Before and After

8am 5k along the Connecticut coast. Nothin’ but beach, boardwalk, and Nikes.

(For the record, this was my second formal 5k! At Color Me Rad last years my time was about 35min. Today was 33:32!!!)

CLEARLY TIME TO DRIVE AN HOUR TO THE BEACH TO RUN A 5K.

Already have 4 days worth of food prepped and packed, now just gotta pack clothes and I’m off. Running every morning, painting every day, going out every night.

I love my job! Work Hard Play Hard!

[Here were my 2013 goals.] How am I doing after month number one?

• Weight: on track! down 4lbs since New Year’s and 72lbs since my heighest! 178lbs and 27% body fat even! Current long-term goal is around 165lbs or 15% body fat, which should be attainable some point between June and December.
• Running: better than thought! My goal was to get my mile time to around 10:15 consistantly, but I ran a 9:21 mile a few weeks ago and 3 miles in 31:05 today. So I’m going to up the ante: new goals are to get my 5k (3.1 miles) under 31:00 by June and around 30:00 by December. Holy cow!
• Lifting: on track, I think. I won’t bore you with the numbers, but my goal was to about double what I was lifting and I’ve started to already see improvement. I’m not sure if this was a realistic goal to start, but I’m definitely improving which makes me feel great!
• Sleeping and food: amazing! nutrition is great. Homemade everything, sticking to an almost entirely plant-based diet. Mostly veggies, a few eggs, and some random stuff like tofu and homemade gluten free waffles. No complaints! Plus 7-9hrs of sleep a night HOLLA

I am the fucking happiest person every right now, okay?

• January: Roller Derby Polar Dash
• February:
• March: local 5k on a Connecticut beach!
• April: Color Me Rad 5k
• May: Long Island Mudder 5k? Dirty Girl 5k?**
• June: Foam Fest 5k*
• July: Run For Your Lives! 5k
• August: Spartan Race*
• September: Warrior Dash?**
• October: Tough Mudder?**
• November: Manchester Road Race!* Local tradition :)
• December:

*still need to buy … **need to solidify the plans!

Basically my plans for February’s Cupid Undie Run got called off because I forgot I was going to a face/body painting convention for work that weekend (the one fucking weekend I do anything all year), so no official race next month? Hopefully I can find something last minute, but it’s not looking good. And by the time December rolls around hopefully I can find something too? Gah!!!!

Two friends who have never run before signed up for Color Me Rad with me!!! I told them I would help them train and we have until April—and I’ve heard couch to 5k works really well—but if anyone has any tips or suggestions they’d be much appreciated!

Both friends are skinny-fat average builds with no history of health problems or injuries, so it shouldn’t be too hard for them. AND we have until the end of April.

My plan was put them on that for 9 weeks, but I think everyone would probably benefit from doing shin exercises, calf raises, squats… other things to build leg muscles. But I’m not sure if those would be best done on rest days or after running?

Once again—advice please!!

Within the past three weeks:

• Friend joined my gym to start working out with me and learning more about fitness
• Another friend met me at Zumba to talk more about nutrition and my progress
• Boss laughed when someone mentioned they took a walk for lunch. “Are you trying to keep up with Marissa now?”
• Brother called me to ask me about post-lifting pain
• Yet another friend texted me to ask for nutrition book recs
• The usual texts/banter with Melissa, Josh, Rose and Rachel aka my fitspos <3

This is maybe the biggest victory I’ve ever had. To go from the fat friend to the fit one?

MAKES A GIRL FEEL GOOD.

And like the scale isn’t lying and I really am making progress.

Less than two years ago I could barely walk, stand, or sit because of my arthritus and slipped disk.

Today I ran 5k on my lunchbreak in under 33min. Less than 11mile/minute, with my fastest single-mile time being 9:16 a few weeks back.

LIKE A BOSS. THAT’S FUCKING RIGHT.

Yesterday, after previously lamenting to my boss about those red velvet cupcakes and my need to learn raw “baking”, he arranged to have a raw vegan chocolate pie made for the staff as a treat.

Today, I planned all my meals ahead so I could take a 2hr lunch and hit the gym duing the most dead time of day. I had a protein spinach salad for lunch, now I’m back snacking on a banana and a protein shake.

I have no complaints about life right now.

Race day on Saturday!!!

Because as of this morning I’m doing a Polar Run sprint in two weeks.

First legs, then tears.

Like the super expensive theymeasureyourfeet ones that I could never ever afford but my mom is buying me for a 5-months-late birthday present because my current ones are beating my ankles to shit.

This is such stellar news it was clearly worth my 1,000th post to announce.

It’s less than ten pounds in a bit over a month. Should be pretty doable and it means I get to feel even better about the Cupid Undie Run.

Taking off my clothes in public should be motivating enough to keep me on track!!!

I can’t wait!!

• Cupid Undie Run, Feb 9, NYC
• Color Me Rad, April 4, Hartford
• Fitathlon Challenge, April 13, Hartford
• Run for Your Lives, June 8, New Jersey
• Foam Fest, June 22, New Jersey
• Rugged Maniac, July 13-14, New Jersey
• Dirty Girl, TBD
• Color Run, TBA NYC
• Neon Splash Dash, TBA Philly

I’m sure there’ll be others that pop up along the way, but any ones I’m missing?

Post-run routine: I crash on the couch and drink some water, Olive licks all the sweat off my arm then passes out on it. Every single time.

Knowing I come home to this always makes those last few steps so much easier…

ZOHMYGOD. There are heart rate monitors are on sale at Groupon for $10 each @_____@ Just bought a green one.

Join Groupon then browse under “groupon goods” up top. A bunch of colors have already sold out but I’m sooooo pumped…