Dec 7, 2009

Well, I'm no longer 44 having had a birthday in October. Should I rename the blog? "Alive at 45?" "I've arrived at 45?" "Diving into 45?" "45 is Jive!"

None of those title are grabbing me. I need a new title I think. I also need a new vision. When I started this blog, my goal was to learn how to blog (not hard, I know, but I knew nothing about it at the time) and to complete a half marathon on April 26, 2009 (loved it!)

So, what's the next step? I am making plans for New Year's Eve and it occurred to me that this blog really motivated me this year. I don't know if the "magic" will happen again, but I would like to try.

So, goals for 2010: another walk, but this time not for distance, but for charity. I would like to do the MS Walk in the name of my brother-in-law who passed away from it (he was my age) about 18 months ago. I may travel to Cincinnati where my family is and where they have had a family team do the walk for years. I've never joined them before and would like to. If the trip doesn't work out, I'll do the MS walk in Milwaukee, and get my own team together here.

Another goal: finish or almost finish my masters degree. I have 4 classes remaining on my Masters of Leadership Studies at Marquette. More on this one after I meet with my advisor on Wednesday.

I think this is good for a start. I'll blog again (promise!) within 2 days.

The (mini) Race

Ok...it was a reasonable compromise...instead of running a 5K, I ran the walking part, so I ran somewhere just over 2 miles. I had my 9 year old daughter riding a scooter and "pacing" me, so I kept running. She never let me catch her. I finished at about 22:30 minutes. That's a pretty decent time. I'm happy with it.

More than that though, is that I feel encouraged to try a 5K now. I just need to find one....

One day at a time....

You know...I might be able to do this. Yesterday, I was at my daughter's Girl Scout bridging ceremony and you know what happens when women get together.....sweet treats! There were two eight foot tables of them! I just kept busy and let the young girls eat a lot, then went in to get one (just one!) oatmeal and raisin cookie. I'm feeling pretty good about that.

Today, I have been out visiting rummage sales all morning, so I had my shredded wheat cereal for breakfast, then a Diet Pepsi. Now it's 1:30 or so and I'm having a big bowl of watermelon....yummy! My pedometer already has 3200 steps on it, and I'm planning a walk for this afternoon. Then, I'm off to coach my daughter's soccer team in a game at 5:00....that's a lot of pacing on the side lines! I'll keep you up to date, but thanks for your support!

I've already had someone ask why I didn't pose in the swimsuit....yes ladies....a (clueless) guy asked that question.

A Picture is worth a thousand .....

....words? screams? Whoa....that's a small suit. Can I really be like Valeri Bertinelli and fit into a bikini? She's 48, and I'm 44....I think I can, I think I can....

A New Goal

Yes, I know it's been a while since I've posted...I was reveling in my success! (just kidding....well, sort of) I was actually thinking about setting my next goal. I do want to run the 5K at the parish festival in 2 weeks, but since I've been sick for about 2 1/2 weeks recovering from the flu, I'm not sure if that's still a smart goal.

In lieu of that, I'm setting up a new goal. I've been carrying around these 10 pounds of extra weight for years (too many to admit to) and I have tried numerous times to lose it. Well, since I've been successful with this method of posting and finding accountability on this blog, I'm going to try again.

I know from experience that you can't know when you get there if you don't know where you started. I weighed myself this morning at 158 pounds, so that makes my goal weight 148 pounds. I was feeling wildly optimistic last night and grabbed a swim suit off the clearance rack at Target while shopping with my daughter. As soon as I find my camera (it's somewhere in this house!) I'll take a picture of it (not with me in it....I'm just not that brave) and post it.

I'm setting a goal of 2 pounds per week. I'm going to try this first week without help, but if I can't get it going, I'll sign up for Weight Watchers.

Anyone want to do this with me?

This is the actual picture of my sister and me in Central Park after walking the 14.2 miles. Don't we look attractive?! (read: sweaty!)

You can't believe how exciting it was to be a part of the 10,000 women in the Marathon. It was such a powerful feeling....and I know that I'm not the only person who feels this way. There were lots of women who walked/ran for the first time in this Marathon. (these first time walkers are probably the reason the marathon was turned into a "fun run.") There were lots of teams of women who came to NYC together. I saw a set of t-shirts which read, "It took me 60 years to look this good!" I loved that one! I don't know what our shirt will look like next year, but I do know that we will have one. Anyone interested in joining us?

April 29, 2009 Post Race

It's true! I spent 5 days in New York City, and power/walked the half marathon on Sunday! Here's the entire truth....it was so hot (90 degrees!) on race day, that the race organizers cancelled the full marathon, and decided not to time the race. This meant that anyone scheduled to run the full marathon (not me!) was told that she would run the half marathon. I heard that there were about 200 out of the 10,000 attendees who had sign up to run the full marathon. Everyone else was stopped after one and a half laps around Central Park (who knew it was THAT big??) Essentially, we did 7.5 miles, but my sister and I decided that we had trained and wanted to finish the half marathon, so we collected our medals, grabbed some water and kept walking. After it was all said and done, we walked 14.2 miles!!! The important note is that we were NOT sore that day, or the next. We continued to walk at least 10,000 steps each day in New York, so the total steps in 5 days exceeded 80,000 steps!
I have met my goal of the half marathon even though it was not exactly as we had planned. I'm proud of myself, and pleased with how my body handled the challenge. Next step: running the 5K at our parish festival the first Saturday in June. (no walking!)