Live a little!

Sometimes I watch them eat ice cream.  I wonder, how is it possible for them to get SO MUCH DAMN ice cream on their clothes, their faces, their everything. I drink my water, and laugh with them and at them.  I enjoy it, even if I'm no actually eating the ice cream myself. 

And sometimes I get a Royal Brownie Blizzard for myself and enjoy every last drop of it.  

Life's about moderation after all, isn't it?! 😉

 

Face shot.

I'm not sure of date of first picture, but came across it recently and thought wow, I look different, so I made another before and after shot. Well, it is definitely a during and during shot, because it was a few months into my weight loss journey in the before, and the after is with another 20 ish pounds to go (I swear on all that is good and holy, I WILL GET THERE).

Flying Pig!!

Ahhhhh, flying pig girls weekend, how you have captured my heart.  This was my second year in a row traveling to Cincy for this, and it just continues to fill my heart and soul.  I get to meetup with an AMAZING group of ladies from all over.  We laugh, eat, run, and laugh some more.  

Oh, and we also wear leggings with flying pigs on them.  Because, of course we do. 

I love any time I get to meet up with this girl. Run coach, run inspirer, butt kicker, and amazing friend.  I am lucky to have her in my life for sure.  

So this year I wanted to try something different, and I joined a team of girls to all run a Full Marathon relay together.  There were 4 of us, and it was a fabulous way to run, have a great weekend, and not have to conquer hills for 13.1 miles.  😂😍
I was leg 3, and ran 7.5 miles.  Loved it.  Loved every second of it. 

Publix Savannah Women's Half-Marathon!

Half-marathon #8!  I'm not sure how it's possible that I have now run 8 half-marathons.  It's all so surreal and unbelievable to tell you the truth.  I often think I may hang up my running shoes and them I'm like "but look what you can do now! Don't quit!"

Keeping it real, this is what I ate the night before.  In bed at the hotel. 😂

This was for sure a tough race, in that I was battling an ongoing ankle/foot injury (that I've since had an MRI on and still reached no conclusion on what the problem is).  Good thing the race was flat and had fabulous weather, that is what for sure kept me going.  I ALMOST quit at mile 3 when I started having horrible foot pain, but ended up powering through and finished ok.  This was a super fun girls weekend (with my personal run cheerleader/bff along for the ride)!

Frozen peas after the race.  

My first trail race!

Had a blast at this one! Ran it with a friend, and we kept each other going the whole time.  The run was about 7.5 miles at the Cubihatcha Outdoor center.  Lovely scenery!  

Donna half-marathon!

Though I am updating all these runs so many months after the fact, and some of my details are fuzzy, I will tell you that this half-marathon was, well, kind of life changing.  That sounds dramatic, but it was.
You see THIS half-marathon was one to support breast cancer.  I think we can all agree that's a good cause to support.  

Here's what I wrote about it on my facebook page, and I can honestly tell you that all these months later, I still cry when I talk about this race.

Half-marathon #7 is DONE!
It wasn't my best, it wasn't my worst, but it was 13.1 miles all to supportbreast cancer treatment.
What an emotional race. I cried the last 2 miles (and not because of the effing bridge at mile 12....not cool people).
I ran with survivors. I ran past memorial signs. I ran with current fighters. I thought about friends and sisters who survived treatment, I thought about mom's and grandmoms who fought their hardest to the end. And then, at mile 12, when I had nothing left to give, this sign of hope that I signed at the expo.

❤❤❤
I'm happy to run it for all those who can't. Keep fighting ladies. Fight HARD.

That says it all.  Here's some more pictures from that day.

Finished another 24 day challenge!

December had me eating cookies like WOAH. 

Which made the scale go up like WOAH.

So, I got my eating back on track again with another 24 day challenge.

Since I've already blogged the day to day of a challenge twice, I didn't see it necessary this time around.  I did great, stuck to it, feel good and feel like my eating is back to where it is supposed to be. 

Here's my results! 

I have been around the weight loss block long enough (umm, hello, my whole life), to know that what works for one doesn't work for everyone.  I really love the Advocare challenge for getting back on track and for weight loss. I plan to keep the eating the same and some of the supplements the same, and keep on keeping on.