Running Wish List

If you've been reading some of my blogs, you know by now that I'm a runner. Not a week goes by that I don't lace up the ol' sneaks and pound pavement. Could be a couple miles...could be 10 miles. I don't do it just because it helps me lose weight. I do it because I enjoy it. I actually love running.

When I'm running I get to pick what I'm listening to, whether it be my favorite songs, an interesting book or just the sound of my own two feet. I don't have to...have my hair up in a regulation bun, wear make-up, wear issued camo with heavy boots, depend on someone else to run, please anyone else, take orders, give orders, make my loved ones happy, or spend bookoo bucks to do it. It takes me, running shoes, spandex and a nice trail and I'm happy. I'm free. I'm healthy. I'm happy.

With all that said, I like to participate in races. It gives me an opportunity to push myself and earn some cool tees and medals. Here's my running wish list for the next 7 months!

Oct 20, Apalachicola FL - 50k (31.7 miles)
This will be the farthest I've ever ran before. Luckily I have a four month training plan to follow so I hope I'm prepared enough!

Nov 28, Seaside FL - 10k Turkey Trot
My husband and I did our first Thanksgiving Day run with his parents and Zeus in 2011 and we loved it! Last year I was alone here, so I didn't feel much like doing anything. This year we'll be ready to reignite this tradition!

Jan 12 or Feb 23, Disney World- Full marathon or Half marathon
This particular race has been on our bucket list for a couple years, since we started running together in college. Who wouldn't want to run through Disney World at night with no crowds or kids? It was always a distant dream because of the cost of the race, plane ticket expense, etc...The price will not be pleasant but we only have this opportunity once. We're only in Florida for 2 more years and actually live within driving distance of Orlando FL and my husband has close family that live nearby. We plan to seize the moment and take advantage of the time we have while we have it. When it Rome...

Anchors Away 6k

Today I ran my first trail 6k! I've ran the distance many times before but just never done a 6k race. It was out at one of my favorite hiking parks, Conservation Park. My troop at work who's an even more bigger running addict than I, mentioned doing this race, and they gave out shirts so I was in! I love racing shirts.

Queing up the tunes



Let's get ready to rumble!



Finished in 36:57

My troop came in 5th overall and 1st in his age/gender division so we stayed around for awards. To my big suprise, I placed for my first time! 2nd place for my age/gender divison! There were a little over 100 people in this race, so I was pretty proud of myself.

Moral of this blog, is get out and try new things! All I wanted was a nice run and cool shirt to add to my collection and I ended up with placing for my very first time ever. Active.com is a great website to find local races and of course the internet is wonderful too. Lace up those shoes, pull on the spandex and get out there! You never know what will happen...and you just might like it!

Benchmark #5: Hello Brie!

This last weekend my best friend Brie flew from the West coast to come see me for almost a full week. First let me tell you how we came to be friends.

It all started back in August 2008. I had just moved to Stillwater OK to finish out my bachelor's degree at OSU and started seeing this cute blind date of mine. I knocked on my husband's (almost boyfriend at the time) apartment door for the first time to hang out for the night. He proceeds to introduce me to his beautiful female roomate Brie and all her gorgeous girlfriends that were getting dressed up for the bars that night. I felt so out of my league and slightly intimidated. Why does he need me when he seems to have no problem finding/living with gorgeous women? Luckily for all parties involved, we got along. Suprisingly well. He explained that they'd been really good friends since grade school and through college too. I could easily relate because I too have a really good guy friend that I've been close with since highschool, through college and even joined the military with. Like them we never dated, but always remained great friends.

Four months later we all took a spontaneous cruise to Mexico, and that's when I started to realize she wasn't only my husband's best friend, but my friend too. We got closer and closer as time went by, started hanging out without Kit and became best friends. She was even in our wedding, but on Kit's side! I'd be lying if I said we didn't fight over who's side she'd stand on.

When I married my husband, I had no idea how much the people in his life would soon matter so much to mine as well. I have many geniune people that are so close to my heart now that I wouldn't have ever had the chance to meet without Kit. Not only did I get a kick ass husband, I also got a couple best friends out of the deal too. Very lucky.

Brie graduated college in May 2009 and started moving all over the country. Somehow over the years we'd still find a way to see each other and get hang out time in. I was beyond thrilled when she mentioned wanting to fly to PC to come visit me and give me another benchmark while Kit is gone. We made it happen!

We layed on the beach, shopped, got free German beer, watched Superman on the big screen, had movie nights, discovered Seaside, rekindled my addiction to Starbucks, ran from jellyfish, got our sweat on at the gym and even found an awesome country bar. Her vacation here was relaxing and exactly what I needed. Also, it was SO nice to talk to someone about Kit. To share memories about him, to point out what he'd like about FL and what he wouldn't like. This was so wonderful because all my friends here have never met my husband. Even though he's thousands of miles away, it felt like a piece of him was here too when Brie visited.

Over the years she started out as my husband's best friend and has evolved to one of my best friends too. Our friendship is effortless, easy and wonderful. She's a breath of fresh air with her adventures in juicing, hiking, traveling and going green ways. Her visiting me during a tough time like this was amazing, and I'm so grateful. Love you girl!

Weight Loss Update June

Ah June, that means summertime is officially upon us! If I didn't need more motivation, bathing suits and beach days sure remind me of what my goal is!

This month I really didn't lose anything, but I did recover very quickly from my mom's visit in which we ate out twice a day. I just keep thinking eventually I'll get there! About 20 more to go! I did sucessfully manage in weights into my weekly routine. This has been on my list for a couple months, but change is tough and I was pretty resistant. I love the feeling that I get afterwards, that feeling that I'm growing stronger. Another tweek that I've made is added more calories to my daily intake. Eventually I need to be at a point where I'm not only taking in 1300 calories because one day I'll be at my ideal weight. I'll be out of that weight loss mode and into my maintaining mode. To ease myself into that caloric window, I'm slowly adding addition calories to my budget over time, little by little so that I don't gain weight from suddenly eating a lot than what I'm used to. Now my intake went from about 1300 to 1400 and guess what? I'm liking it a lot more. I'm not sure if it's the added weights regime or additional energy for my body but I'm noticed I'm more consistent, less up and down. Even when I have my spurlge meals, my weight stays consistent, making me one happy camper.

I always like to share awesome new foods/snacks that I come across, so this month here are some goodies I discovered and love!

Both of these Odwalla drinks have less than 200 calories per bottle, no additional sugar added (so only sugar is from the fruits/veg) and each bottle contains 1.5 serving of fruit and 1.5 serving of vegtables. I like these most when I'm short on time in the morning or needing a pick me up in the afternoon before a workout.

Larabar bars are fabulous. The main reason is because these bars have less than 5 ingrediants each AND they're all things you know and can pronounce! No preservations, added chemicals, MSG, HFCS or added sugar. These aren't necessary low in calories, most being between 170-220 but it's nice to have a fresh, simple snack on hand.

As for exercising, I already mentioned that I added weights 2-3 times a week. This last month I also eased off running a little due to my upcoming PT test for work.

Physical Training Fitness Test Results:

Waist: 29.5 inches (same as last year)
1.5 Mile Run: 12:31 (20 sec faster than last years!)
Pushups in 1 min: 47 (2 more than last year, finally maxed out)
Situps in 1 min: 54 (maxed out)

By maxing out it means you've done the max amount of reps to receive the max amount of points. Even if you do more you don't get anymore points, so I always like to stop at the max number. Why tire myself out more for the run when I don't have to? Last year I took this in TX, about 2 months into tech school. I weighed 138lbs. This year I'm exactly 10lbs heavier, 148 and still maintained my 29.5 in waist, maxed out push/sit ups and even got faster on my run. Today wasn't all about being skinny...it was about being fit. And after this I definitely believe I'm more fit now, than I was at 138. Don't get me wrong, I still want to lose weight, but it defintely makes me feel better about myself, that all my hardwork that isn't showing up in my weightloss numbers, is showing up elsewhere. My grand total score was 97.6%, last years was 96.4%. This is my highest score on record to date. Go Andie!

Until next month!

7 Months and Going Strong

7 Months. It's been 7 months since my husband deployed. I can't believe we've put this much time under our belts without each other so quickly. While I'm experiencing it, time seems to crawl by, almost painfully. Looking back though, I don't know where the time has gone. It feels like just last month I pulled up to this house with a full truck, heavy heart and teary eyes because I felt so alone. A lot has changed and I'm grateful for it all.

I've made friends at work which has been amazing. We run together on the weekends, go out for drinks every once and awhile and they almost never allow me to go the movies alone anymore. That's been the biggest change. I'm a very social person, so not having it when I needed it most was devastating. Thankfully that is changing and I welcome it with open arms.

Another trick to time flying by is that I've kept unGodly busy. I work full time, I'm almost a full time Master's student (taking 9 credit hours this semester), upkeeping a two-story house/yard, caring for our 4 animals and caring for myself with daily workouts. It's exhausting sometimes, but it leaves me little time to think of my husband and the huge hole that constantly burns like a nasty yeast infection that you just can't seem to shake. This is where you laugh! :)

This way of adapting isn't for everyone. We each adapt in different ways to different situations. Keep in mind not all deployments are the same. Sometimes our husbands/wives are gone for shorter times, longer times, serve in more dangerous areas or serve in a cush location. All these factors and many more effect the way spouses cope.

Communication is another fragile element in the equation. Unlike others we know, we haven't been lucky in this department. He's in a isolated area so we can't skype. At all. I haven't seen his lips say "I love you" in a long time, and that's something I look forward to so much. He can't see me smile at his jokes and I can't see his cute faces when we flirt via phone. It sucks. But it's not the worst thing. We talk on the phone 2-4 times a month for 15-45 mintues at a time. Sometimes the calls are on a preset time so it cuts us off at specific times.

I write this not to evoke pity or sympathy. I'm a big girl, he's a big boy and we're making the best of our situation. We know it could be much worse and we're grateful for the fact that we haven't had to go down that rode. This deployment also isn't completely negative. His deployment has allowed us to become debt free, allowed me ample time to get a lot of school work out of the way and has revamped our travel funds. See, not all bad! I write this to show you how someone gets through a tough situation. How someone (me) adapts. Maybe it could give you ideas if you find yourself in a tough situation or maybe it'll show you what NOT to do. Either way, information is power and you can never have enough ideas.

I want to give a huge shout out to some special ladies in my life that have been a really big help through this for me. First, my mom and MIL. They keep in close contact with me and it's so nice to still be checked on every once and awhile from so far away. I have really close girlfriends too, that despite the distance, still find the time to message/chat/text/call me and still keep me involved. Even just the simple, "Are you doing ok today?" that I sometimes get is so helpful. I even love the baby pics/videos that I get. Even if I can't be there to see my favorite babies/toddlers grow in person, it's wonderful to be thought of and have a picture sent to me. Overall, my girlfriends have been a tremendous lifesaver and I can't say thank you enough.

We're getting closer to the end of my husband's last deployment and I'm patiently waiting the best I can. He thinks maybe he'll be home in August/September? Who knows. All I do know is that I'll be there at the gate, with open arms, teary eyes whenever the Army says when.

Then we'll live happily ever after...