I'M ALIIIIVE

I am still alive after the biggest eating event of the year and ....wait for it.... MY FIRST 5K! I survived! I did it in 37:01 and thought I was going to die for every second of that. There was a part of me that wasn't sure I was going to make it. I THOUGHT I had looked up the map pretty good and was thinking "okay, its just there and back, I can do this." Little did I know, they route was nothing like it was originally mapped out, and it was there, back, loop de loop, there again, and then back to finish line. I am pretty sure I was my own worst enemy at that point, since I wanted to just quit and whine and cry about how unfair this is. I kept going though, although I had to walk more than I wanted to, since the grass was really squishy and hard to run in. Here I am!

AND.... I haven't run since. We are going to push ourselves to go back to the gym tonight, even though I am dreading it. I am feeling in a slump lately since I leave in the dark and get home in the dark. I feel like I have no time and just want to come home and go straight to bed. I hate the time change!

Other news (not good, but not bad news) is I have not changed weight in weeks. I am a little down about it since we have been running so much, but then I cant be too down about it since I have let my diet slack. I guess its just that double edged sword- I haven't lost weight so I eat more, but I eat more so I don't lose weight. BOO. Suck it up sista.

Couch to 5k progress

I have been sort of cheating on couch to 5k. Well, I guess its not cheating, but I am just not following the program exactly since I can usually do more than I set out to do. Last week, I was doing 3 minutes running/ 2 minutes walking, but a couple times I got up to four minutes running, so I just went with it. This past weekend, I even did 5.5 minutes straight of running! But, then I hit the wall. I know, that is so lame to die after 5 minutes of running. I obviously wouldn't survive the zombie apocalypse with my fitness level. So I was only able to do 5 minutes one time, then walk two minutes, then 3 minutes of running, walk 2, then run 2, and then dead. I am still only at two miles on the treadmill and I have a little over a week to go to the 5k.

So, tonight, I am going to try to follow week 4 of the program so I can not hit the wall so fast and pace myself up to 5 minutes. Tonight's program is 3min running, 1.5 mins walking, 5 mins running, 1.5 walking, then back to three minutes again. I got a real bad cramp last night and couldn't go on, I swear, I felt like I was dying. I hate those damn side cramps, and I don't know how to prevent them or make them go away. I am so worried I will get a cramp my 5k day and not be able to finish. I am starting to get really scared knowing I am only a week away, and sometimes a part of me is saying "its okay, I don't have to do it, I will just skip it this time." But I cant. I have to do it.

On the other hand, Matt is doing wonderful (of course.) He was able to run 30 minutes straight last night. Hes going to be able to run the entire thing while I am back there struggling. But I want him to do his best, and maybe him waiting there for me at the finish will motivate me to get there faster.

WINNING!

I think I will need to come back to this post when I am feeling down.


I just got back from the gym, and I ran/walked 1.6 miles in 21 minutes. I feel AWESOME. Amazing. I am so not a runner, at all, but I was able to run for three minutes straight! I know, that sounds awful, but the C25K program has been my lifesaver and I am totally and completely in love with it. I know my time is not awesome, and I still have to get to 3 miles to finish my 5K, but I have got about two weeks to whip my ass into shape. But even if I do not get a good time in my 5K, I feel great, and if I do say so myself, I think I look pretty smashing in my gym clothes.

Ignore my insanely messy closet. Its sort of a war zone in there.

But anyway, I just thought I should blog about how I feel. Maybe next time I don't want to go to the gym I can remember this feeling, and get my ass in gear.

Couch to 5K finally started!

So, I thought I would be all bad ass and start on week three, thinking "I can run for three minutes at a time." No. I cant. So I quickly switched to week two. 1.5 minutes of running and two minutes of walking for 20 minutes. OMIGOD ITS HARD. Yeah, seriously people, I cannot even hardly run 1.5 minutes straight without nearly dying. But, its progress! I am excited to run again tonight. I know when I get there, I will get that scared feeling in the pit of my stomach, but as of right now I am excited to continue.

On another note, I am SORE. Really, sore from 30 minutes of run/walking. I expected my calf's and shins to be sore, but I didn't expect my butt and my inner thighs to hurt. Really? Inner thighs? What the heck could I have done during this run to work that part of my body? Oh well, I'll take it. God knows I have some extra stuff to get rid of there anyway. But if I am doing something really wrong, please let me know. I am new to running and am not very good at it, so I welcome any tips.

So that's all for today, I am headed back to the gym tonight to do some more running and take a "fitness test" with a trainer. Lets hope he doesn't laugh at me and tell me I have no hope.

My Halloween goal?

Fail. Again. I feel like I have been saying this a lot lately! I am sort of stuck at 162 right now. I just have to try something new. SOOOOOO, I finally got a gym membership! Well, I am getting it in the morning, since I was waiting for my sister-in-law to give me her discount. Awesome! So both Matt and I will be gym members for $50 a month. I am so cheap I sort of cringe at this cost, but I figure that my cheapness will help, since I wont want it to go to waste. I am really excited to jump on the treadmill and start doing my Couch to 5K program.

I feel really optimistic for some reason today about my 5K. The couch to 5K program seems completely do-able and even if I do not make it to the 5K by Thanksgiving, at least I will have tried and be closer to it next time. My excuse for not running is always I do not have a treadmill and do not want to go outside, so someone please kick me if I make another excuse to not use the treadmill.

That's all for now, I have to get back to running around the kitchen island  to work off the dang Halloween candy I snuck today. Turns out running in circles makes you dizzy, but its fun. The cat thinks its funny. Really, this is his entertained face. Lazy sucker.

Day one of Shan vs. Diet Coke

I want to try and stop, or at least cut back. Right now, I drink about 2 cans with my lunch and at least 2 cans when I get home. That's a lot. So, in my first attempt, I didn't pack any soda in my lunch today. It is 8am and I am already dreading my 12pm lunch time with no soda. I don't know how I will survive, but I will try.

Anyway, I watched a semi-interesting documentary last night. Fat, Sick, and nearly dead. A few of my friends have come on board with this "juicing" trend and I wanted to educate myself before I formed too harsh of an opinion on it. First, I definitely think it is unhealthy to only juice for a couple months. And second, I am still not sure I believe that consuming the juice would be the same as consuming all of the vegetables. I guess it was an interesting theory, and maybe worth looking into more as maybe one meal replacement, but as for the entire diet, that just seems like a recipe for disaster. But honestly, I would much rather eat a huge platter of veggies than one glass of really nasty green juice. 

Its really weird to me that I am the one telling them that they have to change their lifestyles and actually believe it. I tried to explain to them that juicing is not the solution, they need to seriously change their habits. Thinking "its only for ten days" is not a healthy way to think, and if after that ten days you go back to how you were, it was all for nothing. I feel like since this has been a hard journey for me, I have knowledge that I didn't have before. I HAVE changed my life, I HAVE changed my thinking on "diets," and when I talk about this journey for me it is something I 100% believe. This is not about going on a diet and exercising, it is about willpower, sacrifice, and breaking habits.

Well, that's my rant for today. I cant wait for the weekend!

Dinners in the Shan household

I like having pictures on my blog so I figured I would share some pictures of our meals. Pictures are fun.

Day one- home made calzones. I just used a jiffy box of instant pizza crust, some sauce, cheese and any toppings we wanted. Not necessarily low in calories, but not too high, much much better than pizzeria calzones, and also you can put whatever you want in it and make it really filling. I only ate about half of mine. And not to mention it only took about 5 minutes to throw together, so that is always a plus.

Day two- Lasagna soup. Its almost like spaghettios with lasagna noodles and cheese. And healthier. Basically just tomato sauce, chicken broth, lasagna noodles, and seasonings. I got the recipe from pinterest. Oh how I love pinterest. We didn't use any meat in ours, and you could probably lower the calories even more by using a lighter pasta, the lasagna noodles we used were pretty high in calories compared to other noodles.
http://thedeenbros.com/index.php/recipes/recipe_detail/bobbys_lighter_tastes_like_lasagna_soup/

One of our favorites- PF Changs copy cat lettuce wraps. So so good. And filling. And flavorful. And easy. http://www.azcentral.com/style/hfe/food/recipes/articles/2011/08/08/20110808lettuce-wraps-crispy-rice-stick-noodles.html
 We used chicken breasts and cut them up really fine, since ground chicken creeps me out. Its really good, healthy, and fun to assemble. :)

And my masterpiece of the week, quinoa burgers with my zucchini casserole. I am new to quinoa, and whoa... how have I lived without it for all the time!? Amazing. All you need is quinoa, egg (I only used the egg white), grated carrots & onion, and seasonings. Mush it up into a patty and cook it in a pan with a teeny butter to get a nice crisp on it. Crazy low calorie and one of the best things I have ever eaten. Here is the real recipe for you recipe followers.
http://eatingwelllivingthin.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/love-my-quinoa-burger/

Don't you guys love how funny my pictures look compared to the professional pictures on the websites? Total fail on all of them. Oh well, I don't really care how it looks as long as its good. And, since I have lost 17lbs it looks like something is working, even though its not pretty. I still need to lose three pounds before Halloween to make my first goal. I CAN DO IT!!


I will leave you guys with a picture from our weekend. We drank a little (sorry diet) and got on a supreme scream type ride. About ten times. It was so much fun. And scary. We went on so many times, but somehow Matt was scared to go on again. So I went alone. 180 feet in the air. All by myself. I must have lost my mind. Matt made me put on my glasses so I would get the full effect of how high we were, excuse my looking like a nerd.