City girl!

Laura suggested I do a race with her.  It the Mount Diablo Marathon has a 4 mile route race.  http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/d_race_info.html

I was a little nervous about the thought of it since I have not really been running hills at all.  I ventured out to the race trek to see if I could really do it.  I had a lot of time to do thinking while I was out there.  I need to say that the entire time I was preoccupied worried about seeing snakes.  If you are new to reading my blog, I have been known to see snakes (sometimes poisonous) on my treks in nature.  You can see old posts about snakes here and here.   Snakes were all I could think about today and it sortof sucked all the enjoyment out of the run/walk.  I would much rather walk through the street of SF at midnight alone then walk through this trail in nature at noon!  I felt very vulnerable!

I did do some thinking on my walk.  I have signed up for a 10K in Nov.  It is the same route I have run and walked a zillion times in SF.  I know I can do that race.  Sadly in Sept this race is 2 miles shorter but I was afraid it was all hills so for some reason I had to go see the trail before I would sign up.  Why can I not have faith that I can train up for the race?  I have 2 months!  I should be able to do it right?

Well I pulled into the parking lot at Mt Diablo state park.  The race goes 2 miles up the trail then you come back on the same trail.  There were 2 park workers i the parking lot so I asked them about the hills for the first 2 miles.  They both said...."oh piece of cake.....its flat for the first 2 miles!"  Feeling a bit better about what was ahead of me I started out...running.  I had my ipod going with music trying to drown out the sounds of nature that I might mistake for a snake in the grass beside me.  

Piece of cake my ass!!  It was hills for 2 miles.  I only ran about 1/3 of the first 2 miles uphill.  Pathetic!  I ran probably 2/3 of the way back but the downhill was starting to kill my knees so I stopped running.  Arg!  I am going to have to go running here quite a few times to get in shape for this....or perhaps I will go to SF and run hills there, where there are NO snakes (not slithery ones anyways).  

The run was very pretty when I allowed myself to enjoy it.  I even snapped a couple pictures.  I think I would enjoy it much more with someone that could help me keep my mind off the animals in the brush or help me problem solve incase I did run into one!

So here is the pretty run I did.  If you are a nature person enjoy them.  If you are a city person....I will post some new pictures of the city soon!

Murn

Weigh in Monday!

I went to WW today.  I lost 1.6 lbs this week for a total of 62.2lbs down.  My progress has certainly slowed down.  I signed up to run a 10K race in SF with my friend Jewell today.  So far the furthest I have run is 5 miles but I am quite certain by Nov I will be able to ound out 6.2 miles.  I am not going to do it fast but I am sure I can finish it.  Laura has a 4 mile race up Mt Diablo picked out for us to do in Sept.  I am a bit more nervous about that one.  I am worried it is straight uphill which I am not sure I can do.  I can run 4 miles (I did it last night) but I have not done a lot of hill work.  I called Laura today to see if she wants to do a trial run of the Mt Diablo race tomorrow.  Waiting to hear from her.  For now I am going to keep on keeping on even though its all slowing down....it is still progress in the right direction.
Tonight I went on a quick walk (about 2 miles.)  Sophie was happy to be out and about.  She is not a good dog to take running with me as she stops too much and changes which side she is on over and over driving me crazy!  It makes me so happy to see so many people out walking on Iron Horse trail.  There were tons of people out walking.  Makes my heart happy!
Get out and move!
Murn

mind and body catch up

Today I was getting ready to run around town and get some things done....bank, shopping...you know the stuff you put off til you really can't put them off any more!  I pulled a pair of shorts out my dresser.  They still had the tags on them.  I looked at them and immediately thought...."damn...must of bought these hoping to get in them some day....no way they will fit me now."  I set them to the side and kept looking in the drawer.  I was unable to find any other shorts so I came back to the first pair I pulled out.  I tried them on....and they fit!  I am not sure why I was surprised....I am sure I tried them on when I bought them.  I have been doing a lot of shopping (not much buying) since losing some weight.  I have not been doing a good job keeping track of what I do have and what I don't have.  Apparently I forgot I had a pair of shorts that actually fit.
I still see myself as a size 28 girl.  I am not sure when my mind is going to catch up with my real body.  These shorts i have on are a size 18.  They are from old navy.  I have never ever been able to shop at Old Navy before so its a bit exciting that I can wear them AND they are comfy.
Hope you are having fun finding things you forgot you bought in your closet!
Murn

Numbers dont lie

The health system that I work for wants its employees to be healthy.  In an effort to do this they give us money to have our blood drawn once a year.  I had mine done in March.  My levels were pretty good but I certainly had room for improvement.  I went to my MD and had my labs redrawn this month.  I am proud to say all of my numbers are much better.  Now remember...in March I had been eating right and exercising for 3 months already.  I wish I had my "before" I started doing anything numbers to show the real improvement.  Anyways...here are my numbers....  (I think the nurse in me is more interested in this than I really should be!)

Lab Value/March level.....July Level (Goal Level)

Cholesterol: 180......134 (140-199) 

Triglycerides: 147.......89 (35-149)

HDL (this is the "good cholesterol"): 27....... 36 (40-60) 

Cholesterol ratio: 6.7........3.7 (0.0-4.9)

LDL (lousy cholesterol): 124.......80 (0-129)

I dont think anyone can argue that diet and exercise are helping my body in many more ways than just losing weight!  My total cholesterol had a "L" next to it meaning it was lower than the range!  Who would of ever thought that!?  Certainly not me!

I had a bunch of other labs drawn but I don't think you will care what my CBC showed or my BUN/Creat.  I am a nurse and I only glanced at those.  Nothing exciting to report with them!

I went for a short run this morning then a 15 mile bike ride with Cindy.  We stopped along the way and had a good lunch at a mom and pop cafe.  I made good choices by having a side salad with dressing on the side instead of the french fries.  

HOpe you are having a good day today too and getting out to do something fun!

Murn

Week in Review

I have been a big slacker on blogging.  I will sum up my last week.  I have realized many things through many life events this week.  I have really been trying to pay attention to how I am feeling and figure out healthy ways to deal with those feelings.  One thing I have learned is I will still have problems and issues even after I lose weight.  I know this is a duh statement but I have been severely obese all my life.  It was easy to blame all my problems on that.  Skinny people have problems!  What a concept!  Another big realization is that I am someone that needs a lot of alone time.  I like being at home with Sophie.  Dont get me wrong....I love being out with friends but when about 11pm hits I get very anxious to be home.  I dont like to sleep other places and I like to get home.  I dont know why I am like this.  The older I get....the stronger this need to go home is.  I am getting OLD I guess.  I like my nightly routine.   Enough on my issues.  On to my weeks activities!

Sat I went for a bike ride with Cindy and James on a beautiful trail that goes along the water in Benicia.  

I have a friend named Rob.  Rob and I have been friends since Junior High (I think.)  In high school we would hang out a good bit and I would always do things with him when I was home from college.  Rob was fraternity brothers at Auburn with my brother.  Rob moved out here to go to grad school within a month of me moving out to California to be a nurse.  Over the years we have watched Auburn games with my brother.  I have not seen him in a couple years since he has become a professor at UCLA.  He is engaged to a really nice woman, Kat.  This weekend they were out in the east bay so we met for lunch.  It was really great to see him again.  I always love touching bases with people from my Alabama days!

This week I made a very tasty dish and thought I would share it.  I chopped up 1lb of turkey kelbalsa (I have no idea how to spell that??)  I also chopped up a bunch of brussel sprouts, 2 zucchini,  1 yellow squash, and one red bell pepper.  I sauted these all together for a while till they were starting to wilt.  I then added in some Panda Express Orange Chicken sauce that I get at Costco.  Any sweet and sour sauce would work.  I ate that for 3 days and it was delicious!

Finally I did go to WW today.  Sadly I only lost 0.6 lbs today but a loss is a loss and this last week was an emotional one.  I am determined to have a better week this week.  I have a scrapbooking weekend planned with my friends.  I am going to go to Costco tomorrow and get lots of fruits and veggies for snacking.  Luckily the weekend is taking place at my house so I have more control of the situation.  I am also going to exercise everyday.  I am off this whole week so I have no excuse.  I'll let you know how I do.  One of my big goals is to get down to 207.9lbs.  I have never been that weight in my adult life.  When I did the liquid diet a few years ago I got to 208 for about 30 seconds.  After that under 200 is right around the corner!  

Hope you are having a good week.  Were there any surprising things you found out about yourself when you lost weight?  Let me know what they were!

Murn

60 lbs in a little over 6 months

What a journey this has been.  I hit 60 lbs lost this week at WW.  For some reason it was not a big deal....nothing emotional like when I hit 50 lbs.  That being said...I am not interested in having the weight back!  I am not really celebrating in any special way except I'm going to keep on, keeping on.  Today I went to the gym and ran.  I had to talk myself into each 0.5 miles I ran.  I did a total of 3 miles.  I then walked a mile and swan only 0.5 miles.  I felt like my back was getting sun burned so I felt I should get out  (oh yeah....I was tired too.)
I work the next 3 days so my exercising probably wont be happening.  Since I started on the weight loss journey I have not been picking up extra work.  Well the guy that rents my condo in FL has not been paying his rent (he says I will have part of money by the end of the week) so I have been having to work extra.  I forgot how much that really wears me out!  I am working a 12 hour shift on wed, Thurs and a double (16 hours) on friday night.  This evening I am going to work on prepping all the food for the work week to help me be successful.  Thinking the main course will be brussel sprouts and turkey kelbalsa.  I am going to run to whole foods right now to get some okra too.  Hannah's husband, Chuck, taught me how to make great okra!

Hope you are having a great week!
Murn 

These are my people!

One of the nurses I work with had a 25th anniversary recommitment ceremony.  It was a fun afternoon with my friends and coworkers.  We have a stressful job so its fun to see eachother outside the stress.  We clean up pretty good.  Amazingly in the picture below there are 3 of us that went to nursing school at UAB.

Staci is so absolutly adorable!  I look giant compared to her!

The happy couple!  Mary Ann looked absolutely beautiful!

Just some silly candids of us being our normal crazy selves!

We may be a bit rowdy and free spirited but I sure love all of these people and would not trade them for anything!

RJ and Cliff

Me and the beautiful bride after some dancing!

Murn

Bike rides!

Earlier this week Laura and Tim came over to ride bikes.  We rode almost 25 miles.  ON the way home we did our regular stop at Whole Foods to eat lunch.  We propped our bikes up...

I got a salad, cherries and crack.  Yes I said crack!  Whole foods had a thing where you can make peanut butter from honey roasted peanuts.  Talk about delicious!  I only allow myself to buy it now if I have biked there and I can only get one servings worth.  

We had a great bike ride on a beautiful day!

I am happy to say that my home scale has been going down this week.  I am going to try hard to behave this weekend so it keeps going in that direction.  I would very much love to have lost 60lbs on Monday but I am not sure if that will happen or not.  I think Sunday night I will probably eat a decent size dinner out.  Having to weigh-in in the morning will help to keep me in check.  I will keep you posted!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Murn

6 months

I have been a blogging slacker.  I will get better.  I am feeling all better and I even went out on another date tonight (first dates suck btw!)  Anyways...

Yesterday was 4th of July.  I started the morning out with a easy 15 mile bike ride with Sophie.  I did not push myself hard....just enjoyed the wind blowing through my hair and being out. After the bike ride I headed into SF to go for a run with Hannah.  One of my dreams has been to run the Golden Gate bridge with Hannah.  I was sure I could do it.  I was under the impression over and back was only 3 miles (what a scam....its really 4+ a little more.)  Hannah was game so we started out.  As we drove closer and closer to the bridge we started laughing.  It was COLD and very windy!  There was a lot of fog rolling in.  We even talked about aborting the mission.  It has been 90+ degrees in Walnut Creek where I had been bike riding so I was in shorts and a tshirt!  But alas we started.  For those of you that have not ever gone across the bridge.....its curved a bit.  The first mile was really a killer.  It was all uphill and super windy and cold.  I prayed to Jesus pretty much the whole way!  We took a quick stop at half way and Hannah (my cheerleader) assured me it was downhill now and it would be easier.  Easier it was indeed!  I felt great from that point on out.  We over and back.  Here is the amazing thing.  I did 5 miles in 1 hour.  I did 12 min miles!  I have not done that before!!!  I assure you that I was not doing 12 min miles on the 2 uphill parts but I think I made up for it on my downhills.  We ran down the hill that goes down to the waters edge so I could get all the way to 5 miles.  It was spectacular and I have to say I am proud of myself.  Hannah was amazing.  She was cheering me on the whole way.  At one point she kept saying...."Murn....you have run the bridge!  You have run almost 5 miles"  I had to tell her to stop....I was going to cry and not be able to finish the little bit if I stopped to think about it.  

When I run I think.  I think thats something most runners love about running.  Solitude and thinking.   I realized that July 4th marked my 6 month mark exactly from when I started this life changing journey.  On my 6 month anniversary on Independence day I was running 5 miles across the Golden Gate Bridge!  ROCK ON!  When I started exercising in Jan I would walk 2 miles at 3.2 mph on the treadmill.  I was wiped out at the end of that.  I've come a long way baby!  I recognize that I still have a long way to go in my journey but I am going to enjoy the road along the way and it feels great.

Today I went to WW.  Sadly I was up 0.8 lbs.  I am not sure what that is all about....perhaps sore muscles hold on to water?  I am not sure but for the first time it did not kill me to not of lost.  I think I was still riding on the high from my run.  I wrote everything down I ate all week...even my binge on Monday night and I was still in my points for the week.  Who knows!  I am not going to stress out about it.  I am doing everything I can do and I feel good so I am just going to keep on keeping on. 

Here is a picture of me (after a shower) after running my 5 miles.  

Hope all of you had a great 4th of July as well.  

Murn