Hot Chocolate Run !!!

Hello,

I wanted to get to this earlier in the week but I added some random adventures during the week that were unexpected, so I had something to do every night last week!        On Monday I took a italian cooking class,  on wednesday I took a golf class, and then I had some other random things that popped like running errands and stuff.    So, finally today I decided to update my Hot Chocolate Running Adventure!!!       

Last weekend was the Hot Chocolate 5k and 15k.  I signed up for the 5k because well I am just trying to get myself back into this running thing.   The Hot Chocolate run, is a run where they provide you with Chocolate goodness, after you run!!!   I am actually not a huge chocoalte person, but I thought this sounded like a fun race.       Of course, since it has been so weird here in Texas with the weather I wasn't sure how appealing hot chocoalte would be after a run.     Well, much to my surprise it was 31 degrees in Dallas, but the winshield made it feel like it was 19 degrees on that saturday.  I actually debated about not running, but my dad who drove me fron San Antonio to Dallas, said "I didn't drive you all the over here for you to chicken out."  So,  I layered on some running clothes and off we went.  Once we got there and I started my run, my body started to warm up and I was absolutley motivated to finish the 5k as fast as I could so that I could have my nice hot Ghirardelli chocolate!!!     Believe me when I say, I don't know how they made the hot chocolate but it was the best I have ever had!!!
Here are some pictures of the event!

  Prior to the race day, they had a packet pick-up/ expo.  The goodie bag came with a cute little jacket that said will run for chocolate, and because I registered with a coupon code I got a hat that said will run for chocolate.  Of course at the expo that also had some Ghirardelli chocolate bars, and some hot chocolate that was so good it was addicting!!





This was the start of the race, it was so cold but obviously people were determined to complete their run and get their chocolate rewards at the end.  Since we aren't used to being so cold her in Texas, the medical doctor that was helping with the race recommended that if you had signed up for the 15k and had a pace of 12 min/mile or slower that you may want to run the 5k because of risk of long term exposure to the cold!!!!!!!    To some it sounds silly, but to those of use who are not used to cold temperatures it's not sillly at all.   

Oh Sweet!!!  It was so cold
they decided to hold the
after party in the exhibit hall.    This is what we got to dip
the Chocolate Fondue in!!!  It was such a treat!!!!

The fondue was so good, and the stuff they gave us to dip just made it even better and worth the cold.  Of course they did give us some yummy hot chocoalte to drink as well!!!

 If you look closely at the picture you can see the fondue fountain!!!   I would defiinitely do this race again!!!

Color Run.. or maybe i should say Color Mudder

Yesterday I participated in a run called the Color Run.   It is basically a 5k, where at each mile they are supposed to throw some kind of color on you so that by the end you look very colorful.      Well,  I was excited about the run and looking forward to doing somthing adventerous.. well I sure did do something adventuerous more adventerous then I had planned for.    Texas weather is so random so of course it decided to rain very hard on Friday night, the event planners sent us an email saying that the run would take place unless there was a flash flood warning.  They warned people that there would be some muddy spots and for those who had planned to take strollers, not to take them.    Austin is a crazy town, so people showed up anyway and man was I in for a suprise.    The run started late because parking was horrible, and by the time I got to run they ran out of color for during the race but they had a crazy color party aftewards.   Actually I was told they didn't run out of color, but that with all the mud they where not able to take more color back and forth to the volunteers as had been planed.  So here are some pictures of what took place!!! 

 This is me before the color run!! The requirement was to wear a white shirt so that the color would show !  

Because Austin is crazy people still showed up Rain or Shine.  They ended up starting us in waves this was the line to start!! 

 

 The whole course was a muddy mess.  Some of it was like a muddy river and some it was sticky enough to where people got their shoes stuck and lost in the mud!

 Mud, Mud and and more Mud!  Yes those are my shoes!

At the end of the race I was a beautiful color muddy mess!!  I was upset at first at all the mud, but then I realized how much fun I actually had, and the workout of trying to navigate through the mud actually made my workout more intense then I had planned.  So overall despite the craziness it was fun.   

Here is me at the end!!! 

Here is me trying to figure out what in the world I was going to do with my muddy stuff!

Couch to 5k running apps review and Color Run

Although I still haven't been able to get in as much running time as I would like, I really need to focus this weekend.     Besides the hot chocolate run, I also signed up for a Color Run that will be taking place in Austin the first weekend in Feb.   Bascially you are required to run with a white shirt and then as you hit each mile marker they toss or spray some kind of color on you and  by the end you end up looking well like a rainbow I guess ha ha.         

I have been able to  try out two apps on my Iphone for the couch the 5k program  one of them is completly free it is called:  C25K free           I downloaded because I thought well hey it's free I will give a try.   Overall it is pretty good.  It gives you a plan for 8 weeks, its for 3x a week and 30 minutes.   It allows you to play your music, and you can run a milage tracker in the background.  It also has a voice that tells you when to walk and jog.   It sounds great and it is, but the problem is, you can't hear the voice that tells you when to run and walk.  There is a beeping sound, but unless you are focused it can be easy to lose track of things.     I guess for free it does it's job.

The other one I tried is called 5k Runner:  This one gives you a free trials but then after week 2 day 1 you have to purchase the rest of the weeks.  I think it's only $1.99.    It's the same kind of program 3x as week for 30 minutes.   It allows you to play music,   I think once you pay it may track your miles but if not it also let you run a milage tracker in the background.     It has a voice and beeps so you know when to run and when to walk, however this one I feel is better.  The voice is louder and it actually interupts the music so you can hear when it is time  to switch.  I just think it allows you to focus more on the environment around you and you don't have to strain to hear the beep or voice, so the run seems less stressful.       I haven't had a chance to buy the upgraded version yet, but I plan to.     

Both of these can be bought through the iTunes store, they had tons of options so I wasn't sure which ones to pick, if any of you have tried any of the others ones let me know.

Couch to 5k

I am tired of beign a couch potato.  I am tired of gaining weight. I am tired of being of track.  I am just tired :)

 A  couple weeks ago I signed myself up for a 5k (3.1 milles)  that is called the Hot Chocolate run.    I have been so off  track with running it is ridiculous, and I can tell that my body is just inflating from all the bad food I have been eating and from my lack of movement.    In the back of my mind I keep telling myself I need to get off this couch and get back to running.  So now that I have signed up for this run, I have to get serious.    In the past I would just get out there and start running and give myself a couple weeks and be good to go, but now that I have had my thyroid removed I somehow convinced myself that running is way to difficult.    It is time for me to step up to the plate and get running!!!!!      As much as I want to just get up and run, I decided that I needed to work myself back into it.   I downloaded the couch 2 5k program on my iphone, and started it today.  It wasn't to bad, and I am now motivated to complete this program and prepare for my upcoming run!!   Unfortuatly, I forgot to turn my GPS tracker on so I don't know how far I went, but I got at there and it's a good start!         Has anyone out there every down this program???    If so let me know if you like it.     

I am a warrior!!!!!

GEEZ ,  I have been so busy with work that I haven't had a chance to update my blog :(    But better late then never.      

Well I did it, I completed the warrior dash and I am officially a warrior!!!!!     It was tough and very challenging,  I did it slow but my goal was to complete it and that is what I did!!!     Now I am not  going to lie, I did have to "cheat"  on a couple of the obstacles but I just didn't have the strength to get myself through certain obstacles, but I made it to the end and for a thyroidless girl like me.. that is a major accomplishment.     I am definitely proud of myself, and  I think I just might try it again next year.  There were some obstacles that where kind of scary, but the volunteers would give us clues and hints and that seemed to help.     One of the first obstacles was a mud pit that I tried to avoid but slipped and fell right into it and of course lost my shoe.  I was able to retrieve my shoe, but after the last obstacle another mud pit  I lost it again, but I guess a true warrior doesn't mind losing a shoe ha ha!     I hope that one day, some of you are inspired to try something like this!!! I am not going to lie, I probably should have trained harder for this, and luckily I had been going to boot camp because if not, I would have been in serious trouble I think.   It is also a mental thing, so if you can convince yourself that you are strong enough, then this is possible.      Here are some pics!!    I don't have pictures of all the obstacles, because it would have been difficult to carry a camera.  Luckily, my dad got some shots of me on some of the obstacles towards the end.


This is me before the race!!!!          My friend and I before the race!!

We had no idea what we where getting into, well we kind of had an idea but not really ha ha!!!

My dad was able to get some pictures of me!!!  The fireman's pole, you had to climb up some barricade type thing and then slide down!! That was kind of fun but scary but it was a steep fall!!  The other one is a rope climb that was high also kind of scary!!

My dad also got a picture of me on the tight rope!! I was nervous about that one, but it turned out to be my favorite obstacle ha ha!!!!  The last obstacle was the mud pit, we had to swim through it, the muddy water was nice and cold and felt good, since here in Texas it was still hot!! I even got sunburn :(

This is me getting out of the mud pit and believe me that was a slippery mess, and this is where I lost my shoe at the end.    This is how I looked when it was all done!!!!     I was a muddy mess!!  Oh, and I hate how the mud sticks to your clothes so much, it makes all your fat show.. but it also has motivated me to get back on track with my eating plan which is a whole other story I will need to blog about soon.

After the race you get hosed down, and they have a pile for you to donate your shoes.  They power wash them, and send them to the needy.  Unfortunately, I was not able to donate my shoes because I lost one, so the other one went in the trash :(   I had taken extra shoes with me because I had planned to donate mine.     

The race took me a little over an hour, which I had kind of expected.  So I was starving, so my parents took me to eat at one my favorite places in Austin!!!  I was so hungry I ate all my food, and even asked for extra "vegetables.  This particular restaurant counts anything that does have meat in it as a vegetable, and you can have all the "vegetables you want!!!!!!!     The portions are huge and best of all it's home cooking type of food!!  It was delicious!!!

I hope that some day, many of you will be inspired to challenge yourselves in way that you never thought you would!!  I also hope, that if you have the opportunity to attempt something like this to go for it, and you too can be a Warrior!!!! 

Ready to be a Warrior!!??

A couple weeks ago, I got it into my head that I too wanted to be a warrior  :)    You know, prove a point to people and myself, and say hey just because I don't have a thyroid doesn't mean I can't be a warrior!!!  So what did I do I signed up for the Warrior Dash!!!     The Warrior Dash is a run/obstacle course and at the end you get to claim that you are a Warrior!   You have to crawl through mud, jump over stuff, clumb stuff, and whatever else they decide to throw at you.   I unfortunatly, haven't had much time to train, and even bootcamp has been on the backburner thanks to a super busy work schedule, but I am looking forward to the experience either way.      When I signed up, a couple weeks ago I thought to myself  I am not going to do this for a time, I am going to do this for fun, for me and to prove that I am a warrior!    The race is next weekend and I do feel slighly nervous since I haven't been able to train like I would have liked.  This week, I am going to try and get some work-outs in starting with a bike ride today, bootcamp tomorrow, bootcamp wednesday, and hopefully some light walking or running on Tuesday or Thursday.     I am going to try and stick to the plan as much as a I can, but unfortunatly this week is going to be stressfull to infinity and beyond.  Somewhere between all this I also decided to try a new brand of medication, I was noticing that the Synthroid was giving me some really bad headaches, one day I tried the other brand that doctor gave me and no headache so  I just kept with it.    My energy has been a little low on some days, but I have also be under a ridicoulus amount of stress so it's hard for me to say where my lack of energy is coming from.     So wish me luck in my becoming a Warrior Adventure!!!  I can't wait to update my blog with some pictures!!!     In case you are curious about the Warrior Dash here is the link:

http://www.warriordash.com/

Walking DVD to the rescue while traveling!!!!!!!

I am traveling to Colorado to visit family, and as part of my things to bring I packed my portable DVD with my Leslie Sansone walking DVD's. I am so glad I did because I got in late last night to the hotel, and couldn't exercise. This morning I knew I didn't have enough time to walk on the treadmill, so I wanted something quick and easy. I pulled out my DVD player popped in the 1 mile walk and burnt off some calories before hitting the road again. I feel so much better knowing I did some sort of activity!!!

Leslie Sansone to the rescue!!!

I woke up this morning with a sinus headache and knew that I would not be able to do an intense workout, and I wasn't in the mood to go to the gym and walk on the treadmill. At first I was very hesistant to try these walking DVD's because I thought how silly, that's not walking and it's definatly not running,  but I broke down on day and decided to buy some. Thanks to QVC I bought the Walk, Eat, Lose program.
 Well today I tried the 3 mile walk and I have to admit I was pretty impressed. I didn't feel like I normally would after a 3 mile walk or run (you know dripping in sweat,and dehydrated sometimes), but I did feel like I had gotten in some good exercise and didn't overdo myself. The feeling I had after doing the 3 mile walk DVD was a good one. I was happy that I was able to do some sort of exercise without having to leave my home, and the best part is I burnt some calories ;) What I like about the DVD ,is that it is more then just marching in place (which is what I had imagined), on the paticular DVD that I did she incorporated the use of fitness bands so you get some light toning exercises. She also incorporated other movements such as moving side to side, knee ups, and leg lifts (kicks) during the 3 mile workout. I truly feel that this is a good little tool to add to the exercise kit, paticulary for those days when you know you need to do something but just don't have the motivation to leave the house.   Has anyone ever tried any of  her DVD's??

http://www.walkathome.com/

Don't forget to Hydrate!!!!!! Especially when running outside :)

One thing I keep seeing from the running group I am participating in is HYDRATE, HYDRATE, and HYDRATE (any suggestions on how to do this will be appreciated) especially here in Texas. The email we got today from USA/San Antonio fit gave us the following information:
"Hydration needs continue as well, and generally you need to consume 4-8 oz every 15-20 min. Remember, though, that you should "obey your thirst" and not over drink, and likewise don't ignore your thirst."
This is something I always have trouble with because I fear having to use the bathroom on our running route and there is no where to use the bathroom except maybe a bush where there might be a snake. Lately it has been so hot outside that it feel dehydrated just leaving the house for a couple of hours!!! So I have been trying to drink as much water as I can the day before any intense workouts especially if I know it's going to be outside.
The other thing I have tried is using gels, shot blocks, or sport beans when running long distances to keep myself hydrated and those work pretty good you just have to make sure you drink some water after using them. I personally can not use the ones with caffeine they make my stomach upset but some people I know love the ones with caffeine for the extra energy boost. Depending on the distance and where the run is, I will take a fuel belt with a water botter or two it does add some weight but I guess that's better then passing out on the road from dehydration. This are just some of the things I have tried. If anyone out there has any other suggestions please feel free to comment, I am open to suggestions.

To Hot to Trot??

So what is a girl to do when the outside temperature is hotter then an oven?? Does this mean I get to take a break from exercise?!! I think maybe or maybe not.
Today's running schedule says to do 10x30-30 which means run for 30 seconds run fast and then run for 30 seconds slow 10x. That is of course after warming up. This sounds like a good plan but not in this heat. Just taking a foot outside of any airconditioned building is a warm-up in itself ;) So now I have to age old question of what should I do??? Give myself a break today, maybe go to the track later, try out the new walking DVD that I got, go to the gym and use the treadmill (which I don't like, I get bored on the treadmill), use the Wii?? Yesterday the running schedule said to run for 30 minutes but I didn't do that since I went to bootcamp so now I have another question. Do I do the 30 minute run/walk or do I do the speed work?? I am not really trying to work on speed right now so maybe the 30 minute running/walking would be best?