weight watchers - week 1

I did it. I joined weight watchers*. Although I don't care to admit it, I have what some might consider a "weight problem" (I really tried to find the Chris Farley SNL video clip of him as Bennett Brauer but to no avail... it's so funny). I don't consider myself obese but I am definitely NOT at my ideal weight. I'm physically healthy and active. I can still buy clothes at (most) regular clothing stores. However, that doesn't mean that I'm at a healthy weight for my height and body type. And it also doesn't mean that I'm happy with what I see when I look in the mirror. I've always tried to imagine what I'd look like with a flat stomach, toned arms and slender thighs. Dreams... And I'm not going to lie when I tell you that I honestly believe that every single problem in my life (emotional, physical, financial- no I'm not exaggerating, etc) would disappear if I was at my goal weight. It's not at all rational but that's how my brain works. OK... sorry... I feel like I'm just rambling here.

The point is- I need to lose weight. I want to lose weight.

My friend had motivated me (though her example) to not only get up at 5am 2+ days a week to go to the gym (seriously this is HUGE for me) but to join WW with her. I've been thinking about it for months but haven't had the courage to go on my own. So last week we joined and this morning was our first weigh in. Before I get to the results I'll just tell you that I love going to the meetings. The people there are great (I'm pretty sure I burned 200 calories this morning just from laughing) and I always feel so motivated to be healthy. I'll also tell you that changing my eating habits this last week took a lot of planning. I wasn't perfect. I went over my allotted points a few of the days. I didn't eat as many vegetables or drink as much water as I should have. But I ate so much more healthfully than I have in months. I totally cut out fast food. I actually ate vegetables. I drank tons of water. I did pretty well, even if I do say so myself. It was a struggle at times to walk away from the extra dessert I didn't need or to say no to my 3rd serving of funeral potatoes (my very favorite food in the whole world). But I felt healthier and happier. I'm ready to do even better this upcoming week.

So... how'd I do?

I lost 7.4 lbs!! Woot!! Granted, most people see a big loss the first week of WW but still, I'm SO HAPPY!! I thought I was crazy last night when I thought my shorts fit better than they did last week when I put them on but now it makes sense why. This big loss isn't going to be typical of my WW experience. I don't expect it to. But, I know if I stay on track and plan well then I will be able to achieve my goal weight. Slow and steady wins the race.

*I had a 2 month stint with WW a few years ago where I lost a grand total of 9 lbs then gave up. I got lazy and discouraged when I wasn't losing weight even when I ate crap.

music sale help!

OK so I just got an email from Barnes & Noble (probably my favorite store ever) announcing a 40% off sale on ALL CD's with NO LIMIT! The cherry on top is that this is added to my member discount. HALF PRICE CD'S PEOPLE!! And since I am wont to spend way too many dollars on itunes I figure I'd best take advantage of this sale and buy up some music I've had my ears on.

GIVE ME SUGGESTIONS! What are you listening to these days that I need to get a hold of?? Sale ends sunday so tell me now! Please??

Here are some CD's that I'm thinking about grabbing:
Vampire Weekend
Feist
Spoon
The Format
Jack Johnson (maybe...)
Yellowcard
Regina Spektor
Ingrid Michaelson
Snow Patrol

Let me know if you want in on the action and I'll forward you the email.

and then there was one...

Forgive the boring sporadic blogs of late. It's not that things haven't been going on. I just haven't felt the need to add any commentary to the events of my life. But, I will add this (to satisfy jeanochka)- last friday my best (vegas) friend (sorry... I use the word "best" a lot so I have to specify which best I'm talking about) got married. Weird. Don't get me wrong- I'm beyond happy for her and her new husband. It's just weird when friends get married. I'm getting used to it by now though. I've had a lot of friend weddings in the past few years. And we've got one more coming up in May (hurray for littlemelfield!) But that means of my little group of Vegas girlfriends I'm the last one standing. Yep... and then there was one... (don't worry... I only cried a little bit and then I went out and partied until 3am with my single friends. Thank goodness I still have some!)

Back to the wedding- I didn't take many photos. I guess I was lazy. But here are a few that I did take-

The ceremony was performed at the Las Vegas LDS Temple by the bride's father. Lovely!

My Las Vegas sisters! Mrs M and I have been best friends for the past few years and I adpoted myself into her family so naturally Bex is like a sister as well. Love these girls!

Dear friends! 3/4 of my presidency.

Some of my very favorite girls in the whole world.
Bex "caught" the bouquet!

And since I did a horrible job taking photos and didn't even get one of the bride and groom I'll include this one taken by their photographer, the AMAZING Rebekah Westover. Incredible right?

i like you just the way you are

Yesterday would have been Mr. Rogers' 80th birthday. I loved Mr Rogers. I watched it faithfully everyday. Loved it. I still can't wear a zip-up cardigan without zipping it all the way to the top then back down half way.

I adore this little video. I'm not going to lie. It totally made me cry (which is inconvenient since I'm actually wearing makeup today...) Enjoy!



OK I don't know what my problem is (probably that my vegas bff is getting married today and I'm feeling a little reminiscent about life in general) but this totally made me cry as well. It's a little cheesy but really sweet at the same time. And... I didn't realize that Mr. Rogers' middle name was McFeely, as in "Mr McFeely, speedy delivery!"

Redrock

Saturday I went up to Redrock with Merideth, Kim, Kathleen and Brent (thanks Mer for organizing!) It was a gorgeous day, perfect for hiking. I love going up to Redrock. It's right up the street from my house, lit'rally. It only takes about 5 minutes to get there. We decided to hike Ice Box Canyon because I've been meaning to do it ever since I moved to Vegas. It was such a fun hike. Lots of bouldering and jumping and scrambling. It was great.

At the top of the hike is a really cool waterfall. It was a little waterfall but we get excited about any sort of water here in Vegas. There were also lots of rock climbers. Red Rock is well known for climbing I guess. You can find them everywhere up there. Anyway, it was a really good day.

Race Report: Canyonlands 1/2 Marathon

Whenever someone asks me how the race went I'm not sure how to respond. Good? Hard? Fun? Yes, it was all of those. I didn't finish as fast as I'd hoped but I did finish. In a nutshell, the first 10 miles were great, the last 3 miles were utter hell.

The weekend in general was fantastic because not only did I get to cross off something from my 30 for 30 list and my TDBID (To Do Before I Do) list, but I got to play with 3 fabulous running friends and see some of the amazing natural sites of Utah, my beloved home state.

As for the actual race- I took lots of video so I could remember everything. I apologize in advance for those of you who will watch them because I'm looking even worse than in the photo from the last post. But come on! Running in tight clothes, sweaty, no makeup on and in the morning? Do you really expect me to look all that great?

I drove up to Moab on friday afternoon. A good 6-1/2 hour drive, but it went by pretty quickly. Chloe, Anne and Jen arrived just a bit later and we headed out to pick up our race packets then on to enjoy a pre-race pasta dinner and ice cream. It was a great way to prepare to run farther than I'd ever done in my life. Back at the "posh" Ramada Inn we got everything ready for the next morning. We had shoes, fuel belts, shot blocks, Gatorade and ipods and more strewn about everywhere. Our early bedtime turned into Chloe serenading us with tunes from her ipod which then turned into the most amazing moment of the trip- 4 girls listening to The Flight of the Conchords doing "The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room" on 2 ipods with 2 of the 4 girls singing along. It was pretty amazing and would turn into our theme song for the entire weekend. If you see us and you can't remember our names you can just call us "Wildslutangel22 at yahoo".

Luckily the race was a late start-10am, which meant that we didn't have to be at the buses until 7:30am. It was freezing when we got to the buses and we knew it would be even colder up the canyon (and we were more right than we knew).

We got to the top around 8:30am then had to stand around freezing for the next hour and a half. We kept ourselves pretty entertained and had fun people watching. After the obligatory porta-potty visit we were herded up to the start line only to wait some more and continue freezing.

Finally we were off! Being the slow runners that we are, we were at the back of the pack and crossed the start line about 5 minutes after the official start. I'd debated about whether or not to use the potty one more time before the start but thought I'd be fine once I started running. Well, I wasn't and not 2 minutes after starting the race I stopped to use the potty. But once I did I was feeling great and was on my way.

TMI?

The first 2 miles went by pretty quickly and was a nice gentle downhill start. I ran with Chloe and Anne for most of the time. After our Gatorade stop at mile 2 I ran the next 2 miles with Jen. It was so great to run with the girls and I really should have stuck with Jen so that I could have some moral support for the rest of the race. I didn't realize how important this would be until around mile 11.

I took 2 shot blocks at miles 6 and remembered how much I hate gummy things. It was my first time taking them which I realize was risky during a race but I wanted to have at least a little something in me to get me through after my initial fuel burned off. I'm not sure if they worked, if the caffeine in them was a problem or if I should have taken more. I'll definitely be trying some GU before my next 1/2 to try it out. I hit a wall around mile 10 and I need to figure out how to get past it and I think the shot blocks or GU might help me out (yes? no? suggestions?).

The next 4 miles were pretty much uneventful. I ran around the same group of people, looked at all the gorgeous scenery and just felt like I was in the zone. At mile 10 I was getting excited that I was nearing the end of the race but was also a little nervous about arriving at a distance that I'd never gone past. I was already feeling a little disappointed in how slow I was running (not sure how much of that was due to the altitude or how much I'd slacked in my training the 2 weeks prior to the race) and was just hoping I could tackle the next 3 miles at a decent pace.

Mile 10 was pretty rough. Mile 11 I realized I was in the depths of Hell. There was nothing difficult about the terrain but it proved to be the hardest, longest mile I'd ever run. I was so tired that I couldn't even run for a 1/4 mile without a walk break. My brain was telling me that the finish line was a million miles away and I'd have to crawl in long after everyone else had already finished. But the followup thought always went a little something like, "oh suck it up and keep running!" Which I did. I'm not gonna lie. I almost broke down in tears 3 times during this mile. I really needed my girls to get me through and I seriously considered just stopping and waiting for Chloe and Anne and finishing with them. But I also knew that Jen was in front of me and I'd later regret not giving it everything I had in me to just keep going. Mile 12 was an interesting one because we started seeing a lot of the locals sitting on their porches watching us all shuffle along. One group of people kept telling everyone, "Only 5 more blocks!" But, damn! Do you know how far 5 blocks sounds when you've just run 12-3/4 miles? It definitely wasn't as encouraging as they intended to be I'm sure.

I turned the last corner and finally saw the finish line. It felt like a mirage, never seeming to get any closer. Just before the corral at the finish line my awesome, exercise-crazed friend, Sarah, jumped out from the crowd and started screaming at me to "SPRINT, CHRISTY! SPRINT!" My only retort was, "Sarah! This IS sprinting!" And even though her screaming startled me a bit, it was just what I needed to carry me through to the finish line. Finally I crossed it! 2:45 minutes after I began I finally accomplished one of my life goals to run a 1/2 marathon! I did it!

The best part about finishing were the AMAZING orange wedges at the finish line. Seriously they were so sweet and delicious! The worst part was that there were no finishers medals. I LOVE finishers medals and will always proudly wear it for the whole day following a race. So I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to advertise that I'd just finished a long old race.
As I said before I didn't finish as fast as I would have liked. I was really aiming for a 2:30 finish. But considering it was my first 1/2 and perhaps the elevation didn't help, I was still proud of my time and just darn right proud of myself for finishing at all.

not so secret facebook shame

i've seen some really horrible photographs of myself but this one by far takes the cake. my dear friend (who is now shunned) decided he'd post this photo from his bday bash on facebook... for the. whole. world. to. see. it's so shameful that i couldn't keep it to myself. i had to share it with all of you, my sexy readers. so, i present the most awful photo ever taken of me and the comments that followed. i can't believe i'm about to do this...Me: why in the name of all that is good and holy would you ever post this photo of me??? i seriously look 8 bottles of vodka past drunk! curse you!!
MV: hahahahahahahahaha........hahahahaaaaaaaa
MB: hahahahaha! no, no....you look...really...um...sexy, Christy. Yeah.
Me: i hate you all.
MT: Wow Christy....Are those your bed room eyes?
JT: Josh should be taken out and shot. Christy I am with you!
Me: Thank you Jessie. I totally agree.
JM (the evil poster of this photo): you guys are so special-ed.
JT: Yeah, well you ride the short bus to school!
JM: That comment was special-ed.
Me: Your mom is special-ed.
JM: Both my moms are special-ed.

How would you comment?

punch dancing out my rage

Last night (this morning?) at 2am I was ready to quit work, quit church, quit running and everything else and run away and curl up in a ball and hibernate until my stress level returned to normal (5 months min).

BUT! Today... well, this afternoon was really fantastic and I'm feeling great again and ready to tackle my super long to-do list.

Everything came to a head on tuesday afternoon when I found out I missed a meeting at work that I didn't even know about. So, not only did I have to explain things to my boss (who is always super cool about everything) I had to do the most degrading thing a structural engineer could ever do. I had to grovel at the feet of an architect. blerg! (FYI- it should always be the other way around.) It was not my proudest moment. So our meeting was rescheduled to this afternoon which meant I had to pretty much have the project finished. Problem was that I was only half way done. Last night I was at the office until 2am (but don't worry. I got to watch Project Runway while I was working) and got back this morning at 8am. I worked straight until the last second before I had to leave to get there on time. I wasn't as far along as I'd hoped and I knew I was already walking on thin glass with the architect/builder so I was very apprehensive about the meeting. Luckily he was in a good mood and I'm not going to lie. I was fantastic. I owned that meeting! My boss came with me as sort of a buffer and as we were on our way back to the office he lavishly praised me for how well I handled the meeting and that he was able to just sit back and listen. Until recently if he and I were at the same meeting I'd be the one sitting back not saying a word (call it what you may- my own inferiority comples, women in a male dominated workplace, whatev...) So it was a triumphant moment for me (and for him as my mentor) and made all the stress of the last few days dissappear. So once again, I love my job. Life is beautiful, etc, etc.

To top off the afternoon I made my coworkers watch a few scenes from Hot Rod. Hilarious? Yes. Hell yes. If you haven't seen it I highly suggest at least just watching this punch dancing sequence. Remind you of anything?


And if you need more motivation to run out to redbox and get this movie tonight here's the full preview:

remind me why i love running

by the way, did i tell you about my 10 mile run on saturday that made me want to quit running forever and how the first 4 miles were all uphill and that i missed a turn and went 1/2 a mile too far (up hill of course) and that i would have quit running after 5 miles but i was still 5 miles away from home and that i didn't have enough in me to fuel my body for 10 miles and that i almost passed out twice after i got home and that i got a blister? did i? did i tell you that?

and did i tell you how i had a bad dream about running a 5k in a mall where there was some chick that was trying to stop me from running and i was shooting staples at her with a staple gun and had to actually staple her shoulder so she would let me pass then how i could not for the life of me make my legs move to get up the stairs and how there was tons of other craziness that happened that i can't even remember now but i know it was awful and that this wasn't my first bad dream about running? did i? did i tell you that?

and did i tell you that i haven't had any time to go running since saturday even though i need to run for my physical and mental health and that i'm exhausted just thinking about how much crap i have to get done and how i have absolutely no time to do it and feel totally overwhelmed with everything to the point that i feel paralyzed about even starting anything on my to-do list? did i? did i tell you that?

but did i also tell you that i only have 9 more days until i leave for moab and i can't even wait and it's going to be so fun and amazing and that just thinking about finishing a half marathon makes me a little bit emotional and also excited that i'll be able to cross one more thing of my 30 for 30 list and also that i'm super excited? did i? did i tell you that?

and did i tell you that i registered our Wasatch Back team (Heaven or Hell) and already it is shaping up to be awesome and i am totally pumped up for the race? did i? did i tell you that?

Tonight I had a chat with God. And then He had a chat with me.

*Sorry that only a few of you will understand this. If you would like a translation I'll give you one but you'll have to ask. It needed to be written en francais because that's how it happened. Pardonnez mes fautes.

Ce soir je me suis mis a genoux en prier a mon Pere Celeste. J'etais completement epuisee alors, je lui ai exprime mes frustrations, mes craintes. Et puis il m'a dit (alma 34:37-41 avec quelques changements):

"Et maintenant, ma soeur bien-aimee, je desire que tu te souvienes de ces choses, et que tu travaillais a ton salut avec crainte devant Dieu, et que tu ne niais plus la venue du Christ; que tu ne combattais plus le Saint-Esprit, mais que tu le recevais et prenais sur toi le nom du Christ; que tu t'humiliais jusqu'a la poussiere, et adorais Dieu, en quelque lieu que tu te trouvais, en esprit et en verite; et que tu vivais quotidiennement dans les actions de graces pour les misericordes et les nombreuses benedictions qu'il t'accorde. Oui, et je t'exhorte aussi, ma soeur, a veiller a prier continuellement, afin de ne pas etre egares par les tentations du diable, afin qu'il n'ait pas le dessus sur toi, afin de ne pas devenir son sujet au dernier jour car voici, il ne te donne rien de bon en recompense. Et maintenant, ma soeur bien-aimee, je voudrais t'exhorter a avoir de la patience et a supporter les afflictions de toutes sortes, a ne pas injurier ceux qui te chassent a cause de ton 'etant celibataire' (j'ai acune idee comment ce dire meme en anglais), de peur que tu ne devenais pecheuse comme eux, mais a avoir de la patience et a supporter ces afflictions dans la ferme esperance que tu te reposerais un jour de toutes tes afflictions."

Et tout a coup, j'etais bien humblee. Et on puisse etre assure qu'il y avait des larmes.