The Dirty Dash

Well, I completed the Dirty Dash.

Our team had 7 members- 3 ladies and 4 men. We ended up going the full 10k, though most of us walked most of the time. There were many obstacles, including tall bales of hay, balance beams, tubes to crawl through, rope swings, tubes to crawl under, and a good 1/2 mile walking through hip dip water.

Towards the end, there was a huge inflatable slip and slide.  It was easily the funnest part of the race. In fact, when we saw the final two people in our team (they were far behind, as they didn't run at all), we decided to go down the slide again, all together.

All in all, I had a marvelous time.  I didn't mind the little bit of jogging I did do, as I was with friends, and we were covered in mud, throwing mud at each other. I can't wait to do it again.

No Exercise

This has been a really tough week and a half for me.  I developed a serious infection on the back of my thigh. It made driving, walking, sitting extremely painful. Exercise has been out of the question.

Two doctors visits and a couple hundred dollars later, and I'm feeling a bit better.  Still can't exercise, but at least I don't look at driving the kids to school with dread.

I would be in a complete panic, since the Dirty Dash is this weekend, except I've been chatting with other people on our team.  Evidently, they all decided that 1- we would be walking it and 2- we'd be taking the 5k shortcut. I was really, really disappointed.  Why have I been training so hard if we're going to make it so easy? However, since I haven't been able to exercise at all for almost two weeks now, part of me is somewhat relieved.  I think I'll need to rest even more so that I'm as healed as possible.  Taking an open wound into mud sounds like a bad idea.

August Autopsy

I really did title this correctly.  August was not a good month for me.

When I look at the math, I was out of town for almost half of the month on either a camping trip, an anniversary trip, day trips, etc. That adds up to a lot of eating out.  I also gave myself permission not to log my food on myfitnesspal.  After all, I've been doing it every single day since January, and I was getting very burned out. Because of the trips, my soda consumption was way up.  Mountain Dew was also on sale most of the month.

On the plus side, I was very active on these trips.  I think that all considered, I probably hiked almost 100 miles throughout the month.

When it was all said and done though, when I got on the scale this morning, I was up 1.5 pounds from where I was on Aug. 1 (well, Jul 31 to be technical- I was off on a camping trip on Aug 1 and weighed in early).  In general, that wouldn't upset me too much, except that July was a dud month for me too.

Part of me is extremely angry and upset.  This is probably the most active month I've ever had.  When we weren't off on our active vacations, I was going to the gym.  I've been trying to train for the Dirty Dash, so there's even been (gag) running involved.  This month I even ran 6.5 miles in one go.  Ok, I had to stop and walk some of it, but I didn't get off the treadmill until I'd gone 6.5 miles.  That's big for me.

I haven't done pictures yet because I sent my kids off to school before I could take them, but my belly actually feels a little bigger, so if I am heavier, it probably went there.

On the other hand, I didn't journal.  Maybe the soda did it.  Maybe I was eating more food, or more junk.  I don't know.

I'll try to start September fresh, and I am journaling again.

Another trip planned

I now haven't had any soda in two full days. It'll be 72 hours in the morning. Go me! My cousin, who is a personal trainer and fitness model competitor, sent me THIS article about how bad mountain dew is for me. I realize that some of his theories aren't totally proven, but it was thought provoking. It made me feel better about my decision to quit.

Also, a couple days ago, we got word that a trip to Japan is probably going to happen. My dh had been planning on going in October for a big conference for a long time. The earthquake in March made it not as likely. However, it's looking like he WILL be going. We've been saving airline miles so I can go, just in case.

This trip is even more incentive to 1- lose the weight and 2- stay off the 'dew even longer. First off, most everyone in Japan is very thin. Even the "heavier" people in Japan would be considered skinny here. Second, finding mountain dew there is practically impossible. I've visited the country twice, and lived there for a while. All three times, I had to deal with the jet leg AND caffeine withdrawals at the same time. Not pleasant. Trust me. Oh, and two of those trips were also in the first trimester of pregnancy too. Whee!!!

I am bound and determined to not have to deal with that this time around. So, it looks like if I am going to go and get addicted again, it'll have to wait until the end of October at the earliest. How about if I don't ever get to that point? I know it's the wrong attitude, but I'm just not sure if I can stay off of it entirely forever.

Getting burned out

I can see the symptoms- I'm having trouble dragging myself to the gym. Even classes that I ordinarily enjoy aren't enough to give me a good attitude. I'm glad I went when I'm done, but I'm lacking motivation to go there and have a good attitude.

I also decided a few days ago that I would quit my mountain dew habit until after the dirty dash. This month I have been kind of out of control with my soda drinking, primarily because I've spent so much of the month out of town, and I don't monitor as much when I'm out. I have gained two lbs and it's ALL in my stomach. I can absolutely tell. So, I made that decision and then immediately went crazy drinking even more in anticipation of quitting. Whoops.

I have one or two cans left, and I'm not letting myself buy any beyond that until after the dirty dash. I'm hoping that it'll make a difference this time.

Hiking hiking hiking

Well, our weekend away was almost as active as I anticipated.

Thursday was kind of a bust. I wanted to go to kickboxing before we started our drive, but dh was anxious to get going, and it would've put us more than an hour behind, so I let that go. But, we drove alllll day and I didn't have time to exercise at all.

Friday we went to the Zion Narrows. The first mile is on a paved trail; no big deal. From there on out, you are hiking pretty much the whole time in water. The level varies from ankle to armpit, but for the most part, it's about to the knee. Well, my knees. I'm short. You're also walking over bowling ball sized rocks, so your stabilizer muscles are really, really worked. The entire canyon is 16 miles long, but that's really difficult for anyone to do in one day, so people who want to do the whole thing typically backpack in and then spend a night there. We didn't do that. We decided to go until we started to feel a little tired, then turn around and go back. After we'd been going about 4 hours, we decided we should turn around.

Going back was only about 3 hours, probably because it was down stream. By the time we got done, both my husband and I were pretty tired. He had a nasty blister on his pinky toe (his toe looks ready to fall off now, ewww), and I had a minor one on my big toe. Most of my toenail polish was rubbed off. Glad I hadn't just gotten a pedicure! Afterwards, we did the math and figured we went at least 12 miles that day. Pretty good! The scenery was incredible. Hiking at least part of the Narrows has been on my bucket list, and deservedly so. It was amazing.

The next day, we were both pretty sore, so we started off slow. We went on several smaller hikes that weren't as challenging. I figure we went about 9 miles Saturday, but it wasn't difficult at all.

Sunday was the day we had to go back home. We decided to stop at the Kanarraville Canyon because we'd heard the slot canyon there was beautiful. It's only about a 4 mile hike total, and at least 2.5 of that is on dry ground. It lived up to all of its' promises. It was so beautiful, and maybe more bang for your buck than the Narrows. Much easier to access and more family friendly.

I'm finally not sore today. I think I fixed that good though- I had my first ever personal training session today. It was exhausting. I thought she'd yell at me to push me harder, but evidently I push myself hard enough. About the time I felt ready to die, she wanted to back off because I looked pale. My cardio ability is still terrible. I simply don't know what to do about that. I'm curious to see if I'll be sore tomorrow.

This is the thing that was tough for me. After all of that exercise and walking around, I was too tired to eat much at night, so I felt like my calories were pretty decent. I got home and weighed myself, and I'd GAINED 2.5 lbs. Seriously? I'm halfway through the month, and I'm 2.5 over where I started the month? And I'm 2.5 lbs over where I was on June 30th? ARGH!!!! On the plus side, I tried on two pairs of jeans from my "skinnier" collection. They fit nicely, and I'd wear them if it was cold outside. I haven't been able to wear them in at least 2 years. So, that's good news. It won't win me this competition, but I am more concerned about how I look and feel than winning money. I just wish that sort of thing could be measured.

Anniversary Trip

Today is my 16th wedding anniversary. We're happier than ever, and I feel so blessed.

We rarely actually DO anything for anniversary, but this year is different. We've farmed the kids out to various relatives, and are going on a mini trip to celebrate. We're going to go to southern Utah. We'll stay in St. George, then drive into Bryce Canyon, Zion's, etc. The part I'm most excited about is hiking Zion's narrows.

I think it'll be a lot of fun, and we'll be so active I think I'll be able to eat whatever I want this weekend without negative consequences.