Monday, April 27, 2009

"Wicked" is WICKED!

I know I've seen it once already but who could pass up the chance to go again?! My mom came to visit for a couple of weeks and on her to-do list before she headed back home was to go and see "Wicked" the broadway show. Hmmmmm, I wasn't about to object. However, getting tickets was going to be quite a challenge since shows are usually sold out and tickets are soooooo expensive. But I have to tell you, craigslist is the bomb!! A day before the showing someone had something come up and they weren't able to attend the Wednesday matinee and listed their tickets on craigslist just below face value. And, to make the deal even sweeter they were dead center six rows back! I loved every minute of it and I believe my mom did too since she couldn't stop talking about it. For those of you who have seen it I'd have to say my favorite part is the "Defying Gravity" scene and I can't hold back the tears when Elphaba and Glinda sing "For Good". Seriously, if you haven't seen it make sure you add it to your bucketlist! It's a must! THANX MOM!

Quite a Retro Hotel

So I forgot to post the retroness of our hotel we stayed in before my half marathon. It was a pretty cool hotel that was right across from the boardwalk in Asbury Park, NJ. It was an old brick hotel but it had been renovated with retro limes and browns. My mom absolutely loved it and so did the kids!

Lookie what we found outside our house!

It was actually really disgusting but of course I couldn't help taking a picture. Really, who finds possums outside their house? It looked pretty tattered and almost sick but we couldn't get over how it wasn't scared of any of us and didn't even run away from the dog that was a couple of feet away from it. Hope he doesn't show up again as I'm pretty sure he was full of all kinds of disease. Just watching him eat the plastic bag you knew something wasn't right. Oh, and sorry for the quality of pictures. I zoomed in as much as I could as I wasn't about to get too close to that thing! LOL.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Are you wondering if I survived?

Ladies and Gents I am proud to announce that I am alive and kicking! Well, barely with the kicking part. LOL. I still can't believe that I actually survived a Half Marathon! Do you remember when I started, when running wasn't my thing and I could barely run a mile? Well guess what?! I just ran 13.14 miles straight! Yup, just like that! Well, ok the honest truth was I did pretty good up until 13.1 miles. The finish line was right there in front of me and all of a sudden, like a ton of bricks had just hit me, I felt like I was going to pass out. It was incredibly hot that day and to run in that for over 2 hours was insane. So here Kaycee and I are almost at the finish line when I feel that pass-out tingle (which I know very well - that's another story) and I just blurted out to Kaycee as I was veering off to a bench "I've gotta sit down, I'm going to pass out!" And all I have to say to Kaycee is THANKYOU! She immediately grabbed my elbow and in a very stern voice said "Oh, no you don't! The finish line is right there!" She talked me into slowing it down a bit and staying focused and in one more minute we were across the finish line! I can't even begin to tell you how amazing finishing felt. I honestly have never seen myself as a runner and had never even thought that any type of marathon/race was even an option for me. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm feeling pretty good about my accomplishment. I think my favorite part of the whole thing was when we were a few minutes away from the finish line and out of the blue Kaycee and I hear "Mommy, mommy!" and there is Edyn and Kaycee's little boy, Carson, cheering us on! Just typing that moment brings tears to my eyes. It was definately a sweet moment. Chad wasn't able to be there which made me a little sad but my mom flew out to be here so that was really nice to have her there for support and to cheer us on. The race itself was pretty cool. We ran 6.5 miles out along the ocean on the boardwalk and then the same back. It was absolutely beautiful. I think the view really helped with ignoring the pains of the race. I really think my legs turned to stone half-way thru. They are definately feeling it today. So all in all who knows if I'll ever do a half marathon again in my lifetime. But what I do know is that I COULD DEFINATELY DO IT!

TOTAL LOSS AFTER 12 WEEKS
WEIGHT – 20 lbs.
ARMS – 2 inches each
HIPS – 4 ½ inches
WAIST – 8 inches
THIGHS – 2 1/4 inches each
BUST – 3.5 inches

Monday, April 13, 2009

A Celebrity Siting in NYC

This has got to be one of my favorite things about New York that I will miss. They don't happen very often but when they do it's pretty fun when you are actually seeing someone famous, in person, with your very own eyes. So a couple of weeks ago Chad had Friday off so we drove into the city in the morning to get some things from his locker that he didn't want to haul home on the train. After that was done we weren't about to head home until we had some good eats. So we had some yummy Thai food (ThaiNY is amazing for those of you who live in the area) and to finish it off we had Pinkberry. When walking back to our car we were walking behind a blonde girl and really at the time I didn't think anything of it until a girl who was standing off to the side of the sidewalk talking on her phone kept staring at this girl until she was out of sight. I thought that was weird, why don't you take a picture it will last longer! LOL. Well, we got into our car and started to drive away when we rounded the corner past this blonde girl and all of a sudden it made sense. We were walking behind Julia Stiles!

I bet that girl on the phone sure wish that she would have taken a picture! LOL. So we tried to follow her for awhile but between traffic and lovely cabs that stop all of a sudden and you are unable to get around them, we lost her. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted and for a second we felt like the paparrazzi!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Half Marathon - WEEK TEN in Review


So the coolest thing that I think Kaycee and I did for training was where we ran our long run. We decided that since we planned on camping Easter weekend and the following weekend after that was our marathon that our long run for week 10 would be the only chance we had to run in Central Park. It was a really tough run for us, which I think is a major understatement, but we loved it. The view was awesome and now we can say we ran the entire central park and then some! It really was a nice run even though I know I looked like an 80 year old when running uphill! Seriously, if you walked at a fast rate beside me, we would have been at the same pace. Geeesh, you'd think I could run anything by now! LOL.

I know this is supposed to be a RESULTS week but since it is "that time of month" I decided that measuring my bloated self this week was not going to be a good idea. So I'm sorry to disappoint but you'll have to wait another week. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I was at target the other day and trying on some cargo capri pants for the summer and guess what?! I fit into a single digit pant!!!!! I couldn't believe it. I can't even remember the last time I wasn't a double digit. So yay me!

MONDAY
Step Aerobics Workout – 55 minutes
Treadmill – 5 Miles
Arm Strength - 15 minutes
Leg Strength - 10 minutes
Water Consumed (8 oz. glasses) - 8

TUESDAY
Treadmill – 3 Miles
Turbo Jam Workout - 45 minutes
Arm Strength – 15 minutes
Water Consumed (8 oz. glasses) – 7

WEDNESDAY
Treadmill Full Incline – 3 Miles
Cardio Fusion Workout - 50 minutes
Arm Strength – 10 minutes
Leg Strength - 10 minutes
Water Consumed (8 oz. glasses) - 7

THURSDAY
Treadmill Full Incline – 3 Miles
Bootcamp Workout – 60 minutes
Arm Strength – 15 minutes
Leg Strength - 10 minutes
Water Consumed (8 oz. glasses) – 10

FRIDAY
DAY OFF

SATURDAY
Outside Run – 9.1 Miles
Water Consumed (8oz. glasses) – 6