Another 5k done

Another 5k day and another medal on my board :)

I recently started following PumpkintoPrincess on twitter, and I must confess I'm a little jealous of her, as she does Disney races, and the medals are awesome. If I lived closer I would so be taking part on a regular basis. Maybe one day I'll get to participate in one.

Anyway...  Amy is currently raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (great job Amy) and is training to run the Nike Half Marathon in DC next April. As part of her fundraising she is hosting a virtual Turkey Trot - you get to choose the distance you want to run and for a small donation ($20) you get a medal. I've just checked and she still has some medals left so it's not too late to sign up and help a great cause, you can sign up here http://www.pumpkintoprincess.com/2012/11/virtual-turkey-trot-to-benefit-leukemia.html

I decided to make my a virtual 5k, so I got up early this morning and decided to do three laps of my neighborhood. What I was expecting was it to be so cold today - it was 8/46 degrees out, at first I thought this was good and would make me walk (yes im still not jogging) faster, how wrong I was. My body was too shocked by the cold and my lungs weren't too impressed. You would think being an asthmatic I was prepared, but alas no I left my inhaler at home. So the first lap of the neighborhood I was wheezing away and felt like I was dying, I thought about quitting and going home but instead I changed my route and stuck to the flat streets instead of the planned hills, it took me about 30 minutes to get my breathing back to normal, but I did it and I completed the 5k, and by the time I was home I didn't even need my inhaler.

It took me a whole hour to complete the 5k with a 19.21minute mile, so no records broken today, but I did also burn off 523 calories. Not sure what the scales will be showing tomorrow as I ate lots of food on the go again the last few days!

 












My medal rack is looking good now with 4 medals, and I look forward to adding my Awesome 80's one to it next weekend. Although not looking forward to the early morning start, I will definitely be wrapping up warm and taking my inhaler. Maybe I should have made my first ever 10k in the warmer months! I guess it's all training for my trip back home to England at the end of the month.

For those of you who haven't yet entered you still have 1 day left to enter my Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil giveaway.

Post Vacation Weigh In

Did you miss me?

I've had a very busy two weeks with my sister in law and two nieces. We did something everyday, and had so much fun. Especially at Disney - despite the fact my iphone managed to wipe most of my photos :( 

I was pleasantly surprised on Monday morning to only see a gain of 2.2lbs. I was expecting more. We did do lots of walking whilst they were here, but food choices weren't great. We ate out a lot and on the go, my body was certainly craving fruit and veg! I would say in the last two weeks I probably didn't even eat 10% clean. My eczema has also flared up really bad as a result of the bad food choices (far too much dairy). But I had lots of fun and made lots of fantastic memories so that's what matters the most.

I am now back on track and all the candy and unclean food has left my house. Salmon and roasted veg planned for tonight. This morning was protein pancakes with banana.

I signed up for another race the other day, its a virtual Turkey Trot race and you can chose the distance, I'm going to make it a 5k, and plan to do it this Sunday, will probably do it alone and see if I can make it a new PR, as the dogs slow me down too much. The virtual race is being hosted by Pumpkin to Princess and you can sign up here http://www.pumpkintoprincess.com/2012/11/virtual-turkey-trot-to-benefit-leukemia.html?spref=tw  There is even funky medals to go with it. I then have my Awesome 80's 10k (fingers crossed the weather is nice) the following Sunday - I think hubby has forgotten about it, so don't remind him!!

Only 23 more days until I fly to England which I am super excited about, which means only 3 more weigh ins. Monday I was back up to 271.8lbs, I would like to try and reach my 40lbs loss and be at 265lbs before I fly - so watch this space.

Oh yeah - nearly forgot. Yesterday I reached 100 days of being soda free - Go Me :) Bring on the next 100 days. I'm still thinking of what else I can give up, but haven't decided on anything yet.

Also you have 5 days left to enter my Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil giveaway.

Have a great week
Sarah xxx

Run the Hood virtual 5k

Today we participated in the Zombie Dash 'Run the Hood' virtual 5k  We walked around Lake Temescal (3 times). It took us 1hr 25mins, but we did have two dogs with us stopping to sniff and 4 yr old Ebbie who did really well and walked the whole distance. It was a gorgeous morning and a lovely walk around the lake.

I now have another medal on my medal rack :)

Dirty Girl Mud Run

Yesterday Lisa and I took part in the Dirty Gun mud run at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. It was a 5k  mud run and obstacle course, we had to climb over bales of hay, climb over a huge cargo net, climb over an inflatable hill, crawl through mud pits, climb over walls, the list goes on it was lots and lots of fun and we got really dirty. As you can see from the photos.

Running, running, running

Well more walking, walking, walking :)

So far this year I have taken part in four  5k races, all of which I walked.

June 20th I took part in the Summer Virtual 5k, which I did on my treadmill. My time was 59:57

July 11th I took part in the Do Life 5k in San Francisco. My time was 54:02.

July 14th I took part in the Color Run in San Francisco. My time was 1:02:42 

September 16th I took part in Dani Ryan Holmes-Kirk virtual 5k which I did my walking around Lake Temescal. My time was 58:24

Today I signed up for two more races. So my racing calendar (which is also a nice purple widget to the side of my blog  >>>>>) is

October 27th Dirty Girl Mud Run which is a 5k with obstacles in San Jose

October 28th Virtual Zombie Run the Hood 5k which I plan to do around Lake Temescal

November 18th Awesome 80's 10k in San Francisco - this will be my first 10k.

December 29th Brazen New Years Eve 5k around Lake Chabot

January 1st Brazen New Years Day 5k around Lake Chabot - I think this will be a great way to start 2013. Also by completing the NYE and NY day runs we get this funky medal

At the moment I am walking all my 5ks, due to my slipped discs my Dr told me to avoid the impact of running, but I am hoping with some practice and training, that I will be able to start at least jogging part of my 5ks and hope to bring my time down considerably in 2013. I also plan to set myself a goal of completing a 5k each month in 2013.

Seeing as I am about to get a nice collection of medals, I have decided to order a bib and medal holder. I plan to purchase this one in purple or at least ask Santa or the birthday fairy for it :) 
http://www.runningonthewall.com/product/RUN-girl_bib_and_RUNNING-medals_medals_display.html#.UGTh3rTuttA

So far this year I have received one medal which was from the Dani Ryan Holmes-Kirk race which looks pretty cool, but it also needs some friends.

I look forward to sharing my walking/jogging adventures with you all.

Week 27

Last week seemed to go really quickly, it only feels like yesterday that I was doing my weekly update blog post.

I completed two 5k's this week - the Do Life and The Color Run, both were lots and lots of fun, and I also set a new PR for 5k doing the Do Life run, but was nowhere close on The Color Run as the course made it a lot slower, especially stopping to get colored every kilometer.

Numbers wise, I tracked Monday to Thursday 100% then TOTM arrived and it all went out of the window and I didn't track and as a result of that I had a gain of 0.2lbs, which I think I am very lucky to have had as I was expecting a lot more. My total loss is now at 10.4lbs.

Step wise this week, you would have thought I would have beat my 65034 steps from last week after doing two 5k's - but I guess I was super lazy on the other days. It was very warm so I wasn't doing the usual long dog walks this week. My steps came in at 61097 for the week. My very active % was more this week, but other than that the numbers were pretty poor :( Want to really try hard this week and make it to a minimum of 70000 steps.

 Lots planned for this week, so should be kept active and away from the kitchen.

Have a great week everyone

Do Life 5K

Last night I took part in a 5k  that was part of the Ben Does Life tour. For those of you who haven't heard of Ben, check out his blog - it's very inspirational. It was a great experience meeting him and everyone else last night.

My walking (yes I didn't run!) buddy for the 5k was Marisol We walked along the Embarcadero in San Francisco and it was a nice evening, warm in places and rather cool in the shade AND extremely cold later on in the evening!!

Photos are courtesy of Marisol

Looking rather windswept!

The half way turn around point

Merchandise :)

The gorgeous view of the Bay Bridge as we left the city

I started using the Nike + GPS app in January, and used it last night and apparently it was a new record time for a 5k - go me :) 17'22" minute mile. So I now have something to work towards :) I imagine the upcoming Color Run 5k for this Saturday will be a lot slower, as there will be a lot more people, plus we will be getting covered in color!! Photos will be posted later on Saturday of all the action.

Week 26

Happy Monday everyone - not that there is much left of today!

My one target for this week was to attempt to beat my total step count from two weeks ago which was 77686. I failed :( my week started off well, but then slowed down as the week went on, and two days I never hit 10,000 steps, as a result my total steps for the week was 65,034, which was more than last week, but not the target I had planned for. I did climb a lot more floors this week, the reason being I have set myself a new rule, those of you who have been to my house will know it has lots and lots of steps. So I now park my car in the garage instead of out front and walk up the steps (i really should count how many there are!) each time, this includes with shopping, the other day it took me four trips to bring all my shopping in from the car - it felt good though.

Tracking wise, I tracked 100%, and used up 30 of my 49 weekly points - mainly when I went out for an Indian meal on Friday - which was so good (which reminds me I must go and write some yelp reviews). I didn't earn any activity points this week as other than walking I never did any extra exercise. The results from all my excellent tracking was a loss of 2.6lbs this week - which I was very pleased with and that now takes my total loss for this year to 10.6lbs.

This week I am taking part in two 5k runs (well I'll be walking!) with Marisol (@missmarisol) The first one is the Do Life run in San Francisco on Wednesday evening, and the second one is The Color Run in San Francisco on Saturday morning (bright and early) where we will get covered in color (and take lots of photos). So I will definitely be clocking up a few extra steps this week.

Have a great week everyone xxx

Virtual Summer 5k

A few days ago I was on twitter catching up on a few posts and I saw that someone had signed up for a virtual 5k run via Running, Loving, Living you could choose to do 5k or 10k or both and you could walk, jog or run. So I thought why not. Also the good part is there are prizes, everyone who takes part gets put into the draw for the super cool prizes. I did a few virtual 5ks a few years back and thought it would be good practise for the two 5k walks Im doing next month.

I planned to go out to a nice quiet, flat location to complete the 5k, but it was quite warm outside today so I decided I would face the treadmill!! For those of you who don't know, last month I was on the treadmill and fell off, and twisted my knee and back, and I haven't faced it since, so I wasn't overly keen on getting back on. I decided to keep it at a nice steady pace, no attempting to run like I did last time, so I stayed between 3 and 3.5 mph, the first mile was really easy, then I started to find it harder, what didn't help is the fact the sun started shining through the window on to me and the treadmill, but I wasn't going to get off to close the blinds, so I carried on. The last mile was the hardest and I thought I was never going to see the display say 3.11 - but it eventually did, and it felt so good to have done it.

Not sure if it was because I was in the sun or just I was working hard, but I don't think I've sweated so much in my life. Don't worry I drank a liter of water whilst on the treadmill and plan to go and drink some more now.

So my finishing time, which was a bit slower than I would have liked, but I do find I'm slower on the treadmill in general anyway was 59 mins and 57 seconds, so I just broke the hour :) This will now be my target to beat for the two 5k's next month.

Proof I ran 3.11 miles (5k) in 59 mins 57 secs

It was a hard, sweaty workout!

Thanks to Running, Loving, Living for hosting the challenge, and I'll let you all know if I win anything. Just a shame I don't have a medal to show for my efforts :(