Better Late Than Never

Remember way back in June, when I ran the Moon in June 5 km race? Well, this week I was sorting through some pictures on my computer and I realized, totally forgot to post pictures from the Moon in June. So, in case you've been dying to see Adam's short shorts haa haa, here are a few pics. Enjoy!


Here we are waiting for the race to start. Adam was very proud of his short shorts.
In deep conversation.
The very front of the line. I'm standing behind the guy in the diabetes shirt. (That's my friend Elliot, he ran a marathon this week in Iceland for team diabetes)



That dude in all black is my friend Joel. He finished something like 18 minutes wearing that thing! (You can see the side of my head behind the girl in blue)

The finish line. My favorite part of the race LOL!

BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES and Losing my Race Virginity

I must be a crazy person for agreeing to do this, but as promised, here are my before and after pictures. The first picture was taken about 2 months after Joseph was born. I started doing the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and lost about 10-15 pounds in the first month or so. Then I became a total slacker during Christmas and then my baby got sick, then I got sick, and yada yada yada, 4+ months had gone by and I hadn't worked out at all. I slowly got back into it a while ago and also started running. Thing were going great and then I got sick for over THREE weeks!!! Man! That really set me back, especially since I had to train for the Moon in June. Any how, I still lost a bunch of weight though not as much as I wanted. I would still like to lose another 10 pounds, hopefully by the end of summer. Ok so are you ready for this? I know I'm not!

BEFORE
AFTER

Haa haa ok so not the kind of before and after you were looking for right? Seriously, my before pictures of my flabby body are EMBARRASSING! I was 168 pounds of pure FAT, no muscle or anything, just loose flabby flab. Ok, so there are a bunch of people out there that can make 168 pounds look pretty good because they have muscle and the weight is distributed evenly and stuff, but MY 168 pounds wasn't so pretty. Now I weigh 145 pounds and I think there's some muscle there. I weigh less than I did before I had Joseph and I still have a few more pounds to lose before reaching my goal weight. Maybe when I lose my last 10 pounds I'll post REAL before and after pictures. Something to look forward to, right?

Ok, on to other things...
So you're probably all wondering how the Moon in June went. It was so much fun!! It took place down the road from the store I used to work at and I've always wanted to do it. There were around 800 people running the 5 km and a bunch of my friends were running too. My friend Adam busted out his 80's short shorts, which was HILARIOUS by the way and my friend Joel wore a black spandex suit which covered this entire body, head to toe. I'm not kidding, this outfit covered even his entire face. I wish I had a picture of him but I'm sure it'll show up in the newspaper or something. Ok so my friends and I all gathered at the very front of the starting line, next to a few runners I know that usually win every race. My heart was pounding because I was so darn nervous. This was after all, my very first race! I wanted to be able to run the entire thing and do it in a reasonable amount of time, I mean really, I didn't want to be the one strolling in last place. I just didn't know what to expect and all the people around me just made me nervous and excited all at the same time. When the race started a bunch or runners raced on ahead of me. I just kept on running at the pace I was used to running (which isn't very fast at all) My heart was racing faster than I was running and I knew that if I didn't settle down, I was going to have a really hard time finishing. I felt like absolute crap during the first half of the race, which doesn't surprise me. I always feel the worst during the first half of any run. Any way, as I was running around the 2 Km mark, some punk kid with a skate board decided to dart in front of a bunch of the runners to mess them up. He thought he was being funny. He darted in front of me and as I tried to dodge him, he darted in front of me again! It totally threw me off a good 10 seconds or so. Well after that deterrent things were great. There were people standing on the sidewalks giving high fives and cheering everyone on, and I totally gave some cute kids on a bike a high five as I passed. As I raced a bunch of faster runners passed me including some kids that must have been like 10 years old or something. I wasn't sure if I should be impressed by they're speed or depressed by my lack of speed. Well, I ran and ran and ran and never stopped and as I reached the finish line, the guy on the loud speaker said "just about 20 more steps. YOU CAN DO IT!" and I DID! I did it! I finished my very first race, running the entire time. I guess you could say I lost my race virginity haa haa! When I crossed the finish line Dave and the kids were there with the video camera, cheering me on and Joseph had had enough of all the loud clapping and shouting. Joseph was absolutely mad and crying like crazy. As I crossed the finish line, Dave handed Joseph to me right away. The job of a mother is non-stop! Well, I may have not won the race, or even won in my age category, but I did it AND I walked away with a free case of Gatorade :) My next goal is to finish the race with a better time, maybe 3-4 minutes faster. I think I might run a 5 km race in October at the Zoo because my older brother and his family might do it too. I'll keep you all posted.

Me Ka Aloha
- Elisabeth

5.4 Km Non-Stop...

About a week ago I proudly announced that my friend Adam and I ran 5.4 Km non-stop. The last time I ran even remotely close to that, was before I became pregnant with Rosie. I've never really been a "runner" which is ironic since I was the manager of a running store for over a year. I know everything about the "right" running shoes, moisture wicking clothing, $20 socks, and the most popular marathons in the area, yet I hardly ran while I worked there. Ya, that's right, just call me the Milli Vanilli of running.

So here I am, 3 years later, with a double "mummy tummy" to loose, a drawer full of running gear from my manager days, and a few pairs of $200 running shoes (another perk of working at the store). I decided it was time to start running to loose the muffin top. I can just picture my old boss reading this, thinking "NOW she decides to run? Like why didn't she attempt it when she worked for us?"

The first night Adam and I went out running, we only ran for one minute, walked for one minute, totaling 2.5 Km. We were exhausted when we got back to my house and I felt so pathetic LOL. Sheesh, I've seen 60 year olds run further than that. Am I really THAT out of shape?! Any way 2 days later we went running again. We did run 1 minute, walk one minute, and we went for the whole 5 km this time. However, when we got to the end of our run we decided to run all the way back. It took us 3 minutes and 40 seconds to run down the street and I felt like I was going to die! I said "what? that was only 3 minutes and 40 seconds of straight running? How am I EVER going to do the whole 5 km without puking?! Perhaps my goal of running 5 km by June was a little too ambitious?" The next time we went running I said "let's run for 1 km without stopping, walk for a little while, then run another Km and continue in that pattern." We did that, and again, I felt like I was going to die, but we did that until we were done the 5 km. The next time we went out we ran as far as we could and it was 2 km (MUCH better than our pathetic 3 minutes and 40 seconds from a few nights ago). We then walked an ran until the 5 km was done.

Then the magical night happened! I said "Let's cut the crap and let's just run for as long as we can. Let's just try to make it a little further than last time." WELL... we ran 5.4 km non-stop and I could have gone further if I wanted to. When we were a few feet away from our finish I said "holy heck, I can't believe we're actually doing this!!" I can't believe how quickly the body adapts. My friend who I was running with was also amazed at how quickly we went from nothing to 5.4 km. He said he took one of those (wait, make that THREE) learn to run clinics at the Running Room for 3 months each time, and at the end, he was struggling to do "run 10 minutes, walk 1 minute" thing. He liked our method of running better. I think it's harder to stop and go because your body goes into rest mode when you walk and then you suddenly have to fire it up again. He joked that we should start our own learn to run clinic. Really, maybe I SHOULD. After all, I know everything about purchasing the right shoes and all that jazz.... hmmmm..... maybe I should.

It looks like running that 5 km race is possible for me after all!!! I might even try to run the Moon in June race on June 5th and have my Mom tag along (hear that Mom? People are reading this, no backing out now haa haa!)

For all of you who are reading this and thinking "there's no way I could run that far" let me assure you that you CAN. If I could go from workout videos, to 5.4 km in a week and a half, and Adam could go from nothing to 5.4 km in a week and a half, than so can you! Just go for it and you'll be surprised. Don't be discouraged if you can hardly run around the block the first time because you'll get better and better. It's perfect weather outside, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Let me know how you're doing with your workouts/running!
- Elisabeth