Little Red Riding Hood Race 2009

Many of you know that Aubrey and I have been training for our first bike race which we completed on June 6th. This was an all girls race in order to raise money for breast cancer research. Aubrey and I did the 15 mile distance, Samantha (Taylor's sister) did the 39 mile distance and Stacey (my sister) did the 47 mile distance.

Here we are before the race, excited and raring to go!

(Aubrey, Stacey, me, Sam)

Here's one of Aubrey and me. We had fun trying to find matching clothes!

Samantha ... just about ready to head out


and she's off!

Aubrey and I were the last group to leave. We couldn't have asked for better weather!

Taylor and Braden met us on the tailend of our race, this is with about 4-5 miles left to go. Still smiling!

Here we are coming into the finish ... feeling great! We finished in 1:29:03 which was right on for our training pace. I'm proud of Aubrey, she was a little worn out for the last little part (the wind was blowing REALLY hard on the way back which meant you had to peddle twice as hard to go half as far) but she did a great job and stuck it out!

This is Stacey coming in to the finish line. I can't remember her time (just over 3 hours, I think) but she did great! The longest she had ridden previously was under 30 miles, so she really pushed herself ... way to go sista!

These lais were our medals!

Samantha coming in at a strong 3:30 hours!

Way to go, Samantha!

Here's another group shot after it was all over. Maybe a little tired, but happy for sure!

I've decided I like bike riding MUCH more than compared to running. (Last year this time, I ran the Ogden half marathon) So much so, I splurged and bought a bike trailer so that I can bring Braden with me and Aubrey and I can ride bikes whenever we want all summer. The biggest reason we didn't do a longer distance is that we didn't have time to train any longer than we did because we had to juggle the time from when Taylor got home from work and the other committments we had going on during the week.

I've got a list started of girls that want to ride this race next year. Let me know if you want to join us! It's a fun, non-competetive race for a good cause. With distances from 15 miles up to 100 miles, it works for every rider.

Mind over ... FOOD!

Hello blogger land! Is anyone out there, heeeeellooooooooooooooooo?

Okay, just joking! ;)

I am realizing, that I have a very addictive personality. Maybe, this is human nature, maybe it's just me. I have never struggled with drugs, alcohol or any of the "normal" addictions, but that doesn't mean I don't have them. I never really thought I had a problem with food, because I could always find others that ate more and worse than me. Who was I kidding?!?

Let me share a battle I won:

Last night, I was craving sweets. I found some COOKIES in the pantry and while one would have been okay (calorie/carb wise) I thought, "I really want two with some milk." So I got the cookies out and starting pouring milk.

As I was doing this, there was a mental battle in my head:

• "You're not really hungry for this, in fact you are still full from dinner"
  
• "Oh, but I really want it"
  
• "You're going to feel bad if you eat these, then you will want to eat another one because you feel bad"
  
• "No, I just want to eat these"
  
• "Is it worth it?"
  
• "They are just two cookies, not a big deal!"
  
• "That's how your weight got out of control missy, remember how sweet it is to fit into jeans you haven't worn for years."

I then realized what was happening and stopped to listen to my body (not those darn voices in my head!) and realized that I WAS full. I knew that if I ate the cookies, I would be uncomfortably full, which would make me not only physically but emotionally feel bad and it WASN'T worth it!!! I put those cookies away and poured the milk back in the carton. I felt AMAZING for the rest of the night, knowing that I no longer have to be ruled by food!

Confessions of an over/emotional-eater
As I come to grips with the real problems that led to the weight problems I have struggled with for years, it is time to embrace the ugly so I can throw it out once and for all! I'm sure I have blocked out the ugliest, but here it goes:

• I have, more than once, eaten an almost entire package of cookies (think Uh-Oh Oreos) with a huge glass of milk. Of course I left a couple of cookies in the package, so that I wasn't actually eating the WHOLE thing. Course, I would clean those off an hour or two later.
• It was my nightly staple for a long time (this was a HARD habit to break), of eating a bowl of ice cream each night before bed. Mint chocolate chip (3-4 big scoops) smothered in hard shell chocolate (I'd get maybe 4 servings out of one bottle) I often hid the hard shell, so no one else could eat it.
  
• Milk chocolate chips. Yummmmmmm ... I'd buy these so that I could make cookies with the kids, but would end up eating handfuls of them at night. Maybe after I finished my ice cream.
• I could easily eat an entire box of Kraft Mac & Cheese myself. The creamy version of course, that uses 1/2 stick of butter.
  
• The way I cooked before, was just like those commercials about the "Buttertons." You know the one showing the 1950s housewife who puts whole sticks of butter into everything she cooked? I read a while back that butter was better for you than margarine, and I ran with that! I would buy 2-4 packages of butter each shopping trip (depending on the sales) 'cause we really went through that stuff.
• We used sour cream about as much as we used butter. We always had 2-3 containers in the fridge, because often my dinners called for a container. I LOVE creamy, rich sauces.
  

There they are, just a taste (pun intended!) of the habits I had. Going a step further, I can see many triggers that make me want to eat:

• I am stressed
• I am bored
• I am overwhelmed
• I am sad
• I am stuck
• I am celebrating
• I want to feel special
• I am trying to block something out
• I am tired
  

What's funny, is really I can always find an excuse.

Realizing and facing this problem has been a HUGE help in taking the steps to OVERCOME this addiction. Here are some questions to ask myself next time I am faced with temptations:

• Am I hungry?
• Is it worth it?
• How will I fell when I finish this?
  

I so get, that it is not about eliminating the unhealthy foods, but about moderation. It's time to take back the power that I have ... It's MIND OVER FOOD!!!

Chalean Extreme

Here's an bit from the infomercial about Chalean Extreme ... love this program!

7 miles down ...

And we actually did it in under an hour. Don't know the exact time because I forget to look at the time or set my timer. We ended up going down our hill to the train tracks and riding a trail along there for a bit. The hardest part was getting back up our hill, but we did it! Here's our ride:

Checking in

Hello! So, I have been totally slacking when it comes to my blogs lately, but that's okay. I've been outside for the last hour weeding and planting flowers, so I do not feel guilty in the least bit!

I can't remember if I posted last week or not, but I got side tracked from working out midweek due to getting sick ... AGAIN! While I continued to do my best eating wise and staying active, I decided to push the official start of my 90 day rotation back one more week (to this week) so that I could get in the complete workouts. I am feeling much better (knock on wood!) and have totally been rocking it this week.

Monday I did Burn Circuits 1 ... that workout had me gulping for air ... and it's all strength! It was mostly legs and chest/back.

Tuesday Aubrey and I did just over 5 miles on our bikes. It still took us just under an hour, so I don't know which distance we'll be doing in June. If we can increase our pace to 10-15 MPH then we could manage 38, but right now it looks like we might be doing the 15. I decided to stop pushing too hard, because it is supposed to be fun. I did a couple of intervals to get my heart rate up including on hill that was KILLER. I mean it is worth than the hill I live on!

Wednesday I did Burn Circuits 2. I really liked this one. Don't know if it's because I gained back my strength completely, but I didn't feel nearly as wiped out as Monday, but that doesn't mean I wasn't working hard. My muscles were shaking by the end. It worked biceps, triceps and legs.

Today I am going on a bike ride with Aubrey again. She prefers neighborhood riding, but we might try another trail today. I think on trails we could end up with a faster MPH since we are not stopping to cross streets or wait for cars. I think the only reason she doesn't like the trails as much is last time her tire went flat and we had to walk 1.5 miles back.

How's your workouts going? What goals do you have?

Biking today

Ah, what beatiful weather we had today. If only I would stop being SICK. I actually took a nap this afternoon so that I could get enough energy to go on a bike ride with Aubrey. We had limited time, so we were gone for a total of about 35 minutes. Felt great while we were out, but felt crappy again as soon as we were done. Now, I'm crashing and hoping that tomorrow I feel better!

Okay, enough whining for me!

Feeling good in the skin I am in

I have been on such a HIGH lately and want to record some of these feelings because I know that the lows will come and I want to remember these things. I really hope that this does not come across as self centered. It's more me trying to explore the journey so that I can have total freedom.

It has been a long time since I have felt good in my skin ... I mean truly good in my skin. I have always wanted to have a good body image but never really had it, even at my lightest weight. I had moments of feeling good, but they were few and far between. I have always admired women who are curvy and are able to flaunt what they have with total confidence. Women who were the same size as me or bigger, and felt like a million bucks. I have known that I need to learn to love my body NOW or I will never be able to love my body, no matter the size.

I am still on that journey, but I think that I am closer than I have ever been before and it feels amazing! Looking back at the cruise, I can honestly say that 95% of the time, I had good body image. Was I at my goal weight? No. Do I still have cellulite? Yes. Did that matter? Heck no!

In the past I have dreaded wearing a bathing suit in front of everyone, waiting until the right moment to shred my clothes. I'd hate it if there were cute thin girls around because that would make me feel even fatter. There was none of that for me this trip ... I enjoyed the snorkeling we did without worrying about what I looked like or being self conscious.

I am just realizing how much time I have spent in the past measuring myself against other women. Now, this is not something I ever did outwardly, it was always more of an inner dialog. You know all those thoughts that come in and are so damaging?

I have been receiving a lot of compliments this last week from my dear friends and last night I was wondering, what is really so different? Yes there are some outward changes I have made (new cut/color, contacts, tan skin) and I have lost weight these last few months, but why NOW would so many people be making comments? I think it totally has to do with how I am feeling about myself. I am noticing more and more, that instead of having those degrading thoughts ("Ugh my thighs are so big" "Why did I eat that THIRD helping?" "Why are you SO lazy?", etc.) I am having more positive thoughts, ("Wow, I can see muscle in my leg!" "You look nice in that dress" "You DID it!").

How can I keep this and improve upon it as I move forward? Here are some ideas:

• Listen for the negative thoughts and turn them away. These are the thoughts that pop in with no warning. I can't control them popping in, but I can control if I listen to them and how long I let them stay.
• Acknowledge myself for the changes/improvements I am making. In other words, create positive thoughts. This could be from any number of measures from weight, to a new record time on a bike ride, to being able to complete a strength measure (pushups, pullups, etc.), to finding news ways to eat and enjoy the healthy foods and on and on. Right now as the weight is dropping, that is a very big motivational tool, but I know eventually it will slow down and one day I'll be maintaining, so I want to learn now to find the progress in other areas as well.
• Take care of myself. There is such a balance when you are a mom, a wife and all the other titles we wear in life. But I truly understand the importance of taking care of ourselves. I haven't always done it, but there are so many small things even that I can do, I just need to take the time to do it.
• Present myself. It really doesn't take that much longer to put on a little makeup or put a little thought into what I am wearing, but it makes a huge difference in how I feel. So, why not take an extra 20 minutes before I leave, so that I can feel confident in how I look.

I'd like to modify and add to this list as time goes on, but I think that is a good start. Kudos to you if you got this far! ;)