Light at the end of the tunnel

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Weight loss....BLAH...

I haven't mentioned my anything about weight loss in a while. That's because nothing has really happened. Gain a pound, lose a pound, stay the same. I have been stuck for a month or so. I know that I haven't been counting my points as well as I had at the beginning and I know that I also need to get active more often. I am holding strong at -7.5 lbs but I would like to lost another 5-7 before Italy. This week, I am going back to make a "0 Point Veggie Soup" that was in my first Weight Watchers booklet. If if love vegetable soups, this is a great one. I will eat about 10 crackers with this (2 points) and sometimes a little something on the side. This is a great recipe if you want to keep your points down for the day! If this recipe isn't your style, you can find tons of other "0 point" soups out there like this one, or one with a Mexican, Asian, or Italian flair.Ingredients

• 4 cups spinach, washed
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 medium celery ribs, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 28 ounces canned no-salt-added diced tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, crushed

Put all of the ingredients in the crockpot on high for 5 hours. Make sure to remove the bay leaves!

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Top 3

On Sunday after the run, a few of us girls started talking about our "Top 3". You know, the 3 celebrities that your husband/boyfriend would "allow" you to cheat* with. It was really interesting to hear the all of the girls' and boys' Top 3 choices.

Without further ado, here's my Top 3 (in no particular order):

Gerard Butler:Oh...hello there, Gerry.I'm not even a facial hair kind of girl. Oh, Gerry....Taye Diggs:
Such a great smile...I love you, Taye. (Tell your wife hi...I love her too!)Ryan Reynolds:YOWZA....Uh huh....Does Mike know? Oh yes. He has to know in case one of these handsome men come into town and decide that they love me. Right?

Interested in Mike's Top 3? (Again, no particular order...)
Beyonce:Kim Kardashian:Leona Lewis:At least I know that he likes brunettes with curves, right?!

Do you have a Top 3? Does your husband? Do you know each other's Top 3?

*I am not condoning cheating. Cheating is not cool. Even with your favorite celebrities. I do not want to cheat on my husband. This post is for fun so please don't read into it. Thank you.

Don't forget, that you can ASK ME ANYTHING. I will work on answering those awesome questions starting next week!

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Best Day Ever!

Who would have thought that I would ever describe an experience that was centered around running as the "best day ever"?

We woke up bright and early on Sunday morning at 4:45 am. We put on our race attire, did a little stretching, and ate our bowls of oatmeal and PB&J sandwiches. (Funny side story...kind of. Mike realized as he was making breakfast that we only had 1 packet of oatmeal left. Then, he decided to make a PB&J and realized that we didn't have enough peanut butter for 2 sandwiches. We shared but the lack of food made me a bit nervous for him.) Before we left the house, I insisted that we had to snap a couple of pictures. You know, in case one of us died...We met over at Kate and Peter's house at around 6:00 to catch a ride with them. By the time everyone arrived and we were in the car, it was 6:30. I started to get nervous (I don't even know if nervous can best describe the anxiety that I had going into this day) that we would miss the 7 am start. We parked, hit up a port-a-potty, took the picture below, and started running toward the pace groups behind the START line. Lining up in that corral was really nerve-racking and the anxiety started kicking in again. At least we hadn't missed the start. Before I knew it, we were walking and eventually running across the start line. I could tell within minutes that this run was going to be different. The massive amount of people running at the same time was just incredible. Running down Broadway toward the Brewery, we were able to see an amazing sight. 17,000 were running down the street! My favorite part was only 1.5 miles in. Suddenly, across the street, the fast marathoners were looping back past us. They were only mile 4!

The first 6 miles of the course was wonderful. There was a small incline up Broadway, a few steeper hills through the Brewery and Soulard, and the big hill up Chouteau. Other than that, it was a pretty flat leg of the race. I heard that the other parts of the race had a lot more elevation changes so I guess I lucked out.

Before I knew it, we were at 6 miles and it was time to say goodbye to Mike. He was in great shape and surprising, so was I. Honestly, I have NEVER felt that good while running. I felt like I could keep going. I felt wonderful. I think I might have even smiled for most of the 6 miles. I said goodbye to Mike, met my relay teammate, Lynne, to pass on our timing tag, and she was on her way. I am not sure about official timing but my Garmin said that I ran 6.2 miles in 1:06. I was pretty darn happy with that. The atmosphere and the energy kept me going. All of the people around and the supporter just keep you going. It really is the coolest thing ever.

After about 30 minutes of walking around downtown, Kate and I found a good place to watch the finishers of the half marathon (right at mile 13). Our friends were rolling through and I was just waiting for Mike. We had no clue when he would be done but we guess between 2 hours and 2:30. At about 2:20, I saw this cutie running toward me.(The first thing that my dad said when he saw this picture is that he couldn't stop looking at the old lady who beat Mike. But that is the coolest part! There were so many older and larger people that were amazing runners. There was a man juggling and he was going faster than we were!)

I shouted and asked if he wanted me to finish with him. Earlier in the week when I asked him if I should meet him at mile 12 and finish with him, he told me no. But this day, he eagerly said yes so I jumped into the race and ran the last couple of minutes with him. I was so proud of him at that moment and I wanted to cry. After we crossed the finish line, I snapped another picture of my half-marathoner with his medal. Not looking too shabby for just finishing 13.1 miles, huh? Mike left to go back to Kate and Peter's to shower and change, while I met with with friends that finished the half. I had to wait until my relay team finished the whole marathon so we could cross the finish line together. It was such a beautiful day and I was so lucky to be able to meet us with friends and talk about the run.

At about 10:45, I got a text that our final relay member had started her run. We figured that we needed to line up to meet her at about 11:45. We stood at the top of the huge hill called Market Street and waited for our teammate to come. A few minutes later, we saw her coming up the hill. Our 4-person relay team rallied together to finish the marathon strong. We held hands crossing the finish line and were so proud of our time. When we first signed up, we had to guess a finishing time. We guessed 5 hours. Then after much discussion, we changed that finish time to 6 hours. I am proud to say that we finished the marathon in less than 5 hours! I think our time was 4:50ish. Here we are right after we got our medals...That's Tess, Kate, Me, and Lynne (Tess didn't get the memo about the blue shirts. Or putting on the medal. She does that sometimes.)

We ended the day back at Kate's for a bunch of food, drinks, and race talk. Nothing like mimosas to make you feel better after a long day... This day was really amazing. Inspiring. Wonderful. The best. I am SO proud of my friends, my husband, and myself. Only 7 months ago, my running journey began and I posted THIS about signing up for the Turkey Trot. At the time, I couldn't fathom running for 30 minutes straight. Reading through those Couch to 5K posts is fun...I really struggled. I still struggle and have bad days. But I would have never thought that 7 months later, I would be able to run for 66 minutes without stopping. NEVER. I want to run a half-marathon now. I know that it is going to be a big jump and a lot of work but I am ready for it. I am not sure which one I am going to sign-up for but it is in my future. Thank you for all of the people that have supported and encouraged me through this entire process. Thank you for all of you that ran on Sunday morning and inspired me to continue my journey. The running community is an amazing one and I am glad to be a part of it.

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Ask me anything!

I've never done this before but I enjoy reading random things about other bloggers. Mrs. Everlasting did it a couple of months ago so I thought I would give it a shot.

Now, I know that people might not be interested in my life and this may be a little self-indulgent. I just need a little blogging boost to get me back into the swing of posting regularly. So many of the blogs I read have fallen into a "theme". Babies mostly. Some photography. Some home renovations/decorating. Some running. My blog continues to be ever-evolving and ever-so-random. Don't see that changing anytime soon :)

Feel free to ask my anything in the comments. As long as the questions are appropriate, I will happily answer. This will be fun!!!

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Long time, no blog

Hello, my trusty blog readers. Thanks for sticking around and being patient with me.

On Tuesday night, I posted about a lost dog that my friend found. You (my awesome readers) posted my blog all over the internet (Facebook, blogs, Twitter, etc.) and helped find the doggie his forever home. On Wednesday, my blog was viewed a whopping 237 times. My girl, Jenn, stepped up to foster "Dozer" or "Walter" and through the wide world of Twitter, Jenn found him a home. This all happened within a few days! Huge thanks to Kate, Jenn, and all of YOU who helped to try and find this guy's parents and/or a happy home.

In other news, the big run is coming up. This Sunday, Mike will be running the GO! St. Louis 1/2 marathon and I will be running the marathon relay (6 miles). We wanted to put in our last long run this weekend but I only lasted 3 miles and Mike did 5. We were pretty disappointed compared to running 5.5 and 10 miles respectively last weekend. I had to stop because I was in A LOT of pain. My left hip hurt so much and I think I was compensating too much on my right side because I got a terrible shin splint at about 1 mile. Honestly, I can't believe that I made it to 3 miles. It makes me REALLY nervous for the run this weekend. But then I just think about my friends that are running the full and half and realize that I can do it. I won't die. (I tell myself that over and over while I am running.)

I know I am behind in my 12 weeks To Better Photography. I will get back on it this weekend and catch up. Mike is completely booked up on photo sessions for the spring and I get so happy to see how excited he is to start shooting. After the race, you will be seeing a lot of new sessions on the blog.

Weight loss hasn't been going so hot. Still holding strong at about 7.5 lost. I really want to hit 10 lbs in the next few weeks at at least -13 by the end of school. I guess that means that I need to get strict again on my points. Dear lord, why do I love to eat (and drink) so much?

The countdown to summer vacation has officially begun. Graduation. Italy. Mexico. NO SCHOOL. It is all on the horizon, my friends.

Because I don't like posts without pictures, here's one from Mike's birthday at Fast Eddies!

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