the one with the half marathon.

Happy Monday, friends! And yes - it is actually a happy Monday, because it's my wedding week!!!

This will be my very last post as a single lady, and I'm chalking it full of good vibes and motivation to get you through the week ahead. Let's talk about how I rocked the shit out of the Air Force half marathon this past weekend, shall we?

Yep, that's right. Despite having run one half marathon before, in January 2011, I felt like this was my first one. I'm in a totally different frame of mind now, and my lifestyle has changed so drastically that it's hard to compare this one to my first half. I was fortunate enough to run with my friend Kim over at Fabulous Fit Foodie, who provided such a good balance for me along the way. My official chip time was 2:32:56 - almost a full 30 minutes off my final time from my 2011 half. Winning? Yes, that's what winning looks like to me.

As for the race itself, here's a brief rundown of what goes through my head during each mile.

Mile 1: Alright, I'm off. I feel good and dear God I hope this damn rain stops. I didn't buy a $60 lululemon shirt just to slip and fall on my ass. Is my volume up enough? Are my running pants adjusted properly? WHY ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE IN MY WAY.

Mile 2: Okay, this is the groove/pace I'm used to. This I can do. Thank God for Kim, or else I'd already be bored. Who the hell put a massive hill during the second mile of a half marathon? This person should be shot, immediately. 

Mile 3: Pace yourself. Don't jump the gun - don't start off too quickly. You've got a lot of miles ahead of you. Don't burn out too quickly.

Mile 4: I'm a full 5k into this race - awesome! One fourth of the way done, almost. Time to pop some sports beans and convince myself they work (they actually do, but I always wonder). I can totally do a 5k 3 more times. I GOT THIS.

Mile 5: My legs hurt. So does my stomach. Why did I insist on eating a banana this morning? I know I run better on an empty stomach, contrary to what's recommended. Ugh. Time to pop some Gu. Kim recommended peanut butter - it's not bad. But this is not peanut butter. Real peanut butter comes with sweatpants and crackers. I've been deceived. 

Mile 6: I feel good. This Gu really works. Except now I have peanut butter mouth. And my hips and legs are killing me. I vaguely remember the early parts of my running career, where it was stamina that caused me to burn out - not physical ability. Now, my lungs can run for days. It's my body that hates me. But we're just about halfway through! 

Mile 7: Okay, it's all downhill from here. Metaphorically. I know there's a hill coming up. But I'm more than halfway through, and Kim and I are rocking a totally kickass pace. Maybe we should slow down a bit. 

Mile 8: THERE'S the hill everyone was talking about. It's an ON RAMP to a damn highway bridge. Cruel. Let's slow our pace so we don't puke on this road in front of all these people. 1 minute walking, 1 minute running instead of our usual 1:3 ratio. We will survive! God, my hips hurt.

Mile 9: Thank GOD that's over. It has to be all flat and downhill from here. And thank God for all these people in the cheering section. I would have passed out forever ago if it weren't for you guys. I love that my name is on my bib - these strangers are yelling "Go Lauren" and I am in love with it. 

Mile 10: Why, God, why. It hurts so bad. We should have just gone to breakfast instead of run this stupid thing. But there's only a 5k left, right? I mean, I can do that. But HOW in God's name are there all these deceiving small hills? They're horrible little monsters. Kim, we got this. I am so thankful for the people along the race course running with us who said things like "You got this!" and "Those full marathon runners make this look so damn easy." 

Mile 11: I can do two more miles. Just two more. I run two miles in my sleep. It's just two. My hips seem to think two miles feels more like 16 at this point. 

Mile 12: What is this awful pain in my heels? Is this the tendinitis Kelly was talking about? Oh my God, am I getting tendinitis in the middle of my race? Kim, I'm pushing to the finish - I'll see you there. Keep going, just keep going. You can stretch when you're done. Holy hell it hurts. Maybe you can stretch now. Just for a hot second. STRETCH. STRETCH FASTER.

Mile 13: THERE'S THE FINISH. Oh geez, it's so close. SO CLOSE. Just keep going. GO. GO. GO. WHERE IS MY FAMILY? They said they'd be here, I don't see them - I don't want to cross the finish line if they can't see me do it! Ahhh - there they are! Ok, RUN LIKE HELL. 

And then it's over. It's the shortest, longest, worst, best experience of your life, all at the same time. It's emotional, physically demanding and brutal. The moments after the race leave you breathless, yelling out to anyone who can hear you that you'll never, for the love of God, do this again. Who the hell does this for fun? you yell. And then you realize, after the pain subsides, you regain logical conscious thought and you've had at least a day to reflect on the madness, that you're the one who does it for fun. And as much as your body hates it, you'll probably do it again - sooner than later.

Here's a couple good shots from race day - I am ever so grateful for the fabulous ladies I run with, and for the constant support of my family and soon-to-be-husband. You're all stars in my book! And watch me cross the finish line at the very end - yay for good friends and family capturing this one!

just keep swimming.

I am starting to loathe the part of me who scoffed at brides during their final weeks of wedding preparation. They clearly can't handle the pressure, I said. They should have prioritized better early on, I said. I should have known that karma bug would come back to bite me in the ass. With exactly two weeks until the big nuptials, it's safe to say that if I get dressed in the appropriate attire on any given day, I'm calling it a success.

On top of that, let's throw in running a half marathon next weekend, starting my very first week of Tina Reale's Best Body Bootcamp and spending some time with the Humane Society of Greater Dayton at one of their local adoptathons this weekend, and I'm pretty sure you can call me a tired panda. But here's the best thing about this kind of busy I've been lately - every single bit of it fills my heart completely. And that's the best kind of busy.

I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be for my half marathon. I can't run any more miles, do any more strength training or warp my diet any more to make much of a difference to next week's race. As always, this completely non-competitive girl will be thrilled to cross the finish line and plaster my smiling face, medal in hand, to every social media outlet I can think of.

But since I'm new to Best Body Bootcamp (BBB), I want to review my very first week and let you know how it's going. Some of you have asked me to keep you posted, as you're looking for some structured workouts with a flexible schedule, and I think I've found your ticket.

I had two personal goals to set this week - I've mentioned them in last week's post, but again, they were to drink a shake each morning and get at least 64 ounces of water in each day. My crazy weekend schedule prevented me from fully completing my morning shake goal, but I'm happy to say that I got my water intake in 6 days out of 7 this week. It's a conscious effort to drink that much water when you haven't done it in awhile, but it was a fabulous reminder of how much better I feel when I do it.

I barely managed to squeeze in this week's exercise requirements, but these days, I'm counting even a brisk dog walk as countable activity. Between running around like a chicken with its head cut off picking up things for the wedding, tying up last minute travel arrangements and freaking the hell out about the dog virus that has been plastered to the news this past week (thanks mainstream media, you've successfully given me a panic attack every day for the past week), I haven't been able to do as many of Tina's workouts as I would like. This week, I'm making a valid effort at dedicating even 20 minutes to a designated workout. I know I met last week's requirement, but I can tell I'm not pushing myself like I should be. Or maybe I should just lay off myself since I'm getting married in two weeks, running a half marathon in a week and getting ready to be out of the office for 10 days. There's a new thought.

Anyway - for those of you considering Tina's program, I'd highly recommend it. I really like the accountability of the Facebook group - the girls check-in daily for workout logs! If that's not motivating enough, I don't know what is. I'm also a big fan of the actual workouts. I watched all the videos, and the workouts I've done so far are awesome - challenging, but not to the point where you feel like a total idiot for having signed up. The best part about it is that it's totally up to you when and where you workout. For me, this took place in my living room with both dogs doing their own version of downward dog in a heartwarming attempt to support their mom. At least that's what I'm going with.

Happy Sunday, friends!

measuring success.

Happy Sunday! I regret to inform you that this post will not be a weekly meal planning one - the craziness of our schedule has made it nearly impossible for me to accurately track my grocery bills. With the wedding just three weeks from today, and my half marathon looming even sooner, I'm pretty sure the only A-game I've been on lately is not losing my damn mind. Surprisingly, I'm surviving in tact.

My "scaleless in September" attitude is working, believe it or not. In all honesty, I weighed myself once - this past Friday - and I was happily at the same place I was before I committed to the idea of not weighing myself so frequently. It's all I can ask for, considering all that's on my plate right now (literally and metaphorically).

What I want to talk about is measuring success. Usually, as with most tasks, you often look for a concrete way to measure how well you've gone. Teachers judge students' progress using grades, football games are scored on a points system, and people losing weight go straight to the scale to see how they've progressed. I get it. It's measurable, and you can't manipulate a number. But teachers, coaches and most people struggling to lose weight know that there are thousands of other ways to measure success than a number. My hiatus from the scale this month has forced me to reevaluate how I measure my success at the end of the day, and it's forced me to take a look at what I view as a win or loss.

I've been without a scale for just 8 days (and that hardly counts, because I still weighed in once), but without the stress of daily weighing, here are the ways I've measured my success:

• I ran 10 miles yesterday. TEN MILES, you guys. I have no idea how many calories I burned, because I'm not concerned with how that generates on the scale right now. What was I concerned with? Fueling my body, hydrating, maintaing a good pace and taking care of my body afterwards. In other words, what you should care about when you run 10 miles. Not how many pounds you'll lose as a result. The one thing I've learned about long distance running? Don't do it to lose weight.
• I hate my legs. I have a stocky build, so even though I've lost about 70 pounds, my legs are still thick. But I rocked shorts yesterday anyway - and when I looked in the mirror yesterday, for the very first time in my life, I thought to myself, those legs just took me 10 miles. I love those legs.
• Without a scale, I'm forced to evaluate every single food choice based on how it's going to make me feel - not how it's going to appear on the scale the next day. I learned this lesson the hard way after consuming half my weight in nachos and french fries Friday night, followed by Chipotle after my run yesterday. Realistically speaking, I probably burned most of those calories during my run (and what I didn't burn in that run, I know I will this week), but that's not the point. Those choices made me feel like shit. I mean, seriously guys. Awful. I've been trying to lose weight, but I'm still teaching myself lessons every single day. 

In the spirit of measuring success in various ways other than the scale, tomorrow kicks off my very first ever Best Body Bootcamp - an online program designed to provide 8 weeks of strength training and bootcamp exercises with the option for weekly prize drawings. Tina provides the workouts, but really advocates for making the program work for the individual. With that, she asks that each participant set two individual goals each week in addition to meeting the weekly requirement of being active 5 times per week to be eligible for prize drawings. 

I am in love with the idea of setting personal goals each week that make me strive towards being healthier in general - not towards losing more weight on the scale. The goals can be anything that will personally aid you in being a healthier you. This week, my two personal goals are:

1. Drink a ViSalus shake every morning for breakfast. I've given up my shakes lately, but need to get back on track as we near the wedding day. The shakes make me feel great, help refuel me after workouts and start me off on the right food each morning.
2. Drink 64 ounces of water every day. I have a big 32 ounce water bottle that I used to be really good about filling up twice a day at work. It curbed my need to snack at the office, made for better workouts and hydrated me before and after long runs. Time to get back on it!

I've been doing a lot of running these past few weeks, but not a lot of anything else. The calories I burn running have allowed me to eat fairly poorly and still break even on the scale, but my body feels weak. I've lost some serious core and upper body strength, and I'm really looking forward to incorporating BBB into my schedules, especially over the next 3 weeks, so I feel strong and confident at my wedding. I've learned the hard way that it's not enough just to do cardio - strength training gives me a sense of strength the same way that running does. 

Here's to kicking off a new workout program, a new week and the official 3-week countdown until my WEDDING!

scaleless in september.

Happy Labor Day, friends! I hope you're all enjoying the always-needed long weekend, and soaking up every last bit of all that summer has to offer. Around this time of year, I always feel so mentally ready for all that fall brings, but then I'm so quick to miss the summer months. I'm living out every minute of these warm days as best I can. This past weekend was no exception - we wrapped up our last official weekend at the lake with the family, and it was the most beautiful weekend we've had all summer. It's been so unusually wet there this summer, and our previous trips down have been filled with rain, clouds and not a lot of sun. Fortunately, we were blessed with some beautiful skies this weekend - I couldn't have asked for anything more.

I also get to keep summer going as long as I damn well please because September is my WEDDING MONTH! Yep. Really. It's crazy how fast time flies, but at the end of the month, Rob and I will be en route to beautiful Hilton Head Island with our closest friends and family for the big day. I. Cannot. Wait. It's safe to say I won't be transitioning into fall until I'm no longer a Mayberry. This is so bittersweet, but I'm excited for everything the future holds.

Because it is my wedding month, and because I don't want to miss a single moment of it, I'm going to do something crazy. I'm participating in a scaleless September. It sounds like a death sentence - not watching your weight the month of your wedding? Am I crazy? No, and here's why.

Ever since I started having weekly weigh-ins, my diet has been focused around that one day a week I step on the scale and record my official gain or loss. Therefore, my entire "week" is typically focused on what's going to generate the biggest loss on the scale that week. Nights before my weigh-in are typically really light dinners, and the couple days right after my weigh-in are filled with high-calorie "binge" meals knowing I'll have another 5-6 days to make up for it before I weigh-in again. It's all centered around that one day. Once I'm in the routine of living this way, I have to really take a step back and realize that I'm honestly missing the bigger picture.

I eat, I workout and I function based on the scale. For some people, that works out fabulously. For me, it's a downward cycle. Before you know it, I'm actually not eating that great. I make horrible choices on the weekend and then I'm detoxing the first few days of the week in order to have a loss by my weigh-in day, which has always been on Thursdays. My focus becomes losing weight, not eating healthy. The two are not mutually exclusive, and that's what we so easily forget.

So for this month, I'm giving it up. When I start making eating and exercise choices based on what makes my body feel good, what challenges and pushes me mentally, and what I know makes me a better person, I'm forced to evaluate each choice for what it is, not for how it'll appear on the scale the next day. Truthfully, it's the way that the journey towards being healthy should work, but I often lose sight of that. I want to enjoy every single moment of my wedding month without the scale dictating how I feel. If I don't hit a certain number on the scale, I don't want to feel less beautiful in my wedding dress. I don't want my walk down the aisle to be exciting because I met a weight-loss goal I'd set, I want it to be exciting because I'm marrying my best friend.

This doesn't mean I won't be staying on track and making the right choices this month. I have a half marathon in 3 weeks, another one a month after that, and this past weekend's indulgences have proven to me that my body desperately wants to get back on track with my eating. It just means that I'm going to be looking at my choices from the bigger picture - not for a weekly weigh-in.

Wondering if you think giving up the scale is for you? Take a look at the things I realized I was doing before I decided it was best to put that scale away for a while.

- I routinely discredited runs, workouts and weeks of tracking and making healthy choices if it wasn't reflected appropriately on the scale.

- I discovered I was typically down more after a good cardio session - therefore, I'd always run the Thursday morning of my weigh-in before I stepped on the scale, even if it didn't make sense for my training to do so.

- The 2-3 days after my weigh-in were filled with poor eating choices, followed by days of no carbing it and "recommitting" in order to break even or have a loss at weigh-in.

- I'd excuse incredibly poor choices throughout the week if they magically resulted in an unexplainable weigh-in I wasn't expecting. If I said "screw my diet" the night before weigh-in and ate pizza, I'd still celebrate the loss if my body gave me one.

It was really the first of these, and the last - the combination of the two - that made me realize my priorities weren't exactly on par. I'd discredit an entire week of awesome choices, meal planning, sticking to my workout schedule and accomplishing a great long run just because I didn't lose on the scale. But if I ate like total garbage, missed a few workout days and my body (because bodies do this, we know) gave me a loss that was undeserved, I'd celebrate it. I need to detach myself from the concept of constantly weighing myself. Realistically speaking, I need to break the addiction.

So here's to a scaleless September, making the right choices, fueling my body and pushing it to completing my second half marathon, and then walking down the aisle (or, down the beach) and marrying my best friend.

Happy September, friends!