Thats so much better!

I walked/jogged 3.5 Miles and felt awesome!

I love my neighborhood, and it looks so cool with all the leaves everywhere.

I listened to lots of cutesy Juno Music,

So I figure I get off work every day at 4pm, and sunset is at 4:30, so I should be able to get in a little evening workout before its pitch black…lol. Maybe the husband will go too.

Oh and strength training is back! DO IT!

EDIT: I attempted to do the above workout and managed to do only half. I could only do  30 second chair sit, and my jumping jacks were half-assed. It’s a goal to work up to.

Now I’m off to the grocery store so I can stock up on things besides bread and sugar! And make some meals for the upcoming week.

Back to the Pavement

Today at work we had a Celebration Breakfast for a co-worker who hit his 5 year mark. The topic quickly turned to this co-workers dedication to riding his Bike to and from work, every single day. He says he lives about 7 miles from work (in my neighborhood) and he loves it. He even invented these Bike “Snow Tires” so he can ride his bike in the snow! Him and his wife just bought a house in the county and someone asked if he plans to still ride to and from work. He said he had already tested it, and that it is 13 miles each way. He says it takes him about 50 minutes to ride to work, and 50 minutes home.

I was shocked! This guy is willing to give up TWO HOURS of his day to ride his bike to and from work! CRAZY! Then everyone sat around talking about marathons (that woman who ran Boston at 9 month pregnant) and half marathons, and all the old people, fat people, young people they knew who had turned their lives around by walking, then running. It was just so inspiring.

Before the wedding I had taken up a bit of running, well…slow jogging? And it was DAMN hard! I once told someone I was working up to do a 5k, and they said “What? That’s so easy, you can run a 3.2 miles!” But I couldn’t, honestly. I still can’t. I can run MAX 2 miles without stopping, and that is EXHAUSTING!  My legs hurt and I’m out of breath, and mentally drained. I wont say it’s an excuse, but I’m sorry, if you weigh less than 150 pounds running has got to be way easier for you. Seriously. Try running holding an extra 50 pound weight. It’s flat-out hard to run when you are bigger. No lie. Not that I’m not strong, I’m very strong. I’m actually (well I was before the wedding) in pretty good shape. I worked out regularly and ate healthy. I don’t smoke, I drink very little, and I am in a constant state of trying to live a healthier life. Still though, I am not thin, not at a healthy BMI, not average in size. It’s something I work on every day. I LOVE the idea of being Skinny, but I just don’t see it ever happening for me. I have never been significantly smaller than I am right now, since I was 15.

None the less, I have to watch myself, and Mr. Gaunt for that matter. We can gain weight in a matter of DAYS! So we have to constantly check ourselves, our eating, our physical fitness, to keep at an acceptable (yet still over weight) weight. Which bring me to OCTOBER 25th.

OCTOBER 24th will be the 1 month deadline I gave myself to eat whatever I wanted and NOT work out at all. It was my month off that I felt I really needed to get some sanity back after the wedding. So on OCTOBER 25th we will be back to a healthier lifestyle. Less Cheese, less bread, less sugar, less butter, less food. More moving, lifting and stretching! I’m going to get a yoga DVD and see if Mr. Gaunt and I can’t do a little of our own yoga in the evenings. I also want to get back to my strength training before bed, makes yah feel better! Lastly Running. I’m starting today. I have a NEW 3.5 mile plan that I plan to start doing at least 4 times a week. I will start with walking, then move into jogging, and hopefully maybe by the new year I will be able to do the whole thing without stopping! It’s a Goal!

I’ll keep you updated as usual! If my coworker can ride his bike for 2 hours just to get ot work, then I can dedicate a solid hour 4 days a week to keeping my butt smaller! Plus I think it’s better to start this stuff now, keep OFF the holiday weight, then start in the New Year after you gained all the Holiday weight. Booo.

Anyone else Not planning on gaining weight this Holiday season?

 

Mamma Dont Hate the Cold

Today Mr. Gaunt and I ran two miles without stopping…woop. This is only the second time we have done this. I’m not one to reach a goal and then force myself to keep doing it. Sometimes I only run 1 mile without stopping, sometimes only a 1/2 mile.

In Washington right now we are having what some may describe as crappy summer weather. Yes I suppose I can see the downfalls of little sun. Obviously no one is tanning or swimming or running through the sprinkler. HOWEVER nothing is more pleasant than running in 57 degree overcast weather with a slight breeze…PERFECTION! Yesterday I had an interview, and I WASNT all hot a sweaty in my interview clothes. When Mr. Gaunt sits in his car on break he doesn’t have to turn on the air conditioning! I’m sorry, but mild = Awesome!

I’m seeing lawn mowing and gardening in my future! And anytime I feel like I may miss the Colorado weather, I look as this and can FEEL the uncomfortable blazing heat that never ends, and I’m glad I live where I do.

Today I have to go to the DMV before I go to work…lame. The DMV sucks so so so much. I promise this weekend to share some of the wedding goodies that have arrived in the mail this week! Plus I need to get my sister (who is a good sewer) to help me make some table runners this weekend!

Summer Running, Had me a Blast…

I totally forgot today is the first day of SUMMAH!

Mr. Gaunt and I sat down this morning and wrote down all (or most) of the music for the wedding, as well as mapped out the timeline. Exciting stuff, I know. Then it got late (10am) and we still hadn’t worked out. Mr. Gaunt was actually icing his knee that has ben bugging him. For a minute we discussed not working out and just doing our errands for the day. But with my new work schedule being TEN HOURS of sitting down, I knew that skiing my workout would be a bad idea. So I left Mr. Gaunt at home and went running. I had already decided to just do 30 minutes, and to try to run as much of that as I could. Then I decided right after I started running that I would just shoot for two miles (previously I have only done 1.5 without stopping). Sure enough I got on a good pace and jogged a whole TWO MILES! Woop Woop! I’m sure people driving past are shocked at my ability to jog so slowly, but my heart stay beating hard the whole time, so its good enough for me!

via Gmaps Pedometer (the greatest workout tool EVER!)

Mr. Gaunt and I have to go to Michael’s today to get stuff to make our groomsmen boutonnieres! I’m actually very excited about this little project, as we are doing something very non-traditional, but very cute!

But first…cofffee…iced…20 oz…drooooool….

We are running machines!

Have you read this…

From a close friend of Bruce Lee’s…

Bruce had me up to three miles a day, really at a good pace. We’d run the three miles in twenty-one or twenty-tow minutes. Just under eight minutes a mile [Note: when running on his own in 1968, Lee would get his time down to six-and-a-half minutes per mile].

So this morning he said to me “We’re going to go five.”

I said, “Bruce, I can’t go five. I’m a helluva lot older than you are, and I can’t do five.”

He said, “When we get to three, we’ll shift gears and it’s only two more and you’ll do it.”

I said “Okay, hell, I’ll go for it.”

So we get to three, we go into the fourth mile and I’m okay for three or four minutes, and then I really begin to give out.

I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, “Bruce if I run any more,” — and we’re still running — “if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die.” He said, “Then die.” It made me so mad that I went the full five miles.

Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, “Why did you say that?” He said, “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”

With this on our minds we pushed through and ran a whole 1.5 miles without stopping! I listened to Sam Sparro too, which helped. After that we walked for about a 1/2 mile, then ran another mile, then walked the rest of the way home (3.5 miles total). Mr. Gaunt seemed to really find his pace, as he only really stopped because I stopped. I feel good about the way I have slowly worked up to this, I’m not trying to over do it or else it becomes too hard and I will just quit. Of course the goal is to be able to run the whole thing without stopping, but I’m hoping we can do that by the end of the summer. Not that we wont try sooner, it’s just a goal.

Oh and my new sports bra is perfection! Everything stayed in place nice and tight and it wasn’t at all itchy or uncomfortble…thumbs up!

Last but not least our dear friends Jenny and Justin (and their son Liam) had a BEAUTIFUL baby girl last night! Cecilia Carolynn! My heart explodes with love for them and that sweet baby! I wish I could meet her now! It will probably not be until our wedding (her and Liam are our Flower Girl and Ring Bearer, and their parents are in our wedding party too) but I am so excited! I just love happy baby news! WELCOME TO THE WORLD CECILIA YOU ARE ALREADY SO LOVED!

For Jenny and Justin

Rumour Has It

Tonight between 8:04 and 8:13 I JOGGED ONE WHOLE MILE!

With help from Miss Adele…

It was awesome. I just got in this groove and kept going. Usually its my breathing that stops me, but tonight it just never got too hard. I mean I was still huffing and puffing, but it was much more rhythmic and never out of control. I like to blast my music so I can’t hear my own breathing. When I can hear it, it distracts me and makes me freak out. i hate when a song ends and there is that 10 second silence where I can really hear myself, awful. Tonight though I focused on a target, I’m lucky that my blocks are straight and I can see the end from the beginning. It gives me a destination.

After my first mile I almost felt like crying, but realized that would cause be to hyperventilate and decided it best to not cry. none the less I wished there was someone there to celebrate with me (Mr. Gaunt was on a bike ride). After that I walked a 1/2 mile, then jogged 3/4 of a mile, then walked/jogged off and on until I got home. I did 3.5 miles in 43 minutes.

This gives me hope that by the end of the summer I might be able to RUN a 5k….maybe.

When I got home Mr. Gaunt had BBQed some pork chops (from that pig my mom bought) and we picked our first head of lettuce from the garden! This was very exciting as it’s the first thing we have grown and eaten. We also clipped some herbs and made a very simple salad. Oh and we topped the pork chops off with grilled onions. Yum!