My First 5k

I have always been decidedly anti-running. I have mercilessly and gleefully mocked those strange creatures who seem to enjoy running for the mere sake of running. But after Benjamin was born I decided to prioritize getting back in shape (relatively speaking) and took up running as the cheapest option. I try to do workout videos at home but I often find it difficult to commit the time because I get easily distracted by other things around the house and if I even so much as attempt to do a sit-up, I have at least two children trying to crawl on top of me. So running was the next best option. After my parents bought me a jogging stroller, I found a few great trails nearby that I could run on and have been running (or to be more accurate, walking) at least two or three times a week since March. The kids enjoy riding in the stroller (and I fill them up on a lot of snacks) and I've been listening to a ton of podcasts. (Pop Culture Happy Hour is my favorite, if you were wondering.) 

So a few weeks back, a woman in my ward posted about an early bird turkey trot with options to do a 5k, 10k, 15k, or half marathon and wondered if anyone wanted to join her. And forgetting decades of mockery, I decided to sign up. 

Angie, Alisa, me, Kim, Zoie, Michelle, Angela, Jill

There ended up being eight of us on race day. Here we are before the race. Four of us did the 5k--including one girl who is 32 weeks pregnant--and four did the 10k. And since I'd never done a race before, I got my best time! But really, I did finish faster than I have in my other previous practice runs. After the advice of a friend who does marathons, I decided to run intervals--run three minutes, walk one minute--and my time drastically improved. I finished in just under 31 minutes, running an average of 10:15/mile. Before, I'd been doing about an 11 minute mile.  

Here we are at the finish line. You can see that my hair is pretty crazy now. Afterwards we went out to brunch at a local cafe. The service was a bit spotty but the food was delicious. I got the eggs benedict because that's become my litmus test for whether or not a restaurant has a good brunch. And they brought us some of their homemade donuts which were delicious. So all in all, I enjoyed my very first 5k and I may just be persuaded to do it again. 

The Biggest Loser: Wife Edition

As a member of America's finest branch of the military--the Navy--David is required to attend physical training twice a week in order to pass his physical fitness test twice a year. Although he tries his best to get out of it whenever possible, David normally attends PT every Monday and Wednesday after work and always comes home tried, sweaty, and spotted with Hawaiian red dirt. Normally, I send him off to the shower as soon as he arrives home in such a state, but after watching the fourth season of The Biggest Loser and getting into the current season, I've been feeling compelled to get more active and stay in better shape. Plus my doctor told me on multiple occasions that birthing babies is a whole lot easier if you have strong stomach muscles so I'd like to work on that. So last week, after David came home from PT, I had him lead me in a mini-PT and let me just say that 1) I am very sore; 2) I am not cut out for the military; and 3) I think David is trying to kill me.

It's not like we did much. We went on a short run (but I've never been much of a runner so I find even short distances painful) and then David made me do sit-ups, push-ups (girly ones at that), lunges and other equally difficult and painful exercises that caused many sore muscles and intense hatred for David's encouraging words like "You can do it!" and "I'm not even working you that hard!" Hopefully, as we continue wife PT, I'll get stronger and in better shape because apparently, I've really let myself go.

In high school and all growing up, I was really active. Like incredibly active. I played soccer, did track and field, attempted to dive, joined the color guard (which despite all appearances is actually quite physically demanding), and spent a lot of time on the go. I never really paid attention to my weight (I can't even tell you how much I weighed in high school) or what I ate, but staying so active allowed me to eat whatever I wanted and not really worry about it. By my senior year, I had slowed down in my activity level, but not in my eating, and I never considered the need to find other activities to keep me in shape. While at BYU, I became very body conscious, for the first time. I made feeble attempts at running, getting active, and playing sports but it was always intermittent and I definitely gained weight. By the time I moved to Monterey to live with my sister (who finds running SO MUCH FUN!!!!), I had embraced my laziness and the extra pounds. I wasn't fat by any standards and I figured getting in shape wouldn't be that hard.

Then I moved to DC. I didn't have a car and I relied on public transportation and my own two feet to get me around. I walked everywhere. DC is a very walkable city, which I love. Plus, I could work out in GW's gym for free and, since they had nice facilities, I started to go to the gym at least once a week. So in between walking miles and miles every day and going to the gym to do an easy workout that generally consisted for 30 minutes on the elliptical machine and 30 minutes of weight lifting and muscle toning, I dropped about 20 pounds in the space of 4 months. And I didn't even notice until I came home for Christmas and everyone started telling me I looked skinnier.

So when I got married, I once again forgot that in order to stay the same size and to fit into all the new clothes I had bought, I'd have to eat better and stay active. And that sort of didn't happen. (I blame David. He never eats enough of the cookies, cakes, and brownies I bake. Loser.) Anyway, after two days of military training, I've also come to realize that even losing weight didn't mean that I was in better shape. I did very easy workouts in DC and in 30 minutes, David manage to beat me down into a tired and sweaty mess. So yes, I am a whimp.

My goal is to fit in my wedding dress for as long as possible. My mom used to put her wedding dress on every year on my parent's anniversary and for years, even after a few children, she still fit into it. (My mother was 105 pounds when she got married.) And since I'm absolutely in love with my wedding dress, I hope that I can stay fit enough that I'll be able to wear my dress when I'm 35. Here's to hoping that in a few months, I'll be back in shape, can run at least a mile without wanted to faint, and can bust out the non-girly push-ups without my arms quivering in shame.