Closet Purge and Shopping.

A few weeks ago, I had to go shopping for a dress that I could wear to an interview, all of my work clothes have gotten too big and I had nothing to wear.  Well, I got a bee in my bonnet to do a closet purge, try everything on, and whatever didn't fit was going to the Women's Resource Centre here in town.  So I spent the morning purging the closet.  Clothes were gone through, sorted and bagged up.  When I was done this was what my closet now looks like.

A lot of empty hangers

A few pants, a couple of sweaters a dress and some shirts is all that is left!

The closet has slim pickings these days and I have had to pick a couple of thing up, including new work style clothes.

I went shopping today with my mom and for the first time that I can honestly recall, shopping was a pleasant experience.  I went into a store called Laura in Langley and the salespeople there made my day.  They were helpful, polite, and made an experience that I normally hate into one of the best experiences I've ever had.   Part of it was that I had clothes to choose from.  Everything I picked up either fit or was a little too big.  I had a large amount of clothes in my hands as I was going around the store.  I do like to keep the clothes I"m selecting with me so that I can see what I have and try to coordinate outfits as I go.  Usually it's a struggle with the sales people wanting to get a room started and take the clothes off of you, but when I explained I would rather keep the clothes with me the sales person went to get a rolling clothes rack so that I wouldn't have to carry the clothes with me. Wow! 

When I was ready to go back to try things on, the salesperson rolled the rack right into the change room for me, settled my mom down in a chair to wait for me and came back a few times to see how we were making out.    The customer service level there was fantastic!

I loved my shopping experience today, I felt a little spoiled by the level of customer service and I am so grateful that I can now go into a regular store and have a great selection of clothes to choose from.  That I'm able to put basic pieces together that look and feel fabulous.  I loved the fact that I was able to purchase a skirt, blouse, jacket and dress that are all coordinated, made of beautiful fabrics, are great quality and best of all reasonably priced!

Today's experience may just have made me into a clothes shopper!

Rough Week.

This past week for me was not a good week activity wise.  As in I didn't get a lot of activity in.  I didn't get much walking in, I didn't do my intervals like I had planned out.  I didn't even do my yoga every day.  It was not a good week.  I had a bad week with my feet this week.  So bad in fact that on Tuesday night I literally didn't get any sleep with them.  I didn't get any relief from  my compression socks, or medication.  It was just bad, so bad in fact that more than one person asked me if I was all right on Wednesday as I was pale as a ghost and looked miserable.  I realized on Thursday how bad I must have looked when my dad called me to check on me.   I was at their house briefly on Wednesday to take my mom somewhere and my dad was worried about me I looked so horrible and didn't have that usual pep in my step.

My feet were better on Thursday and Friday but I still didn't get out and do my walking, all sorts of excuses abound!  I was tired, my feet were still sore, it was raining, I was busy, I keep coughing.  All sorts of excuses and that's exactly what it was!  Excuses.  I only earned 20 activity points last week, which is less than half of what I normally earn.   I've know I need to just suck it up buttercup and get on with it!  My feet hurt, oh well, they are still going to hurt if I'm sitting doing nothing.  It's raining out, that's why you have a water proof jacket, a baseball cap and two pairs of runners.  It's dark out, that's why you have a reflective vest and reflective light up arm bands.  No more excuses!  I need to kick it up a notch and get back to the activity level I was at when I was losing weight steadily. 

Despite my lack of activity, I did have a loss this week, I lost almost a pound.  I'm back to where I was two weeks ago, so that's a good thing.  Now, with getting refocused on my activity, I need to get on with the job of losing weight, no more of this losing a few ounces one week, gaining a few ounces the next! 

Here I am - refocused and ready to move it, move it!

Power of a gain.

Sometimes it is little.  A couple of ounces this week, a couple more next week, a pound here, half a pound there.  Nothing can strike fear into the heart of someone on a weight loss journey than that polite look on the face of person conducting your weigh in when they politely close your weight journal and hand it back to you, telling you to have a good week.  Without saying congratulations! 

I always smile back, thank them and then nervously peak at my journal as I walk over to take a seat in the meeting area.  A gain!  A groan!  The panic of going the wrong way on the scale.  That instant thought of what's the point of doing this!

It's amazing how having that tiny little plus sign in front of a very small number can have such a large impact on how you feel, whether you were expecting it or not.  Whether you feel you deserve it or not.

The power of a gain just about did me in.  I had thought that perhaps by the end of October I would hit that next milestone of 75 pounds lost.  I only had a few ounces to go and then I could celebrate.  However that didn't happen, instead I had a gain!  I gained a pound and it had the power to almost ruin my whole day.  I left the meeting in a mood, I was hungry, it was 830am and I hadn't had breakfast yet.  I could go for an Egg McMuffin, or maybe a Sausage McMuffin, and hey look, there's McDonalds right there on the next block.  It would be so easy to just go into that drive thru and place an order.

The power of a gain...an amazing thing.  The only thing more powerful?  The power of knowing that this was a blip, this week will be better, that you're doing something good for you.

I discovered that I'm more powerful than a gain....and that's a great thing!

Boundary Bay 5K

The Boundary Bay 5K was on Sunday.  I was so relieved when the alarm went off at 545am, to silence.  Yes silence.  No rain beating on the roof as it had been when I went to bed on Saturday night.  I had already packed my post run bag with pants, shirt, socks and shoes.  Just in case it was raining I thought I should have dry clothes for the drive home.  Thankfully, I didn't need them.  It was still dark when my awesome husband and I got in the car at 620 to head out to Boundary Bay.

My wonderful husband picked up my run kit for me on Friday when he was on his way home from work, it took an hour to get the run kit but it was worth not having to drive in any earlier!

Run kit ready to go Sunday Morning.

We were aiming to be at the run site for 730, an hour before start time as I needed to exchange the shirt that I received.  Somehow they had me down for a much smaller size than I wear.  I love dealing with Try Events, they are awesome and so easy to deal with.   We were really surprised when we arrived to see how full the parking lot already was with more than 45 minutes to go before the start of the race.  I had to wait about 20 minutes on site to change my shirt as there were a lot of event day registrants and people picking up their kits.  I was so lucky to get the last shirt in the size that I needed.  When looking at it I thought it may actually fit, so I went into the washrooms and put it on.  Low and behold, a tech shirt actually fit me!  Yeah!

A quick trip back to the car to grab my stuff and I was ready to head to the start line.  There were a lot of people there and I have to admit I was a little nervous as I know that I'm slow and having so many true athlete's around me, really intimidated me for a few minutes.  I had a lot of those "what do you think you're doing here" thoughts going through my head but I quickly overcame my self doubt.   It helped to have my husband there for support,  before it was time to get ready to go.

Wearing my Boundary Bay shirt, ready for warm up.

At the start line, a lot of runners at this race!

After warm up it was time to get in line to start the race, the race was full marathon, half marathon, relay marathon, 10K and 5K.  They asked us 5ker's to stay towards the back of the line to let the others get away.   After the start gun it probably took about 2 minutes to get to the actual start line but before long we were off.  It was a gorgeous day and the trail is along the bay, the tide was out but there were still some beautiful views to be seen.

Yep, just me on the trail, with a few people walking behind me.

As I started out at the back of the pack, and I always walk the first five minutes or so it wasn't long before there were just a handful of us on any section of trail at a given time.  There were a couple of ladies in front of me that I managed to pass but I was still at the back of the pack, which is fine with me.  I'm not running the full races yet, although I figure I ran about 1/4 of the way.

Heading back, still the only one on the trail with a couple of people behind me.

It was great to see quite a few people in the community out cheering people on, especially when we reached the end of the trail and were on the road for a little bit.   The energy of the crowd as you got closer to the finish line was great and as some of the 10k runners were passing me towards the finish line there was a lot of energy to carry you through.  I crossed the finish line and saw my wonderful husband standing along the finishers chute cheering me on, it always gives me such a sense of accomplishment to hear my name as I cross the finish line.  My Garmin Finish time was 54:29,  my chip time was 54:16  a new Personal best for me  I'm going to work on getting that time down some more as I really do want to do the BMO 8K in May.

Love my finishers medal for this race!

Next up is the Santa Shuffle on December 7th.  I'm working on getting some friends to join me, so it should be fun for everyone!

Clothes Shopping

I am one of those rare creatures who hate clothes shopping.  I mean, loath, despise, HATE.  There aren't enough words to describe how much I dislike shopping for clothes.  I usually have to be in the mood to go shopping, and I MUST need something and that is why I am going.

I had to go clothes shopping last week.  I've been interviewing for different positions and I'm not liking how I'm looking.  My work clothes are all too big, I put on my "reliable" dress on Sunday, to ensure that it was clean and pressed, and it kept slipping off my shoulder.    I didn't think the off the shoulder look would bode well for the interview that I had lined up for this week.  I headed out on my own to my old stand by store.  I was a little panicked when I saw that they didn't have any skirts currently and only had one style of dress in three colours.  I grabbed a dress in each colour and headed to the dressing room.  I changed into the first dress and cringed, it looked truly horrid on me, but for all the wrong reasons, reasons I'm not used to.  Instead of being too tight and making me look like a stuffed sausage, it was too big!   I almost bought it because of the panic.  I needed something to wear for the interviews and I didn't have a lot of time!

I left the store and saw another one further down the mall.  I know that my sister had bought me a sweater out of that store a couple of years ago but until now,  nothing else fit.  I went into the store and sighed a little bit, they did have a plus woman's size shop in the back right corner of the store and I could see 2 dresses there.  I took the largest one in each size back to the change room and was surprised when I put them on that they were also too big.  I had a different sensation this time.  I was thrilled!

I was technically in a "normal" clothing store and something I tried on was too big.  The sales girl went and got me the next size down.  I was so surprised that it fit.  I couldn't make my mind up between the two dresses so I went home empty handed.  I did however do what every girl does.  I called my mom!  She was available to go shopping with me and we headed out the next morning.  As wewere driving my mom suggested that we go to one of the major department stores to see what they had.  My first instinct was to say that I didn't think they would have anything that would fit me.  My mom pointed out that if the one store I went into yesterday did, then there was a good chance other stores would as well.

We headed to the mall and for the first time in my adult life, probably from the time I was maybe 16, I bought a dress in a regular department store.  I was very hesitant going in, I wasn't sure that I was going to find anything, and instead we found two beautiful outfits and they both fit me really well.  I really wanted to get both but the budget prevailed and I managed to get a beautiful versatile dress for less than what I would have thought.   I was thrilled with the fact that I now have so many different options available to me for shopping.

I've always relied on just one store here in Canada, and one in the States.  Other than making my own clothes (which I've done) they were my only clothing options. When you've been as large as a 6x, you don't have a lot of choices.   I'm excited that as I continue on my journey the options are just going to keep coming.

It was a pretty darned good feeling!

Rubber Ducky 5K

This past week was a hard week, I still have the head cold from he!! and it's been hard to get out and get moving with very little energy.  However, I had the Rubber Ducky 5K that I was doing with a friend and although my original goal had been to run the whole course, I knew by Wednesday that probably wasn't going to happen.

I was volunteering on Saturday morning so my wonderful husband drove into town to pick up our Run Kits for us.  I was very excited when I got home to see this waiting for me!

The t-shirt is a technical t-shirt that wicks moisture which I think is great!  I'm looking forward to wearing it on my walks when in the spring I can go back to wearing just a t-shirt!

On Sunday morning my husband dropped me off at my friends house, at 715am.  I love doing races, but I do hate the fact that they all start so early and because we normally have to drive an hour or more to get to them it means an extra early Sunday morning for us :)

When we arrived at Burnaby Lake the parking lot was already getting full, after using the restrooms we headed over to the starting area where all the tents were set up.  It was a damp foggy morning, and the mist from the fog was already getting us wet, so we were very grateful that the race organizers TRY EVENTS had a warm zone set up for the runners to wait in.  There was a 20x10 tents with walls on three sides with two propane heaters running.  It was so nice!

Before we knew it it was time to go outside and get ready for the warm up.  This is when I realized that I had left my ipod in the car and it was too late to go back for it.  I usually walk/run with music and I know that I move faster with it but oh well.

My friend "L" and I getting ready for warm up.

The Rubber Ducky is a 1/2 Marathon, 1/2 Relay Marathon, 7 miler and 5K run, with a mass start after warm up.   We had tried to stay towards what we thought was the back of the line up but after the warm up was done, I looked around and realized that we were more in the centre of the pack.  I felt bad as I know how important it is to get out of the gate as smoothly as possible and I usually do stay to the back to keep out of the way.  There were quite a few hands on my back as people went around  me but oh well, after a few minutes the crowd thinned out and I felt a little bit better.

The 5K route was around the outer edges of a field and onto a trail.  It was a beautiful trail with the leaves changing color and hard packed gravel which was great, however I did have to stop a couple of times to take stones out of my shoe!  My friend is a faster walker than I am, my running is about the speed of her walking, and I eventually just told her to go on, don't wait for me.  I was able to keep her in sight for most of the way, but I came around a curve in the trail and discovered everyone was far ahead of me.  There was no-one there!

The perks of being slow, you get the whole trail to yourself!

It wasn't long before I started seeing people coming back at me, the 5K route is an out and back.  I found "L" waiting for me at the turn around and we started back together, again after a while I told her to go ahead,  I'd meet her back at the tents.  I was walking and running but I wasn't running very far as I kept coughing so hard.  Eventually I made it back to the end of the trail along the field and I could see the Finish line and the tents, and hear the announcer as he was welcoming people back.

The finish line is in sight! Sort of.

I was very touched when I made it back to the part of the trail that led down to the finishers chute.  "L" was standing there waiting for me!  She didn't want to finish without me and I was very touched that she waited for me.  We walked for a minute and then we ran it in!  I was so happy to have someone to finish with me!  We crossed the line together as we had started and that was a great feeling!

My Garmin time was 55:59, the chip time was 55:22

"L" and I with our finishers medals!

Although I couldn't run the whole distance, I was happy with my time, shaved 3 minutes off of my last TRY Events race.  I have another one in two weeks, so hopefully this head cold will finally be gone and I'll be able to do a lot more running for that one.

It was great to have a friend along for the race today.  It was great to have that support along the trail and to have someone to enjoy it with.  I think I'm going to try to get a bunch of us together for the Santa Shuffle/ Elf Walk in December.  That should be a hoot and a half!

Thankful for so much.

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope that everyone has enjoyed their weekend.

Friday was weigh in day, I was really apprehensive about going to weigh in as I was fairly certain I would be dealing with a gain.  I went to weigh in and was pleasantly surprised to learn that I actually had a loss.  A good loss, I was down 1.9 pounds this week!  Wahoo!  My leader asked me if I had a weight in mind as my goal weight.  I told her I didn't, and she asked me to start thinking about it.

After weigh in, I had a doctors appointment.  It was a follow up appointment to a medication change a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to talk to my doctor about setting a goal weight.  Thankfully he wasn't busy and we had a chance to talk about all manner of things.  We talked about my weight loss to date, and potentially setting a goal weight.  He would like to see where I am weight wise in January when I will have been on WW for a year, before setting a goal weight.  We talked about my blood sugars, which have been great, between 4-6 every day and because they are doing so well, he took me to 1/2 a tablet instead of a full tablet of one of my medications. Yeah!   He also told me I could come off two of my other medications as well!  He told me he was impressed with how I was doing and if I kept it up I would be off of everything before much longer.  

I was so happy with this visit that I had a permanent smile all day long!

I decided on Saturday I had to try to do some intervals, head cold or not as I have the Rubber Ducky 5K next Sunday.  I haven't done any intervals in over a week so after all our usual Saturday morning running around was done off I headed.  I started out strong with my intervals, running for god lengths of time.  I had planned an out and back route, and had mapped it out so I knew where to turn around.

Where I started from across from where I turned around

 I was feeling pretty good up to that point.  I was breathing hard because of my cold but I was feeling pretty good  Until I turned around.  I then had a head wind that was just strong enough to keep stealing my breath away.  I finally decided I had to stop running.   I just couldn't get my breath and had to keep covering my mouth and nose with my hands to get a breath in, I started coughing and was a little worried about triggering an asthma attack, I didn't have my inhaler with me.  Not to self, put inhaler in pocket when leaving the house for intervals!  I was still really happy when I looked at my splits at home.  I actually remembered to push the lap button on my watch when I started and stopped running!  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/389386227

Finally gave up running and walked back!

 Sunday was a beautiful day!  My husband and I packed Angus into the car and headed out to Burnaby Lake so that I could scope out where the Rubber Ducky 5K is being held next week  I was really glad we did, so I could get the lay of the land.   There is a lot of parking and it's free (Bonus!) the route looks to be fairly flat (thank goodness) and it was really easy to get to.  We really enjoyed our leisurely walk around the trail with Angus.  It was such a nice morning.

Today we will be heading over to my parents for thanksgiving dinner.  It will be great to see everyone, have dinner together and laugh around the kitchen table.  When it come time to say what we're thankful for I have a whole list.  My family, my friends, my health, my running and my weight loss.  I couldn't have said those last three things this time last year.  I truly am thankful for all that I have.