Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day everyone! I hope everyone has had a great day with family & friends!! I know my kids & I did! I started today out with the 40th Anniversary Millersville Turkey Trot (didn't get any pictures of myself this time, but I will let you one of my shirt & bib), Then we got to sit down to watch some football, & relax. After bedtime, I needed to catch up on some of my miles for the Pile on the Miles & some steps for the Step Challenge so I went ahead & went back out for another walk of 2.75 miles. That's 7.5 miles for me today to warrant that piece of pie, ok ok, the 2 pieces of pie & some cookies.

came home to a fabulous dinners which my kids help my dad prepare the main courses as Steph & I prepared all of the desserts yesterday as I knew I'd be gone all morning.

Take a good look at this picture, do you see anything wrong with it?!? LOL

I was feeling great so after dinner, Lydia & I walked up to the park & I got a 1.5 mile walk in while she played & then I played the last half hour with her before it started getting dark.

 

We came back home for some pumpkin pie! Yummy!! My 1st of the season & it was made from fresh pumpkin that I cooked down. :)

Then we got to sit down to watch some football, & relax. After bedtime, I needed to catch up on some of my miles for the Pile on the Miles & some steps for the Step Challenge so I went ahead & went back out for another walk of 2.75 miles. That's 7.5 miles for me today to warrant that piece of pie, ok ok, the 2 pieces of pie & some cookies.

 

Lydia was enjoying these as they were setting up yesterday!

Update Pile On the Miles Plan

I won't bore you with a full blown update since I just did that with my November update, but I thought I would update you on my daily progress on our plan for the challenge.  The red is what I have actually done each day. :)

Week 1 (1st-3rd): 6.1 miles
1st - 2 mile run/2.1 mile walk-- 3.18 miles walk
2nd - 2 mile walk-- 0

total- 3.18 miles

Week 2 (4th-10th): 25.67 miles
4th - 5 mile run-- 4.25 walk/jog
5th- 3.68 walk/jog
6th - 3 mile run/2 mile walk-- 3.5 treadmill
7th - 3 mile walk-- 1.5 treadmill/3.0 treadmill
8th - 3 mile run/2 mile walk-- 2 treadmill/3 treadmill
9th: 2 mile run/2 mile walk-- 2 treadmill/2 run

total- 24.93 miles

Week 3 (11th-17th): 21.1 miles
11th - 7 mile run (11k)--  7.0
12th- 3.5 mile walk
13th - 2 mile walk-- 1.6 walk/1.7 treadmill
14th - 3.5 mile run-- 3.51 walk/jog
15th - 2 mile walk
16th - 2 mile walk
17th - 4.6 mile run (5k in morning, 1.4 through Christmas lights at night)

Week 4 (18th-24th): 21.2 miles
18th - 6.2 (10k) mile run
19th - 2 mile walk
20th - 3 mile run/2 mile walk
22nd - 4 mile run (Turkey day!)
23rd - 2 mile walk
24th - 2 mile walk

Week 5 (25th-30th): 18.5 miles
25th - 5 mile run
27th - 4 mile run/2 mile walk
29th - 3.5 mile run/2 mile walk
30th - 2 mile walk

Total: 88.9 miles-- Changing this to now be 100 MILES!!!   This will be the 1st month to hit 100!  I've come close a couple of times, but haven't actually made it there yet. :)

November Goal Update

Well we are now halfway thru November already, so I thought it would be a good time to take a look at my goals to see where I am at with them to see if November is being awesome for me!  & I think it is!! 

1)1) As of this morning when I weighed in I am at 214.6 lbs.  I want to shoot for that scale to say 209.9 lbs or less.  That's only 4.7 lbs to lose!  I am doing really great with this one!!  As a matter of fact the scale was my friend last week!!  :) I'm down to 210.5, so only 0.6 to go for this goal this month!!

2) I have been struggling with eating clean.  I can do good for 1 meal or 2 but not usually all day consistantly, so for this month I want to eat clean all day for at least 4 days a week.  If this goes good this month, next month I plan on increasing to 5 days a week.  Well I am still in the same boat here.  I am good with 1 or 2 meals a day & then the last one isn't to hot.  I think it's something to do with having to make myself something different than the rest of the house that is hindering this goal.  So lets see.  We have 15 days left this month, so I want to shoot for 6-7 good clean eating days.  :)

3) I haven't very little to none upper body strength, so I want to commit to strength training 3x's a week!  Ok, this is the one that really has gotten me.  I haven't done any of my strength training this month & that needs to change.  Going to put CLX in the DVD player today!!

4) Last but not least goal has to do with 2 challenges I have joined for this month!
The 1st challenge is a step challenge from a friend on Facebook.  She named the challenge "Step It Up."  This challenge is to get an average of 13,000 steps daily for the entire month.  I did the challenge with her back in July & was able to complete it.  If you want to check it out, here is the link. Step It Up Challenge.  
The daily step challenge is going really good.  I am behind a little from the days we went to NYC right after Hurricane Sandy to check on family, but I am slowly making them up.  After 14 days we are to be at 182,000 steps & I have 173,929 steps, so that leaves me only 8,071 steps behind & half the month to make them up.  :) 

 

The 2nd challenge I have joined for November is "Pile on the Miles" My friend Angie stumbled upon a running blog that talked about this one which she mentioned to me & since we already have our "Run to the New Year" challenge going on, we both thought they could go hand in hand with each other.  This one is all about running a little more mile instead of the usual gaining a few pounds with the holiday season fast approaching. The challenge ask us to set a goal for the month & since I saw Angie set a goal of 85 miles of walking/running, I thought we could work on the same amount & keep pushing each other as we may each need.  85 miles in a month breaks down to 21.3 miles/week & of those I personally would like to see 12 miles come from running. :) This one even has prizes!! Even though it would be nice to win one of them, my prize is hopefully will be to weigh in under my goal.  The blog Angie found this challenge at: Run Eat Repeat!!
I am doing really well with this goal/challenge also. I am actually ahead of the game! :)  Right now I have completed 45.32 miles, so I am over halfway there.  Less than 40 miles to go & still have 48.3 miles planned on our November training plan.  Hmm???  I wonder if I should just go for the full 100 miles this month?!?  With what is completed & what is planned that puts me already at 93.62 miles, so I would only have to add another 6.38 miles into the last half of this month.  You know what, I am going to go for it!!!   :)

Last Chance Survey

My friend Angie posted this on her blog Sisters and the Scale which she found off another blog she follows & like her I thought it would be fun do as well so here goes!

Last Food I ate

This morning for breakfast I had a whole grain english muffin sandwich with 2 slices of turkey bacon, 2 large eggs, & a tiny bit of heinz simply ketchup.

Last Beverage I Drank

I woke up super thirsty this morning so I drank an entire 16.9 oz bottle of water to start my morning off.

Last Workout

In honor of all that have served our Nation I participated in the National Veteran's Day Virtual 11K run yesterday with my daughters.  You can read more about that here on my blog post from yesterday-National Veteran's Day 11K.

Last Thing Pinned

Umm, is there away to figure out the last thing you pinned?  I haven't been on Pinterest in forever!!  lol Let me go see if I can figure out the last thing I pinned.  Ok, I was able to figure out the last thing I pinned 35 DIY Halloween Costumes

Last Text Message Sent

Last text messages I sent were to my oldest daughter to see if she woke up in time to get ready for school.  I so was not ready to get out of my warm bed this morning & I wasn't hearing her moving around upstairs to be getting ready, so i sent her 2 text to check & sure enough she wasn't up.  I actually had to get up & moving to o wake her up as she didn't reply to them.

Last Blog I Visited

That would be my friend Angie's blog at Sisters and the Scale so that I could post this blog post.  lol  Angie & I have been friends since high school & she has been a major inspiration to me for my journey & I can't thank her enough at this point.  I think without following her on her journey, I would just be doing the same on again off again routine that I have been doing for year! She doesn't know it yet (well now she will when she reads this), but out of my oldest daughter's mouth yesterday the 11K, that because of Angie inspiring me to start running it is also starting to inspire her too.  :)  Steph really enjoyed our run.  At the beginning of it she wasn't so thrilled, but then when she found out we were already 2.5 miles in she decided to go the distance with me & is ready to do it again next weekend.   Lydia must be inspired also as she woke up asking to go for another run today.  I am so looking forward to being able to run with both of my girls.  Thank you Angie!!!  Luv ya!

Last Tweet I Sent

Guess I actually need signed up on twitter to be able to tweet.  LOL  Ok I have signed up on it, but don't get it all, so I have done nothing else with it.  Maybe I will let Steph on twitter so she can figure it out for me & then I can tweet too.

Last Place I Visited

 On Saturday night we were invited over to a friend's house for a bonfire with the kid.  It was really nice to just relax by the fire & let the kids run & play flashlight tag or hide & seek in the dark.  I like the way the bottom pic turned out with the glow of the fire at the bottom with the ashes flying thru the air like fireflies.

Last Thing I Baked

Last thing I baked would have to be the chicken tenders with a sweet potato crust.  The kids & I love them.

National Veterans Day Run Virtual 11K

 

Today is Veteran's Day & to honor all my family, friends, & others that serve our country for our freedom, I have registered for this virtual 11K run for today!  :)  All profits go to the Wounded Warrior project.  This is my 3rd race in less than a month.  Both of my daughters came along with me for this jog/walk, & we chose to go down to the York County Rail Trail  from Gladfelters Station Parking Lot to the Brillhart Station Parking to go under the Howard Tunnel.  It took us 1hr 41 min to go 7 miles (we went a little further than we had to to just round up to the full mile).  I left my youngest wear my bib for her to honor her father who is currently serving in the Army even though he was born in Ghana.  He became a naturalized citizen in '97 & has served our country ever since.   Here are a couple of pictures I was able to take along the run.

You never know what you might see while out for a run on the rail trail!  It was such a gorgeous day that some people had their own rail cars out for a ride!  Then some even had their horses out for a walk.I hope all veterans past, present, & future had a great day as I did with my kids.  Thank you all for your service!

Today is also World Run Day that I had signed up to do a 5K on, so I was able to just run them together.

Pile on the Miles Plan

Remember the challenge that I joined for this month, well so did my friend Angie.  She is actually the one that brought it up to me about joining it with her.  Anyhow we both chose 85 miles as our goal for the month & she sat down & came up with this training plan (I changed a few since I didn't see it until just last night, so I add todays jog/walk in to make up for the miles I was under) & I told her I am going to give it a go right there with her.  :)

Week 1 (1st-3rd): 6.1 miles
1st - 2 mile run/2.1 mile walk-- 3.18 miles walk
2nd - 2 mile walk-- 0

total- 3.18

Week 2 (4th-10th): 25.67 miles
4th - 5 mile run-- 4.25 walk/jog
5th- 3.67 jog/walk-- 3.68 walk/jog
6th - 3 mile run/2 mile walk
7th - 3 mile walk
8th - 3 mile run/2 mile walk
9th: 2 mile run/2 mile walk

total-

Week 3 (11th-17th): 21.1 miles
11th - 7 mile run (11k)
13th - 2 mile walk
14th - 3.5 mile run
15th - 2 mile walk
16th - 2 mile walk
17th - 4.6 mile run (5k in morning, 1.4 through Christmas lights at night)

Week 4 (18th-24th): 21.2 miles
18th - 6.2 (10k) mile run
19th - 2 mile walk
20th - 3 mile run/2 mile walk
22nd - 4 mile run (Turkey day!)
23rd - 2 mile walk
24th - 2 mile walk

Week 5 (25th-30th): 18.5 miles
25th - 5 mile run
27th - 4 mile run/2 mile walk
29th - 3.5 mile run/2 mile walk
30th - 2 mile walk

Total: 88.9 miles

I am definitely getting my sneakers on & out the door this month!!!!  & Hope you are too!!

November Goals

I am going to try something "new" for me & start setting some monthly goals for me & maybe that will help me get out of this plateau I seem to be at after the 1st initial 20 lb weightloss.  Actually I am not so sure of it being a plateau or putting my body into starvation mode by not eating enough, so here are my goals for November.

1) As of this morning when I weighed in I am at 214.6 lbs.  I want to shoot for that scale to say 209.9 lbs or less.  That's only 4.7 lbs to lose!

2) I have been struggling with eating clean.  I can do good for 1 meal or 2 but not usually all day consistantly, so for this month I want to eat clean all day for at least 4 days a week.  If this goes good this month, next month I plan on increasing to 5 days a week.

3) I haven't very little to none upper body strength, so I want to commit to strength training 3x's a week!

4) Last but not least goal has to do with 2 challenges I have joined for this month! 
The 1st challenge is a step challenge from a friend on Facebook.  She named the challenge "Step It Up."  This challenge is to get an average of 13,000 steps daily for the entire month.  I did the challenge with her back in July & was able to complete it.  If you want to check it out, here is the link. Step It Up Challenge

The 2nd challenge I have joined for November is "Pile on the Miles" My friend Angie stumbled upon a running blog that talked about this one which she mentioned to me & since we already have our "Run to the New Year" challenge going on, we both thought they could go hand in hand with each other.  This one is all about running a little more mile instead of the usual gaining a few pounds with the holiday season fast approaching. The challenge ask us to set a goal for the month & since I saw Angie set a goal of 85 miles of walking/running, I thought we could work on the same amount & keep pushing each other as we may each need.  85 miles in a month breaks down to 21.3 miles/week & of those I personally would like to see 12 miles come from running. :) This one even has prizes!! Even though it would be nice to win one of them, my prize is hopefully will be to weigh in under my goal.  The blog Angie found this challenge at: Run Eat Repeat!!

So with those goals & I hope November is AWESOME to me!!  Let's go!!