Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Princess Half Marathon update!

I am now a Half Marathon finisher! I am very excited to tell you all about it, but also still very tired! I returned yesterday around 530pm, and was in bed at 10pm. I am still trying to catch up and not be so tired so I will do my best to update you each day for each day of my trip, although the day of the half might talk two days!

I just finished uploading my pictures, all 359 of them to my computer! Then I went through them all, deleted some, then uploaded some more from my phone! haha! I want to upload them all to snapfish and facebook, but that will have to wait! I am just going to change my profile picture just to change it up!
 
Here is one my favorite photos from the trip!
Below is another great shot!
I hope MarathonFoto got this one, I found that I was blinking in this one from my camera! So I am hoping it comes out better from MarathonFoto!
 
Well that is it for today! Tomorrow I will give you my update from my first two days, including the Princess Half Marathon Meet-up!!
 
-Stephanie
"A dream is a wish you heart makes"

Monday, February 18, 2013

Princess Half Meet Up!!!

"Congratulations! You are among a select group of qualified applicants who get to enjoy a special opportunity tied to Princess Half Marathon Weekend at Walt Disney World Resort."


Thats right, this Friday I will be among 50 other participants in the RunDisney Princess 1/2 marathon meet up!!! Eeek! I am over the moon!
Thanks to my friend Nicole, with whom I am traveling with, we got in! If it wasnt for her, i think I would be in a bummed out mood!

Anyways, as excited as I am, I am also beating off a cold. It started on friday with a sore/scratchy throat and stuff nose. I have been blowing my nose non-stop since saturday and sunday, which i see as a good sign. I hate it, but at least my body is getting it out of my system. I plan on picking up some mucinex to help kick it out even faster seeing how I leave on Thursday, bright and early!!

This weekend, while having a cold I also finished my costume for the half! Well...not completely. But here are a few photos...and this is all you get to see until Race Day photos are up!
A flower for my hair!


The costume as a whole


my little guppy...Flounder!
 
 
All I need to do now is add some sequins/glitter and maybe some pearls to my shells and I will be all set!! I need to figure out what to do with my hair, I want something cute, but something that is easy to do at 2am or so! haha.
 
-Stephanie
Fairytales do come true

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Let the countdown begin!!!

A week from tomorrow I will be running in the 5th Anniversary Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon!!!! I cant believe how close it is!

I want to apologize for my absense!
First off I have to confess my bad behavior...I ran 10 miles two weeks ago, and then I didnt go running again until this past Tuesday, on the treadmill. Then I didnt get back to the gym until friday, I ran a 5k on the TM and did some strength training.
While at the gym on friday I decided to do a make up trial. I would not only like to feel my best during the race, but also look my best. So I recently purchased some waterproof mascara from Mary Kay and decided to give it a try!
So here is a before:

                                    

And After:
Looks pretty good! You can tell I was sweatin with the slicked back hair, haha! But I like to wear eye liner too, but that tends to smudge easily, so i might need to research some sort of waterproof eyeliner...

Also, if you have been hearing the news, last weekend us New Englanders received quite the storm!
Here are a few pictures before shoveling at my place in Massachusetts!


 
Insane right!??? Rich and I had to go out three different times to shovel. The first time when our landlord arrived thinking he would plow out where we park, but he only plowed the driveway and as close as he could to our cars. Then he proceeded to say "I will come back later, just to give you guys some time to shovel around your cars"......7 hours later he came back. So before he came back we went back out for some more shoveling, then when he finally came back we were able to get out, let him plow and be done! Not what I wanted to do with my Friday, but hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do!
 
 
Now for a costume update!
So tutu is just about complete, I believe I shared a picture of when it all started, but now sequins have been added, although it doesnt show well in the photo below, but when it is complete you will see better! But I still need to add one more important detail as well as sewing it off in the back. I also ran into a little trouble with my top! I found this tank top from Old Navy Active that would be perfect and was the perfect shade of purple. I order it online, since its not available in stores, I get it in, and it is way too tight! Bummer! I just received it this week, so I didnt want to take the risk of ordering another one in a bigger size and not getting it in time to complete the whole costume for when i would like!


 
So then I was on the hunt for some sort of top. All the active tops I have found are to dark of a purple than I would like. So I ended up settling on a very thin/light cotton tee. I am not excited about the cotton, but I figure I should be ok because it is such thin material! I think it is more of a light gray/purple color. I know it will still look adorable, but not what I had built up in my head! But I cant wait to finish it all tomorrow and share it will all of you!!
 
As the countdown continues I hope to be up to date on here every day with my preperations! I have many to do lists that all have the same things on it, I have packing lists and many other things to prepare! Let it all begin!
 
-Stephanie
"When you upon a star. Makes no difference who you are. Anything you heart desires, will come to you"


Monday, February 4, 2013

Hitting the Double Digits!

This weekend was the weekend I was going to reach my goal. 10 MILES.
I was hoping to get out there on saturday. My sister in law lives about 15 minutes away, and is in a better area of more sidewalks and safer run areas. So I figured I would just drive over there and run out there. But then the Hubby and I planned on going over there to visit with them and our neice. So I decided to wait until Sunday...yes I know, Super Bowl Sunday!

Anyways so we went, we visited, ate dinner and it was all good.
It was pretty cold on Saturday too, well it felt a bit warmer than the temperature said it was. Which made me wish I had gone on my run on Saturday rather than Sunday.

So I got up on Sunday, had my coffee and some breakfast, let it process in my system...then I was off to my sister-in-laws to park, stretch and hit pavement!

I also thought I would give an energy "supplement" a try. So last friday I picked up some Honey Stinger waffles and also thought I would try the chews as well.

I would have to say both are good in taste. I tried the strawberry and chocolate waffle, and the pomegranate passion chews. I saved the chocolate waffle for after my run. What I liked about the waffles was it started a little chewy then almost melted a little in my mouth and was yummy! The chews were a little gooey as chews tend to be, but still good. But I found that I would feel more of a boost after having the waffles. But when I would have the chews, my tummy would kind of feel funny, like I ate and ran to close together. It would go away, but I would feel a bit sluggish, and eventually be fine.

So with my run on its way...all to quickly did I begin to feel tired and not ready for this. But this was under 3 miles, which is how I normally feel under 3 miles and I know there are many more to go. Once I got past mile 3-4 I was pretty good.
What was hard was some of the hills...but I needed some hill work, even though I walked most of them, but that is part of it. It was also the weather. The temperature was suppose to be a bit warmer than Saturday, but then on Sunday it definitely felt and seemed colder! There were flurries throughout the run..and all I could see for most of it was my breath! The weather also seemed to fluctuate. There were times when it wasn't bad at all, then it would get really cold and I could see my breath!

But I made sure that I was layered! the only part of my that wasn't layered were my legs. I wore long compression pants that I find the be on the thin side for running on 25-30 degree weather. I probably should have worn some kind of tights maybe underneath.

So I pushed through and made it to 10 miles! I kept my pace at an overall average pace between 12-13 minutes. There were times throughout the run that my pace was almost at 14, but I figured as long as in the end I had a pace under 13 minutes I would be happy!
I really try not to focus to hard on my pace. What is important is that I do it and finish. And I did. But I am also trying to maintain a good pace for the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon coming up in  few weeks!
 The Countdown stands at 17 days and 1 hour!!! 
In also thinking about running in the race, I was originally going to run with my phone for my music and GPS. But in doing so I will have no battery left for the use for the rest of the day. So I decided to just forgo the phone during the race and use my ipod. So I figured I would update my ipod and add music and create a playlist. So I hooked up my Ipod to my computer and all of a sudden there was no music on it! I don't know if it is because I had my computer fixed and pretty much wiped, so then it had no memory for my Ipod. But I was all flustered and annoyed because I had purchased a bunch of music, plus since i cleared my computer I didn't have any music on it either. So now over the next few days I have to add music from all my cds...well not all, and then add them to my Ipod. I also finally updated my Itunes on my computer and have the cloud on it so I was able to get access to all the music I purchased in the past. So my living room is a bit of a mess...or more of a mess than normal. (sorry that was more of a rant)
 
Anyways, so now with only 17 days to go, I need to plan accordingly! There is a 10k coming up on the 9th that I am contemplating and probably should do. If I can get another time improvement that could help me with my corral placement at the half marathon. I have a good time from my last one, but it could be nice if I improved by a couple minutes or so. I just get nervous of being last, not that I dont like coming in last, but being left behind because I am so much farther back than the 2nd to last person. So for now I emailed the contact for the race and explained my concern. So we shall see what kind of answer I get!
 
I will report back as soon as I can!
 
-Stephanie
 
p.s. weight update!
Biggest Loser update!
10/22/2012 - 171 lbs
10/31/2012 - 167 lbs
11/5/2012 - 168.5 lbs
11/13/2012 - 165 lbs
11/19/2012 - 165lbs
11/26/2012 - ??
12/03/2012 - 163lbs
12/10/2012 - 164 lbs....ok ok...I know, up 1!
12/17/2012 - 160.5 lbs
01/01/2013 - 158.5lbs  First weigh in of the new year and broke 160lbs!!

Although the competetion at work has ended I am going to continue to weigh in, and we have the same scale at work which helps to keep it consistent.  I did have another fitness consultation with the new fitness director, and although I have lost 10+ pounds my body fat % has not changed in comparison to muscle weight or whatever it is. I think I got a little lost in the chat, but I am still happy with my weight loss and my healthier eating habits.
Thats all I have to saw about that.