Juneathon is here!

So it's June 1st and this is the month that I traditionally slack off a bit (OK a lot) from running. Thanks to Denise at Run DMT, this year I've found Juneathon (see link on RHS) - a virtual, international network of people who are committed to working out (and blogging about it to stay accountable) every day for the whole month of June! This is exactly what I need, particularly now that Lu is not in town for a month and I feel lost without her all of a sudden! I'm prepared to commit to a minimum of 20 minutes a day (with longer sessions for training days) - and while I'm in the spirit of making commitments I'm going to shoot for eating 'clean' for a whole month too after reading this inspirational book:

I'm still going to shoot for running 3 times a week - but hopefully the regular, daily workout will help me stay motivated overall. I may even get used to the heat a little? I wonder how I'll feel in a whole month's time?? Wish me luck!!

Day 1: Ran 4:2 Sprints: 2.5 miles, 24:00 mins

Day 2: Weights: 20 mins

Day 3: Ran: 3.0 miles, 32:09 mins

Insanely hot. But totally my fault - I had to run in the evening since I didn't get my arse out of bed this morning at 6 liked I'd planned after staying up chit-chatting until nearly 2 a.m. But still - crazy hot. But I'm not whining. Because nobody likes a whiner. Not even other whiners...

Day 4: Bike: 8.0 miles, 48:58 mins
Day 5: Ran Treadmill: 4.4 miles, 40:00 mins, Weights: 20 mins
Day 6: Bike: 10.40 miles, 49:36 mins

Had a bit of a slip on the clean eating front today and had two (yep that would be two) protein bars and a piece of cake today. I had a ton of 'safety fruit' to hand so I have absolutely no excuses. I can't even say that I didn't enjoy it or felt guilty:)

Day 7: Gym Bike: ?? miles, 45:00 mins

Very lame workout after a horrendous eating day too. I can't seem to decide on my next event or which training to focus on. Feeling lost to be honest. A good night's sleep will help for sure...

Day 8: Nothing
Day 9: Nothing
Day 10: Nothing

Oops :). Well it looks like pesky Juneathon has gotten the better of me after only 7 days! This weekend was horrendously busy and I have been so exhausted. I feel like I've been lurching from one place I had to be or task I had to do to the next. In short, life got in the way. And I let it happen :(...So what now? Well, I was thinking that maybe I can rewrite the rules a bit and give myself credit for 'doubling' up sessions? So basically I can 'buy back' a missed day if I do two different activities on one day?? It's worth a shot...now I really want to see if I can do that! And there's that 'eating clean' thing that I haven't stuck to...Juneathon - I'm coming BACK!

Day 11: Swim: 11.5 laps, 20:00 mins, Ran Treadmill: ?? miles, 25:00 mins

Great workout and one session bought back. Two more to get back on track...:)

Day 12: Gym Bike: ?? miles, 40:00 mins
Day 13: Nothing :(
Day 14: Gym Bike: ?? miles, 45:00 mins

OK so I'm still 3 sessions behind so I'm going to need to step this up if I'm going to be able to claim victory over Juneathon!! I have nothing major scheduled for this weekend so I have a perfect opportunity to catch up completely if I can just stay motivated! This 'daily' thing is so much tougher than I thought:).

Day 15: Ran 5:1 Intervals: 6 miles, 1:06:06 mins

I was totally dreading tonight since I haven't ran 6 miles on my own for a very long time and I've really been struggling to stay on track. It's often on nights like this that the Running Gods intervene and I see something really special and tonight was no exception. I've lived in Florida for nearly 15 years but I've never seen a Scarlet Kingsnake before...

OK so that's not my picture but mine looked exactly the same! I nearly stepped on him and for a second I wondered if I would be able to run to the hospital before certain death. Then I remembered 'If red touches yellow, it can kill a fellow. If red touches black, it is a friend of Jack' and realized he was harmless. And he didn't bite me anyway :). About 10 minutes later I caught the Epcot fireworks too. Florida is certainly hot but you get to see some amazing things when you're out for a run. Lucky me..:)

Day 16: Swim: 19.5 laps, 35:00 mins, Bike: 8.1 miles, 38:46 mins
Day 17: Swim: 13 laps, 20:00 mins, Ran Treadmill: ?? miles, 25:00 mins
Day 18: Swim: 13.5 laps, 20:00 mins, Bike: 7.5 miles, 33:18 mins

All caught up now:)

Day 19: Swim: 18.0 laps, 30:00 mins
Day 20: Run: 5.0 miles, 54:11 mins

Virtual run tonight for Emmett Sebright - a little boy with Craniosynostosis, a defect of the skull that inhibits brain growth. On June 20, 15 month old Emmett had his scheduled surgery - a cranial vault reconstruction. During the 7 to 8 hour surgery, his mother, Kathy planned to run on the treadmill at the hospital the entire time Emmett was in surgery. She pledged that she would not stop until he was out - even if it took the full 8 hours. Emmett's (virtual) Endurance Event was organized on Facebook as a show of solidarity and support.

Day 21: Nothing

Day 22: Gym Bike: ?? miles, 45:00 mins
Day 23: Swim: 15 laps, 25:00 mins

Just one more week to go and one session to catch up!

Day 24: Nothing
Day 25: Ran Treadmill: ?? miles, 45:00 mins

Great run tonight after a lethargic weekend. Feeling really motivated to catch up the two sessions I've fallen behind on and end the week strong :).

Day 26: Swim: 13 laps, 20:00 mins, Gym Bike: ?? miles, 30:00 mins

Just one more session to catch up and 4 days to go :)

Day 27: Ran: 3.0 miles, 32:25 mins
Day 28: Nothing :(

Day 29: Ran: 7.0 miles, 1:19:68 mins
Day 30: Swim: 12.5 laps, 20:00 mins, Ran: ?? miles, 20 mins, Gym Bike: ?? miles, 25:00 mins

All done...Juneathon verdict to follow...!

Well thank you Disney!!!

After a blissful couple of months eating pretty much whatever I want I finally checked into Rehab enrolled in Weight Watchers ;). I was not looking forward to the meetings at all but actually they have been incredibly helpful and upbeat and so far it's going really well. I met Luciana at one of the meetings and we instantly hit it off! I've lacked running motivation a bit lately so she has really helped me get my mojo back too. We did our first run together today at the North Ridge Bridge 5K. Now if I'd paid closer attention to the name of the race I would have realized it involved bridges and chickened out altogether. It was only after it had already started that we realized what we were in for! We decided to make the best of the situation and focus on the extra calories that we would burn on those hills!!

Not sure if it was the 'bridge' thing that put other people off or the fact that this weekend is the big marathon weekend at Disney or the fact that it has been freezing all week but for whatever reason, there were hardly any other runners at all!

So we cheered each other along...

...and just enjoyed the scenery ;). About halfway in I realized that there was hardly anyone else who looked like they were in my age category and I might actually place!!!

And whaddya know - I came in SECOND!!!! 

Despite the fact that my time was only 31:22, and they were clearly handing out trophys like cheap candy at Halloween, I have to admit - this was a very exciting experience for me. I am already fully bonded to my new treasure, particularly since it is significantly larger than the two that Mike has won so far...

Later I saw that they had been rearranged...

But the highlight of the day was the fabulous company - we had such a GREAT time!! Thank you Luciana!!!

Weight a minute!

I was working diligently towards my goal of running a 5K in under 30 minutes when I suddenly realized that there may be more than one way to 'skin a cat' as it were. I found this little table on Runner's World that shows the relationship between how much faster you can run if you lose a few pounds in weight :)

According to RW author Amby Burfoot, the table is based on research that runners, on average get 2 seconds per mile faster for every pound they lose.

So, basically if my PR is about 30 and a half minutes and I lose just over 5 lbs I could be at goal!

Coincidentally this is almost the exact amount of weight that I've gained over the Holiday season. Not sure if it happened in Charleston where I was so carb'ed up that I actually had Mike take photos of me in front of a dessert bar no matter how much my enthusiasm was scaring the server behind the counter...

Or...it could have been on New Year's when Catherine held me down and forced me to eat these...:)





Regardless, I've signed up for the new PointsPlus Weight Watchers program and so far it's going pretty well. I've found some great blogs to follow also including *Bitchcakes* (Click here) and the Retro WW Experiment (Click here) which is hilarious. On her blog, Mimi goes "Back in Time" and incorporates some of the original 1972 WW program recipes into her current weight-loss plan and writes about it!

Jean Nidetch - founder of WW

Since I was feeling a bit nostalgic I volunteered to try out one of the hideous recipes for myself. Here is my "guest blog" over at Mimi's (Clare's guest blog).

And here is the living proof that Mike and Maddy actually enjoyed it!

Groovy Jean!

Miles for Moffitt 5K

Had a good week preparing to get 'back in the game' in time for the weekend 5K. My original goal was to run in under 33 minutes but my as my confidence waivered throughout the week I decided I'd be happy if I just ran all of the way without stopping. On Monday I couldn't resist trying out the new Vibrams on the treadmill and it went really well aside from some strange looks in the gym and irritating some of last week's blisters. Mike wore his outside and absolutely loves them! On Tuesday I celebrated my birthday. Mike gave me the cutest card (don't you love the way he labeled the people just in case I didn't "get it"?)...

...and he made a cake from frozen fat-free Cool Whip...

...and gave me a Body Bugg to track calorie expenditure...

I wore the Body Bugg to the gym on Wednesday to see how accurate that calorie meter on the cross trainer really is. After an hour, the machine said 576 and the Body Bugg said 440 so basically it's a Tall Light Frappacino off - good to know :). I was just starting to feel mildly confident as I left the office when I was caught in the lobby by a coworker who shared that she was also running but she couldn't believe how slow her 5K times were and she had even said to her girlfriend "can you believe we are actually going to get beaten by Clare!?" as if I was some kind of slug! Just the determination boost I needed :).

Mike woke me up at 6am on Saturday to the theme tune for Rocky and I got ready. Over 5,000 runners turned up and there were lots of booths, live bands etc. and a great atmosphere. Met up with Emily for some positive vibes before the race:). The first half of the run was great but I must have been overdoing it because the second half was really tough. I did manage to run the whole distance (albeit very slowly at times) though.

Got home, checked the Body Bugg (the run was worth 450 calories or a nice big bowl of low fat icecream) and took a lovely snooze. The results came in later - 33:03 :)