Enjoying Denver and expressing my rebel self

Last week, I got the chance to go visit Beth in Denver.  It was nice to get a break from work and visit a part of the country I am unfamiliar with.  I did not, unfortunately, get a break from schoolwork but thankfully I could take my program with me. 
I was very impressed with the Red Rocks.  Beth and I got in a great workout climbing the stairs in the Red Rocks amphitheater.  I definitely got my heart rate up, I blamed my fatigue on the altitude and not the fact that I have been slacking on my workouts lately.    

A view from the top of the Red Rocks amphitheater.  The climb up is much harder than the climb down.

 

 

We were going to go hiking after we climbed the stairs at the amphitheater but after a brief start that included a set of stairs, I had to stop and admit defeat.  The altitude did me in.   

 

At least we still got a selfie!!

 

 



 Over the week, we got in some good walks.  I love that Beth's apartment is downtown and it's easy to walk to a lot of places.  I find that, where I live in Alexandria, I have get in my car to drive everywhere.  I think it would be great to live where I can walk to a lot of places. 

 

While at Green Mountain, we talked a lot about expressing our rebel selves.  I recognized while I was there that I do not always give in to my rebel self and that I tend to turn to food to express my rebel self.  When I was at Green Mountain, Samantha and I expressed our rebel selves by skipping out on an instructional movie and rolled down a wonderful hill of snow.  Over the past year, I have tried to express my rebel self but still find it a challenge. 

So finally, I got a chance to express my rebel self.  It was a painful expression but one that I love.  And Beth was there to hold my hand :)

 

Expressing my rebel self.  I'm wondering how many of my friends can figure it out from my picture!

 

Now that I am back home, I have a 5K in my future.  I have had a hard time this winter.  I'm not going to pretend it's been easy.  With schoolwork, the fact it is dark when I get home, and these frigid temperatures we've been having, I have not had a lot of motivation to get out and get active. 

I signed up for a 5K in April.  I am hoping to get back into my running in February.  My goal will be to finish it in the same time I finished the 5K in October.  I will not be as concerned with running the whole thing as I will just finishing in a good time. 



 

 



My 2014 Resolutions

Happy New Years to all my friends and all those who have supported my blog. 

I'm sure there will be more blogs to come in the future!!

Love, Julia

Enough is Enough

It's that time of year again when we stop to reflect on our past year and what we have (or haven't) accomplished.  It's also the time that we set resolutions for ourselves for what we want to accomplish in the year to come.
I read an interesting post on the Green Mountain blog recently entitled "With Resolutions, Try Small and Mighty."  http://www.fitwoman.com/blog/
This blog encourages us to change our habit of making great big resolutions, long lists of intentions, and sweeping goals that will surely fall flat weeks or months into the new year.  Instead, it suggests making a small goal.  Something that is reachable and achievable.  By focusing on that one goal, we can change it, mold it, and grow it as we achieve it.  Imagine that, a resolution we actually achieve!
The part of the blog that spoke to me the most was:
Put the perfectionism to bed. You know her – the one always whispering to you that you’re not enough, that you haven’t done enough, that something or someone isn’t good enough.
Perfectionism (or lack thereof) is something I struggle with.  If I do everything as perfect as I can then maybe people won't notice my weight.  When it isn't perfect, I can be my harshest critic.  I struggle with the concept of being enough, I have a little voice in my head that whispers to me, your not enough, it's not enough, you didn't try hard enough.  My weight is a constant voice in my head that makes me feel like I am not enough.  No matter how hard I try in other areas of my life, I still feel that my accomplishments would be better if only I were skinnier.  If I receive a compliment such as, you look so nice, in my head I think, I would look much nicer if I was skinny.  I ran a 5K and still I thought, people would probably believe I was a runner if I was skinnier.  It's stupid, it's annoying, and usually not true but these are the little things that we do to belittle ourselves. 
When I finally get frustrated or overwhelmed with the effort of making everything perfect and enough, I give up.  It's all or nothing.  Stick to the healthy eating plan perfectly or not at all.  Exercise 4 times a week or not at all. 
So, I think one of my small goals will be to work on acknowledging that my efforts are enough.  By feeling that I am enough, I feel that this will influence my life in so many positive ways. 

 

 

 

Running a 5K

Hello friends.  I've been meaning to update all week but thought I should make schoolwork a priority.  This kind of responsibility is boring but there it is lol.  I do have to say, I got an A in my first class so I guess my hard work is paying off. 
Talking of hard work paying off.  Last weekend I was off to Boston for the 5K.  It was great to see Beth after so much time and to meet her sister, Ellie.  We took a pre race run on Friday on the Esplanade.  It was a very pretty place to get in a run. 

Had to take a quick break from running to get a picture

 

Saturday was a day of fun for us.  We picked up our race packets and shopped for a few fun things to finish of our costumes.  We then had a fun dinner in the North End and finished it all of with cannolis from Mike's Pastry.  It is a must when visiting Boston.

Race day was cold.  Once we got started running, I warmed up quite quickly.  Beth, Ellie, and I decided it was best if we ran by ourselves during the race. Although the course information said it was "mostly flat," I did not agree with that assessment.  Ha!  Not even half a mile into the race, there was a nice steep hill.  The worst was after the 2 mile marker, a gradual incline that seemed to go on forever.  I had been doing pretty good up until this time but I have to admit, this is where I lost it.  I ended up walking for about 2 or 3 minutes.  I was obviously a little disappointed that I had to walk but, in the end, I was happy with my time and happy to finish. 
My finishing time was 50:16 which is a pace of 16:10/mile. 

 

Our race day costumes

 

 

Couldn't help but celebrate as I crossed the finish line

 

 

Since returning home from Boston, I have been bugged with a little inconvenient upper respiratory infection.  I did not let this stop me from turning into a princess yesterday at work.  It was great fun, probably my favorite costume yet. 

Once I recover from my inconvenient little illness, I plan on resuming my running.  I want to run a 5K in November on Thanksgiving Day.  I also want to run in the Cherry Blossom 5K in April.  This race is by lottery only so getting in is not certain.  If we can get in, Beth and Ellie want to come to DC and run with me! 
Until that time, I will keep up my running and hopefully start to improve my time.  I have downloaded a new app that will help me work on that called 5K Forever. 
Here's to setting new goals!

A Goal Met

I have officially finished the Couch to 5K app.  Technically this means I should be able to run 3 miles in 30 minutes.  In reality, I am running about a 16 minute mile.  Last night, I ran 37 minutes straight without walking.  I did stop at a traffic light for about 30 seconds and almost got run over by a biker because I was looking down at the sidewalk instead of looking where I was going. 
I am so excited that I actually stuck it out and finished the app.  I think this could be the first time I have made an exercise related goal and stuck with it.  Like I have said in the past, I have issues with consistency.  It probably took me longer than 8 weeks to finish the whole thing but the important thing is that I finished!  I found it hard to believe in the first few weeks that I would eventually be able to run 30 minutes at a time when I could barely run more than 2 or 3 minutes at a time without feeling like I was going to bust a lung.  I guess it really goes to show that this training app does work.   
Tomorrow I am flying to Boston to meet up with Beth and Ellie.  I absolutely do not think I could have accomplished this goal without them.  You guys rock!!
The 5K is Sunday morning.  My goal is to run the whole thing.  Realistically, I am aiming to run at least 2.5 miles of it and will be really excited if I do run the whole thing.  I am going to start out at my pace and not allow the excitement of the racers around me cause me to tire out too soon.  I'll update after the race with some fun pictures of our costumes.

Practice Run

I have reached week 7 of my 5K training.  I am 75% through my training. 
Today I participated in the Cody's Crew 5K.  Cody lost his battle to neuroblastoma in 2009 and his family established Cody's Crew to raise funds for research in the treatment of neuroblastoma. 
https://codys-crew.org/
Since I have not finished my 5K training, I treated this 5K as my week 7 day 1 training and then finished the 5K, running as much as I could.  I finished in 49:43 and had a pace of 16:03/mile.  I found it hard to get into a rhythm and don't think I ran as much in one stretch as I usually do in my training.  I'm not sure what the reason for this is but I have a few thoughts on it.  One is that I am used to running on a flat track and the few hills on the 5K track slowed me down.  Also, I started out the 5K running the rest of the pack and I definitely think I ran a little faster than I usually do in the first 15 minutes.  Overall, though, I'm pleased with my results and I'm determined to continue on with my training.  I have 2 weeks left in my training and 4 weeks until my trip to Boston and the Big 5K there.

 

My running team :)

 

 

Running On...

Hello friends.  I know it's been a while since I've updated.  I am in my third week of school and it has taken some adjustment to get used to having schoolwork again.  I also just got home from Florida, where I attempted to keep up with my training while enjoying time with my family.
The runs have definitely been getting longer and harder.  On my last run, I felt like I had hit a wall.  It was a 5 minute warm up, 5 minute run, 2 minute walk, 8 minute run, 2 minute walk, and 3 minute run.  I felt miserable the whole run.  This might have been because I was running in Florida and it was 85 degrees but felt like over 90 degrees with heat and humidity.  I felt like my face was on fire and I was constantly looking at the time to see how much time was left on the run.  I did finish each run completely but I really hated every step I took.  After that run, I had this mental block to going out and running again in Florida.  Plus we were crazy busy the rest of the weekend and I never made it out again.
I was understandably very nervous to go out tonight and run.  Today was Week 5 Day 3 and consisted of a 5 minute warm up, 8 minute run, 2 minute walk, and 10 minute run.  I didn't work today and went out this evening after working on schoolwork and running errands.  It was about 7:15 this evening and it was already getting dark.  The temp was about 68 or so and I was actually a little chilly until I had gotten into the first run.  I contemplated wearing a long sleeve shirt next run but I was warm enough by the time I was finished.  I say this because when I ran in Florida, it was about 25 degrees warmer and around noon, so the sun was very hot.
I feel like I made a breakthrough tonight guys!!  I ran the first 8 minutes and when it was time to walk again, I felt like I could have kept on running.  I recovered well during the 2 minute walk and I was ready to go again for the 10 minute run.  I tried not to think in terms of time and, instead, I knew how many laps around the track I would make in 10 minutes and how many songs I would listen to during that 10 minutes.  When 10 minutes was up, I was ready to stop running but I was not out of breath and my mind was not thinking this is one of the most miserable things I've ever done.  I wanted to do a victory walk around the track just because I was so pleased with the run.  My first mile was 16:27 and I did a total of 2 miles so I improved both my first mile time and the distance I ran.
I'm hoping that my next runs will continue on in this way.  I am a little concerned about the fact that it is getting darker earlier and earlier every time I go out.  I am able to go out to run a little earlier after work, I get home about 6:15 and usually I like to relax and go out to run at 7.  However, I can probably try to go out at 6:30 to take advantage of the light.  There will come a time when it is dark when I leave work at 5:30 and I will have to come up with a solution at that time.  There were actually quite a few people using the track despite the dark and there were a couple lights on the track but not quite enough to light the whole track.  I have thought about trying to find out if there is an indoor track that I can use in Alexandria but I hate the thought of running inside when the weather is still nice enough that I can run outside. 
Tomorrow is Wednesday and I am planning on starting week 6. 
My schedule for the last 2 weeks of training look like this:

Week 6 Day 1 -- 5 minute warmup, 6 minute run, 1 minute walk, 12 minute run
Week 6 Day 2 -- 5 minute warmup, 10 minute run, 1 minute walk, 8 minute run
Week 6 Day 3 -- 5 minute warmup, 20 minute run with no walking
Week 7 Day 1 -- 5 minute warmup, 15 minute run, 2 minute walk, 5 minute run
Week 7 Day 2 -- 5 minute warmup, 20 minute run, 2 minute walk, 1 minute run
Week 7 Day 3 -- 5 minute warmup, 22 minute run, 1 minute walk, 1 minute run
Week 8 Day 1 -- 5 minute warmup, 25 minute run with no walking
Week 8 Day 2 -- 5 minute warmup, 28 minute run with no walking
Week 8 Day 3 -- 5 minute warmup, 30 minute run with no walking  FINISHED!!!

If I finish the training on time, I will still have about 3 weeks until the 5K.  I am going to continue to add time onto the 30 minute run so that I can add distance and also work on speeding up a little bit.  My goal is to run all or most of the 5K. 

Running in Florida

 

This is what miserable looks like when training for a 5K in Florida