Run on.

I am proud to say that in 2016, I ran 5 half-marathons! I never imagined myself running one, never mind more than one.  To think back to 2014 when I struggled so hard to run to the end of my street.  I remember starting couch to 5K for the billionth time, and when I got to the part where I had to run for 5 minutes, I couldn't do it.  I just could not.  After I registered for my first half (it was the Disney princess in 2015), I just kept running.  Having a goal on the horizon definitely helps keep me focused.  I am still not a fast runner, but I have come to so much more acceptance of that fact than ever before.  When I come home from a 10 mile run, no matter how long the damn miles took me, I just feel so accomplished and empowered. I can honestly say I love running now.  I don't by any means love every run, and to be honest, running is still hard. It is something I want to keep doing though, so for now, I will.  

Since my blogging fell to the wayside, and I didn't recap each race, here are some photos of the races I did last year.  

Started the year with the Houston half-marathon in January.  It it a great race that I can't wait to do again.  Super flat and amazing crowd support.  I think I may have still been blogging a bit when I did this one.

My sentiments, exactly:

A medal and a beer.....ahhhhh

A few weeks later, I ran the Katy half-marathon.  It was a redemption race (so to speak) for my amazing running friend, and I loved running this with a friend!  

Next up was the Disney Princess! This year I did the Glass Slipper challenge, which means I ran the 10K on Saturday and then the 1/2 marathon on Sunday.  The best part of running, and I mean BEST, is running friends and destination races creating the most fabulous girls weekends.  We had a complete blast, and so so so so so many laughs. Loved every minute of it. We won't discuss how this half was my absolute worst--I cried twice right in the middle of it.  Ha!

The awesome shoe tag my bff gave me this weekend:

Post-race hangry faces:

Something about disney races makes me want to wear silly outfits: 

Hands down the most fabulous, focused, fun group of ladies! 

A hug from my boy on the course! 

Another girls weekend opportunity? OK, yes please!

I traveled to Cincinnati, OH to run the Flying Pig half-marathon with some more amazing girl friends.  The dreaded Flying Pig is nothing but hills and bridges, but thanks to a very patient running friend/coach, I made it to the finish line faster than I thought I would.   

My last half-marathon of the year!  Our fabulous friends from Texas flew in and we all had a blast of a running weekend.  My 8 year old ran his first 5 K (he hated it) with me, and then C and I ran the half the next day.  The little kids even ran the little kid dashes.  It was a cold weekend, but it felt good to get back out there after many hot months off!

Oh those hills.  I hate them all. 

Can't wait to run some races in 2017!  I have less of them planned, but I have my eye on finishing a FULL MARATHON in December.  

And I am terrified.  😉

I'm back!

Sort of.  I really liked sharing my journey, and honestly it's been kind of a diary for myself.  I have to admit I am quite technologically challenged, and when I lost my easy ability to post from my phone, I just kind of dropped things. I am still on my journey.  Some days I wonder if I'll ever actually get to my goal weight though. In July I started back up and participated in a 90 day challenge.  It went great and I did get down to a decent number, but still not goal.  I then spent the month of December eating like I was never going to eat again. No, seriously. I was out of control and maybe at another time I can share more about what it's like to have this kind of food addiction and feeling so out of control during a binge. 

Anyway, new year, of course I had to pick myself back up and start again.  Luckily the damage was bad, but not too bad. I started this year off at 168 pounds.  Not my lowest, not my highest, but certainly makes it feel like the 4 months prior for for nothing. This is a journey! A long (forever!) journey. 

Another crazy breakfast

Obviously I have to keep making things with my meal replacement shakes. I'll be honest, I love these shakes so much more than I ever thought I would. The first time I did a 24 day challenge I was kind of terrified of having to have a shake for breakfast. I thought there is no way I would enjoy it or be satisfied. Instead, I became a bit addicted and wanted one every day. Sometimes I even wanted one twice a day. 😳

Despite all that, I do get into ruts when I just don't want a shake. So I invent crazy recipes instead. 

Today I had 2 little chocolate cakes for breakfast. They were delicious. 

They are pretty much made the same as the pancakes, only instead of messing with the griddle, I pour them into ramekins and microwave those suckers. 

One chocolate MRS

1 egg + 1 egg white

Strawberry applesauce pouch

1-2 tsp baking powder

Blend.

Pour into 2 ramekins sprayed with cooking spray. Microwave 2 minutes.

Top however you wish.

Cake for breakfast!!

Pancakes!

You know those food blogs, with the perfectly staged photographs of the food? They look so pretty and you want to gobble them up. Yeah, you won't find that here.  Every now and then I have to remember how the hell I made something though, because it was just that good, so this is the best place for now.

I have been on this weirdo kick lately where I take a meal replacement shake and try to cook something with it. It's always a gamble. What if it tastes like shit and then I've wasted a precious shake?! Precious, because I also hoard my favorite flavors, and some are limited release shakes, which means when they're gone, they're gone. 

But man, today I made lemon shake pancakes, with what I will call a blueberry sauce. And it is divine. Not pretty, but divine. I may or may not have licked the plate, I'm not telling.

For the pancake, I put in the blender-

One Advocare lemon shake packet

-1 egg plus 1 egg white

-1-2 tsp baking powder

-1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (will probably try 1/4 cup next time)

Blended well and then cooked on the griddle.

For the blueberry sauce-

In saucepan I put:

-about a cup of water (didn't measure, just guessing).

-1 T of this

-one packet Advocare Oasis

-a handful of fresh blueberries

Boiled and simmered for a bit. At the end I removed some sauce and mixed in about 1 T of cornstarch to thicken it.

Poured the sauce over the pancakes and voila! Amazingly delicious.  If I had any whipped cream in the house, I would have thrown that shit on top too.

Pretty stoked to know that was one shake I didn't waste!

My 3rd half marathon!

Because I am a glutton for punishment, I ended up doing another half-marathon a few weeks after the last one. The car accident certainly put a bit of a damper on it, but it wasn't anything a little muscle relaxers and some pain meds couldn't get me through.

This half, I decided to run it with a friend. I promised her I'd get her to the finish line with a better finish time than her last one, because she wasn't thrilled with it.  We decided ahead of time to do intervals the whole way, so off we went. We stuck to them the whole damn race and wouldn't you know, she beat her time and then some. I am not a regular interval runner, but we did rune mile, walk 1/4 mile, for the whole race. It was fun!

Crazy hair, don't care!

Keeping it real, we really only did it for the jacket. Because a race ain't worth running unless the swag is good! 

Keeping it REALLY real, this is what we are for dinner the night before. Everything in moderation?!? 😂

Day who knows what!

I'll be honest, the challenge is over, but I don't have the last 2 days done. Sometimes life gets in the way and this time life really got in the way. 

On Friday afternoon after school, me and my 3 boys went to the gym. I had a great workout- my friend taught me how to use the TRX straps and we did a full body workout. Afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious low carb smoothie and just had a good afternoon. On the way home, I stopped to pick up a pizza for the kids for dinner. It was already 5:30, and I did not feel like cooking for them. After getting the pizza, we were on our way home. Just minutes from the house, I was stopped in a line of traffic, waiting to turn into my neighborhood. To say these things happen in a flash is so true. One second I'm talking to my kids in the back seat, the next second the loudest noise I have ever heard (and one that will haunt me for a long time) and my car is spinning into oncoming traffic. I had been rear ended by what I can only guess was someone traveling at full speed and not slowing down one bit before hitting us. My 7 year went into a frantic panic. I cry just thinking of the sound of his screams. His window was broken and he was trying to climb out of the window in some sort of disorganized panic. As I found my voice to clam him, my 3 and 2 year olds both started crying uncontrollably.  Let's just say, it was unbelieveably scary. 

In the end, our car was totaled, my boys are all physically ok (some emotional aftermath though), and I was minimally injured, all things considered. I am thankful, and I am lucky. 

That said, I had pizza. I had cookies. I had a few other cheats in the days following the accident. I never did my measurements again, perhaps I'll get to it this week. My total loss for the challenge was between 9-10 pounds! I may have floundered the last couple of days of it, but so happy to get that weight off again. 

For now, I am still using Spark, MNS, the meal replacement shakes, and Catalyst daily. I am keeping my eating at about an 80/20 in check. Lots of goodbye meals happening here since we are moving next week. Just trying to enjoy, while not going too crazy.