Monday mixtape - longest mixtape ever edition!

Sorry for being such a bad blogger y'all. As I've said before, I'm just busy living this crazy, wonderful new life of mine. I never sit still unless I'm working and even then I'm itching to be doing something. 

I asked my mom if she thought I was crazy because I get jealous when I see other people running and I've already done my run for the day. It's probably very crazy (Dr. Ritz do you read this?? :) ) but my mom compared it to a new love that you always want to be with so I choose to think of it like that. I hope I'm as in love with running as I am in love with my husband 10 years later!

So much has happened over the last 3 months.....

13.1 v3
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As I last posted, I was getting ready to head to Duluth, MN for my THIRD half marathon. Duluth was the 3rd stop on my challenge to run a half in all 3 of my hometowns. It was also my moms 65th birthday and we decided to make a mini family reunion out of it. 

It was also a chance to see my beautiful Grandma and when I looked up the race and it was called "Grandma's Marathon" nothing was going to stop me! I got to celebrate my moms birthday with her mom on my way to my 3rd half marathon. Doesn't get much better than that!
Mom, Grandma and Stepdad. We know how to have a blast at the nursing home!
We drove "up north" the next day to BEAUTIFUL lake superior to stay at my aunt and uncle's lakehouse which was such a blast and a true blessing as their are no hotels for 30 miles - it's that big of a race!

What I was not expecting was the temperature - 41 degrees - in JUNE. They said it was going to be chilly so us silly southerners brought hoodies. This was down jacket weather!!!
 
The next morning at 5:15 my amazing husband and sister drove me to the bus to the start. It was this cold
That says "risk of hypothermia" in JUNE!!!!!
The course was amazing so the cold and wet was worth it. The fog never let up but it was gorgeous and I was FAST.

My signs at the halfway mark. I have the best friends and family in the world!



 
And I finished in a RECORD time of 2:11:47. Absolutely freezing and shaking like a leaf but found my husband and sister who had a table at a restaurant where I enjoyed, coffee, beer, tequila, pancakes and eggs. 

 

And then I did this.....

I wish you could see that is says "no running" on the window.
 And braved Lake Superior for like 3 seconds.


Then we went to Wisconsin to see my other family where I did this....
Fried cheese curds - when in Wisconsin.......
and this!

I had the time of my life! Traveling for races is tough. I'm so worried about having all my gear and the right clothes and not knowing the course and blah blah blah but I love it so much I intend to keep doing it!


Daisy
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I'm not going to dwell on this subject for very long but it's important for people to know it's not all unicorns and rainbows in my world. Right before we left for our trip we found a matted, hungry, stinky stray dog while out on our bikes. We took her to the shelter but found someone to adopt her once all her medical stuff had been done. The day I returned from Minnesota, the new owner called to tell me the dog was sick and she couldn't take care of her anymore. There was nothing I could do but go get her and rush her to the vet. She had bronchitis, then she got an infection in her spine from the heartworm treatment she had at the shelter. She lived with us for about a month as I tried to nurse her back to health. I had to keep her separate from our dogs and ALL I did for a month was take care of her. It affected my work, it affected my marriage but we couldn't take her back to the shelter. We just couldn't.

We went to the vet constantly and spent way too much money but finally found her a new home with a wonderful lady. The day after we met her knew owner, the spine infection got worse and 2 days later she had to be put to sleep. I'm a firm believer in "everything happens for a reason" but I still have no idea why I was meant to go through this for such a long time. SO full of hope one day then more bad news the next. I may never know but I do know that this was one of those times I could have really turned to food. Believe me I tried -  a chocolate chip cookie and it just "didn't work." The old me wanted a dozen cookies but now I can't (thankfully) because of the surgery. It will make me feel awful if I stuff my face with crap. It's only happened a few times but it feels like the flu and I have to go straight to bed. I had to face my sadness full on without numbing my brain with food. It was a vital step on this journey for me and I'm feeling a lot better after some good old fashioned grieving!
Miss Daisy/Daisy Duke.
Peachtree Road Race v3
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As I mentioned in previous posts, I'd been coaching a group training for this years Peachtree and was completely inspired by my trainees. I thought I was there to inspire them but in the end it was them that inspired me!

This was the back of my car on training days - closest my car will ever look to a mom car :)
 Just a few days before the race I got a call from Fox 5 wanting to do a follow up story on progress. Of course I NEVER pass up the opportunity to be on TV :)




The day before the race I volunteered at the Atlanta Track club booth at the expo. I expected to just smile and look cute but it was WORK! We signed up tons of folks and I had a blast. 

Me in front of a picture of me at the booth!

 So, with all the excitement leading up to the race I barely had time to be nervous. I had just announced to the world that I wanted to run it in under an hour. It was a PERFECT morning 64 degrees one of the lowest temperatures on record! 

moving on up!

 
With my usual partners in crime!
The great weather and all my coaching and training made for a personal best!


This was just about as fast as I'm ever going to be able to run - basically as fast as I could run without throwing up! :)

The tradition lives on!




The journey continues.....
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I loved my coaching job so much that I'm back at it and helping out with a HUGE group of over 100 people training for the Thanksgiving day half. A few of our Peachtree trainees came back for more < insert evil laugh here > and I'm so proud of them for making such a big commitment. It's going to get hard as it's darker and colder and we're into the 11 and 12 mile Saturdays but I'm determined to help them enjoy every minute of it as I did last year!


I had to take this picture because it's a perfect example of my life right now. Remodeling is coming along - may be forever but nothing worth having is ever quick is it?
If you can't tell what this is, it's a sports bra flung over some patching compound and paint supplies

The addition is done but the deck will sit half done for a while - siding is next!
I had my first fall after trying to kick a stick out of the way and I learned that I can indeed run six miles while bleeding on my lululemons!

ouch!

All better!
 And finally, the elusive Betsey Johnson dress. I've always wanted to be able to wear one of her dresses and yesterday I bought one in a size 2. On sale at Nordstrom Rack even!

If you're still reading this you're a champ and I thank you!! Take care peeps. Back for more updates soon!

Friday weigh in and Peachtree Road Race Recap

I'm so confused - today seems like Sunday but it's only Friday! Hope everyone had a great 4th! I ate and drank more calories than I ever have post-surgery but then again I burned 1336 which cancelled it all out :)

Let's start with the weigh in:
Jan 14 - Start of liquid diet - 250
Jan 29 - Surgery weight - 237 -13
Feb 8 - 231 -6
Feb 15 - 222 -9
Feb 22 - 220  -2
Mar 1 - 218  -2
Mar 8 - 216  -2
Mar 15 - 213 -3
Mar 22 - 209 -4
Mar 28 - 208 -1
Apr 5 - 206 -2
Apr 12 - 199 -7
Apr 26 - 196 -3
May 3 - 193 -3 
May 10 - 190 -3
May 17 - 187 -3
May 24 - 186 -1
May 31 - 184 -2
June 7 - 177 -7  
June 14 - 177 -0   
June 21 - 175 -2
June 28 - 171 -4
July 5 - 167 -4
83 pounds total!

Hello 160s! Happy to see you. What's almost scary is that I'm only 17 pounds away from reaching 100. Again! This time, I swear I'm NEVER going back - mark my words as my grandma would say!

If you haven't already, Watch me sweat on TV.
      
Me watching me on TV! Such a weird thing.
Now on to the RACE!!

I was one of 60,000 runners that woke up to POURING rain. My stomach was in knots over the weather but I was holding out hope that it would stop as daylight came. I got on the train and was smashed up against some young, cool twenty something kid who wasn't going to the race. Poor thing had no idea he would be in an intimate relationship with a 43 year old married lady by the time he went 4 stops to work! By the time I got to the start, the rain had miraculously ended and the Twitter told me the winner had already crossed the finish line in 28:07. You can't drive a car that far in this city that fast :)

On my way to the start a woman stopped me and said "aren't you the lady on TV?? I love you take your picture with me!" How cool is that?? I so badly want to inspire people and it's working!!

photo from ajc.com
The race is so well organized and all the start waves were moving through flawlessly. I was crossing the start exactly when I was supposed to and the temperature was almost 20 degrees cooler than last year. Doesn't get much better than that!

Because of the weather, I knew I was going to have an easier run so I took the time to look around and enjoy the view along the way. Watching the Peachtree is as big of a deal as running it. People go all out with the side of the road and balcony parties. Definitely lots of entertainment! I was even tempted to grab a beer at one of the many beer stops but I hadn't had any beer while training so I wasn't going to take the risk :)

I was blown away by how different it was from last year. Last year I suffered through it and couldn't wait for it to be over. This time I was flying down Peachtree, enjoying the view and having a BLAST. This is what living is.

This was SO fast for me. 12'11 was my fastest mile. No wonder my heart rate was up. I knew it was too fast and I just couldn't slow down. It was just too much fun. About a hundred yards from the finish line I had to stop to walk for a second when I passed a breakfast place and the smell of food almost made me hurl! Other than that there was no damage done by running overly fast and finishing 30 MINUTES FASTER THAN LAST YEAR!!!

My feet stayed pretty dry until we had to go into the park to get our shirts and our water and our FRESH PEACHES! 
Luckily I was at the end of my shoe mileage.

Friends and husband at the finish.
Hopefully Marathon Photo got a better shot of me than my husband and his thumb! For now this will have to do!

Our attempt to re-create last years picture - with my friend, neighbor and running inspiration. 55 minute finisher!
Side by side with last years pic. XL tshirt 2012, M tshirt 2013! Loved walking up to the Medium table :)
Just a few of the many calories consumed and the best friends a girl could ever have!
Do I have the best looking entourage or what??
I'm STILL smiling today after such an amazing day. I feel great and will probably be back at yoga tonight already. I'm not going to stop running - in fact, I THINK I'm going to attempt my first half Marathon in Savannah in November. That's like finishing the Peachtree then running back to the start which is mind blowing to me but definitely not impossible. I will never say never again!

Have a happy, healthy week everyone!!

Monday mix tape

Another great weekend here in the ATL! I can't get over how awesome life is at the moment. Long may it continue!!!

Friday was the start of the "Tina Tait media blitz" :) The hospital where I had my surgery released my article on their website and social media. I read it over and over and I love it. I'm so honored to be representing their bariatric program and I vow to continue to be a success story! Click here to read the article >

Saturday it was time for the last of my on-course training runs for the race which is THURSDAY already! I was meeting some friends and I was running late already at 5:30am. I skipped breakfast (big mistake) and had only a few sips of coffee (another big mistake) but was running by 7:15. First 3 miles were pretty good. My legs felt heavy and my heart rate was way up and I didn't realize why until my Nike app said "1 mile completed - 11 minutes and 42 seconds". Ummm no wonder I felt worn out. That's WAY too fast for me and I didn't realize how much I was trying to keep up with my friends. I like to settle in at about 13:30 pace these days (which is something I could never have imagined in my past life!). The last 3 miles are the hardest due to the hills and I had already done myself in. I chugged way too much water which made me really nauseous so I walked cardiac hill then ran in spurts the last 3 miles - desperately out of water and getting the chills. Finally we got to the car and went for breakfast. Whew, that was a tough one.

Sunday I got to go back to the W Hotel in Midtown for a roof-top yoga class. There were 75 people in this gorgeous room overlooking the whole city and it was one of the best classes yet! I did wheel pose for the first time ever.
Never could have imagined doing this but I tried it and there it was!

After we got a vodka and lemonade and some pool time. Even better? My amazing and beautiful instructor for the last 3 years Astrid handed me a bag from #lululemon along with a huge hug saying how proud of me she was! She is (rightly so!) an ambassador for them and told them about my journey.

In the bag were the most awesome pants I've been coveting! Lord almighty do I need free pants right now!
and also one of the most awesome cards ever!

LOVE the "Keep on goal crushing". This is SO motivating and I'm feeling more inspired than ever. It chokes me up a bit!!

Because I never got in the water at the W, my husband and I decided to brave the public pool with a hundred million kids just so I could wear my new bathing suit. It's my first tankini (no you're not getting any pictures of me in it) but I will give you a shot from the neck up :)
It was weird and wonderful to wear a bathing suit that wasn't a black one piece for the first time since I was a toddler!

Today started off with a great run - my usual 5k route and my usual pace of 13:30. Glad my training has ended on a high note. I think it's interesting how I had two crappy course runs and two fabulous ones. I think the crappy ones have to happen so we learn what not to do and also to touch base with our egos. 

Tonight is the big night - my story airs tonight on Fox 5 news news at 5. I'm nervous about seeing myself on TV but excited too. I will be with a group of friends in my local bar trying hard not to have more than one drink!!

I will make sure to post the link as soon as it's available. I will also have a race update on Friday along with the weigh in which is already looking pretty good! Happy 4th of July everyone!