Three Things Thursday

1.  Katy Perry ~ E.T.  EMZ first introduced me to this song on her blog.  I was instantly hooked and it was/is one of my favorite songs on my playlist.  It helped me survive Portland when I ran it last October.  It's very different and I couldn't wait for the video to be released today.  Well, it's odd but I had to share.  The makeup is cool at least.  I love the song without Kanye West.  Just saying....

2.  My girls have officially watched Tangled 4 times since I brought it home.  Who knows what the count will be after today.  Super cute movie and I highly recommend it.

3.  I officially became a Half Fanatic last year after running 2 1/2 marathons within two weeks.  I spent some time online last night and I'm trying to up my "moon level."  I'm hoping to either do a Saturday/Sunday back to back or find more races within a close time span so I can bump up. 

This is what I have so far~

Eugene 1/2 - Oregon ~ Sunday May 1st - Registered

Capital City 1/2 - Olympia ~ Sunday May 15th - Possible

Run For The Roses 1/2 - Oregon ~ Saturday June 4th - Possible

Mud & Chocolate 1/2 - WA ~ Sunday June 5th - Possible

North Olympic Discovery 1/2 - WA ~ Sunday, June 5th - Possible

Beach To Chowder 1/2 - Long Beach, WA ~ Saturday, June 18th - Ran This Last Year/Possible Scheduling Conflict This Year

Rock-n-Roll Seattle 1/2 - Saturday June 25th - Registered

You Go Girl 1/2 - Tacoma, WA ~ Sunday, Sept. 18th - Ran the 10K Last Year.  Are we still doing this as a group/team???

4.  Since #2 really isn't running related I thought I should add this.

Rock-n-Roll Portland 1/2 Marathon ~ May 20, 2012

If you register on May 1st, 2011 it will only cost $55.  That's $40 off the normal registration.  I'm Pumped!!!  Since Jason & I will be running Eugene that day my plan is to see if (1) he survives and (2) whether he either loved it or hated it.  If he loved it I'll be registering us both.  If not, I'm in no matter what.

Here's what I would get after completing the Seattle & Portland Rock-N-Roll 1/2 Events

 If I can sneak in a third somehow I'd get this.

 What I really, really want is this one.  I'd have to win the lotto to afford 6 R-N-R Events.  A girls gotta dream.

We're Registered!!!!

‎"You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through" ~ Rosalynn Carter

It's official.  As of last night Jason and I are registered to run the 2011 Eugene 1/2 Marathon on May 1st.  I have wanted to run this one since they brought it back a few years ago.  Someday, I'm hoping to run the full but for now I'm thrilled that this is on the calendar.  

For Christmas all I wanted was Jason to commit to running the Seattle Rock-N-Roll 1/2 with me this June.  He did and I was so excited.  He was doing great for awhile getting up before work and hitting the treadmill.  Now with schedules, stress, and work it's been tough and he hasn't been running.  I'm trying to come up with some ideas to get him pumped up and ready for whats coming his way.  BTW ~ running Eugene was his idea.  I never asked him to do it.  Maybe my craziness is rubbing off :)

I know there are some bloggy meet-ups happening and I'd love to be a part of it.  I'm pretty excited that some of you will get to witness and be part of Jason's first 1/2.  Let me know what the plans are.  I'm sure you can count us in.

Guess what comes out on DVD today?  

I'm not going to lie.  I'm really pumped.  Can't wait to watch it with my girls tonight.

Whole Wide World

I loved this and wanted to share.

Just Bring It

Things seem to be settling down on the wild frontier aka my house.  The last thing we needed around here was to be traveling and running around going to races/fun runs.  Okay, I lied, I have been in a minor funk about missing so many of my runs but for the good of the family I've kept it to myself...mostly.

This Saturday is the 24 Hour Rim Run that I ran 33 miles at last year.  I'm extremely sad that I'm missing it.  I was pumped to stay the full 24 hours.  It's even local.  Maybe next year.

I crazily brought up the Eugene 1/2 that will be on May 1st.  So far so good and I think I might have the support to do it.  What do you think?  Should I just go for it?  I'd obviously just do it for fun and not worry about time.  I want one of those green finishers medal so bad.

Training/Running ~

The past 3 weeks I have started going to the gym again.  That means more cross training and using the weights.  I've been incorporating a lot of the elliptical into my routine and I think it has helped my knees a lot.  I've been pretty pumped about this.  I did a really hard run a few days ago and I couldn't even tell I'd had issues.  That being said, they randomly cause issues on other days.  I'm just happy that something seems to be helping.  I long for the days when I was just a "slow runner" and not a slow runner with knee issues that have prevented me from getting faster.

Diet/Weight Loss ~

My brother is getting married on April 9th.  That has been pretty motivating on getting me back on the right road.  I've once again shrunk my portions and am drinking a lot more water.  Ever since having my girls, I've thankfully enjoyed drinking water so that hasn't been a huge change.  I do admit that I haven't given up my Diet Mt. Dew.  I only drink it occasionally now.   When I give up all my chocolate it is the one treat I let myself have.

Speaking of chocolate, Easter candy is out and taunting me in full force.  Any other year I would have eaten several king size bags of these by now.  They are my favorite.  I have a bag or two stashed in the house but they are for my girls.  The fact that I haven't had any of these or the other Cadbury goop filled eggs shows willpower for sure.  I also have to fit into a dress and look halfway decent in it in 3 weeks.  

So now I am refocused and have many mini goals to meet.  I'm hoping that I can lose a few extra pounds before the wedding which will also help with my knees.  I feel like I missed out on so much this year already.  I refuse to give up though.  Even if I'm slow, I want to get out there and feel the wind on my face.  I want to keep meeting and running with my blogger buddies.  One way or another Jason will run Seattle with me in June and we will have fun.  

So, a few questions.

Should I be a crazy person and sign up for the Eugene 1/2 on May 1st?

What should I do to help get Jason motivated and ready for RNR Seattle 1/2 in June?

Any other healthy treats that can help get me back on track?

After losing over 60 pounds I'm frustrated to even be back to needing to lose weight again.  BTW~I didn't gain that much back :) That's how I feel about trying to get all of my fitness back as well.  Starting over stinks.

Thanks again to all of you who have continued to support me and for all of your comments.  I love you guys!!!

Broken But Back

First, I want to say how terribly I have missed all of you.  A huge hole is evident in my life right now and all of you help to fill it.  February was a crappy month for so many reasons.  My Uncle's Memorial, my Aunt's surgery, and to top it all off, a huge life changing few days in my life.  I have seriously been through a huge mental and emotional marathon.  Because of all that I had to completely unplug from everything else and focus on what I could do to turn things around.  I wanted to just give up.  I've been through every emotion possible.  During all this I also had to give up running for a week or two.  Honestly, I was so stressed out that instead of it being a positive I might have just stressed myself and my body to the point of breaking.  I didn't want to risk it.  I have never been so scared and stressed in my life.

I know I feel like I'm leaving you all hanging but I don't feel like I can or should share the details of what went down.  Just know that I am 110% focused on my family right now and I think my efforts are paying off.  I have been changed though.  I can't go back to who I was before.  I'm trying my best to remain strong and focus on the positives.

I have been working out hard at the gym for the past two weeks on top of running on my treadmill.  It has been a huge step in feeling like myself again and getting back to my goals.  I have to keep it all balanced.  I'm still trying to work it all out.

I wanted to thank all of you who have reached out to me either here, Facebook, or by texting.  I can't begin to tell you how it feels to have real sincere friendships.  Some of you I have met and some I haven't.  Regardless of that, it means the same.  I have known people for years who I haven't heard a peep from.  I truly think of you as my family.  Your love, support, and companionship have meant the world to me and I have missed you more than I can say.  I wanted you all to know that I'm here and I'm working on getting things back in gear.

Julie posted this on my "Impossible Is Nothing" Facebook page.  So fitting.  Thank you!!!

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” 

~ Charles R. Swindoll .