the ups and downs of the good life
Hey gang…
I hope you all had an amazing thanksgiving (if you’re in America!) 
And I hope you’re making the most of this holiday season. 
I was supposed to be “off” for thanksgiving break, but as could be expected, vacation was spent being super busy, and bustling about in a holiday stupor. My MIL came in town on Wednesday and I’ve been go, go, go, ever since!
On Thursday, we went to my Grams house for thanksgiving dinner, which was absolutely delish. I had been looking forward to having a holiday meal in moderation, which I managed to do pretty well… (I enjoyed some turkey, potatoes, yams, green beans, cranberry sauce-which I lovingly prepared, and fruit salad) but I have to confess… that is when things went a little wrong.
Somehow, with company staying at our house, I went a little food crazy… and for pretty much every meal except thanksgiving dinner, I overate, and threw all caution to the wind. I haven’t eaten this badly in a LONG, LONG time. I might even say that I was binging for the past few days, and it has been a LONG time since my emotional eating was this out of control.
In the interest of full disclosure, lemme tell you about my crazy eats this week. :-/
- Wed. Dinner- Fuddruckers turkey burger with fries
- Thurs. Lunch- Thanksgiving food… and pie.
- Fri. Lunch- Urban Crust pizza with my mom (a fire baked pizza with chicken, mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, caramelized onions, and truffle oil)
- Fri. Dinner-Thai food including a thai tea, spring roll, lettuce wrap, and a coconut milk/chicken/yellow curry dish FOLLOWED by a spot of frozen yogurt @ yogurt story.
- Sat. Lunch- Chicken enchiladas (no cheese) and tomatillo sauce from Blue Goose Cantina
- Sat. Dinner- Chicken Express Chicken strips bonanza and a barrel of authentic southern sweet tea
- Sun. Lunch- A piece of fried fish and mac and cheese from a crappy fast food sea food place…
To top it all off, I didn’t lift ONE finger or foot, as I’d planned in an effort to counter those calories…
THIS was when I finally went, WOA. STOP.
I have to say, friends, that I definitely buckled under some of the stresses and emotions that crop up during the holiday season.
I felt overwhelmed, tired, stressed, and alone… even while surrounded by my wonderful family and friends
Have you ever had a tumble off the proverbial wagon, that made you think you couldn’t get back on?
I’m so glad that I’ve learned a few things over the past year. Things that make me encouraged, and not defeated.
1. I am not the product of one bad decision.
2. It is NEVER too late, or too hard, or not worth it to make one tiny little choice that puts you back on track. (I’m reminded every time I look at my wrist)
3. I have to be kind to myself. So, I made some poor choices, and I gave into some negative thoughts and feelings… but I can DO ANYTHING… I have to love myself, and support my self through the tough times too.
It is easy to love yourself and feel good when you’re doing everything right. It’s a lot tougher to love yourself, when you feel like you’re your own greatest obstacle.
I’m feeling a lot better, and have made a couple of committments to help me stay on track for the last month of the Holiday Challenge!
To start things off, I registered tonight for something special…
What better way to reclaim the promises I’ve made to myself than by starting training this week!! I’ve been looking forward to training for a couple of weeks, and I’m so excited that it starts this week! This should be awesome (and hard) but really rewarding.
Also, I’m going to count calories via Lose It! again for a while… (this is the iphone app which has recently launched a website too!)
(If you’re on loseit! add me as a friend! The email address that I use there is kelseytoney @ gmail.com)
Anyway, I think this blog post was long enough. I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow. 
Guts and/or Glory
Well, Remember that time I used to run? haha.
Well, at the beginning of the year I went from barely being able to run for 30 seconds, to running 3 miles using the Couch to 5k program. It is an AMAZING program, and one that I recommend to all new runners, or people new to fitness, or to girls who just want to be able to finish a 5k without thinking that they’re going to have to be carted off the course after the .5 mile marker.
Anyway, I continued to work, building my way up eventually to one, gloriously difficult 5 mile run.
Then, things got in the way, it was the end of the school year, it was my last semester of grad school, it was time for summer internship, it was time to pack for my trip to Spain, and basically… running began to take a back burner.
That isn’t to say I didn’t stay active, I still did yoga, elliptical, and other random ventures like tennis… But I managed to convince myself to stick to that easy, comfy 3 miles and stop pushing.
I spoke to the ladies on the message board to corroborate my story. “I like running 3 miles. Three miles is fun and easy. Three miles makes me feel good. Three miles is meditative, and relaxing. So, basically, there isn’t any reason for me to try to run more.”
Now, to be fair, training for greater distances DID freak me out, but, duh, yea… that’s cause its HARD.
Doi.
Anyway, I’ve watched some of my peers, and fellow couch to 5k grads, like the lovely Jess of Let’s Get Fit, and Katie of Life in the Fulmer Lane (in a few weeks) take on the 13.1… and I’m ready.
I am officially in training for the Dallas Rock ‘n’ Roll Half.
The old, lazy, frightened Kelsey is the one who would quit training because the easy way is more fun. The new me is going to take it head on. So… Wish me luck, but more than luck, wish me determination, focus, and resolve… because I’ll need that much more.
Have you run a half marathon? What training plan did you use?
Jack-o-Lantern Jog Race Report
On Halloween morning, I got up and turned into Robin Hood…
I modified the costume that I wore to work on Friday for my race. I swapped my buckled boots for brown and black fur topped leg-warmers with my nikes, and added extra pins to my green pointy hat.
I arrived at the race extra early because I needed to register on site. I was the first person to arrive in costume (there were only 5 people there anyway), but I got a few looks. The 5k was beginning at a park in my town, and it was just so cute. The decorations looked decidedly hand strewn, but perfect. The goodie bag was well stocked, and the volunteers were exceptionally friendly. It was about 47 degrees when I arrived, so I stayed scarved and walked around for a bit in the calm, quiet darkness. It was surprisingly still and beautiful. I was grateful for a quiet moment…
…a quiet moment that was interrupted by an overwhelming urge to pee. Now, I’m a shyyyyyyyy bathroomer-very shy. But knowing that I was a quarter mile away from the registration table, and that it was super dark, and that I couldn’t find a restroom in the unlit park anywhere, and that there were no more than 10 people there at the moment, I found bravery I hadn’t expected. I found a tree at the farthest part of the park and a tree that was 3 feet wide, and yes. I peed. I know, I know… my bravery knows no bounds.
As light spread and more people arrived, I realized that there would not be too many people there… a few hundred at most, and that I was HIGHLY costumed as compared to these runners. There were lots of kids from a local school, as well as their teachers, and several track teams too.
When it came time to head to the starting line, I took my proper place near the back (though the starting line was on a sidewalk, so it wasn’t like being 50 yards from the start) and waited for the “go”.
As we started running, I immediately set to working on keeping my pace MY PACE. I’ve gotten used to people passing me, and learned pretty effectively how to not let fast runners get me down. I plodded along, pretty aware that it had been 2 weeks and some change since I’d last run, and just knew that I’d have to do my best.
About 3 minutes in, a woman fell into a stride beside me. She took off her headphones, and asked if I’d mind if she ran by me. She said that she was afraid to look back and see that she was the last runner. She wasn’t totally sure that she’d be able to run it, as the distance was new for her, and she didn’t feel totally confident that she’d knock it out of the park. Instantly, I knew that this race was NOT about my time. It was about her. I just felt it in my bones that I was gonna run with this woman and that we’d finish together.
I didn’t know that the route was not all on a hard surface, more than half of the course was on grass, and another portion was through very wet and muddy wooded areas with puddles 4 inches deep. I was not prepared for that. We kept trudging through, and ran over 1.6 miles before taking our first 30 second walk break!
I learned that this woman is also a teacher, and that we work in the same area. She was sweet, funny, and quite possibly my PERFECT running partner. We knew when to push each other, we knew that if we needed a 30 second break we could have one, and we knew when to talk and when to stay quiet. Her name was Kelly, and as we approached the final half mile, we challenged each other and said, “after this break, we make the last half mile with NO stops”. We had talked previously about separating if necessary for a sprint to the finish, and I expected I might.
By this point my knees were aching and I was really, really ready to finish the blasted thing, but I was sure we’d finish strong. Suddenly, about 100 yards away, I started to want to die. I didn’t want to sprint, didn’t have the strength, I wanted to WALK to the finish line with all my heart. Then I looked over and saw Kelly’s stride falling EXACTLY with mine, and listened to hear her breaths exhaling EXACTLY with mine, and I wanted to finish for her… with her.
It was surprisingly special, and we finished with a respectable 38:27 for the 3.35 mile course (I’m not sure why it can’t ever be a true 5k!?), which is, by a few seconds my new 5k race (official time) PR!
Oh, but one more thing, I won second place!!
…For my costume, silly!! I’ll proudly display my ribbon knowing that it is a reminder of a WONDERFUL race.
FYI, I wrapped up my run with a chunk of banana, some fruit gummies, and a coconut water.
_*_+_*_+_*_+_*_+_*_+_*_+_*_+_*_+_*_+_*_+_*_
Results and Pictures
*as usual, google readers may have to visit site to see all pictures*
BIB 401
AGE 26
RANK NA
TIME 38:27
DISTANCE:3.35
PACE 11:28/M
I know that was long, thanks for reading!
Jumping on all kinds of wagons!
Well, friends, check me out! Two posts in 48 hours! That is what I’m talking about!
I just wanted to write a quick post about some things that I’ve been planning for myself.
1. Tomorrow marks the beginning of my n00b tennis lessons. That’s right, I’m taking tennis 101. The way I see it, it will be a good workout, and it would be pretty darn adorable to be able to play with my hubs. So, I’m going to give it a shot and see if I like it.
(tennis doesn’t look like this—>)
2. Sometime after tennis is over, I think I’m going to go ahead and get a month’s membership at the yoga hut. I visited on Labor Day and it was a wonderful (albeit 3 hour) experience, and I can’t wait to go back. 
3. This month was “no scale September” for me, which means that I haven’t looked at the number on the scale for a whole month! I’m actually looking forward to getting up there on October 1st after a whole month of calorie tracking and being pretty active. I’ve been maintaining throughout the whole summer with only a small fluctuation following my trip to Spain.
4. I’m about ready to start my 30 day challenge again! (who knows, maybe it will be an annual thing) The challenge includes blogging once a day, and previously doing the 30 day shred everyday for 30 days. So, the question will be do I try to do the shred everyday except tennis lessons and make it an October challenge? Or do I make myself do the shred and tennis? Who knows. I’m still ironing out the kinks.
5. I’ve been a reading fool since graduating lately and I’m really getting back on track with my 25 books in 2009 challenge that I took on in February. I’m really enjoying the Percy Jackson series (just finished the second one), and I look forward to cracking open the new Dan Brown (don’t gag ) as well as the 2nd in the Sookie Stackhouse series.
6. Running! I am still doing some soul searching about running. As you may know, I never ended up running that 10k that I was training for in July. I’m not sure if it was lack of dedication, lack of fitness, or both, but somehow, it just didn’t feel right. In other news, running is a source of relaxation and reflection for me, and running on a training plan and squeezing out miles really stresses me out. If I can go out and run 3 miles with a smile on my face vs.. going out and striving for 5 and hurting myself/getting mad/resenting my runs/stressing about numbers… maybe that should be my goal.
That is about it for now. Gonna nod off reading some of The Titan’s Curse, and getting ready for another Monday! Leave me a comment and let me know you’ve not all abandoned me! haha. Goodnight!
The heart of the matter…
Disappointment.
That is the overwhelming feeling in my heart. I have received email after email, and message after message stating that I have encouraged other people to make goals and get off their dead asses and start doing what is right by their body.
I’ve had to make a really tough decision that really makes me feel horrible, but there is just no way around it.
I will not be racing in the Independence Day 10k on July 4th.
Yea, I feel like a big hypocrite, because I’ve pumped this up, and had this amazing training plan, and was working with Tom (from www.runnerslounge.com) on my training, and posting running check ins and I just feel like total crap.
I grossly underestimated how difficult it would be to cram a whole summer semester of grad school into 3.5 weeks before embarking on an international trip, and while completing an internship. I had know idea that I would be working from 4-9 or 10 every night after work. I had know idea that I would get sick from either fatigue, stress, or both, but I have. I’m glad I got antibiotics when I did, because I’m finally starting to feel better.
I love running, and am so happy that I started this process, but the timing of this race is, and always was piss poor. It was stupid timing and stupid planning on my part.
I feel like I’m letting everyone down.
I know I could go, and run part-maybe even most of it- but that isn’t what I set out to do. I know that it isn’t how it should be, and I know that I will likely push to hard and injure myself because I haven’t been able to get the long runs in that I needed to.
I feel if I write too much more, it will just sound like excuses. So, I think I’m going to just leave it at that. I’ll be running a 10k in the coming months, but right now, my body is begging me to rest and relax, recover and prepare for the upcoming trip.
So that is the deal. I’m not running it. I won’t be surprised if you’re as disappointed as I am, but I hope you will support my decision and will root for me when I run 6.2 after my trip.
Good Night.
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