Merry Christmas and a Happy Weigh In!

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! I hope you all are enjoying this weekend at home, rather than at work, like me! Oh well, I'm not too mad about it. I do have today off, but have to come back in tomorrow.

Tonight we are going to Charlie's aunt and uncles house. I'm sure there will be some really delicious, bad for me food there! I'm going to TRY to have small portions. I just have to keep telling myself "This isn't your last meal! You're not starving! There will be other yummy meals in the future!" lol but lately, I haven't been the best at self control.

The Holidays are difficult at work. Everyone loves to bring in good treats like cookies, cakes, candy, bread! All enemies! But they're so darn irresistible! Especially when I'm sitting in the lounge on break, and they're just staring at me saying "You know you want me!" Arghh!! So hard to resist!! Tonight I had 4 amazing cookies that a co-worker made! OMG they were awesome! And someone brought this really good Challah bread! So obviously I won't be doing so well on carbs today!:)

I'm really excited to be writing this blog becauseeeeeee... I weighed in! And it was good!!! Actually, it was great! Here's what I got...

Previous Weight - 155.2

Current Weight - 152.8

Weight Lost - 2.4 Pounds(!!!)

Total Weight Lost - 78.6 Pounds!!!!

*Jumps around for joy!*

Yes, I was soooo excited when I woke up and decided to get on the scale. Chief was next to me as I stepped on it. When I saw that number, I was in shock! I always double, sometimes even triple check it, and it was still the same! I yelled to Chief "Yay Chief!! Mom had a loss! Mom had a loss!!!" lol!! Yes, I am his Mom:-)

Now I'm just trying to figure out what it is that got me over my plateau! Since I started doing so many things different at once, I can't really pin point it. Or maybe it was the combination of all of it? I cut way back on my carbs, started taking my thyroid medication again, and started drinking LOTS of green tea!! So who knows!:) I just know that I am thrilled and now have more hope for reaching my goal of 150 by 1/9/12!

I visited my tattoo artist, Dee, yesterday before work and we looked at her schedule. She's booked for all of January!!! So that makes getting my goal reward tattoo out of the question. So I think to give myself more time to save up money, I will wait till March and make it a reward/birthday present:-) And hopefully a "congrats" present too, for HOPEFULLY getting the PGFD job! Of course I will definitely let you all know when that happens. I am patiently waiting to hear some good news!:-)

Well folks... I have 30 minutes to go at work! I cannot wait to get home! Charlie and I are going to open presents when I get home since he and I both work on Christmas! I'm excited:-) Then Sunday morning I'm going to my brother Rick's house to open presents with my family. This year we did Secret Santa for the first time! I'm really interested to see how that goes! lol:-)

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Love,

Anna

Hurry Up 2012

Guys, I don't mean to be so grumpy, but I'm really ready for this year to be over! Not because it's been bad, but there's just so many things to look forward to in 2012!

That, and the fact that this month has just been really bad, food wise. I'm ready to start fresh and not have so many holidays to eat crappy for!

Although, I must say I've done pretty well with my eating lately! Yesterday I kept my carbs under 50 grams and my sugar under 30!:) Yes!! That is crazy good and I'm pretty proud of myself!:)

For those of you who have been following me for awhile now, you might remember a blog I wrote awhile back about my Amaryllis flower. I used it as a metaphor for how I had let myself go, but was slowly working on making myself beautiful again. I also mentioned wanting to get it as a tattoo for my 1 year anniversary/reaching my goal. That's still the plan! I really like this picture of it, so I think I'm going to show this to Dee and see what she can come up with:)

Speaking of the Amaryllis... once again I kind of abandoned it after it finished blooming this year. I left it in the guest room and sort of forgot about it. While I was rummaging through there the other day, I noticed it and picked it up. It was so dry! I felt super guilty and took it over to the sink and drenched it in water! I'm trying to rehabilitate it again, so we'll see! Luckily I haven't done that to myself yet! lol:)

I forgot to put this picture up from Rayna's birthday last week:) She made this GIANT, gluten free, chocolate, vanilla, coconut cake! It was really good! And gigantic! lol.

I can't believe she's 16 already!! It's funny how I can remember back to conversations Roch and I would have about her. Being like "Man, I wonder how it's going to be when Rayna is our age!" and now the time is here! Sure does make me feel old!!

Time is flying and it's really depressing. But I must say, I think I am making good use of the time I have. Rarely do I just sit around on the couch and "be lazy" anymore. I don't let myself get "bored" like I used to. Whenever I have free time, it's usually spent working out, and I love it!

Ever since losing weight, I've felt like I've been growing up in reverse. I feel like a whole new person who has to experience things all over again. Especially when it comes to social activities. The old me was way too shy and embarrassed to go out and drink. I never felt cute in anything I wore, and I just felt so uncomfortable in social situations. It sucked. I was like a freakin hermit!

Now? I feel reborn!! lol! Seriously... it's like I'm getting to experience things in life all over again, but as a different person. I'm having so much fun, enjoying life to the fullest! There's no limits to where I can shop, I don't feel embarrassed to dance, I actually get compliments! It's awesome and I couldn't be happier. I never want to go back to my old ways and I hope this blog will be a constant reminder of how happy I am at this point in my life! I can always look back on this and think "Wow, I was awesome!" lol:)

So since I've been doing the whole "low carb" thing lately, I've had to change up my fruits a little bit. When I researched low carb fruits, it said berries were the best. So I went out and got some blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. I'm now addicted! I've been eating them every day, sometimes multiple times a day! They're just so good! And I got these from Target! Definitely good quality:)

A lot of people ask me what I eat, as if I'm on some type of diet where I eat the same thing every day. Not the case! But, I do tend to eat a lot of the same things. And I'm not a huge cook, so most of my meals are small things that I just put together and call it a meal! But if you want to know some of my staples, here is a list!

Light tuna fish
Chobani Greek yogurt
Light string cheese
Baby carrots
Eggs
Spinach
Trader Joe's light champagne vinaigrette
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Canned chunk chicken
Tuna or Salmon fillets (comes in pouches like tuna fish!)
Chicken tenderloins
Berries of all kinds
Cottage cheese
Almonds
Milk
Green tea

Those are just some of the things I ALWAYS get when I go shopping. I can't decide if I'm going to cut out the Greek yogurt or not. It's so good for protein, but the carbs are a little high, so for right now I might cut back on it! Even though I really love it:(

So I'm off today (after I get off work in the AM) and I have so many things I want to do! I definitely am going to see my tattoo artist. Then I'm going to visit Phebe and hopefully Connor too! He's visiting for the Holidays, so definitely gotta hang out with him:) I'm not sure what I'm going to do exercise wise. I want to get a good burn in! We'll see how the weather is. If it's nice, I might do some outdoor running! *Crossing fingers* :)

As for a weigh in, I think I will weigh in Friday or Saturday morning. We'll see... Nowadays I'll sometimes just weigh myself randomly and just record it if I have a loss. Not so much pressure anymore:)

Alright peeps, thanks for reading about my life:) <3 you guys!!

Anna

Now & Then: Tattoo

Hey guys! I'm in a much better mood than the last time I blogged. Could be because I'm not at work, but there's also other reasons!:) First of all, aren't you proud of me for writing another blog in the same week?! That's pretty awesome, if I do say so myself:)

Today is my last day off, before going back to work tomorrow night. Boo! But it's been a really good 3 days off, and tonight should be fun! We're going over to my parents house to have dinner with them, my sisters, and her boyfriend. She's finally introducing him to my parents! So nerve wracking! I remember those days lol. I think she's more worried about how the house looks, than if they'll like him or not! He's a good guy though, and she really loves him, so I think they'll like him too:)

We're having an Italian dinner... !!! Yum, but definitely not going to go well with my "low carb" thing I've got going on. Oh well, it's one day! Besides, I did SO awesome yesterday! I only had 65 grams of carbs, and 24 grams of sugar!! That is amazing for me... not quite sure how I pulled that off:)

So I'm not quite sure what did it, but I had a loss! Could it be cutting back on the carbs? Or, because of my "good luck" dinner that seems to bring me a loss quite often? lol:-P Thursday was Rayna's birthday, and we went out to Sardi's. Normally I get the ceviche de pescado. But, I had ran 5 miles that day, in preparation for that night, so I had 1,700 calories to spare! I got 1/4 white meat chicken, fried yuca, and fried plantains. Mmm mmm mmm! Love it! It really wasn't the healthiest choice, but hey, I wanted to splurge a little! I also had cake and ice cream that night!! So I call that my "good luck" dinner because in the past, when I've had Sardi's, I always seem to have a good weigh in the next day! And no, it's not because it gives me mad diarrhea or anything like that! lol:-P

I'm not sure what prompted me, but I decided to just weigh myself and see how much I had probably gained from pigging out the night before. Here's what the scale said...

Previous Weight - 156.4

Current Weight - 155.2

Weight Lost - 1.2 Pounds

Total Weight Lost - 76.2 Pounds!!!

Wow, I was so happy! Finally, FINALLY... a loss!! Ahh, it felt so good!:)

Oh, another thing I kinda forgot to mention that COULD have been affecting my weight loss... my medication. As I've mentioned before, I take medicine for Hypothyroidism. Well, generally that helps with weight loss, but I can't say how much it really had to do with all of my weight loss. But, I had forgot to refill my prescription and I was slacking, then when I did refill it, I never went to pick it up and yeah... I'm just lazy when it comes to other things besides working out! lol. So needless to say, I wasn't taking my medication for about a month or so. (Don't hurt me Allison!) So I'm wondering if now that I have it back in my system again, if that'll help me out some? I guess we'll see:)

I am SO CLOSE to my goal, it's ridiculous!! This is going to be a real nail biter, seeing if I can lose the last 5.2 by January 9th!!! If I haven't lost it by January 6th, I'm just not going to eat for 3 days!!! ..... just kidding guys:) I wouldn't do that lol:) But I really, really, really hope I can do it!!!

You're probably wondering what the deal is with the title of this blog. Well I will explain that now:) I took a picture of my tattoo the other day and it made me realize that I've had my sugar skull/geisha chest piece for a year now! What?! I can't believe it's already been a year! But it made me think "Hmm, I wonder how I looked when I first got the tattoo?" So I got on facebook and looked back at my older pics, and found a picture I had taken right after it was finished. I got the outline on December 10th, then finished the color on December 21st:) Here is a side by side comparison.

Sorry, it's a little revealing;) I think the biggest difference is my face, obviously. But I can see it in my arm too. And now I actually have collar bones, yay!:) Speaking of tattoos, I need to go see my artist, Dee, and talk to her about what I want for my goal reward!:) Even if I don't reach 150 by January 9th, I'm still getting it! I think being this dedicated for a year is deserving of a tattoo:)

Well, time to stop putting it off and go work out!! Gotta get a good burn in for the pizza and spaghetti I'm going to have tonight... ahhh!! Hope you all have a fun & safe weekend:)

<3 Your Biggest Loser,

Anna

Feeling Stuck

As usual, I'm sorry it's been so long! I swear, every time I've been at work, I just feel too tired to write a blog! And when I'm at home, I don't even think about it!:( Besides, I have no losses to write about, unfortunately!:(

Here's my calendar for November. So I exercised 24/30 days. That's not too bad. I had a long streak going on, but had to break it when Charlie was in the hospital. I did a lot of running in November, it looks like. My first 10 mile run! I'm a little proud of that:) I did a 10k and a 5k race. I was supposed to do another 5k race on the 26th but as you can see, I was sick:(

So my last weigh in was on 11/20. I've weighed myself multiple times since then, and nothing. No loss, no gain. It's seriously frustrating! I'm trying not to let it get to me, but of course it's hard to not lose weight after all the hard work I do! Plus, it's coming up on a year soon that I've been doing this, and I really wanted to get to 150! I'm not so sure if that's gonna happen now:/

Baby spinach, grilled chicken, mozzarella, egg, vinaigrette:)

Since I haven't really changed anything since I started losing weight, I decided to take a different approach!
Low carb, high protein. At first I just upped my calorie intake from 1,200 to 1,490 to see if that would help. I also started eating most of my exercise calories back. That didn't seem to do much, but I do enjoy having the extra calories!

I'm going to keep that my limit, but I'm not going to purposely eat back my exercise calories. If it happens, it happens, but I won't force myself to eat if I'm not hungry.

So when I asked for advice on MyFitnessPal, a friend on there mentioned low carb. I've done a little research on it, and so far I like the idea. There's a thing called Ketosis. It's a state your body goes into when you restrict your carbs a lot. Basically it causes your body to start using energy from fat, rather than muscle or wherever else it takes it from. That might not make sense, but you can Google it... that will explain it better!

Regardless, it made sense when I read it. So I'm going to at least aim for low carbs. I've been watching how many carbs I eat the past few days and I've tried to limit them. It's definitely harder than I thought. Especially since a lot of the food I have right now is pretty high in carbs... Bagels, Greek yogurt, bread, fruits, cereal, etc. So my plan is, once I finish eating those foods, I will stock up on some low carb stuff and not get anything like that anymore. Although I love Greek yogurt:-(

Once I get rid of all those things, I'm going to make my daily goal to stay UNDER 100 grams of carbs a day, but preferably closer to 50 grams a day. I really hope it gives my body the kick start it needs to lose weight again!! I mean come on, I'm 156. I'm 5'5. 150 is NOT asking too much! I know people that are my same height and weigh less than me, so I know it's attainable. I don't even want to be THAT skinny. I just want to be healthy and in shape. And I wouldn't mind getting rid of that stupid little pooch, either!

The Hot Chocolate 15k. Yikes. What a mess! Don't get me wrong, I did have fun. But, it was a terribly organized race. There were 20,000 people running and the National Harbor definitely couldn't handle that many people. Luckily, we made it there on time. 6:45am like they had asked, for a race that started at 8:00am. Well, it didn't start at 8:00am... it started at 9:00am!! An hour delay, which according to the race officials was due to an accident. Speculation was that really there was just a TON of traffic from people trying to make it to the race, so they waited longer for runners to get there.

That's nice of them and all, but for those of us that had been waiting there for over 2 hours, it wasn't so fun! It was about 35 degrees out. FREE-ZING COLD! Our feet and hands were numb by the time we finally started running! The course was weird. The beginning was along Indian Head Highway and it was quite dangerous!

It was very crowded and people were almost getting hit by cars! Not only that, but there were lots of hills, sharp turns, and areas where only 2 people could fit side by side! It was really tough and I wanted to give up so many times, but I never quit! I finished in 1:30! Not too bad for how hard of a course it was! The delicious fondue and hot chocolate afterwards made up for it, a little bit! It was definitely yummy:)

So now we're getting close to Christmas... *sigh* I'm really not a huge fan! It's the same thing every year, and I think it gets worse the older I get! I just can't seem to get in the Christmas spirit as much as when I was a kid! We did put up our tree, and that helps a little bit. But I'm so unmotivated! I haven't bought any gifts yet... oops!

Rayna's 16th birthday is on Thursday. I'm going over there and then we're going out to Sardi's

I'm ready to get this year over with. I just want a fresh new start! 2012 is going to be a good year! I already have so many things planned... well, races mostly! lol. Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, Columbia Iron Girl Half Marathon, Warrior Dash, ??? I'm sure many more!!

Staying on a healthy diet during the holidays is just really tough, so I'm ready to NOT have so many things messing up my good eating!:)

Ok... that's about it for now. I can't think of much else to talk about. I'm really going to try and be strict about updating this thing at least weekly! I promise, I'll try! Even if it's just a quick little update:)

Keep your fingers crossed that I lose some weight SOON!! Thanks friends:)

Anna

Weigh In, Race, Upgrade!

Walking to the 5k

It's been a little over a week since I last updated... that's not too bad, right?:)

On Saturday the 19th, I went out drinking with Charlie, my brothers and sister in-law. We first went to the Looney's in Maple Lawn. I had a crab pretzel when I was there, which is so delicious! Then we went over to the Looney's in College Park. It was a BLAST! I had so much fun! I danced all night and the next day I had bruises on my knees from bumping them on the stage over and over again lol!

The thing that made me happiest from that night was the bouncer at the College Park Looney's. When I showed him my ID, he looked at it and did a double take. He said "There's no way that's you! It doesn't look like you at all!" that definitely brought a smile to my face and made me so proud:) He also said other things like "We could all learn from you! We all need to lose weight!" lol... thanks guy!

I had weighed in that Saturday with no loss or gain. Boo! But for some reason I decided to weigh in the next morning, after going out drinking. I was expecting to see a huge gain from all the food and alcohol, but this is what I got!

Previous Weight - 158.2

Current Weight - 156.4

Weight Lost - 1.8 Pounds

Total Weight Lost - 75 Pounds!!!

Wow! I was shocked I actually had a loss. And I can't believe I only have 6.4 more pounds to go till I reach my goal!!! What!!!!:) Although once I hit 150, I'm still going to keep eating the way I do and exercising. I just might work more on toning, rather than cardio:)

I don't remember which day it was, but we went and ordered our new iPhone's! Charlie decided to come onto my Verizon plan. Even though it's a little more expensive, the service is way better than his AT&T! You get what you pay for! Unfortunately, they were back ordered until December 9th!:( Luckily, mine ended up coming on the 23rd!! Yay! I was so happy. Poor Charlie, his still hasn't come yet! lol:)

So far I love it! It's so much faster!!! Things download really fast and Youtube doesn't skip like it did on my DROID. Finally!:) So much better!

So Thanksgiving morning I had a 5k Turkey Trot! I was super excited because it started on Main Street which is walking distance from my house! The course went on all the streets that I run on anyways! So it was perfect for me:) Since it was a smaller race, in my running area, I decided to try my hardest to go fast and get in the top 100, at least!

I started off strong and fast! It was pretty easy, but there were a few small inclines that made me get outta breath. Luckily there were some downhill parts too! That helped.

I crossed the finish line at 26:40! A new personal record!!! I was so happy:) My pace was 8:36/mile and I placed 171 out of 551 people! Not in the top 100, but close!! I was still happy with those results:)

Another great part about that race was the fact that Charlie came with me! He has never been to any of my races before, so that made me really happy to have his support and to have him see me in action! He said he had a good time and that it was actually pretty cool:) Yay!

I didn't really get a good nights sleep that night, so when I got home I took a short nap. I was exhausted! I had to get up at noon though, to start cooking my Thanksgiving meals! I decided to do a sweet potato casserole and a green bean casserole. I had to do the gluten free version of both, so it was kind of experimental!

We headed over to my parents house at around 3:30. It was just our immediate family, which I like:) There was so much food and it was all amazing!! Unfortunately my green beans didn't cook all the way and they were really hard:( But my sweet potato casserole turned out amazing!! Everyone loved it! It really was delicious!!

I pretty much just had this plate which was turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, gluten free mac n cheese, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, yuca bread, and some meat my brother made lol. I think I got seconds of sweet potato casserole and mac n cheese. I was so full though!!

Right after I ate, I sat down on the couch and passed out lol. I finally woke up when I realized people were starting to get pie! Mmm, my favorite!!

I had 1 piece of apple pie, 2 pieces of pumpkin pie, and a bite of pecan pie. Sooo good!! Pumpkin pie is my favorite of all time!! I love it:) Now I wish I had some more!!:(

Overall it was a very good Thanksgiving and I had a blast. I love spending time with my family. We always have so much fun!!

I was supposed to do another 5k on Saturday morning, but Friday night I started feeling kind of sick. My throat really hurt so when I woke up in the morning and still felt crappy, I decided to just skip it:(
I ended up going back to sleep all day till I had to come into work tonight:( I'm feeling a little bit better at least.

I'm excited for next weekend. It's the Hot Chocolate 15k!!! I'm doing it with a bunch of girls from work, so it should be fun!:) Hopefully it's not freezing cold out!! At least we get hot chocolate and fondue afterwards!:) Yay!! Can't wait!!

Ok, I'm sure there's more I could talk about, but I don't really feel like it. Hopefully my next post will be more interesting!

Bye!

Anna

Catching Up

Hello everyone! Hope you all have been doing great:)

It's been a little crazy around my way this past week, so I haven't been able to update lately. I was too busy with Charlie's surgery and all! He did really well for the procedure. Recovery has been pretty tough for him. Having to go home with a catheter is no fun:( But he's handling it really well and I'm very proud of him. I can't wait for him to be back to his normal self though!:)

In other news, this past Sunday was the Veteran's Day 10k! It was a really great race! Definitely one of the bigger ones I've attended. The weather was great! Nice and cool, with the sun shining down on us. The place we ran at was great; West Potomac Park in Washington DC. It was beautiful. Most of the run was along the Potomac River.

This was my first 10k race, and despite being hungover, I actually did pretty well! Yes, you heard me right... hungover! I did not intend to drink the night before, but things happen! I had went to my parents house for my Dad's birthday, and my sister in-law and I ended up finishing a big bottle of Moscato between the two of us! It sure was yummy.

I was planning to go home after that, but some last minute plans with Alicia popped up and I ended up swinging by her place to pick her up! We went out to Adam's Morgan, which I had never been before! It was a blast! First we went to Madam's Organ which was a really cool, old, creepy building. It was 3 floors I think, with like 5 bars. We went all the way to the top and had a few drinks:)

After that, we went to Sutra which was also pretty cool. It was like a lounge/club type place. It was kind of empty though, so we left and attempted to go to another place, Bravo! Bravo! But, that plan failed because we couldn't find ANY parking! Ugh... lame. Anyways, I didn't end up getting home till 3am! I had to be up for the race at 6am....! Yikes! Bad me... lol

I felt crappy when I woke up, but I took two ibuprofen and chewed a couple of tums and I was good to go! Once I got to the race, I felt pretty decent. I was running a little late, so I even ended up running from where I parked, to the race, which was about 1 mile! lol:)

I started off running with Amy and Jenn, two co-workers from my job, and we were going at a pretty comfortable pace. I really wanted to run a little faster, so I ended up going off on my own:)

I felt really good the whole time! Never got too out of breath and kept a decent pace the whole time. It's nice running a race on a path that you don't know. It keeps you surprised as to how long you've been running! Although they did have a few mile markers!

Towards the end of the race, I noticed that I was at a pretty good time. I decided to kick my pace up a notch! Once I could actually see the clock at the finish time, and noticed that I was still under an hour, I really floored it! I was so excited to be able to finish a 10k in under 1 hour!!!

Gun Time - 59:12
Net Time - 58:17
Pace - 9:23
Place - 474 out of 1139 (Women's Division)
Age Group 20-24 - 95 out of 157

I'm pretty proud of that!:) Running with all those amazing runners really inspires me and motivates me to run more. It really makes me want to run faster too. When I first started running, it was purely for fitness and losing weight. Now... running has become a passion and a hobby of mine. I truly enjoy it. Especially when you add competition to the equation... that really gets me going! Although I doubt I will ever come in top 3 or anything like that, my goal is to at least come in a top 10 of a SMALL 5k lol:)

I was VERY proud of myself the other day. The day before Charlie's surgery, he wanted to go to Outback Steakhouse. Kind of as his "last meal" before surgery lol. I told myself "Screw it... just eat whatever you want and who cares about logging it!"

Well, even when I tell myself that, I still usually end up logging it anyways, just to see how much I went over my limit. Once I did that, I was overcome with guilt! I just couldn't believe I had eaten so many calories during one meal! I promised myself that I WOULD burn all of those calories off that night!

I got on the treadmill with the intent of running until I burned off the amount of calories from that meal. Which was about 1,300... which is A LOT of running! Once I got to around 8 miles and saw that I STILL needed to burn more calories, I decided to just go for 10 miles straight!

I couldn't believe that I ran TEN MILES!! OMG! And on a treadmill?? Wow! It was during that moment that I realized something. I can definitely do a half marathon and I WILL sign up for one! Right now I'm undecided. There's the Ocean City Half Marathon on April 28th and then there's the Iron Girl Columbia Half Marathon on April 29th. I definitely can't do both, but I wish I could! The OC one is $55 and the Columbia one is $85. But I think it'd be easier to do a half around here, rather than driving to Ocean City. I dunno! I'll wait a little bit longer to decide.

I decided I'm going to weigh in every other week now, closer to the end of the week. It all depends on when I work. I don't like to weigh in after a night of working. Especially because I eat at 4:00am, so I feel like I would have extra food in my stomach! lol. I'm going to try and weigh on days that I don't work the night before, and hopefully I'll see something good!

I got my boots!! The ones I showed a picture of in my previous blog. I love them so much!! They are great and go with lots of outfits! So happy I got them:)

Well, I don't have much else to say. Writing this is making me really sleepy, so I'll write again after the next time I weigh in!!

Thanks for reading!!

Anna

1 Month Weigh In

Greetings my dedicated readers! How are you all doing?:)

I'm excited to write this blog for a few reasons. First off, it's my weigh in after going a whole month without weighing myself! Second, I have lots of exciting stuff going on!:) Well... not that much, but anyways. I will start you off with the weigh in!

Previous Weight (10/5) - 161.6

Current Weight (11/5) - 158.2

Weight Lost - 3.4 Pounds

Total Weight Lost - 73.2 Pounds

I did it! Hit my 70 pound mark!:) Who knows how soon I actually hit that mark, considering I was at 69.8 pounds lost on my last weigh in. Probably hit it sometime in October;)

I was kind of hoping for a bigger loss, but I can't complain! That's pretty decent, considering my losses have slowed down a lot since I've gotten closer to my goal weight. I'm really hoping to get to my goal weight of 150 by January 9th, 2012! That's my original start date of the Biggest Loser. I really want to get a new tattoo then!:)

The picture above is me at Bobby and Laura's Halloween party! It was a blast! Charlie and I dressed up as Military Zombie's! I like that picture because I think my legs look so skinny!! It's sweet:)

So since I hit my 70 pound mark, I need a reward! Charlie and I went to Arundel Mills the other day and I found a pair of boots I REALLY wanted, but I was going to get them as a Christmas present. I really don't want to wait that long, so I asked Charlie if that could be my reward and he said yes!:) Yay!

<-- These are the boots. Unity by Carlos Santana "Hayden" I love them!! So cute!:) Now I will have a pair of Gray, Black and Tan boots!:) The good thing about boots is my shoe size won't ever change;) Although the boots I had from last year fit me SO much better around the calves now!! It's great!:) I think I will get these on Monday!

So last night, Friday night, I slept in at the firehouse. It was a relatively quiet night. We got one call. But on the way back we encountered something crazy. I can't say much, but in short... Guy standing in the middle of the road, pants around his ankles, staring at us. Cops were called and he was arrested. lol! Was not expecting that!

Things are going really well with PGFD. I got called on Monday for my Psych Evaluation. I go on Monday the 14th! So that's good... things are moving forward:) I really hope things work out!

In other news... lots of good little things have been happening to me lately. We call them "NSV's" on myfitnesspal, which stands for Non-Scale Victories!

I'm a solid size 11 in jeans. Bought a few pairs at TJMaxx:)
I'm definitely a size Medium, in lots of things!
People keep asking if me and Roch are twins!! I love it!:)
The guys at the firehouse call me Rochelle... sometimes I can't tell if they are serious or joking! Either way:)
I got a long sleeve size SMALL shirt at the firehouse! Granted, it's a men's shirt, but still!!
People at work constantly say I'm so skinny! Even though I don't agree, it's still cool to hear! Never considered myself skinny... ever in my life!!

So yup... good stuff! And... I have so many fun events coming up!!

Thursday... going to spin with Sam and Caitlin and then possibly out? Fat Daddy's?? Who knows!

Sunday the 13th... Veteran's Day 10k in DC!

Monday... my psych eval then JUNK FOOD PARTY at Sam's!! I know, such a bad idea... but genius at the same time! Seriously... we deserve to splurge every once in awhile!! Just think pizza, McDonald's and Popeye's... mmm!!

Thursday - Twilight! Sushi King apparently? I don't know all the details:)

Thursday the 24th... running a 5k on Main Street! My stomping grounds! Then THANKSGIVING! My favorite holiday! Can't wait to stuff my face:)

Saturday the 26th... another 5k in Laurel! Possibly with Jo, my sister in-law? If her foot is healed enough:)

I think that's it?? I dunno. Sam and I have been discussing pretty much our whole next YEAR so I kinda get confused:)

The only thing coming up which isn't so fun is Charlie's surgery. He's having an outpatient surgery on Tuesday at John Hopkins. Nervous for him, but he's so tough:) I know he'll be ok! Please send good thoughts his way!:)

Sooo. It's daylight savings time. Which means I just now get to relive 1am, yet again! Yahoo.... Hey, maybe I should be thankful for getting more time to live. Oh, and 1 extra hour on my paycheck! Yay!:)

Anyways... I guess that's all my news. I know it was such random stuff. Trying to decide when I should do my weigh ins now. I was thinking every other week possibly? Or maybe just back to every week. What do you all think?

Ok, well, time to go back to work! Thanks for reading people:) Happy DST!

Anna

Still Going Strong

Hi guys. Just writing a blog because I felt like it. Not quite sure what to talk about, but I'll figure something out. I feel like there's something I need to say... but don't know how to get it out!

Remember how I said I wasn't going to weigh myself for a month? Still haven't! The scale is there in the basement, out there for me to see and everything, but I have NOT stepped on it at all, promise! It hasn't been too bad, honestly. Although as soon as I made that decision, I did feel myself ease up on my diet right away. I was a little more lenient, but that was just the first week. Now I'm being more strict. I haven't let up on my exercise though, that's for sure. I would like to do one whole week of exercising straight. No rest days! Maybe this week? We'll see!

I'm so excited to weigh in though. It's going to be so suspenseful! Anything could happen... gain, loss, stay the same. Who knows! But I really, really hope it's a good loss! That will assure me that I can do this on my own, without the motivation of The Biggest Loser helping me out!

So lately I've been noticing that when I'm sitting down for a while, really relaxed, maybe even with my feet up, that when I go to stand up, I get really lightheaded and sometimes see little stars. It's not a cool feeling. I've taken my pulse and blood pressure a few times recently and they are both pretty low. My pulse is usually 40-50 and my blood pressure is around 115/60ish. I like that my heart rate is so slow now, it's cool. But I wonder if that's causing me to feel lightheaded when I stand up. It's only slow because I work out so much now! Hmm... oh well, hopefully my body adjusts to and overcomes these new changes.

Halloween is coming up. It's officially on Monday, but we're doing the celebrating this Saturday. I love Halloween. Of course I liked it more when I was younger, because of the candy! I used to look forward to it so much. I loved dressing up and going out around the neighborhood. I wish I could still trick-or-treat. I really miss being a kid!

This year has probably made me feel the most grown up so far. I've done a lot of new things, and time has just been flying by so fast that it really makes me realize how quick I am going to grow old! It's really sad. I don't like to think about getting old, but it's inevitable! I'm starting to run out of things to look forward to. It used to be holidays, birthdays, turning 16 so I could drive, turning 18 so that I was an adult, turning 21 so I could drink, getting engaged, getting married... Now all that's left... having a baby! I see now why people have babies soon after getting married. Because you crave that new feeling. The excitement you get from having something to look forward to. But it all gets old eventually. I know that's kind of a crappy attitude to have on life, but it's just how I feel. I know that once I have kids, all I will look forward to is their milestones and living my life vicariously through them! *Sigh*

Speaking of kids... and don't get any thoughts (Rayna and Roch) but I'm just not ready for them! I used to think I wanted to have a baby RIGHT after getting married. Now I realized a few things.

1. We're not financially stable enough to afford a kid. My mom would say otherwise, because somehow she raised 5 kids and a million pets on only my Dad's income. I have no clue how, but I don't want to attempt it! Just trying to live off of our income's with roommates and 1 dog is hard enough! It's truly a scary feeling when you're not sure if you will be able to pay a certain bill each month! Adding a baby to the mix would not help!

2. I'm not ready. I know, I know... typical answer. But I honestly don't feel ready yet. I'm only 23. I know that's old compared to how young people used to be in the old days when they had kids, but to me, that's still young! There's just a lot of things I still want to do and experience before having kids. Nothing super amazing, like travelling or anything like that. But just the simple, little things in life that most of us take for granted. Sleeping in, staying up late, going out drinking, short notice trips, spur of the moment outings, grocery shopping, watching a movie, going to dinner, exercising (!!!!), running errands. Anything! Just being carefree is what I will miss and I don't want to feel like I'm missing out on things because of a baby. I don't want to regret my baby! Simple as that. Once you have a kid, the rest of your life is spent thinking about your kid, taking care of it, planning ahead for it, loving it... You're not just thinking of yourself anymore, and that's scary!

3. Probably something that seems greedy... but my body. Since I was fat for the majority of my childhood, teenage years and early adult life, I really felt held back. I rarely felt pretty. I never really experienced things the way I wanted to. It was like having a huge weight on my shoulders, literally. When you're fat, you just feel like an outcast. You get categorized, and treated differently than "normal" sized people. It's pretty unfair, but you just have to deal with it. The only benefit you get from being fat is getting to eat whatever you want.

While that is enjoyable, it's not worth it! Having to shop at specific stores... that sucks! I couldn't find cute boots because none would zip past my calves. Putting on boots in general was hard, putting on socks was hard, tying shoes, painting my toes, hard and hard! Walking up a flight of stairs, getting in and out of a car, going on amusement rides, going to the beach, sitting at a booth, anything! Doing any of those simple things is difficult when you're fat! And it sucks! But it didn't have to be that way, so I changed it. And being able to go from FAT to in shape, healthy, and a decent size is an amazing feeling! I couldn't be happier with myself and I never want to go back to that old me.

So back to my point. I'm REALLY enjoying my new body. Shopping at normal stores is awesome!! Not feeling self conscious is such a great feeling. So if I were to get pregnant now, I would feel that I didn't get enough time to enjoy all the benefits of my hard work and dedication. I would also be scared that I would gain a lot of weight and go back to my old habits. I would hope not! But I don't know for sure. When I DO get pregnant, I'm going to try my HARDEST to still eat right and keep exercising throughout my pregnancy. FOR SURE!

Somehow my blog just turned into me talking about why I don't want kids. Sorry, not sure how that happened. But now you know! I think I would like to have my first one by the time I'm 25 though... so we'll see!

Time to get back to work I suppose. So happy it's my last night, and I'm off for 4 days! Yay! Really excited to celebrate Halloween this weekend:) I hope you all have a fun and safe weekend! Thank you for reading... it encourages me a lot to keep doing what I'm doing!

<3Happy Halloween<3

Anna

Anniversary Weekend

Doesn't that look delicious? It was! It's stuffed french toast with whipped cream and strawberries from Founding Farmer's in Washington, DC. That's how we started off our Anniversary on Saturday morning. I really liked the place! Charlie got fried chicken with eggs and waffles, also very good! Another great thing was the mimosas! Wow! This was my first time having one... I loved them! So easy to drink:)

After our wonderful breakfast, we drove over to the National Crime and Punishment Museum. It was pretty cool! I read quite a bit, even though I said I didn't like the reading parts lol. There was some cool stuff to look at, like weapons and what not. My favorite part was the prison art work. One prisoner made an owl out of soap... loved it!! Some of the paintings were so awesome! They really have talent:)

We probably stayed at the museum for almost 3 hours, then headed over to Chinatown gallery place. I didn't know it was actually a mall, kind of. There's not too much in it, but it was neat. We decided to go to "Bar Louie" which was a nice place! It was pretty empty, which I liked. We ordered some appetizers and drinks. I got sangria, my favorite:) We hung out there for a little while, then headed to the hotel to check in!

We stayed at the "Washington Courts" hotel. It was really nice! When we booked the room, we made a comment that it was our anniversary, and they definitely acknowledged that! They wished us a happy anniversary and gave us a room with an amazing view of the Capitol! It was really cool:)

Once we got settled into the room, we decided to go back out to Union Station. It was really pretty in there! Lots of shops and stuff, but nothing that I really wanted to go to. After walking around there for a little while, I started to feel sick. I definitely attribute it to the fact that I ate so much terrible food and also had a few drinks! Once I took some Tum's, I felt 100% better! Thank goodness. I did NOT want to ruin our anniversary!

When we left Union Station, we stopped by "The Dublinger" bar and "Kelly's Irish Times" bar. They were kinda small and beat though, so we didn't stay long lol. They seemed really "local." We walked back to the hotel and got ready for dinner!

We had reservations for 8pm at "District ChopHouse and Brewery" Mmm! It was really good! They serve you cornbread at the beginning of the meal. We ordered spinach and artichoke dip for an appetizer. It was fantastic!! I got the 8 ounce filet mignon with cheddar mashed potatoes. Delish!! My steak was awesome!

When we left there, we were SO stuffed and tired!! We thought about going out to a bar, but we were just being so old and decided to stay at the hotel, watch some TV, and eat our wedding cake! It was a great ending to a perfect day:)

The cake didn't hold up too great in the freezer, color wise. But the actual cake itself tasted great!! It was still moist and delicious:) It was really nice to get an actual piece, considering I didn't even get a real piece at the wedding! lol. It was really good:)

I slept surprisingly well that night and woke up feeling great. We had to check out by noon, so we took showers and packed up:) Another anniversary perk was that they waived the $43 parking fee!! Thank goodness!! That's so expensive!

On our way home, I decided to be a little bad and get a McDonald's 4 piece nugget and a large fry! Bad me! Oh well... I decided to turn it into an anniversary weekend, rather than a day!! lol

It was such a nice day out, so I decided to invite my sisters over to come trail running with me! Rayna brought her dog, Chase, and I brought Chief. First we took them in the water to play... well, tried. Chase loves the water and was all in it! Chief on the other hand, not a huge fan of it! He never really got in, but him and Chase ran around together a whole bunch. It was really cute and I think they had fun!

After that, me and Roch ran together for the rest of the trail. Rayna and Charlie walked the dogs behind us:) It was good. We went the opposite way around the trail this time, so I think the hills were a lot harder this way! It sucked!! But I burned a pretty good amount of calories. Too bad I ruined that later!

My parent's 32nd wedding anniversary was October 6th, and ours being on the 22nd, we decided to go out to dinner together. Roch and Rayna also tagged along:) We went to Hunan Treasure, a Chinese restaurant by my parents house. It was good... but definitely not as good as our Chinese place, Mandarin House. That place is seriously the best!! Nothing can compare!!!

We had a nice time though, and I enjoyed having quality family time. I definitely don't see my family as much as I used to, now that I don't live at home... obviously. We're not that far, but I guess I can just be lazy sometimes. But hey, cars work both ways!! lol... if that even made sense. I wish we had an actual dinning room so that I could make dinner and invite my family over, but alas, I don't!

All in all it was a really good weekend. I had such a fun time with my husband and we really loved DC! I definitely want to go out in DC again with friends or something. There's so many bars and restaurants to go to! It will take a couple trips to cover them all.

I can't believe a year has already passed since we got married. It's crazy. I do want to have kids soon, but first I have to work on my job situation. If I can get the job as a paid firefighter/EMT, do that for a year or so until I feel settled, then maybe we'll start trying for kids. But for now, I'm just enjoying being carefree and having the freedom to do whatever I want. Not only that, but enjoying my new found hot body!! I love it, and I don't want to get fat again any time soon!!

Oh, on Friday, I got this tattoo as a surprise anniversary present to Charlie. I revealed it to him by saying "I have this rash on my side, can you look at it?" Then I showed him and he was shocked! He asked if it was real and then stared at it in shock for about 5 minutes straight! lol Too funny...

I love you Charlie LaGrave!!!!<3<3<3

Goodbye Ass

Just wanted to write a quick, entertaining blog. It's quite sad actually. But I guess it's still an accomplishment...

I tried on a pair of old jeans today (size 16, currently size 11/13). They were more like jeggings. They fit snug on my thighs and legs, but my butt? Yeah... not so much. *cries* Gahhhh!!! I had to really hike them up there to make them fit, too! lol! Oh well... I can't be picky about where I lose weight. Guess I need to start gettin on those squats!

Yes, this looks pretty retarded. It's loose in the back!!!

Think I could make a new style? The "rolled down" look? Maybe...?

I think it's pretty trendy!:) Ignore the line on my stomach, it's from the compression shorts I was wearing! Dang, can't believe that's my stomach! What what!;-)

Ok, that's all! Hope I made someone laugh.......!! Hehehe:) Have a great day!!

Anna

I Can Do This On My Own

I think this will be my first blog without a picture. I just can't think of anything good. And I don't have much motivation to look for one, sorry.

Ok, so let's recap on what's been happening. It's been a pretty eventful past week! Thursday was Fat Daddy's with Sam, Friday was McVey's farewell party, Saturday was the CPAT, Sunday morning I did Kickboxing and the elliptical with Caitlin, then worked that night. At work, my right shoulder was really sore, and I was kinda confused why. I really didn't feel like I strained it during kickboxing. The class was mostly light punching and light weights. I thought it could've been from the CPAT too. That vest will seriously make you sore!

Monday morning I got home from work and was feeling ok, went to sleep cuz I had to work that night, and then woke up at 3:00pm to workout. When I got up, I did not feel good. My whole body was sore, my throat was sore, and I just felt weird. I decided I was not going to workout and went back to sleep till 4:45pm. When I woke up again, I still felt the same. I ate, took a shower and got ready for work. I really didn't even think I was getting sick. Just thought I was super sore.

On my way in to work, I gradually just felt worse and worse. I was hot, tired, light headed, just miserable!!! I knew I wouldn't last long at work! I got there and immediately sat down. I sat there just thinking how long I could tough it out. Not long! I went to talk to Allison and she made me take my temperature lol. It was 100.8! Ughhh. I showed the Charge Nurse and she said "Go home." lol. So I left work... at 8:15pm.

Fast forward to today, and I'm still sick!! My temp has been between 99.5 and 101.1. I've been waking up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, but then I get too cold when I take the covers off. It sucks!! I thought I was starting to feel a little better today, but when I went to heat up my soup, I almost threw up. I felt so nauseous! I dunno what happened, but my face turned completely pale and I just felt so sick. It sucked.

Anyways, enough about me being sick! In other news, I've decided on a new challenge. Since I'm not doing the biggest loser again, I decided to not weigh myself for a month. Yes, a whole month! It's gonna be really tough, but I think it will be good for me! That way I'm not constantly worrying about what I weigh. It's good for me to have that there, to keep me disciplined, but I need to learn how to live this lifestyle on my own, without certain things keeping me in check. Plus, it'll be exciting if I see a really big loss!

Ugh... I'm having a hot flash as we speak. This sucks:( I don't wanna go through menopause if this is what it feels like!

So the next weigh in you'll get from me will be on 11/5/11! That doesn't mean I won't update in between now and then, in case you were wondering:) Unless I'm really busy or something. Which could be true actually, I have a lot of stuff to do this month! Fun things though!!:)

I know everyone says you can't get the flu from the flu shot, but I'm still skeptical. What do you all think? I got it one week, then got sick the next week. Could it really just be a coincidence? Hmmm...

Alrighty... time to lay on the couch and sulk the rest of the day. I really hope I feel better soon! It's so hard not being able to work out!! I feel so guilty when I don't exercise:( *cries*

Thanks for reading:)

Anna

Moving On

"Everyone can think of the one thing that would make life better for them. But people are not so quick to answer the second question: 'What are you doing to make that change come true?'."



10.6.11

With the biggest loser ending last week, I was faced with the decision to participate in the next round or not. At first I definitely knew I wanted to do it. I like the fact that it keeps me motivated and held accountable for my weigh ins and what not. But then I started to think about it more.



I'm really close to my goal and I pretty much lose 1 - 1.8 pounds a week. In the beginning I was losing 4, 5 or 6 pounds a week! It was easy for me to win and I loved that. Now that I barely lose anything a week, there's really no chance of me winning anymore. Not that that's the only thing that matters to me! That's not it all all. I just honestly don't want to spend $50 knowing that I definitely won't win again.



I also need to see how well I can do on my own, without the Biggest Loser holding me accountable. I will probably still weigh in at work, just because I've been going off of that scale this whole time, but my weigh ins won't be for some competition anymore.



I can't be thankful enough for the people at my work who decided to start up the Biggest Loser. It was honestly a life changing experience for me. I don't really know where I'd be if they had never done it!



It really wasn't just losing weight. I've fallen in love with fitness, I choose to eat healthier things (most of the time) now, I am doing things that I used to tell myself "I'll never be able to do that" and I'm loving every minute of it. I can't imagine ever going back to my old self, and I don't ever plan on doing so.



So, here's my first "Weigh In" after the Biggest Loser was over. I went in there, by myself, and weighed in. Obviously I'm not going to lie about my weight, because that would just be lying to myself. Here's what I got!



Previous Weight - 163



Current Weight - 161.6



Weight Lost - 1.4 Pounds



Total Weight Lost - 69.8 Pounds



Wow... so close to 70! I can taste it!!:) I shouldn't say that, considering I ate horribly this past weekend, I'll probably gain next time I weigh in! lol... I hope not! But we'll see!



My ultimate goal is 150. I can't believe I'm almost there. I used to dream of going to sleep and waking up skinny, and to be honest, that's kinda how this whole journey has felt! It's gone by way faster than I thought it would have, and sometimes I wonder if it is a dream! When I walk by a mirror and see myself, sometimes I have to do a double take. It's truly a great feeling. I just can't wait to get to 150!! I hope to be there by the end of the year!



Lately I've been kind of annoyed with people's attitudes towards my weight loss. The majority of people are super happy for me and they say I look great. But, there are a few people who seem to think I'm "anorexic." Really?? I'm sorry, but I don't believe 161 pounds at 5'5 is anorexic. And by the way, I do eat! Quite a bit actually. I wear medium shirts and size 11/13 jeans. I would not consider that anorexic.



I'm just in shock when some people have the nerve to say things like "Don't get too skinny!" "You're gonna look like a bobble head!" "You're wasting away" etc. etc. No, sorry... I actually busted my ass to get where I am. I'm not wasting away, I'm eating right and working out every day. Sorry that I want to be in the "healthy" BMI range! And it's also funny when people say "Oh my God, you're so skinny! Not that you were fat before, but wow! You look great" Ok, seriously, don't lie. I'm not stupid. Obviously if I'm skinny now, I was fat before! 231.4 pounds is FAT. And I'm not ashamed to say that. I called myself fat all the time. I know I was! So don't try to lie. Just say it!



Most of those comments I attribute to jealousy. Not to be cocky, but it's kind of obvious when you see the people making those kind of comments. But it doesn't bother me much. I know what I'm doing and I know that I'm not too skinny! So thanks haters:-)



Well, besides that, not much going on. Oh, yes, wait! I passed the CPAT! Woo hoo!! So happy I was able to accomplish that. It makes me feel like I can do anything now! Definitely one of the hardest things I've ever done!! I'm so glad it's over with! lol.



OMG... so I've gone to Lifetime Fitness with Sam and Caitlin two times now. We did Strictly Strength, Spinning and Kickboxing Interval. Such fun classes. I'm totally hooked and need to join ASAP. It's seriously the nicest gym ever and I HAVE to go there more!! I love it!:)



Ok, I'm done ranting. I'll try to update after I weigh myself on Thursday. Thanks to anyone who still reads this:) Love you guys!



<333



Anna

Warrior Dash 10.1.11

OMG! So... Warrior Dash was probably THE funnest thing I have ever done!! What a great time!!

We left Friday around 5:30pm. Traffic was okay in the beginning. Once we got to Virginia, it started to suck... terribly! We were barely moving at all. Eventually it turned out there was a big RV broken down in the middle of the highway!! That slowed traffic down so much, but even after we passed it, traffic still kinda sucked.

We ended up getting there at about 9ish. Can't quite remember. But it was way later than the GPS said we would!!

The first thing we did was go to WAWA, which conveniently happened to be in the same parking lot as the hotel! Woo hoo! The hotel was very nice!! It had a bar and all types of food. Kind of like how Starbucks has pastries, salads, sandwiches, etc. It was cool!

We ate in the room and then watched some TV. We all tried to go to sleep around 11:00pm. We all pretty much fell asleep right away, but then me, my sister and Amy all woke up around 2:00am and couldn't get back to sleep! It was awful. Lucky Sam slept the whole night! lol:)

We woke up at 6:30am, got dressed and went downstairs for the continental breakfast! Mmm! It was REALLY good! Especially for being a hotel breakfast. They had mixed fruit, grapefruit, yogurt, cereals, milk, orange juice, bagels, English muffins, toast, banana nut muffins, etc. So delicious. I definitely ate more than I should have, but I couldn't pass up free breakfast!! lol:)

We all walked outside and were shocked by how cold it was!! And it was sprinkling too! It sucked because we didn't have jackets to wear. We weren't expecting the weather to be like this, I guess! Oops:)

Warrior Dash was about 20 minutes away at this big farm plantation place. It was a long dirt road to get there, and we parked in a corn field! lol.

We made our way down to the packet pick up. Got our bibs, shirts and warrior helmets! Then we checked our bags in and got prepared!!

We had to stand around for a little while, waiting for our wave to start at 9:00am. It was freezing cold!! And it started to rain a little harder. The only thing that helped was moving all around!! Jumping jacks, butt kicks, etc.

There were lots of interesting costumes there! We saw zombies, Mario, pigs, Darth Vader, and guys in full on suits! lol! It was hilarious the stuff that people ran in! I dunno how they did it!

Finally the race started and we were off!! The path was a mix of gravel, dirt, big rocks, and mud!! At first it was pretty dry. Then we started to come up on big puddles and thick mud. We tried to avoid it when we could, but there were certain times you just had to run through it!

The beginning was just a long run, I'd say about 1 mile. We were running through the woods... uphill, downhill, through a field, then we came up on our first obstacle, Barricade Breakdown. Walls and barbed wire. You had to crawl under the wall of barbed wire, then jump over the (I'd say) 4 foot walls. Of course Sam got stuck on the first set of barbed wire! lol. That was rescue Sam number 1!

While we were running to our next obstacle, Sam twisted her ankle!:( It actually hurt her pretty bad, so we started walking for a little bit. My sister also needed a little break. She doesn't run like the rest of us do, so it was definitely a challenge for her! It also hurts her hip when she runs, but she really toughed it out! I was so proud!:)

The next obstacle was the Rubber Ricochet. It was just a bunch of big tires, tied to ropes, swinging all around. It wasn't too bad, as long as the person in front of you didn't push the tires too hard and make them fall back on you!

Next was Road Rage. First you had to step through a bunch of tires that were lying flat on the ground. Then there was about 6 cars all next to each other. They were cut up, smashed, and mangled. You had to crawl over top of them to get to the next set of tires on the ground. It was pretty difficult!! Especially because they had muddy water on top of them, which made it really slippery. Some even had sun roofs that were open, and one car had a trunk that wouldn't stay closed! Apparently Sam belly flopped onto one of the cars! LOL! Oh Sam...

After that was Chaotic Crossover. A flat cargo net that you had to crawl across. It really wasn't too bad,  if you used the right strategy! Me and Roch got across really fast! You basically had to stand on the ropes and lean to one side, instead of crawling like a spider.

Next was my favorite one and our real first taste of the mud! Dead weight Drifter! It was this gross little pond, stream thing, with floating logs in it! You had to go into the water, which you couldn't even touch the bottom of at one point, and climb over the logs. Of course right as we stepped into the muddy water, Sam's shoe gets stuck! (Sam Rescue number 2!) She also pulled down Amy in the process lol! Once we finally got up, we see Amy's feet up in the air, falling back into the water lol. She was on top of the log, then some girl rolled it towards her, causing Amy to fall off.

The best strategy was to superman dive right over the logs! Your face would end up in the gross water, but oh well! My bib also got torn off, luckily one pin held it on! That was definitely a fun one!

Teetering Traverse was the next one. Easy! All you had to do was go up, across, and down these skinny planks of wood with notches in them. It wasn't bad at all. I felt like I flew across that one!

Deadman's Drop. This one sucked! It was like a big ladder you had to climb, with a big hurdle to get over at the top. The wall was kind of slanted too, which made getting over it really hard. Once you did get over the top, there was one more step, then a straight drop down! Really scary!! I don't like heights that much, so it was pretty tough to slide down!

The Great Warrior Wall was the one we were most worried about. It was a tall wall. Straight up and down. With tiny little ledges to put your feet on, and a rope to pull yourself up! I was surprised I could do it! It wasn't too bad, except for the rope really hurt your hands. It was so rough!

Once you climbed down from that, you had to wade through water. I just googled it, and it was called the "Tar Bay" which runs off of the Chesapeake Bay. The water was about thigh deep, and surprisingly warm! That part was easy:)

We were nearing the end! I knew because we could hear the music coming from the main stage. The next thing was Cargo Climb. A bigggg cargo net that you just had to climb over and down. Not really hard at all! Just tall!

Once we all grouped up at the bottom of that, we decided to all hold hands and jump over the two fire pits at the same time! lol! It was so fun. Not difficult at all! The fire felt pretty good, actually!:)

The final obstacle! Muddy Mayhem!! The dirtiest of them all. You step into a shallow pit of mud, and crawl/float under barbed wire. Sam stepped into it and right away her foot got stuck in the mud! lol. I sat there trying to pull her out, while people yelled "Pull!!" "No man left behind" lol!! Eventually we freed Sam, and continued on. All finally crossing the finish line! Yay:)

It was such an amazing, fun time!! I cannot wait to do it again!! And, lucky us, we get free registration for the next race!! Last minute they informed us they couldn't serve alcohol at the race, so they waived the parking free and gave us all a free race:) Sweet! We're definitely going to the one in Maryland, in May 2012!

Well, that's my long blog for the night!! I'm not sure if we're doing a Biggest Loser again or not! But I suppose I'll just weigh in this week at work, anyways:)

Thanks for reading!!!

Anna