I thought I had food poisoning, now its looking like the flu. Great. I went to the doc, but won't know if my swab was positive until Sat. Gary stayed home today, I feel awful, he can't stay home tomorrow b/c he has a project to finish up. Oh oh oh I hope Harper doesn't catch this from me. Is it inevitable? She had a flu shot a few weeks ago.

Ugh, I am having a little bad luck this week, lol. I feel horrible today, absolutely horrible. It's all tummy related. I had pizza last night and didn't realize it had garlic on it and I don't handle garlic well at all and I have been hunched over in sick pain all day. Not fun to take care of a 6 month old on the move when you don't feel good. Oh well. My own fault. On top of that, I totally overdid it at the gym on Monday (in weight lifting class, used too much weight big time) b/c I was so gung ho to get started again. I can barely sit on the toilet from doing squats. I have been hobbling around for 2 days. I went to the weight lifting class again this morning in hopes my nausea would go away and getting my muscles moving would help. No such luck, I was a sweaty mess the whole class and almost threw up and couldn't handle more then 5 lbs on each side of the bar and couldn't get through the squat set. Eieiey. I hope I feel better tomorrow. I have missed a run nd need to run tomorrow for sure.

Here is a pic of Harper and her playmate Nate. Every week my friend Salty and I get together to babysit each others kids while the other runs. Nate will be a year old in Nov. The pics are a little blurry, but I just love Harper's faces

Sunday, Oct 25 - I know I declared the other day that I was on a diet & giving up sweets, unfortunately I haven't been very mindful of my diet...at all. The scale said goodbye to 130 & planted me back at 132, so 7 lbs that I want to lose. Starting over again today. I am going to try and lose these 7 lbs over the next 6 weeks. I know that seems a little ambitious but you don't know all the stupid things I've eaten (hello pizza for dinner last night& giant creme puff) or the weights I have been slacking on. I have a pair of skinny jeans that I want to get into and I think it would be great to wear them on Thanksgiving to prevent me from overeating...I start anew today with a 75 min power yoga class. Here are a few goals I am going to try and stick to and be mindful of:

1. Work out 10-11 hours a week, this counts dog walks
2. Get more fruits & veggies, I have been awful about this and it used to be the easy part for me
3. On days that G gets home from work before 5 take the dogs for an extra walk even if its just half a blocl
4. Get to the gym classes at least 3 times a week, important for me and also for keeping Harper used to the playroom
5. After Harper goes to bed get on bike in basement a few times a week and watch one of my many shows that I DVR

Here is my workout plan for this week, not counting dog walks, they get one every day, varying lengths depending on weather, baby mood, etc:
Today - 75 min yoga class
Mon - Urban Iron or BeamFIT class and 5 mile run
Tues - 5 mile run, abs DVD
Wed - Urban Iron class, 2o mins on bike
Thurs - 5 mile run, yoga DVD
Fri - Urban Iron class, 20 mins on bike
Sat -6 mile run

For 2 days in a row I have weighed in at 130.5. I was hovering between 130 and 133 when I got pregnant, so yay! Pre preggo weight. I wanted to do it by 6 months and lo and behold Monday is her 6th month bday! I hope I can get a few more lbs off. I have enjoyed this week off. I worked out once. Starting tomorrow I am back at it.

Harper is sick. She got super stuffed up late yesterday and we were up all night. She didn't fall asleep until 11, in the swing, after screaming for an hour. She hasn't slept all day. I keep getting her to fall asleep, whether by rocking or feeding her, but then as soon as I lay her down, she is right back up. She is in good spirits for the most part if you are holding her. I hope this cold doesn't last 2 weeks. If she is sick next week I will go to the gym when G is home from work I guess. I am not taking any more time off the gym.

On the tattoo front, I made up my mind on the 3 little birds. But I also have to hold off until summer, as the lady doing the tat said that I really shouldn't get a foot tattoo in the winter and that she doesn't offer her retouching guarantee on foot tats during cold months. But I did promise my friend I would get inked with her after our marathons, so I think I am going to get the symbol for mother in kanji on my rib. Or maybe that little round owl. Although my hairdresser has the astrological signs of her kids on her back and that's a great idea too.

I think I am getting a tattoo. Picking a design is such a hard decision to make. I have some links below to tattoos that I like and I would love any input or opinion you have. I have a few ideas floating around my head:

1. 3 hearts all linked together or overlapping to symbolize each member of my family
2. An owl just b/c I love them and have done Harper's nursery in owls, so it would be a little harper tribute
3. 3 little birds, I love the song so much and always have, it makes me smile whenever I hear it and has such a nice message, I picture three little fat birds sitting atop my toes

now where to get it, rib, back of neck and foot, leaning towards foot, but maybe a symbol for mother on my rib.....


I love this quote, ignore the butterfly part :)
http://beautifultattoos.blogspot.com/2009/05/quote-tattoo-and-geisha-butterfly.html

Cool star
http://www.checkoutmyink.com/tattoos/acda/one-of-the-better-stars

Love this trail of stars tattoo:
http://www.checkoutmyink.com/tattoos/cindyyyy/my-1st-tattoo-64

This tattoo is shitty, but I like the premise, Harper's name in a star shape
http://www.checkoutmyink.com/tattoos/emma-jane-m/childrens-names-in-star-shape

If I go with an owl, I like these:

This one I like, but muuuccch smaller, but I like the style
http://www.checkoutmyink.com/tattoos/adidas2366/owl-14
cute and simple owl:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hellomorning/3762031873/
I wouldn't do the circle, but love the owl in the middle:
http://www.checkoutmyink.com/tattoos/cego_tattoo/109028


If I go with the three little birds, the little bird on this card is cute and I could do different colors, maybe a polka dot one, a striped one and a solid blue one?
http://www.amazingpaper.com.au/persistent/catalogue_images/products/LITTLE%20BIRD%20CARD.jpg

This is a neat tattoo - a swallow:
http://www.checkoutmyink.com/tattoos/itseasybeezy/swallows-38

Sorry running and triathlete buddies this blog is now switching gears to full fledged diet blog until I am 125. Well in a round about way that is running related, I don't think I want to try another marathon until I am firmly planted in the 120s again. I felt the extra 10 lbs I was carrying on Sunday for sure. I stepped on the scale this morning and it told me - 134. So, 4 lbs over what I weighed when I got preggo. I look fine, I no longer feel like I look like a lady who just had a baby and has that extra tire, wider booty, etc, but I know that I look and feel so much better 10 lbs lighter. And I think my running will get an extra boost from the weight loss as well.

Today I started my own version of a diet. The only rule is no sugary junk food for 2 weeks. Aside from the obvious no ice cream, cookies, etc, there will also be not one chocolate chip granola bar, bowl of lucky charms, or sugar laden yogurt. So, I will stand firm and strong for 2 weeks to get myself over the daily habit of sugar. Once I go a solid 14 days, I will then allow myself 1 weekly dessert that I will plan for and savor for all it is worth. Its time to start looking at the labels again when I buy things like cereal and yogurt and I will only be buying the product if it has under 10g of sugar in it. Hello fiber one honey flakes, goodbye peanut butter puffins - goodbye lemon yoplait, hello chobani, etc. I also need to dial back the diet coke and splenda. I firmly believe that the fake sugar makes me crave sweet things. Aside from that I am going to try and make my snacks veggies instead of cheese & crackers which have become a staple for me. Honestly my eating has been such a mess that I think a few tweaks should put me well on my way to 125.

I am feeling mostly back to normal. My knees are a little sore and my calves hurt if I lift myself up on them to like reach an upper cabinet, but mostly feeling good. I am going to go to the gym tomorrow and take my urban iron class, but I am only going to use light weights on the upper body and no weights on the lower, but I need to get back into the swing of the gym. So does Harper. It's been pretty much a month since she went to the gym 4 days a week and I need to get her used to that again.

So here we go, wish me luck. If all goes as planned I should see 125 before the new year.

(Monday, Oct 13) Other alternate titles for this entry could be - "I have no business running for that long", "Ow, seriously Ouch" or if I am being kind to myself "17 minute PR bitches". I woke up at 5am on Sunday to leave my house for the race at 6. When I stepped into my backyard it was around 45 degrees out. Thank goodness I "overdressed" b/c when I got down to the valley for the race it was more like 40 and freezing. I wore capris, a long sleeve shirt, a vest and gloves, it was perfect. I couldn't have asked for better weather. I hit the portapotty twice before the race and got lined up at 7:40ish. Since it was such a small race, I saw everyone that I knew that was going to be down there. I thought there were 500+ runners, but in looking at the results it looks more like 350ish.

My goal going into it was to just run as hard as I could and feel as good as I could at the end. I started off kind of fast. I was watching my average pace on my Garmin and I knew I didn't want it to get over 10:13. That was my pace for the half mary two weeks ago. I managed to keep that avg pace under 10 all the way to mile 18! I was very pleased about that, but everything kind of fell apart after that. I stopped to use the portapotty and my avg pace fell from 10 on the nose to 10:06. I managed to keep it together until the turn around at mile 21, then my legs just kind of quit. I hobbled my way the last 5.2 miles and watched my avg pace slowly creep higher and higher to 10:20. Oh well. I finished in 4:30:31. Which met my original long shot goal, but since I ran so hard (for me) and strong until mile 21, I would have really loved to get in under 4:20.

I would say that I really did feel just fine, 100% okay until mile 16. Then my stomach starting bothering me. I made a decision to stop at the porta potty at mile 18 and stomach was better after that. After mile 21 I started imaging my body was made of glass at that at any moment my hips and back were going to shatter. That's how bad I hurt! Mostly it was in my hips, knees and lower back, well and my feet, of course. Around mile 23 I probably slowed down to between 11-12 min miles and I REALLY wanted to stop, but I didn't. I made it through the whole race without walking, which was a goal as well. So, I am happy about that. After 23 I was counting 1, 2, 1, 2 in my head, one more step, one more step. Luckily I knew the towpath really well, so I was able to tell myself I just need to make it to lock 29, or the cut over to the falls, etc. Then I got near the finish line and I could hear everyone cheering. And there was Gary with Harper in a stroller, holding a sign saying GO MOM! It almost made me cry. I wasn't expecting them to be there, so that was a nice surprise. I picked it up a notch and really ran as fast as I could to the finish. My brain wasn't working at that point, I was shaky and totally out of it. Thank goodness a banana and orange took care of that. I was so glad to be done! I made it. I wish I could say I felt good and strong and I did think the whole last 5 miles if I ever really want to do this again. I am doing something wrong in my training to fall apart that bad. So, I need to really spend some time thinking about that. I know for a fact that I felt the extra 10 lbs and will not even contemplate a marathon until I am firmly back in the 120s.

I really hurt bad when I got home and felt like crying the rest of the day. I took a long ice bath and a lot of aspirin, that helped. Today I just feel like I got beat up, that's all :). I must say that part of me wonders if my skeletal system is fully recovered from Harper. My hips etc felt like they took such a beating, I wonder if it is b/c the relaxin has left my body completely, etc. Just a thought, maybe I am just a big ol wuss!