Another 5K, Another Award...Lost Another Pound

9 weeks of 12 weeks

weight today: lost one pound

total lost: 8 pounds in 9 weeks

1/2 cup of oatmeal:150
1 tsp of sugar:15
1 tbl of powder creamer in tea:30
2 tsp of sugar:30
total: 225

bites of goldfish crackers: 50 (est)
3 tbl of chocolate malt-0-meal:130
1 tsp of sugar:15
2 tbl of 1% milk:12
total: 207
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running total: 432

3 oz of chicken breast: 105
1/2 cup of Uncle Ben's brown rice:85
1 tsp of Smart Balance light butter:15
1/2 cup of fat free cottage cheese:80
1/4 cup of crushed canned pineapple:35
1 tbl of powder creamer in tea:30
2 tsp of sugar:30
total:380
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running total: 812

1 large egg:70
1 large egg white:16
1/2 cup of brown rice:85
1 tsp of Smart Balance light butter:15
1/2 of graham cracker sheet:35
1 Blue Bunny Bomb Pop: 40
total: 261
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running total:1,073

3 oz of chicken breast: 105
1/2 cup of brown rice:85
1 tsp of Smart Balance light butter:15
total:205
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running total:1,287

1/2 cup of Edy's slow churned light icecream:100
1 tsp of chocolate syrup:20
total:120
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running total:1,407

Today's challenge: Challenges feel under control right now. Keeping on-calorie and getting in my work-out

Actual fitness: already completed 3 mile lunch run, 4-mile bike ride, abdominals and 60 minute biceps and back work-out.

Note on no sweet-n-low and no caffeine: No stomach upset on the lunch run. Love being able to drink my hot teas ANY time of the day unlike coffee.

Note on picture: Hmm....Ah...yes, this is what I won for the way I finished in my 5K race on Saturday...and aluminum water bottle and a nice pair of running socks.

*Note on weight loss*: You did notice the pound I FINALLY dropped. The pound I have been fighting against for the past what seems like three weeks?!? That pound? What a way to start a Monday! It's been since, oh....high school since I've weighed this low and my stomach has been this flat...baby!!

Another 5K, Another Award

Hi everyone. Hope you all had a fun weekend.

For some reason I was really, really nervous about this race. And it was driving me crazy. I actually kept waking up in the middle of the night and I even dreamed about the race...though, I can't recall the exact details of the dream, I knew it wasn't a necessarily happy dream.

This is one of those races that I like to chalk up as a "learning race". I did ok, but I felt like I didn't leave it all out there if you know what I mean.

In this race, there were over 1,300 women running/walking and over 600 guys running/walking. You had to predict your time going into the race and then at the start of the race they had people standing with big cardboard signs with say "21:00" on it. And if you thought that was how fast you'd run, you were suppose to start with that group.

Well, I predicted 22:40 and I wasn't about to go stand with my group and have all these people ahead of me at the start of the race. So, I stood with the 19:00 minute racers. I had the sense that people at this level were subtly checking each other out. Could've been my imagination.

I couldn't find my sister-n-law anywhere at the start of the race. When I got there, I immediately had to go the bathroom. And, after using it, I immediately had to use it again. Then after that I went outside and still felt like I had to pee. I considered a nearby bush, but decided my bladder would have to just make due.

About ten minutes before the start, I ran a few nearby loops to warm up. It was chilly and I ended up wearing running tights and two long sleeved shirts under my tank and some gloves.

I didn't bring a watch, I don't have a working stop-watch. But after today, I will get one. First off, there was a LOT of people and there was a lot of weaving in an out by other people. I eventually had to weave around a few people myself. What was strange about this race, is that they didn't have the 1-mile, 2-mile, or 3-miles marked. Though, I knew where I was and how far I had left because I'm from here, I didn't know exactly. So, I wasn't sure how fast I was going. I was actually hoping that they would be calling out times somewhere during the race.

I definitely felt challenged throughout the race, but I didn't feel like I was going to keel over at any minute. Also, to be honest I didn't give a death defying kick at the end either. We finished the race on the track. So, I didn't see my time until I rounded the corner and headed into the finish.

Out of 1,300 women I finished 45th. In my age group I finished 4th. There were 109 in my age group. My time was 22:38, two seconds faster than my predicted time. The gal in my age group who finished third beat me by one second. And, she happened to be a girl who I ran in high school with. So, part of me thinks...if I just ran faster at the end...

My sister-n-law finished sixth in our age group. They award the top five in each age group and she missed it by one second because fifth place beat her by one second. She finished with a time of 22:57 which is a huge improvement on her time of 23:36 from last week. I improved by 35 seconds.

For finishing fourth, I was delighted to receive the socks and aluminum water bottle. There are more racing opportunities December 5th and then again on the 12th.

I like to look at this as a learning experience, because I see some things I want to work on and improve on. Also, what's interesting is that I've never really raced in the winter. I could very well be running in snow in two or three weeks and will have to dress appropriately and get in a good warm-up.

Also for those who are interested, I put together a post on how four of our five children did on the little kid fun races that happened after the 5K race. Click here to see that.