Another major event (that I also love) that requires tons of planning and work. The list goes on and on. Finding the time and the energy to exercise sometimes becomes a real challenge.

I still try really hard to make my night classes three times a week. I try to do something at home every morning. But…sometimes it is a real struggle. What I have learned in the last few weeks is how to get the workout in and not use a huge chunk of time. I’ve learned that mini workouts are just as effective. Here’s a list of some of the things that I have been doing.

1. When I am waiting for one of the preschoolers in the bathroom, which is quite often, I do push ups against the wall or I walk back and forth in the hallway.

2. When I am sitting at my desk working on something, I’ll pick a muscle and clench tight, hold and release. I do it over and over.

3. I park in a faraway parking place at work and at the store instead of a close spot.

4. If I am watching tv, I do push ups, sit ups or wall sits during the commercial breaks.

5. I wear my pedometer every day and set my goal for at least 10,000 steps. I don’t take it off at night until I reach my goal. If I only have 9000 steps, I’ll hit the treadmill for a few minutes or just walk around the house till I hit 10,000.

6. On weather permitting days, I finish my lunch hour with a quick walk. The road behind my building goes down a hill, across a parking lot and up another hill. I walk that little stretch for five or ten minutes. The hills make it a little tougher than just walking.

7. I fit in a quick 20. While I’m cooking dinner or waiting to change the laundry, I’ll drop down and do 20 sit ups or push ups. The push ups you can do against the wall, if you want.

8. I’ve started taking the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.

9. I do the monthly workout that Melissa has been doing for us. They don’t take that long and they are amazing exercises.

10. This isn’t an exercise tip, but every day I fill a 64 ounce water jug and don’t go to bed until it is empty. I have to confess that most days I drink more than that, but I started with the 64 ounces and it makes a huge difference in the way I feel.

If you give this a try, you’ll see that at the end of the day you’ll have added lots of extra exercise minutes into your day without really trying too hard. It’s quick and almost painless. If I can do it, anyone can do it! Remember how important it is to take care of yourself. Look at every moment as an opportunity to be fit, healthy, and strong!

Finale? Really?! Where has the time gone? I might be having a minor panic attack when I think about the fact that May is already half over and the kids are going to be done with school in two weeks.

We have been Springing into Action for the past several weeks. Remember back on Day One when we discussed our Action Plans?

Analyze your goals – decide what you want to accomplish over the next 6 weeks.
Commit to a plan – how are you going to achieve your goals? Put it on the calendar!
Track your progress – Journal, journal, journal. Whether it’s on your blog or on paper.
Inspire yourself and others – Supporting other people will inspire you to do your best.
Overcome your fears – Face them head on, and realize you’re strong and can do anything.
Never give up – Enough said. Quitting is not an option.

Did you stick with your plan? Have you seen success and reached your goal? Tell us about it in the comments below or by blogging and leaving a link to your post!

We have been busy kicking-ass in April and building mad muscles in May! Are you enjoying the monthly workouts? Are there certain areas you would like to see targeted in upcoming workouts?

Stay tuned for a new, fresh challenge coming your way June 1st! Details coming soon!

Keep checking in every Wednesday! We love to stay in the loop with our readers!