Day 19

Today my legs, hip, and stomach muscles hurt (from sucking in while jogging). I hobbled a little bit, but I feel good about my accomplishments! To reward myself - and keep from hurting myself - I decided to give myself a break for the day. I have already done enough miles to have made up for the first two days of the week - I figure I can just make up today's two miles later :)
Plus - I went wedding dress shopping today!!!!!!!!!!! Mexican food with my grandparents, drama with a certain wedding dress shop, total joy at the 3rd dress shop, and Mexican food with my parents for dinner. :) Overall a pretty darn good day!!!! The dress of my dreams is absolutely gorgeous and even with my current tummy pouch it makes me look amazing! I can only image how I will look when I have accomplished my goal of Losing 8! :) :) SO EXCITED!!!!

Day 18

I TOTALLY ROCK!!!!!!! I did another 4 miles today!!!!! My friend Brett, who does triathalons for fun, has been giving me advice on running techniques. So, I have been doing my best Brett impression and I think it is actually paying off. I look like an idiot with my chest puffed out, my shoulders rolled back, and doing what can only be described as fast paced mall-walking - but it works. My legs don't hurt as much as they used to because I am "landing, levering, and lifting" - or is it "landing, lifting, levering"? Either way, I am moving at a decently consistant pace and don't bounce or have a huge blister on my big toe from running on my toes. So THANKS Brett!

Here is the break down:

Jogged 1st lap - 5.55min
Jogged 2nd lap - 12.20 min
Jogged 3rd lap - 18.34 min
Jogged 4th lap - 25.23 min
Walked 5th lap - 6.58 min (rough estimate, my watch starts over at 30 mins)
Jogged 6th lap - 12:58 min
Walked 7th lap - 20:48 min
Jogged 8th lap - 27:37 min

That's right - I jogged 3 miles and walked 1 mile!!!!!!!!!!! :) :)

Day 17

Laziness and distractions can KISS IT!!!!!! Not only did I get off the couch, lace up my shoes, and hit the jogging trail, but I actually did 4 miles!!!!!!!!! That's right- 4 miles! Here is the break down of this monumental accomplishment in my athletic life (each lap is .5 miles):

Jogged 1st lap - 6.14 min
Jogged 2nd lap - 12.09 min
Walked 3rd lap - 18.58 min
Jogged 4th lap - 26.24 min
Walked 5th lap - 8 - 10 min (my watch stopped so I don't know for sure)
Jogged 6th lap - 6.18 min
Walked 7th lap - 13.54 min
Jogged 8th lap - 20.13 min

So - in total I was able to jog 2.5 miles and walk 1.5 :) YAY ME!!!!!!!!!!!! (Yes, I do watch the Disney Channel and just quoted London from the Suite Life of Zach & Cody - I am okay with it :) ).

Day 15 part II - Day 16

I must start off with an apology to myself - I have been hard on myself lately. And I have been giving myself a lot of slack on giving up on my daily workouts. What I have to do from now is recognize when things are genuinely worth not jogging for and when I am just being lazy. When ther is something legitimate going on, then it is okay to take a break and not stress about it. When I am being lazy - that is when I need to kick myself in the booty.
Anyways - all this is to say that my new begining did not begin on Day 15. Allergies and heavy lightening prevented that. Day 16's jog was prevented by a trip to my parents' house for help with engagement announcements and medical bills.
Things happen - what is important is that I try again tomorrow.

Day 10 - 15

Hi - My name is Julie and I am a liar. (Hi - Julie!) So, I told myself that I would jog or walk 2 miles everyday no matter what - and then...... life happened. I lied to myself again. :( BUT - that is okay - "Although no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending." - Roberta Brenick. This quote was put on the white board during one of the many Weight Watcher's meetings I attended while losing my 20 pounds a few years ago. It struck me as profound because it speaks to the notion that it is okay to pause, or break, or even to fail for awhile as long as you don't use those moments as excuses to give up. Rather, you simply wipe the slate clean and start over refocused and recommitted. That is what I plan to do starting TODAY! Day 16 is the start of my brand-new fitness ending :)
Day 11, May 12, 2010, was the start of the brand-new ending for my whole life. I got ENGAGED!!!!!! That's right runners, I am going to be getting married in 12 - 13 months!!!!!!!!! I have waited, cried, stressed, screamed, and longed for many years through my search for the love of my life and have been blessed to have come to the end of that journey. J. is a truly amazing man who loves me with as much passion, tenderness, and sincerity as I love him. That reciprication is what makes us both just beam.
So - now that I have a wedding dress to get into pretty soon I have an even greater motivator to get back on board with this jogging plan. Not only do I hope to lose 8% body fat, jog the Race for the Cure 5k, and rock a bikini on the beaches of Italy this summer (if I get to go visit J. during his deployment), but my new goal is to be the HOTTEST bride to ever walk down an aisle!!!!!! :) Okay so that MAY be overshooting this a bit, but still - I want to wear the dress of my dreams comfortably (something form fitting which only lays well over a flat tummy), dance without slowing down, and have the most amazing candid pictures of the best day of my life (which means not having to pose just right so that you don't see the double chin, or arm fat, or belly pouch). :)

Let's hear it for brand-new endings!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

Day 9

I am starting to think that I chose a REALLY bad time to start this whole thing. I knew my boyfriend was coming home these two weeks, but completely underestimated how busy we would be while he is here. He is being shipped overseas until December, so this is really our last time together for at least 3 months (we are hoping to work it out so that I can go visit him in late August). We only have a few more days together and I am trying not to cry thinking about it.
Anyways - he is devoting a large portion of his time to being with me and spent all weekend with my family. Thus, I thought it would be nice to invite his family over for dinner last night. I get off at 6 and rushed straight home to clean and get things ready. I am not the chef of the relationship so while he did some AMAZING ribs, I did instant mashed potatoes and Jello No Bake Cheesecake. Healthy right? I am sure by now you can sense where I am going with this.... jogging did not happen AGAIN! His Dad and sister came over around 7:30pm and the dinner was ready around 8:30pm. Laughing over how my boyfriend and I met back in high school and general BSing took a few hours so they ended up not leaving until 11:30pm. With a 10 hour work day looming around the bend at 8am and a massive pile of dishes to take care of it just was not in the cards for me tonight.
I love his family and am thankful he got to spend time with them and that I got the oppoortunity to get to know them a little better. But I HATE that life always interferes with my attempts to get healthly. Not only am I battling laziness and clumsiness, I am also fighting with a super small window of time during which I am not working. 10 hour days suck. The early Fridays are nice, but still - a regular 9-5 time would be AMAZING!

Day 8

If intentions equalled fitness gains and weight loss, I would be an award-winning athelete and bikini model! My boyfriend is fairly health consicous and enjoys physical activity much more than I do. So he got up and jogged 3 or so miles yesterday morning and did so again this morning. It was my plan to go with him this morning. I was super excited - MAJOR VICTORY - it is 3 miles from our campsite to the front gate and another 3 miles back. If I conquered that feat I would have completely redeemed myself for my lapses over this past week. But, in true Julie style - when he got up to go I asked "Do you want me to come with you?" instead of saying "I would like to come too, wait up for a sec." When his response was "Don't worry about it Hun, go back to sleep", I rolled over and curled back up. Honestly! Its not like he owns the trails - I could have gone with or without his permission and we could have done different trails if he wanted to jog alone. Its not like I would have actually kept up with him anyways. But NO - that would be doing what I NEED to do and not what I WANT to be doing - and who does that without a kick in the butt? On top of not jogging, we ate more today than any human needs for a week! So rather than registering a MAJOR VICTORY, I have to admit a MAJOR FAILURE. I have got to get myself in check - NOW!

Day 7

Thankfully I was able to find a pretty nice ankle brace yesterday when we stopped at Target for some weekend supplies, so I was able to participate in the family walk this morning. We are out at a beautiful state park which doubles as a wildlife perserve for alligators. The trails are gorgeous, but the alligators lining the banks of the lake we walked around can be a little bit intimidating. Even more scary to me though was the Copperhead snake my Dad almost stepped on. It was camoflauged so well that he just didn't see it. Mom did and did the "Soccer Mom seatbelt" move to keep my boyfriend from placing a giant foot on its back. I DESPISE snakes! They totally freak me out! So, while I was shaking off the willies, my boyfriend calmly shooed it to the side of the path with a stick. UGH! Anyways, despite the reptiles we managed to complete the 2 mile trail without any injuries.
YAY! I am back on track! I mean, it was not really training for a 5K excersise, but it was two miles! Plus, later that afternoon my boyfriend and I went back out to the trails and walked about half of it while fishing. That extra mile makes me feel slightly better about not jogging yesterday. After that though, I had to stop and put my foot up for a while. Fortunately, my ankle was not hurt too badly, so other than being sore and the brace cutting into my foot - I was able to walk with relative ease. :)

Day 6

Today is Friday. I get off at noon and the thought was that I would go jogging when I got off and would have time to shower and such before my boyfriend got back into town. When he got back we were going to go out to the state park and hang out with my parents for the weekend. The park we were going to has a lot of walking, jogging trails so I figured I would spend most of the afternoon walking off the calories I had consumed while laying on my booty last night.
However, as if my natural laziness isn't enough of an obsticle, my natural clumsiness has decided to surface and add to the challange. This morning while walking to my car I chatted with a friend who lives in the complex who was out walking her dog. As I steppe off the curb I hit the downward slope of the speedbump at just the right angle and rolled my ankle. I am sure it was pretty funny from her perspective to see me walking and then just disappear behind the car parked there. I mean I sprawled out - my stuff everywhere and my ankle instantly swollen to twice the size of the other. And, lucky for me - it was my already bad ankle. Needless to say, there was no two mile hike in my near future. Thus, for today the only excersice I got was hobbling down 3 flights of stairs to pack the car. GRRRR..... seriously!

Day 5

I am so predictably good at justifying not doing what I said I would for myself. So, yeah - I failed to get off the couch this evening. My boyfriend had to go drop off his dog with a friend so I had the evening to myself. Instead of going jogging I ran errands that I need to run. That combined with me getting off work late meant I did not get home until 9pm. My complex is safe and well-lit enough for me to have gone out at that point, but I was tired and lazy. I told myself that I would just make up for it while camping this weekend and that made it alright for me to curl up and watch TV. Well - at least it was alright enough for me to accept that reasoning. So, here's hoping tomorrow will be a better, more productive day. Fingers crossed!

Day 4

My boyfriend came home yesterday! He is stationed in Florida and has two weeks with me before being shipped overseas for 6 months. Thankfully he is going to a beautiful location in Western Europe and not a war zone, but I am still going to miss him fiercely. With that said, I want to spend every second I can with him!
He came in at 6:30am and 30 minutes later I had to start getting ready for work. After a LONG, well deserved nap (he drove all night) he brought me flowers at work :) Yesterday evening though after I got off we went over to his friend's house for dinner and to drop off two of his dogs. He has three total, but this couple are keeping the most hyper of the three because they have a big back yard and kids to run with them. It was a long evening with a mess of a child (one of the ones they were babysitting) and helping in the kitchen (just enough to not feel useless because F is a great cook and doesn't really need the help). We didn't even sit to eat until almost 11pm. I have to admit though the fajitas and homemade pico did hit the Cinco de Mayo spot right in the nic of time!
Needless to say, I failed to go jogging :( I can believe that I failed to keep it up consistently because I have always failed to fully follow through on all previous fitness goals (except losing 20 lbs a few years back with Weight Watchers). What I can't believe is that I failed so soon in the process. I was really hoping that I would make a full week at least and did threaten to go when we got home around 12:30am (don't ask). Instead though I snuggled in and went to bed.
Sugar (my boyfriend) is going out of town today to drop off the third dog with another friend, so tonight I will be able to go. Today is my late day at work, so it will actually be cool when I go out which is a good thing. My goal though is to do 4 miles in order to make up for not going yesterday. I think that will absolve me of some of the disappointment in myself and maintain the overall desired exercise level. Cross your fingers for me! These are the breaks in my stride that typically lead to justifications, procrasination, and ulitmately the dismissal of the goal entirely. This time WILL be different. Even though I only have one "follower" I know that I have several supporters. I will NOT let them or ME down!

Day 3

UGH! Today I tortured myself for the sake of increased motivation and got a Body Composition test done. According to the Bod Pod, I am 29.7% fat. 40 pounds of me is all FAT! This is both gross and sad. Over the past few months, I have actually lost 4 pounds and am still at this level! :( At this percentage, I am considered to be "Moderately Lean", but am only 1% away from "Excessive Fat". In order to get down to the high end of the "Lean" level I have to loose 8% body fat! Looks like this whole "get in shape" thing is going to be harder than I thought.

Today I jogged 1.75 miles and walked .25 mile in 25 minutes and 20 seconds. Seems like 25 is my magic minute.

Day 2

Getting motivated today was a little more difficult than yesterday. Isn't that always the way? I am so gung-ho the first few days and then life happens, laziness sets in, and the goal is rationalized away. I have decided that this time has to be different. Instead of just posting a list on the mirror or doing that whole "self talk" stuff, I have gone public. Part of why Weight Watchers worked for me is because I had to weigh in once a week in front of someone to whom I was accountable to. Plus, the longer it took to get to my goal weight the more it cost me. Money is not a part of the equation this time, but things more important are: my health, self esteem, and ability to go shopping for clothes without getting depressed. So - I beat the battle with the couch and conquered Day 2!

I jogged ALL 2 miles! It took me 25 minutes and 4 seconds. Then the over-achiever in me lead me to walk another .5 mile for cool down. That lap took me 7 minutes and 14 seconds. I am SUPER proud of myself for completing my task for the day. Something tells me though, that eventually I will need to work on speed since my walking time is only a little over a minute longer than my jogging.

Day 1

May 2: Today I have decided to get off my booty and get in shape. I have never been athletic and hit the peak of my sports career when I was voted "Most Outstanding High Kicker" on my high school drill team my junior year. Without getting too specific, that was a LONG time ago. (11 years if you must know.) As a dancer, I built up enough stanima for a half time performance - which is only about 5 minutes worth. So, over the years my metabolism has dropped, my food intake has increased, and my activity level has become snail-like. Hence why a few years ago I tipped the scale at a not-so-cute number. Weight Watchers and my first forray into post-HS exercise helped me lose 20 pounds. Since then, I have done some yo-yoing on the scale and am finally back to my goal weight. This time, I intend to not only stay at my goal weight, but to also take my goals a step further and become the athelete I never knew I wanted to be.
With that said, it has officially become my goal to jog and/or walk 2 miles EVERY day. Ultimately, I want to work my way up to being able to jog the entire Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure 5K on October 2nd. Thus, I need help from my accountability partners (all of you who care enough to follow this and my awesome friend Chrissy).
I am not really going for speed, but I do time myself to help track my consistency. The report from Day 1 is:

I jogged 1 mile in 11 minutes and 51 seconds, then jog/walked a second mile for a total time of 25 minutes 10 seconds.