I Just Wanted To Be Athletic - And Now, I Am! (comments welcome)

[corinnak]

Bryan - I am only able to run with the camera because it is one of those little olympus shock-proof water resistant cameras. I just carried it in my hand the whole time this race. For the Minnie, I had a pouch for it on my belt, but that ended up being more of a hassle than it was worth. The downside to this impervious little camera is that it takes fairly mediocre photos. I'm glad to have them, of course. It does help the ol' memory. And you're right - it would have been fun to get a photo of you and Liz and me at Jellyrolls - but NOT of you, Liz and me dancing whatever that manditory dance was!

Kim, I won't forget!!! - I have been busy with the show a lot lately! I spent much of the weekend working on the set - mostly painting, which doesn't sound that strenuous, but we are painting the floor with a skewed sort of checkerboard pattern with little diamonds between the big diamonds. Anyhow, there was LOTS of bending, stooping, squatting, kneeling, crawling and walking around, not to mention brush and roller cleaning in an absolutely unsuitable sink with only cold water. You know me - I'm not one to whine about the cold too much, but this was miserable.

In other news, I am really enjoying my new resistance band workout. I had been liking one sometime last year, but that was just exercises in a magazine - this is a DVD so I don't even have to remember what I'm doing. I feel like it's helping my back a lot and that I am getting stronger each time. There is a whole section of core work and that plank stuff had been very tough. Tonight, I thought it was merely tough, not very tough, so that is progress!

I ran a couple of times last week, most memorably, I did the Podfitness workout I made up I forget when - sometime in the past year and a half. That workout used to really kick my butt, however now, for it to kick me like that, I have to ramp up the speed. It only has 1 minute of running fast and the speed is 6 or 6.1 mph. I bumped it to 7 to get that same brutal effect.

I am also having no trouble with logging my food at this point. I'm in the groove. I am experimenting this week with eating a little more than the past few weeks - this darned WW incarnation and their "Flex" points. I need to get over it, but it's hard for me to get around the mental block of using these seemingly "optional" points at some point during the week. I am getting the impression now that they are not optional, they are just vaguely distributed.

Exhausted now. It's been a long, busy weekend. I'm going to shower and SLEEP. In that order!

 

[corinnak]

All righty - it has been FAR too long! I am pleased to report that my lack of WISH Journaling does not reflect a lack of being on the proverbial wagon, proverbial track, or even the proverbial dirigible. OK - I admit, I've not been on the proverbial dirigible. I've been busy with Cabaret - last night was opening night and it went pretty well (Please pardon the slight Ohana Cross-post) :

No major injuries. One actor did get elbowed in the nose during the fight scene.....but he's OK! I forgot one thing - I didn't pull the embroidery hoop before the last scene change, so it made an unexpected appearance in the final Cliff's room scene. Not actually a very big deal at all. Actually, if I think about it, it kind of adds to the of that scene. The actors did a great job and the audience seemed to really enjoy it last night. Always nice when that happens!

Afterwards, there was a cast party at a local wine/coffee bar. I went in anticipating pizza. I had planned on one or two slices and maybe a beer. It was the end of my WW week, and I had flex points to burn! However, it wasn't that kind of pizza. It was a very thin, cracker-like-rosemary-heavy pizza, and there wasn't a lot of it to go around, so I had a beer and some pizza, but not as much as I was expecting to have. Oh well.

So I have managed to keep on task with counting up those WW points, had been getting in my regular workouts until about a week ago, when Tech Week hit with a vengence, and have lost now a grand total of 12 pounds since marathon weekend. Woo hoo.

Now that the show is open, things should start to ease a little bit. It's been crazy nutso, and even harder, I think, because I am still feeling some effects of the concussion. Sad to say. I do OK on my regular stuff, but trying to coordinate all those scene changes - many of which were almost exactly the same stuff, with one or two SLIGHT changes and different actors and techies bringing things out each time. Truly, I might have had a hard time remembering stuff regardless. I got it all down on paper, though, and just carry my cheat sheet with me at all times backstage.

OH, other news. I got something equivalent to the Body Bugg from the Biggest Loser. It's made by the same company, but is called GoWear Fit. It's been interesting seeing how many calories I burn in a day, how many steps I take in a day, etc. etc. One day last week, I had over 15,000! A normal, non-tech-week, non-running day would be more like 3,000.

And I promise, I have not forgotten about the rest of that 1/2 marathon trip report!

 

[corinnak]

Gack - where are the days going?

Tomorrow is my second Runniversary! I'm kind of getting pumped! Not sure what I'll do to celebrate, BUT not run, I'm afraid. Today is my run, tomorrow, my XT. So it goes. I'm just glad I didn't forget and miss it!

 

[bubba73]

Corinna!! Anybody here?? Hello?? Paging Corinna. Paging Mrs. Corinna. Just checking in as it has been a long while since anyone has posted here. How are things going for you? I heard that you and Liz had a pretty good time at WDW a couple of weeks ago. I am jealous because I have no idea when my next vacation will be, let alone my next trip to Disney will be.

Hope all is well!
Bryan

 

[corinnak]

Bryan! It is so very nice of you to stop by! Things are going along pretty well, all things considered. I am just grooving quietly along, you know?

Training for a 10K in less than 2 weeks, a 5 mile and 5K in May, and 10 miler in June. I ran 6 on Saturday morning. It was a cold, cold morning and I was in South Dakota, having left my fleece headband at home (for my ears) and thought about stopping by my dad's to see if they could loan me something, but opted instead to just keep going. My ears warmed up eventually and I ran 10K comfortably in 1:13. Which is about what I expected.

Working on another show. This time I'm not really fully involved, just helping out here and there as I can and as they need me. It's a little unconventional, but is still nice.

I am also pretty much on track in the food department. Just plugging along with the Weight Watchers online. Down 20 pounds since the half marathon, which is nice. Saturday, I put on my water belt for the first time since the half - I have done all of my runs indoors since January - and didn't wear the belt in the Challenge Obesity 5K (I did not take photos. I wrote a little report and posted it...goodness knows where. Ohana and BL Purple team thread, I guess. I could repost it here. Kind of funny. There was a wardrobe incident that caused me to lose some time while I stopped and fixed it. I ended up just under 33 minutes, which is not a PR, and the pace I was making, I did kind of feel like I was earning one. The clock disagreed, however. I couldn't make up for standing still, but it was still a great, inspiring race. They gave the lowest race numbers to the biggest losers, which was pretty cool! I have said it before and I'll say it again. I need some new race poses. This one is getting old:

I guess that's about all I've got for now!

 

[corinnak]

Oh, and I almost forgot - yes, I had a great time with Liz last month. She's so much fun, I can hardly believe it! Most of the nights we were at Jellyrolls were not as good as that night in January that you were there, though. That post-half-marathon vibe was in the air that night, I tell you!

 

[corinnak]

The first weekend of this show, "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" is over. I am running the follow spot but am going to miss next weekend because of the Groton Road Race!!! They'll manage without me somehow. Today was the last long run before the 10K. And it was the first time I ran my usual 6 mile loop in a LONG time, like before Halloween, long. Before the labradoodle incident of 2008, long. It's still a little bit chilly and I was running right at sunset. Gorgeous, gorgeous run. And so nice to be out in the world instead of stuck on a treadmill.

 

[bubba73]

Hey Corinna! Sorry for being MIA again. Work has been very hectic so my time on the boards have been less and less. I don't like that.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! on the 20 pounds! That is fantastic!! That, with the races, work and the family, I know you are really staying busy. I commend you for all that you are able to do and still jealous that I wasn't able to be down at WDW with you and Liz.

I do hope that you have a great time at the Road Race coming up. I know you will do well!

Anyway, I just wanted to stop by for a moment and let you know that I haven't fallen off of the planet just yet.

I hope you have a wonderful week!!
Bryan

 

[corinnak]

Neglect! Neglect! Neglect!

I can NOT believe how little I have touched this recently. Usually when I vanish, it means I'm off eating cake somewhere, slacking off on my training plan, right? Well, not this time. I think I've just put my fitness/diet/health writing elsewhere lately. Sad but true. I get my Kudos from Kim via IM or Facebook these days. I am following (though not always posting) the Team Ohana thread and the Biggest Loser challenge du jour. There's been some travel, some training, some racing. Things are going along and I'm in the groove, I'm just not documenting it here for some reason.

I had a great trip for the Groton Road Race, but a MISERABLE race with an underwhelming result. It was hot (85 degrees hot, which is bad after a cold, rainy Minnesota spring), it was hilly, it was sunny and I was not feeling at all right when I started. Oh yeah, and I went out too fast. Because I was at the back as it was and apparently, I have no patience for being left in the dust at the start. I'm going to need to develop some for these races with no walkers, because the fact is, in a race with walkers, I'm right around the middle of the pack. Without walkers, I'm doing well if I can stay out of the bottom 10. After mile 2, I thought to myself, "I wonder how I'll know if I should stop and get a ride back." And then I thought "Look, you can push it and DNF or you can smarten up, slow down, walk up the hills and hopefully finish." Which is exactly what I did. Even so, I ended up passing some people. The temp and the sun were hitting a lot of us hard that day. The best part of the race was when they had hoses set up with a sprinkler head up on a ladder and you could run under the spray. My finish was not at all the time I was hoping for, but given that in the last mile, I was thinking "Just one more mile and then I can collapse," I am just glad I managed to finish.

I also ran the Challenge Hearts and Minds 5K on Memorial Day. It was not a sub-30 - I came in at 31:04, which was good enough to win the Athena division (women over 145 pounds).

Next up, the 4th of July Paul Revere Run 10 mile. This is the race that when asked by my BIL 2 years ago if I was doing the 3 or the 10, I laughed at the idea of my running the 10 mile. Well, this is the year I'm going to give it a try!

Last night, I set out for my long run too late in the evening. It was dark, I ran farther out than I meant to and when I realized that I was so much farther away from home than I expected to be, it started to rain. I called my DH and had him pick me up about another mile and a half down the road. That is the first time I've called for a bail-out in 2 years of running, but I do not like to run in the dark (except at a Disney race when there are no headlights blinding me).

Oh, and the weight department - I'm still just going along with it. As of this week, 27 pounds since January. I just need to keep on in this same direction over the highly challenging summer. I seem to have a partner in crime now, though - my dear husband is also on the eating-right wagon, and hopefully working together, we'll stay on track this summer.

Finally, in my quest to be athletic, I have started doing the 100 push ups challenge program. I'm in week 2 now, and have been doing the REAL push ups, or "boy" push ups as I have been calling them. I may need to switch to "knee" push ups though as I'm not sure but I think the harder version may be too much for my lower back to take currently.

That's about it for now!

 

[corinnak]

I am back from a week in Virginia and Washington D.C. and let me just say - there is no easy way to travel and eat right. I feel like the food has been a real wild-card this week, and sometimes I did pretty well and sometimes, not the best.

Tomorrow's weigh in is a real mystery. Because even with all this going on, I FEEL big and bloated in some ways, in other ways, my shorts are falling down and just TOO big and when I switched to the smaller sized skort, I went down another belt hole - there is only one more to go and I need a new belt. not that I feel firmly in the 4th hole, but getting there. When I started, I could not even wear this belt. So that's pretty good.

I managed to get two runs in while I was away. The first was on Sunday morning, I ran about 3 rural/suburban miles in Charlottesville which included lots of hills, some chickens and a couple of mulberries, which we always had when I was a kid, but there just aren't any in this area. So that was a treat. The run finished up near a store called "Ultimate Bliss," which was, incidentally, closed.

The other run, I meant to do up in the Skyline Drive National Park. But it was raining so hard that morning and I didn't have the waterproof shoes or jacket, so I wimped out. Ended up doing an hour of intervals on the treadmill at the next hotel that night.

I also carried my 40 pounds of scrawny man-cub around Washington D.C. - his legs got tired and my DH had possibly underestimated the walking distances. It was also warmish, which did not help the kiddo.

I am going to head out for a run tonight - the 5 mile loop, I'm thinking, and cross my fingers for tomorrow's weigh in. It could seriously be up, down or stay the same. I just have no idea. It will be a relief to be back home where I can track normally and eat excellent foods.

Though truly, I had the BEST oatmeal ever. The hotel restaurant was called Art and Soul and had amazing steel-cut oats with dried cherries and cane syrup. Mmmm.

 

[corinnak]

In case anyone is still following along here at all....

I finally got my 30lb wish clippie! I was almost here once before and just couldn't get it together over the summer. This year is different.

I have a 10 mile race a week from tomorrow. It's a small race and because of the distance, will not have any walkers, nor even many runners much if at all slower than me. I am anticipating the possibility of my first DLF! My DH scoffs, but I continue to believe it is a definite possibility even if I do really well for myself. That's the way it goes when you're playing with the "big kids."

Funny story from my run the other morning. I was running along a residential street and suddenly I hear this heavy breathing up ahead. Out comes this probably 125 pound black lab. Just huge. And his friend as well. They were on an invisible fence and didn't come out of their yard, and settled down once they saw it was just a boring lady, but my goodness, that breathing!!

 

[kimwim8]

Hey C! I'm still here! Love the dog/heavy breathing story. hahaha

 

[corinnak]

Hi Kim! Great to see you over here in my much neglected journal!

It's been a wild and wooly summer with lots of racing and continuing on the WW path!



I'm cross-posting this little race report from the O'hana thread:

I had a good 10K on Saturday. My mother was along with me and was my official photographer.

When we arrived it was cold and looked like it might even drizzle a bit, so I opted for the shirt with sleeves and left my WISH singlet in the car.

It seemed like the right choice, but 15 minutes before the race was set to start, I decided that NO, that was the WRONG shirt and I needed to change. I jogged back to the car which was parked on the other side of the drawbridge, which was thankfully down again before I ran over it:

So I changed, nearly forgot my number in the car but then remembered and went back for it and arrived at the inflatable start arch with time to spare.

I could not believe how quickly the temperature had changed. There were lots of people at the start because the 5K and 10K were starting at the same time and were the same course for a the first 3 miles. Unfortunately, I was in the back and ended up behind some slow-to-start people, a couple of kids....a dog. Unfortunately, the did not have chip mats at the start, only the finish, so my chip time and my own clock time (as I went under the start) are off by about 30 seconds.

My mom situated herself down by the canal and got some fun pictures of me with the lighthouse in the back:

Shortly after this, the 5K group turned right and the 10K group turned left. Someone in front of me changed their mind about which way they were going after they'd turned toward the 10K route! So it's all a bit of a blur, but there was an out and back section between miles 4 and 5 and I counted 5 people behind me. Talk about a fast field - I was pushing the envelope the whole time and was 6th from DLF??? Around mile 5.5, I passed a couple of guys running in pants and ties. Mormon missionaries, actually. They passed me back, though, in the last 100 yards.

My mom also got a photo of me near the finish:

I finished in just 1:04:56, faster than I would have suspected I could manage! When I checked the official results, there are only 3 people who finished after me. Not sure if two people didn't finish or if they were 5Kers who were walking home after the race! The last person across the finish line had a pace of 11:35. Talk about playing with the "big kids." This was it, for sure.

 

[MomofCKJ]

Nice job my friend! And congrats on the 30lb clippie too! Woo Hoo!

Allyson

 

[corinnak]

Oh thanks, Allyson! It was quite a race. That clippie was a LONG time coming, and now I'm striving toward the 35. Next couple of weeks, I hope. I have .8 to go, but the way it's been going lately, I can't actually bet on it happening at tomorrow's weigh in.

 

[corinnak]

You heard it here first - I was pleasantly surprised this morning with a loss of 1.4 and my brand new clippie:

​

It was a bit of a surprise because I ate out four times including two BIG buffets and my long run got cut short - like 7 miles short- because Justin had gotten a splinter at camp and someone actually drove out to pick me up from my run! Goes to show, I guess, that it can be done even under the craziest of circumstancs.

 

[kimwim8]

CONGRATS on the awesome 10k and the 35 pound clippie!! I've always known you were a ROCK STAR!!!

 

[corinnak]

Wow! It's been a long time since I posted anything in here! I guess I've gotten involved in other places in the meantime: Team Ohana, Biggest Loser Challenges, and even the new Community portion of the Weight Watchers website!

I almost feel like I need to change the name of this journal at this point from I Just Want To Be Athletic - Is That So Wrong??? to I Just Wanted To Be Athletic.....And Now I Am!

2009 has been a great year for me. I feel like I finally got it all together, reached my WW goal weight (though I'm not quite satisfied at that number), ran 2 half marathons, two 10 mile races, 2 10K's and a handful of 5K's as well, including the elusive sub-30 5K once again earlier this month at the 2009 Jingle Bell Run!

I am now crosstraining as well as running. I have a friend that I meet at Bodypump on Monday mornings - I met her through a mutal friend at the Twin Cities 10 Mile and then we just showed up at this same class! I have been meeting another friend, for Spin classes on Wednesday mornings. Also earlier this month, I finally, FINALLY got my second degree Purple Belt in Kung Fu. I took a year off from those classes after my concussion.

Oh yes, and the concussion - I feel like I'm really back and fully recovered now. It only took....like, a year.

I'm really amazed that from May of 2007 to December of 2009 - a year and a half, and...people really do think I'm athletic! And not in a patronizing "athletic for a mom" or "athletic for someone of your size" kind of way, either.

I'm not the fastest runner. I'm not the strongest in Bodypump. And I'm certainly not the speediest spinner. But I'm always up for working hard. When I'm in a race and there's a big hill, I don't usually groan now, I am more likely to give a whoop of glee.

Right now, I'm looking forward to the 2010 Walt Disney World Half Marathon. I am looking forward to posting side-by-side photos of myself from 2009 and 2010.

 

[kimwim8]

You did it, girl. I'm soooo proud of you! You continually inspire me!


ETA: YAY for the new title!!!

 

[Twingle]

Yay you! Can't wait to see the pics!