Friday Weigh in

Down 2 this week! I'm very happy with that. So far I have exercised every day this week. I'm hoping to get in two more workouts this week. I have a goal of 10 pounds per month, I reached that in January, with a couple extra pounds lost to give a cushion for February. So, 5 more pounds to reach the goal of 20 total pounds by the end of the month.

I know that being back to cooking and eating at home has made the big difference this week as well. I am happy to have found some new very yummy recipes that everyone seems to enjoy.

I found this on another blog and thought I'd share- it definitely made me laugh and I know I feel this way sometimes:

Winning Dinner!

The Chicken Pot Pockets from Hungry Girl were amazing! Since they were only 2 points per pocket, I also added a cup of shredded cheese to the filling mix, making them 3 points each. They were so good. Each of the kids had more than one- except the youngest. But, if you know her, you'd know that the next time I make these for us she'll probably eat the whole thing and seconds also. I was a little concerned that it would take a while to put them together, but it was really a fast process. One thing that I did do that I think helped was I got the egg roll wrappers that had a plastic wrapper between each wrapper so that I didn't spend a lot of time separating the egg roll wrappers. I was very happy with the finished result of this meal and I will plan on making them again.

I also ran one of my short intervals today. It was a good workout and I felt really good after finishing, but I've had a horrible headache since finishing. I used to get them a lot after my long runs or my races, but I haven't had one in a while. Oh well, nothing that a good night's sleep won't cure most likely.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli

Good. Not great. I love mac and cheese. I love both homemade and Kraft (the blue box). This one just wasn't cheesy enough. That's the problem though- more cheese= more fat. Oh well. I liked the broccoli in it and the kids loved that part. They are not fans of homemade mac and cheese, but the added broccoli seemed to go a long way (my kiddos are definitely broccoli lovers!). I was able to fix this one ahead of time and put it in the crock pot, so it made for an easy meal since it was a gymnastics night, but I just wasn't completely sold on it. I don't know that I will make this one again, instead I will continue my quest for a light, filling mac and cheese.

We have had our treadmill for about 3 years. I've put more miles on it in the past 6 months than ever before. But, I have always just done my own thing, never tried one of the pre-programed workouts. This morning I decided to give that a try. It was strange to only be walking at 3-3.5 mph. It seemed so slow! But, add in the inclines of 6-8 and man was it tough! I look forward to trying another workout on Thursday.

Crusted Honey Mustard Chicken Review

I thought it was good, all the kids ate it, so it is a keeper. One thing I was unsure of was the points value. WW has it as a 16 point per serving recipe. I thought that was extremely high for a serving. I decided to plug the ingredients into the recipe builder to see what it came up with. Also, I decided to skip the dill and scallions, so really the recipe was just the 1/3 cup of lite honey mustard dressing (I used Kraft reduced fat honey dijon), 1 cup cornflakes and 1 lb chicken cut into 4- 4 oz pieces. After I plugged that into the recipe builder, it came up to 6 points per serving. Much better! A side of broccoli completed this meal. After reading some of the reviews of the recipe on WW, I realized that I was not the only one who thought it was a high point value recipe and adjusted it using the recipe builder. I also used my ridged baker from Pampered Chef- it kept the chicken from sitting in the juice that chicken creates when it bakes, so the outside was crispy. Yummy! It is one we will definitely have again!

So I switched my interval days up a little. I did a long interval today and will do my short interval on Wednesday. I did long interval #1, each of the 800 meters I did at 5 mph. Not an average like last time, but at 5 mph the whole time. I'm very happy with that. Next month when I do this interval again I am hoping to do it at 5.5 mph. Tomorrow I am planning on doing my 10 minute trainer video as well as walk/jog a couple miles or so. We'll see how the morning goes!

Sunday Meal Planning

Back at it this week. I feel like I've finally recovered from the race and trip to California last week as well as birthdays and more company over this weekend. So here's the plan for this week:

Monday: Crusted Honey Mustard Chicken from Weight Watchers I've posted this one in the meal plan twice I think and for one reason or another we haven't had it. So this is the week! I'm putting it first so that I will make it for sure.

Tuesday: Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli from Weight Watchers Another one that has made the blog but has not been cooked.

Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pockets from Hungry Girl A new one- just looked too yummy to pass up!

Thursday: I have a meeting so we will be brown bagging dinner

Friday: Chicken Cordon Bleu from SkinnyTaste

Saturday: Dinner with out of town family

Sunday- We have a surprise birthday party for a friend (and I thought I was done with cake), so we will probably have leftovers for dinner.

Friday Weigh in

Down 1 pound this week. I'm okay with that. I gave myself a couple meals off while out in California for the half marathon. I know I worked some of that off, but I also knew that by eating that I would be counter productive in my weight loss. But I'd just run/walked 13.1 miles, so I was going to enjoy a good meal while I was there. Moderation is key. I didn't go all out all week and eat anything and everything I wanted, and that has paid off. One pound down is better than adding 3 :)

I will be back to meal planning this week, so the next post on Sunday will be a weekly meal plan.

2012 Tinker Bell Half Marathon

Not sure where to start with this one. Not because it was bad, but because it was so great! I was well rested, even woke up before my alarm went off. We could hear the music from the pre-race party from our room (I'm glad we were in the race, I would not have been happy if I was a guest at the hotel and got woken up at 3:30 in the morning!). Because our hotel was literally right at the start line, I was able to walk down and get right into my corral. I got down there around 4:45 am, and was able to be right at the front of my corral, which is where I wanted to be. Waited for a while, met some other single runners, chatted and then finally it was time for the first corral to start!

View of the start/finish line from my hotel

Check out all the runners (12,000 total)

At the start line waiting for them to send off my corral

We took off down the street and then entered into Disneyland. Ran down mainstreet towards Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

After running through Disneyland, we headed back out and down through Downtown Disney. It was so nice to see people cheering everyone on. There were signs everywhere and people clapping, cheering, cow bells, everything. Most of the signs were for a certain person, but there were some that were for everyone. My favorite sign of the race- "Worst Parade Ever" it just made me laugh- and with many more miles to go, I did need to laugh! Not long after the parade sign as we left Downtown Disney and ran past the Disneyland Hotel, we were met by the Red Hat Ladies cheering us on. These ladies were amazing! There were so many of them and they were easily the best cheering section on the race! Lots more running around the streets and finally we entered into California Adventure- this would have been about mile 11.

Sorry about the finger, hard to walk fast and get a good picture :)

Leaving California Adventure meant it was almost over. I was almost there! Rounded a few more corners and there was the finish line. I'd made it :) I'll admit it, I cried a little- I wasn't hurt, but I was so proud. I finished the first half of my deployment challenge to myself. I hadn't been swept off the course, I had made it- finished in 3:31:03- average pace 16:06. That is a number I am happy with- for now. Next month, new race, new PR goal!

Getting this was important to me:

Most important to me though was finishing and the pride I felt in myself.

My Mile Times:

Mile 1 ~ 15:04

Mile 2 ~ 15:33

Mile 3 ~ 15:08

Mile 4 ~ 15:20

Mile 5 ~ 15:15

Mile 6 ~ 15:48

Mile 7 ~ 15:39

Mile 8 ~ 15:31

Mile 9 ~ 16:05

Mile 10 ~ 16:42

Mile 11 ~ 16:27

Mile 12 ~ 16:25

Mile 13 ~ 16:28

My plan was to go out fast (not as fast as I could, but just faster at first) to allow myself a cushion for later on. I wanted to make sure I was under the pace. I didn't care if I was the last one to finish as long as I was able to finish, and I was. Next up- Princess Half Marathon!