Something Is Wrong With My Heel & I'm Mad About It

Saturday, June 18, 2011

I got up in the middle of the night & had sharp pain in my heel. When I got back in bed I could run my finger on my heel & feel the place that hurt. Sort of like a lump or a callous.
This morning it is still hurting. I googled it. I guess I have a heel spur???
This is why I think it could be one:
1. The location of pain.
2. I increased my running this week by adding a 4th day but that 4th day was only 2 miles (although I also went on more walks than usual).
3. I wear junk flip flops every single day.
The only reason I think this may not be a heel spur is because I can see the exact place where it hurts. It’s not big or red or anything like that. It looks like a callous in the middle of my heel. Actually, if I didn’t have any pain & looked at that same spot I might not even notice it with my eyes.
This stinks! I was planning on doing 7 miles with hubby this morning. I am seriously bummed. It hurts so bad when I take a step & I don’t know how long it will take to feel good enough to walk, let alone run. Oh, this is bad. How did this just happen? I was fine all day yesterday & all night, but I wake up & ouch.
Have you guys had anything like this happen to you? Do I just wait it out?

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Remembering How to Lose

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

I was just looking over my Spark weight history report. Since January I’ve stayed between 124 -125 (I’m throwing out the low 122 from when I was sick & the high 130 from after my anniversary trip.)

It sounds like a plateau, but I know the truth. A plateau is what LISAINMS has been dealing with for 4 (or 5) months. She works her butt off & eats like a champ & has hardly anything to show for it. My work outs rock but my eating is not so inspirational. I splurge when I want, which is pretty much daily. Oh, every so often I get in the groove of wanting to lose these last 4/5 lbs but that groove pretty much goes away after about 4 days. This kind of behavior does not make a plateau.

Countless times this year I have said I was going to lose this last little bit but my head was not getting a strong connection with that little burning desire in my heart & belly. Eventually that desire would fade because I wasn’t nurturing it. I wasn’t able to put this together until HONESTME blogged about it a few weeks ago. I can workout & eat within my range but without my head & heart working as a team I am not going to get anywhere.

Why don’t I nurture that desire when it starts to show itself? Because eating what I want & maintaining has been easy. Because I view 124 as a respectable weight for myself. The desire to lose 4 little lbs wasn’t as strong as my desire for brownies, cookies, ice cream (insert whatever looks good here).

For the last several days that desire to lose this last bit has been trying to talk to my brain again. Instead of just jumping in without thinking about this & being all gun ho saying I’m gonna do it & it last only a short time, I’ve been letting the desire simmer. The taste needs to be embedded deep. I’m enjoying the ride. The anticipation. The thinking about how I can get it done. Wondering how excited I’ll be to see 120.x on the scale again.

Am I ready?
Will I stick to it this time?
Will seeing the scale drop to a place it hasn’t been in 9 months be motivation?
Will I enjoy maintaining 120.x? I don’t know but I’d like to find out. If it’s too hard I will have comfort in knowing that 124 is maintainable & enjoyable.
When my brain starts thinking about Oreos can my heart push the desire to meet my goals in front of the Oreos?

I’m looking at this like a book. In chapter 1 I lost 30 lbs. Chapter 2 I gained back 5 & kept it. This is chapter 3 where I lose that 5. Well, by today’s unofficial weigh in it’s only 3 lbs.
3 little lbs. Sounds like no big deal. A few weeks of dedication can get me there.

Guess I need to take down these “5” reminder signs I put up all around my work computer to try to motivate me to lose 5. I don’t need to look at a 5 anymore. That was from chapter 2 & today I started chapter 3. That worked out nicely: chapter 3 is starting off with my goal of losing 3 lbs.

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I Had Fried Chicken For Supper

Saturday, June 11, 2011

I'm sitting her Sparking & hubby asks "are you going to tell your Sparkfriends you had fried chicken for supper?"
BBWAAAAAA!!!!
Sure, I'll tell you guys. I just ate a piece of fried chicken.

BUT, my calories are still low. I'll also be eating popcorn later.
I'm laughing out loud. I hope you all see the ridiculousness in this.
Ok, now he's asking if I'll make him coffee. I guess my Sparktime is over.


Oh, yeah, I'm even with fried chicken, I WILL HAVE A NO GAIN WEEKEND!

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My Summer Slimdown Challenge Blog

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Good Morning, Friends!!

One of the great teams I am on is the Challenges For Sparkers With Lots To Lose team. There is a new weekly challenge & every now and then an extra weekend challenge thrown in, too. This week started the season long Summer Slimdown Challenge. One of the 6 categories for earning points is to post a blog that includes certain topics. So far I have hit 2 of those topics by mentioning the team name & Summer Slimdown.


But wait, there’s more!!

This challenge also includes listing 5 goals. Mine are:
1. Getting back down to 120.
2. Stay in calorie range 5 of 7 days a week.
3. Run a sub 30 5k (I did this in a race in April but that was a FLAT course. I need to be able do it on my normal route.)
4. Stretch at least 10 minutes 2x a week.
5. Hold a 60 second plank.
#’s 1, 2, 4, & 5 are going well. #3…I don’t know yet. I’m hoping the Garmin that’s on it’s way will help me with my times.
We are to pick one of our goals & if we meet the goal we get a reward. I’ve chosen #3. This is a BIG deal to me. It would be a major confidence booster. Anyway, my reward will be a Yankee candle.

Hold on, there is one more point I need to hit:
I updated my page. Notice the measuring tape? At the end of last year I made my #1 goal for 2011 getting my thighs under 20”. On 12/29/10 they were 20.5”. Today they were 20.75”.

What have I been doing? 2011 is half over & I’m further away from my goal than I was 6 months ago. It’s time to get serious.

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Race #5 – Heat & Hills/A Too Long Blog & Too Many Pictures

Monday, June 06, 2011

The Participants:
Me – you all know me.
Hubby Jay – as much as I talk about him, I think you pretty much know him, too.
Uncle Fred – age 49 & just started running this year. He’s a diabetic who lost 50 lbs this year with running. He’s also a former addict who, after being laid off from Chrysler, went to college & graduated last month. Today is his first day of work as a substance abuse counselor. Hooray!!!
Aunt Tammy – age 41. She & Fred run a lot together. But they aren’t married. They are married to my mom’s brother & sister. So, these guys aren’t blood relatives.
Becky age 13 & Brianna age 16. These are my daughter’s friends & this was their first race. Becky is the one who snuck out of the house with Nat when she spent the night a couple of months ago. Their dad is the muscle man I’ve recently mentioned.

The 10k Race:
Fred & Tammy ran the course last week & said it was VERY hilly. I wasn’t worried about it but I did spend 30 minutes Monday running up & down a big hill. I thought I was prepared. I thought I had some decent hills in my town on my usual 3 & 4 mile routes. Let me tell you I WAS WRONG. My hills are babies. They are mole hills.
The first 2.5 miles was all uphill. Some parts were steep, some not so steep but it was ALL uphill. The last 3.5 was a combo of steep downhills & short steep uphills. It was crazy. Really. Oh, & it was a record setting hot day. After the race we passed a bank’s sign that said 106.
(Last Saturday I did 7 miles. At mile 6 my time was 64 min. I figured I would naturally speed up during the race but since it was a hilly course I would slow down, those 2 would cancel each other out. SO, I hoped to finish around 64 min. I was way off.)
Continuing….
Before the race started my heart rate was pretty high. This is something I do not like about myself. I think I’m calming down with each race, but it is still working against me. I walked waaaay more than I wanted because I could see it was so high. I’m wondering if I should not have the HR showing on the screen during a race & just run even when it’s high. I don’t know. It’s frustrating. My legs were fine after the race. I definitely didn’t put any stress on them with all that walking. What did bother me that afternoon were the tips of my toes – from the steep downhills!
This race didn’t have people on the streets cheering like most races do. I did see 1 sign. It was big & pink & said “GO TAMMY”. I knew it was for my Tammy. She is from the town this race is in. Anyway, I got all teary eyed over it, LOL.
BUT, we did have our own little group of cheerleaders. My aunt Julie (Fred’s wife), took my kids & my uncle Casey (Tammy’s husband) & their kids to a parking lot & waited for all of us to pass them. Julie is the best! I forgot my camera, but she took tons of great pictures - even of Natalie’s friends, who she doesn’t know.
There were 77 participants.
Jay came in at #38 1:01:59
Tammy at #47 1:05:14
Becky & Brianna – I don’t know their times but they came in right after Tammy. Becky was the only girl 13 & under so she got a 1st place medal and Bri was 2nd in her group.
Fred at #51 1:07:04
Me at # 63 1:11:25

The only boy in the 13 & under group came in last. Everyone lined the street to cheer him as he crossed the finish line. It was beautiful. Of course, another teary moment for me. Nat said she saw his parents helping him take off his socks & shoes & his feet were swollen. What a trooper!

The t-shirts they gave us are really cute. Charcoal grey with white lettering. The front has one of those Pegasus foots with the wings on it. It’s definitely my favorite race shirt. I was so sweaty after the race I changed into it for the 40 min drive home. If I would have wrung out the shirt I was wearing, sweat would have been pouring out of it. It was so heavy with sweat – YUCK! I need to get shirts with less cotton for running in this heat.

Then, I had a wedding to go to help with that afternoon. Again, more tears! It was so beautiful. I had to stand for hours in heels, but still, my legs were fine.

I’d like to take a moment & compare this to my other 10k.
That race was horrible. I hated every step I took. I had an IT band injury & didn’t know it. I was pushing myself to run when I shouldn’t have been. I cried & was in pain for 2 weeks leading up to it & a few days after. I walked probably close to ½ of that 10k, my very first race. I was only 6 minutes slower on that awful day than I was at this race. Um, that’s not good. What was good is that I completely enjoyed this race. No ITBS trouble. No aches or pains. Just slow.

Before I get to posting race pictures, I want to tell you about Friday. After work we went to a friend’s house to swim. Before leaving home I was in a rush to get my suit on (NOT the bikini – that’s for hubby & Sparkfriends only). I was thinking about how great it was not to feel the need to check the mirror & nit pick myself. I was having great confidence.
THEN, I see the pictures of me from the next morning – race day. Ug. All I see when I look at these are my big thighs & bad posture. I have come a long way, but the work is not over. This is not the way I picture myself nor want to be seen. I have got to lose these pesky 5 lbs & maybe more. We’ll see.

Here are Jay & I taking off from the back of the pack. Nice & slow. He said he talked to they guy in the orange & he was a local policeman. I did finish before him :)


This is our cheering section minus aunt Julie taking the picture. That's my gorgeous girl standing up, my little guy making a silly face, my 2 cousins, & my uncle - Tammy's husband.


Here is Jay coming up(hill) to them.


You can call me Sweaty Betty...


...or Big Booty Betty.


Jay & Seth waiting for me to finish. It's going to be a long wait.


Here's a great picture of Fred getting ready to cross the finish line.


And here I come.


Almost to the finish - trying to be fast.


A family of 10k finishers!


Me with my bad posture & weird look.


Tammy, Julie, & Fred.


Becky & Brianna looking super cute standing in front of the winners boardwith their names on it. That's me to the left scratching my leg.


OK! That's probably more pictures than you wanted to see, sorry!! I had a hard time leaving some out. I told you Julie took a ton of good ones!

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