BodyBugg

I received the BodyBugg for Christmas. This thing is AMAZING. It calculates the number of calories that I burn throughout the day. I can see how and even when I am active during the day at a glance. If I am watching tv and I get up to go ... uhhh, let's say get a drink ... you can see a spike in calories burned.

I wear the BodyBugg to measure calories burned and steps taken. Then, I use the BodyBugg software to input EVERYTHING that I eat. This then calculates calories consumed. The difference between the calories burned and the calories consumed is either a deficit or a surplus. A 3500 calorie deficit is a pound. My goal is to lose 2 lbs a week and knowing calories burned vs calories consumed is sooooo helpful.

Electronic Motivation is what it is. On Jason's birthday ... after I put everyone to bed, the BodyBugg was registering only a 1900 calorie burn (with an estimated 2100 calorie burn for the day ... my target is 2700) and 4000 steps taken (my target is 10,000). What's worse, I had already consumed 2400 calories for the day. This would have given me a calorie surplus for the first time since I started wearing it and that just would not do. So I started walking. Around and around my living room I went, up and down the stairs ... cleaning up from the party and then just walking in endless circles. But ... by the time I went to bed an hour later I was at 10k steps and my calorie burn for the day ended up being 2650, which left me with a blessed deficit. Normally, I would have went out for a quick run or walk but Jason was already sleeping and I didn't want to wake him to let him know that I wouldn't be in the house.

I LOVE my BodyBugg!!!

I Trained for Philly ...

I want to be able to easily access the blog posts that I wrote while I was training for the Philadelphia marathon without having a bunch of extra's on top. So, I have created a separate 'part 1' blog for this very reason. It can be found at One Day at a Time Part 1.

Two and a Half Years

It has been awhile. Quite awhile actually. A lot has happened in the ... oh my Word ... it has been 2 1/2 years since I have been on here ... crazy!!!!

Let's see ... I was pregnant, I had a baby, I had two babies (Thomas' biological brother who is exactly 3 months older then Ian lived with us for 5 months), and I trained for and ran the Portland marathon.

Since this blog is all about running, I'll give the cliff note version of training for Portland. I started training for Portland in June. At that time, I had a 6 month old, a 9 month old, a 5 year old, a 6 year old and a husband who was crazy busy at work and starting his own exercise regimen.

Most of my shorter runs and even some of my longer runs were done at night after the rest of the family had gone to bed. It is a mile to the library and back, but it is a lighted mile. Imagine running to the library and back over and over and over and over ... well you get the point.

In late August my mother in law came to visit for 5 weeks. She was able to help watch the kiddos during several of my runs ... but it was a stressful time none the less.

I believe it was the first week of October ... sad isn't it that I can't remember the exact date ... that I successfully ran all of the Portland marathon in 7 hours and 3 minutes. Definitely not a PR ... but it is still quite an accomplishment.

Which brings me to the here and now. I am starting my newest running adventure. I am in training for the Eugene Marathon which is 16 weeks from today ... on May 2, 2010.

I will be back ...

Good News!!!

We went through our final treatment cycle of the year in May. I was to take my pregnancy test on Thursday, May 31st. On Wednesday, May 30th, I was telling my sister ... 'tomorrow they are going to call me and say "sorry, it's negative" and then tomorrow night I'm going to start training for Portland!!!"

I'm only slightly bummed that when Thursday rolled around the conversation didn't go as I had planned ... instead of "sorry, it's negative" I heard "Congratulations, you are PREGNANT!!!" or something to that effect. I'm thousands times happier then the slightly bummed feel of not training for Portland.

FINALLY!!!

Excuses Excuses

Somewhat valid excuses, but excuses nonetheless. I am still on a running streak ... life is just very temporarily getting in the way.

I was supposed to run Monday morning while my kiddos were in school. Unfortunately, Sunday evening Megan had a stomachache ... which led to me being up with her all night while she alternated vomiting and pooing. Needless to say, she did not make it to school and I, therefore, did not make it on my run.

Tuesday I had a tooth pulled. The first question I asked the oral surgeon was 'when can I run again'. His rather vague answer was 'when it quits hurting'. Days or weeks ... he couldn't tell me. However, he did give me a prescription for vicodin ... and it doesn't hurt while taking the vicodin ... I wonder if that counts?

I think that for safety sake ... I will likely wait until next Wednesday to start running again. I would go out Monday, but alas, it is a school holiday and my lovely kiddos will not be in school ... and I cannot run if they are not in school. So ... I'll be back next Wednesday. Count on it!!!

Love Running In The Rain

Before I became a runner, I thought that running in the rain was really quite stupid. Now, I find that it is very refreshing and energizing. Give me a light warm rain anyday and I'll be happy!!! Of course, I am originally from western Oregon where rain is more common than not. In fact people often call me crazy for loving the rain as much as I do ... but hey, that's just me :)

So, today I ran 3 miles in the rain. It was good. I don't have official times or distances because 1) it was raining and 2) I wasn't wearing my Garmin anyhow. I really must remember to turn that thing off after updating my blog so as not to drain the battery power. But it was 3ish miles in about 40ish minutes. Works for me.

I love this running stuff ... never thought I would say that ... really truly I didn't!!!

Guess it's been awhile ...

What can I say ... the desire for a baby just doesn't go away because you wish it to. The infertility treatments did indeed get in the way of running again. New doctors had new orders ... preferably no running for three months prior to a treatment cycle. Not that I listened all that closely, but if that's what it took that's what I would do ... of course that's not what it took and it didn't work anyhow.

I did get some running in and my mileage up before my forced break and most recent treatment cycle in October ... but alas, not much happening since then ... on the running front that is.

We did bring our son home just before Thanksgiving and it was a joyous reunification. He had lived with us when he was 12 to 18 months old before returning to his birth mother. We moved from Washington to Iowa the very next day. Almost two year later, we received a letter from his caseworker letting us know that he needed a permanent home and asking if we were interested ... and of course we were! It took a lot of work but we brought him home 4 months later ... two months later then we were hoping for but still two months earlier then actually anticipated. We still have plenty of hoops to jump through until the adoption is finalized but for now, he is home where he belongs!!!

So, as you can probably imagine ... things have been a bit busy around here getting everyone settled into the new normal. New child in the house, the holidays, vacations etc. Which leads me to today ... both of my kids are finally in preschool ... at the same time ... which means I can run ... whooooohooooo!!! Well, at least until the next treatment cycle ... lol :)

Running Stats

Running Time: 43:16
Running Distance: 3.00 mi
Average Pace: 14:26/mi