Exciting News

Again it's been FOREVER since I have updated anything but I finally have something important to write about. For those of you who don't know already;

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!

I have to get better about updating this since I will be wanting to keep friends & family informed of all the news about the little one once they are born!
We are really excited. It has been a LONG time coming. I share my story and struggle because I want to give others hope that are in the same situation.
We have been married 13 years. 11 of which we have been trying to have children sitting back watching everyone it seemed around us have their families and being excited for them but wishing at the same time it would happen for us. We finally while living in Baltimore did several rounds of fertility treatments,all different kinds. We ended up getting pregnant on the last one but had a miscarriage early on. This was devastating to us and ended with us not doing anymore for emotional reasons and we ended up moving to Florida. We saw a fertility doctor here about 2 years ago and have looked into adoption but weren't sure where we thought the best place to put our money would be. Adoption is a long process but one we knew would end eventually with a child and IVF is hit or miss, costs a lot of money and there is no guarantee you will have anything to show for it. So we did nothing. For the past 2 years we have talked about it but haven't made much progress one way or another.
And then it happened! After relaxing, not thinking about it day in and day out, we had our little miracle. We found out over Labor Day weekend....actually right before. We were getting ready to fly to West Virginia to visit family for the weekend and I hate flying so I take medication. James suggested that I should take a test. I thought it was ridiculous seeing that just because I was late meant nothing....in 11 years it never did. But I went to get one. He wouldn't let me take it until he got home from work. I started thinking, what if???? By the time he got home I had allowed myself a glimmer of hope which I was getting mad at myself about because every time I did that I would be disappointed. However when he got home I took the test and before the control showed up in the window the result was there....pregnant!!
I was in shock. I ran out of the bathroom saying , "how does this happen?!?!" We cried, then I got extremely nervous remembering what happened the last time a test showed up positive. Within a few weeks I had horrible news. I knew I couldn't handle going through that again so my joy turned to fear. James assured me it would be fine and here we are at week 14 (well, almost on Wednesday) the start of the 2nd trimester already!!!
Things are going well, we are thrilled. Other than being tired (which is getting better), getting bigger and my clothes not fitting I feel fine. I was lucky no real morning sickness. We just bought baby furniture, cleaned out the baby's room and are waiting for the furniture to arrive this week or next.
I definitely had given up hope and watched others have amazing families and were thrilled for them but sad that James and I wouldn't have that. However I guess it is all in God's time and it just wasn't our time yet. What we had to learn or do first I'm not sure but someday we will know. I'm just excited that it's finally our time. Once we started not focusing on it, it happened. Maybe the marathon I ran helped?!?! :) I hear it does for some people. Maybe that's what it took :) !! I plan to run another one in January...2013 !!

9 weeks to go....I missed week 10 :)

Trying to keep up with this is difficult....

I missed last week so briefly I ran 23 miles the week of March 13th. I had a longer 8 mile run on the 19th and a couple 6 mile runs worked in throughout the week along with training with my personal trainer.

Exciting news....I bought new running shoes. Probably the most $$ I've ever spent but I need a really good pair that are not going to hurt my feet for this long race. So... I had Nike Vamaros (not sure if that is how you spell it) and they were fine but they made my toes numb after about 6 miles and I wasn't super pleased with how they felt after my 1/2 marathon. So, I went to a running store last week and got fitted for Saucony ProGrid Ride 3's (in pink and black...my favorite colors). I LOVE them. Way more room in the toe area and they have some shock thing in the heel that transfers the impact out through your shoe. They feel amazing. I've been running in them for a 2 wks. No foot pain or numbness...Finally!!!

This week I upped my mileage I ran 6 miles Monday, 2 Tuesday I also trained with my trainer on Tuesday for an hour, 6 Thursday, I did an hour of kickboxing on Friday (which I don't recommend the day before a long run!!!!) and I did a LONG 12 mile run yesterday. It hurt! My legs were so sore from kickboxing I did about a 10 minute...or a little less which is SLOW for me but that's the only way I was getting in the mileage this week. So for this week a total of 26 miles. Now if I just put that together in 1 day at one time I would almost be at marathon distance. That's a disturbing thought :) !!!! I'm trying more for miles..just getting them in than speed right now.

I leave today for Buffalo, NY until Wed. for a class for work so my mileage is going to drop this week which lucky for me it was supposed to anyway. I won't be getting in much this week but I will do my best. I have 4 long runs left. A 14 miler starting a week from next Saturday, 16 miles, 18 miles and the big yuck I hate to say it... 20 miler uggggghh!!!

I feel like running is my life. I'm going to admit I'm getting burned out. I'm excited for it to be over. I don't think I will train for a marathon again. It is a lot of work. My 1/2 was a lot of work but nothing like this. 1/2 marathons you can train for a couple months 3 days a week. Marathons are an almost everyday commitment. I'm running 5 days a week. 24+ miles in those 5 days, and I don't like the long Saturday runs. I'm wiped for the day after those. So...that is the past couple weeks. 9 more weeks of hard training....1 week of easy training . 11 weeks until race day :)

11 weeks to go

Our friends from Baltimore just left :( ... We had a great weekend at the beach and just hanging out visiting with them. I did get my running in while they were here. YAY me...I'm usually a slacker if I have a reason to be. So, for week 10 of training I completed it with on Friday I ran 6 miles and Saturday I ran 4 1/2. I took Wed/Thurs off this past week so I'm ready for a mileage increase this week.....I think.
*Tomorrow the plan is to run 7 miles, I train on Tuesday with my Personal Trainer and I will try and do a couple miles before that. I have an hour of kickboxing on Thursday so probably no running then...if so it will only be a mile or two. Friday I have a 6 mile run planned but I might move that to Wed due to Saturday being a longer run day with an 8 mile run. So total mileage going up this week to around 23-25 miles.

11 weeks left of hard training. 13 weeks until race day :)

This updating my blog about my training is going to be harder than I thought :)

So...I have been away for work quite a bit lately but I have been trying to keep up with my running schedule as much as I can when you are away from home and out of your normal routine.

While I was in Baltimore I didn't do very well. Then I was away this past week also so starting to train that week was too difficult. I did run 4 miles every day I was gone but nothing more than that.

So this week I am really starting "serious" training. I ran 4 miles yesterday which was March 7th. I also trained with my personal trainer for about 45 minutes after that doing arms and abs. Today I ran 3 miles and did 1 hour of bootcamp. It was my last bootcamp for 4 weeks so I can concentrate on just running. Thank goodness cause it about killed me tonight :). We did all legs and abs...not so fun after just running 4 miles yesterday and 3 before bootcamp :)!!! Tomorrow March 9th I am going to run 4 miles and then I have other runs planned for the rest of the week. We will see how it goes. Our friends are coming down from Baltimore so we want to hang out with them so this weekend I will see how much I can get in without missing time with them. I'm planning 7 miles on Friday and 4-6 on Saturday. We will see. I'm trying to increase my mileage to between 20-25 miles this week...more next week.

So that is what I have been doing to train the past couple weeks. It's hard. I feel like running is my life right now. I hope it gets easier, somedays the little runs are the hardest. I still think I'm crazy to think I can do 26.2 miles but we will see. I still have a long way to go to be ready and not a lot of time...about 10-11 weeks of training left. YIKES!!!!

The Journey to My First Marathon begins.....

James had an idea that since I actually do have people that follow my blog about my working out, weight loss and running (I can't believe that I'm that interesting or inspiring but I am flattered that people actually do read it and get motivated by my story) that I keep an updated
(that will be different) blog about my journey for training for my first Full Marathon. So I figured why not. I thought about making a whole other blog page for it...but then realized I don't have the time or energy for that so I will use this one :) !!

So as many of you know. I started a 16 week training program but then realized that the first several weeks were just repeats of what I have been doing for the past 1+ years so I signed up for another 6 week boot-camp at the gym which is 2 days/week and a 15K race to keep me going. I figured by the end of it I will be ready to get into the "real" training. So.... I have this week and next week left of boot-camp but I realized that I only have 14 weeks until the race so really only have 12 weeks left to do "REAL" training because the last 2 wks before the race will be very minimum workouts.

Saturday I did my 15K race which got me ready to start my more intense training. I beat my time by 5 minutes from last year when I ran the exact same race so I was pretty proud of myself. Had I not been sick for the previous 2 weeks and still had a lot of congestion I probably would have done even better but there is always next year. I think 5 minutes off my time is pretty good though. So, with that under my belt I started really training as of today so it's a good day to start my journey to my marathon blog. I know I can run at least 13.1 miles..a 1/2 marathon since I did that in January. Now it's time to start training to be able to run the other 13.1......sigh :)!!!

So today Monday Feb. 28th even though I was sore from the race on Saturday I ran 4 miles. Not at a super fast pace but in about 35 minutes. Slower than I would have had I felt my best but a good warm-up for the week. I would have liked to have done 6 but I'm still getting over a cold, my legs were really sore today, and I train with my personal trainer tomorrow and have boot-camp, so tomorrow is a big workout day for me. Before the race on Sat. I hadn't ran more than 14 miles in the past 2 weeks. I have been sick and in Baltimore for work and just couldn't get running to fit into my schedule. So that is what I did today. I still train once a week with a Personal Trainer and do Kickboxing every other week in addition to running. That gives me the cross training I need.

Hopefully this will help others that are wanting to either lose weight, start running or just start doing something to see how someone who has been there and started from scratch and I mean scratch did it and still does it. Until 3 years ago I NEVER ran. I started with it taking me a good 30 minutes to do a mile to now I can run long races (15K, 1/2 marathon's) at around 8:45-9:00 minute miles. I know not super fast for some runners but pretty good for me...I think.
So at least weekly hopefully several times a week I will update this on what I'm doing as the countdown to my marathon is ON...12 weeks of training to go :) !!!

Winter in Florida...if you call it that.
I used to anticipate groundhogs day so that I could "really" find out how much winter was left. Now it really doesn't make a bit of difference. I could care less if that thing sees his shadow or not. However, the Florida winters the past 2 years have not been so hot. This year I must say has been better than last but still not the 70 degree, sunny, not a cloud in the sky "winter" days I remember from the first 2 years we lived here. I guess I will take the 60 degree weather with the occasional cooler days over the winter. James and I have said if this keeps up we are moving further south. Like....Costa Rica or somewhere :) !!! Just Kidding

We have started landscaping the back yard which I know for all my northern friends seems silly in Feb. , but here it's the best time to do it. Not too hot to be out working in the yard and things grow here now. It's Strawberry season...yummmm and tomato season. It's the only time of year you can get fresh fruits and vegeatables from Florida. During the summer they come from up there :)!!! We have worked on it the past 2 weeks and are taking this weekend off. It's hard work and I now know why people are HIRED to do this!! I'm excited to see the finished product though....someday!

James' parents are here so we are enjoying spending time with them. They have a house about 45 minutes from us and will be here for a few months. We usually get together with them on the weekends.

I officially signed up for the Utah Valley Marathon on June 11th. I think I'm crazy. I don't know why on earth I would decide to do this. After I finished the 1/2 I was disappointed that I wasn't going to be spending my time training for something. They say runners get a low after a race because you train and work hard for so long for something and the excitement of the race builds and then it's over. I think that is true. So what do I do in my disappointment....I sign up for a FULL marathon. Yes people 26.2 miles. I must have lost my mind. I don't know how this is going to happen or what the outcome will be but all I can say is I've lost it. I told myself even 3 months ago that I would NEVER do a full marathon. Well here I go the money is paid so let the training begin. I'm on a 16 week training program. I think I want to do it just to say I did it. I don't really care about my time...kinda. I just don't want to put too much pressure on myself this time (like there will be a next...if I survive ) Anything under 4:20 would be great. That's around a 10 min mile. I did 9min miles in the 1/2 but I couldn't have gone another 1/2 at that pace. So time will tell. I just think I need to find another activity. I don't think people's bodies are meant to run that far but it's would be a huge achievement to finish. They say less than 1% of the population ever finishes a marathon. I would love to be part of that 1% so......train...train....train

James and I are just busy with our church callings. I'm still the Primary President in our ward. James is a financial clerk so between work/training/and church we are pretty busy. I'm going to Baltimore next week for a work conference so I'm looking forward to seeing my brothers and my best friend that I haven't seen in almost 2 years. I'm not however looking forward to the flight. I HATE flying :) So next on my list is Baltimore :) BRRRRRRRR!!!!!

The month of December flew by and so is January. We have been extremely busy the past month and now that all the "excitement" is over I don't know what to do with myself!! Here is a run down of our past month.
-Right after Thanksgiving we did all of our shopping in preparation for our cruise. We knew that when we got back we would only have 4 days before leaving to go home to WV for Christmas, so shopping needed to be finished. Planning a trip right before Christmas probably wasn't the best idea we have had :)!!
-We went on a 10 day cruise to South America, Panama, Costa Rica and the Carribean. We had a blast. 10 days was a little long on a boat so I was glad to see and be on land again however it was great having that long to just relax.
-When we got home on Monday we unpacked and repacked for our trip to WV to visit family for Christmas. We had a great time at home playing games and just hanging out with all of our family for the Holiday. My brothers were in and all of James family but 1 brother live in WV so we were able to see pretty much everyone. It was really nice since we only get home about once a year.
-WE HAD SNOW. There was snow on the ground from the day we got there until the day we left. So we had a white Christmas. We actually had to postpone our trip home by a day due to the huge snowstorm they had in the northeast. Through the mountains of WV where we were going to be driving they had about a foot of snow the day we were planning on leaving...so we thought it would be best to wait an extra day so they could clear the roads.
-This whole time I knew we had a race coming up the first of January so I was running on the cruise and trying to run in WV. That was interesting with all the ice and snow on the roads. I'm lucky I didn't break my neck :)
-We got home in time for New Year's and just kinda hung out at home playing the Wii and we went to see a movie. It was nice. I got Mario Brother's for the Wii for Christmas (I still love getting toys for Christmas!!)
-This past weekend I ran in my first 1/2 Marathon. It was the Walt Disney World Marathon in Orlando. It was awesome. I felt really good which I usually don't when I'm running so that was a pleasant surprise!! I wanted to finish between 2 hours and 2:05 and I finished in 1:57 so I am THRILLED with my time. It was so fun running with so many people. They had around 27,000 people running. It was awesome to get to run through the Disney Parks and see all the characters. It made the time go by so much faster.
-So this craziness is finally over. I ended all my "stuff" yesterday with surgery on my knee. It's the veins that go behind my knee from my upper leg to my calf. They ended up having to remove a vein and do some other "repair" work. I have had the appt for months but wanted to do it after the race so it didn't interfere with my training. So I'm just recovering and can't wait until Wed to take these first set of bandages off so I can bend my knee!! The rest have to stay on for another week after that but at least I'll be able to bend my leg :)

So that is my story of the past month or so. BUSY!! I'm actually sad everything is over because now I don't know what to do with myself :) I'm sure something will come up.
I have to go to Baltimore for work Feb 16th for a few days. Our whole office is going so that will be fun since we lived there for 6 years. It's always nice to go back, and since my brothers both live there it will be nice to see them.
I am going to start (in 2 weeks when I'm allowed to run again) training for a FULL marathon in either April or June. I think we are looking at doing the Utah Valley Marathon through the Provo Canyon out in Utah in mid June. The other race is in Nashville in April so I don't know if I can be ready by then. I was going to wait until October and do the St. George Marathon but it is VERY difficult to train here in Florida through the summer and I figured I'm already half way right now I might as well finish training and do it. If I wait to do a race in Oct I'll slack off for the next few months. I really want to say I've finished a Marathon!!! So that is the next thing for me

Wow..I'm actually updating my blog. It's amazing!!!
-We are getting ready for the Holiday's. We are going on a cruise in 5 days...yay!!!
-We had a pretty uneventful Thanksgiving. It was nice just hanging out at home. I cleaned while James played football and then we took naps, put up our Christmas decorations. Inside and out, watched movies and made pizza. We missed our families though. It's not the same not being "home."
-We got up at 5:30 and did some shopping. I had no intention of being productive however I was pleasantly surprised. We finished mostly everything. Thank goodness since I work all this week, we leave Friday for 10 days and we only have 4 days when we get home before we leave to go to WV for Christmas. I work those 4 days so it will be work, unpacking (summer clothes) and re-packing (winter clothes). It is going to feel COLD in WV. It has been rather warm here in Florida so far and over our cruise the countries we are visiting it is supposed to be in the 90's. So winter will come with a shock when we head north that next week BRRRRRR!!!!!!!
-I ran almost 13 miles today in preparation for my 1/2 marathon. I did pretty well. Not the best time but good for my first 1/2. I will try and improve a little before the "big day" but if not I will do better the next time....if there is one :) My goal is under 2:05 which should be easy. I would like to be under 2 hours but I'm not going to put that much pressure on me this time since it's my first one.
- We hope everyone has a great Christmas. I probably won't be updating my blog until who knows when unless I get some time while I'm home for Christmas. We hope you have a great time with your friends and family as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. We love this time of year and can't wait to be home with our family to spend time together...and hopefully see some snow !!

I haven't had time to get on here to write anything but finally I decided I need to take a minute to let everyone know what I've been up to. It's nothing exciting but here it is:
*My parents ended up moving back to WV about a month ago. They just didn't like Florida so they are back "home." I loved having them here and wished it would have worked out but I'm glad they are happy to be home in WV. They have lived there all of their lives so Florida was a big change for them. Ironically they moved to the same neighborhood just a block behind their old house so it is very familiar to them!
*We went on a cruise over the fourth of July to the Bahamas. It was just a short cruise but we just wanted to get away for the weekend. It was fun, we had a good time.
*We both still have jobs. That is a plus especially in Florida and especially since James is an engineer and not too many things are being built right now.
*We are frantically getting ready for the Holiday's. We are actually going on a cruise in 2 weeks, for 10 days which we can't wait for. We both SO need a break and just want to get away. This is going to be a long one so I hope we really love cruising. We went on a 7 day in Feb. and loved it so I hope we really love 10 days. We are going to Haiti (they own a private beach there...if it is still intact..we will see if we really stop there. Neither one of us are hopeful) Columbia (in South America...Cartegena to be exact), Panama..we are going through some of the Panama Canal, Costa Rica..which is my favorite stop. I have always wanted to go there. Last is Grand Cayman. So we are really excited. The ship we are going on looks amazing and we can't wait.
*We leave 5 days after we return from the cruise to go home for Christmas. So we have the next 2 weekends to get our shopping done and that's it...a little stressful. Next year we will not plan a cruise so close to the Holiday's :) I hope to see snow this year when we go home. I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends back home. I was there briefly to help my parents move here in May but just for a couple days. Other than that it has been a year since I have spent time there so I'm excited to just "go home"
*I'm running in my first 1/2 marathon as soon as we get back from Christmas. It is Jan 8th. It's the Walt Disney World 1/2 marathon . It actually goes through Cinderella's castle and Epcot so it should be fun...if I survive :) I did a training run last week of 12 miles and I didn't prepare well (eating, drinking enough water etc) and it didn't go well so hopefully I can get it together. I hope it's not too rough. I didn't plan this race well. The cruise you can easily gain a pound a day, going home for the Holiday's...enough said, then having to not have extra weight for running a 1/2 marathon is going to be my December challenge :)
*Last...I have kept my weight off. I have actually lost a couple more pounds. I'm at 125 which I'm excited about and bought my first size 0 jeans...EVER!!! And then bought 3 more :) I was thrilled. Not that size matters but after being a size 18 it felt really good. So I'm still working out 4-5 days a week, training, doing bootcamp, running, and kickboxing..which I love. It's like therapy. A good workout and you get all your aggression out :)

So that's it. Like I said nothing really exciting. I'll put a couple pictures on here from our July cruise. We try every other year or so to do a Christmas letter to let our family and friends know what we have been up to. Sorry to all of you who will be getting a letter. It will be mostly a repeat :) !!! I guess I blew all the excitement of the much anticipated Christmas letter :)!!!

I did it!!!

I just wanted to let you all know that have been following my blog about my weight loss that I'm finished...FINALLY!!! About a week ago I reached my goal weight of 127. I can't believe it and now I don't know what to do with myself. It will be 3 years in October so it has taken a long time but I have worked very hard at it and with all that hard work it reminds me that I never want to do it again. Maybe that will be motivation for me to keep it off :) !! Now I am trying to make the transition to maintaining instead of losing. I thought this would be easy all along but I'm finding it's not as easy as I thought. I'm allowing myself to have a few "bad" things every now and then where I didn't do that hardly ever before. I'm finding though that a few treats here and there leads to a lot of treats throughout the week so I have to be careful with that. I'm also trying to cut back my time at the gym. Instead of 2 hours 5 days a week I'm trying to cut back to 1 hour 4 days a week for now. It's hard!! I have become so used to being there I feel so guilty when I don't go. It's not as easy as I thought but it will just take time to figure out I guess. For 3 years I have been in lose weight mode and now I'm not so it's very strange for me. I can't believe that I finally did it though. I never thought when I started that I would be at the weight I am now. My goal back when I started was only 145 so I can't believe that I'm 18 lbs under that. I'm going to post some "final" pictures of myself :) !!!
...also the month of May has been so busy for us. I've been on a work trip to Chicago and I got to go to Baltimore and visit my brothers and go home to WV to see the house I lived in for the last time. My parents sold their house in WV and moved to Florida. I love having them here. They have been here a week now and they live about 6 miles from us. It is so nice after 12 years to have them close by and get to do things with them again. We are loving it!! I hope they like Florida and don't miss the snow too much. I told them at least they are breaking themselves in fast to the Florida weather. It's already miserably hot and hurricane season started this past week so they are jumping right in :)!!! We are glad they are here and all moved in. They have a beautiful house and I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with them!!