Check yourself before you wreck yourself

Abbie and I adopted Archie about 4 months ago.

We got him from a foster home near Miami.

We ended up having to pay more money than we anticipated, with crates, baby gates (that he chewed through), adoption fees, flea medications and such.

Because of these upfront fees- we failed to take him to the vet when we first got him.

No excuse I know- but that was our rationale at the time.

Fast forward to this week

We finally took him to the vet and found he had heartworms.

I was devastated.

Although curable, heartworms are very very very bad for dogs.

Treatment includes a medicine with arsenic as its main ingredient.

(Bunkie tested negative we are pretty sure that Archie was not given heart worm meds when he was living in mosquito-infested-Miami)

(Bunkie at the vet- she loves it there)

We picked up Archie from his first round of treatment last night. He was/is so lethargic it breaks my heart. I actually had to pick him up and carry him into the house today on our walk.

(this was Archie all night)

All of this made me realize how important it is to not only take better care of our fur babies- but of ourselves as well.  I had braces not too long ago and I swore that when I got them off I would take care of my teeth religiously. I MAYBE floss once a week (sorry is that gross?) Mitch feels my pain.

Jokes.com
Mitch Hedberg - Flossing
comedians.comedycentral.com
Futurama New Episodes It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Russell Simmons Stand-Up Comedy

It's as hard to quit smoking as it is to start flossing.

And I haven’t been to the dermatologist for my annual skin exam (skin cancer check) in 2 years.  I do not even have a regular doctor!

So, on my lunch break today, I set up appointments to have my teeth cleaned and body checked.

It’s so easy to think that something won’t happen to you- but I’m sure everyone that has had some sort of illness had it come as a surprise. Also, my food consumption has been out of control. I think I had about 7 veggies this whole week. Time, once again, to get back on track and get serious about my health.

You want my digits?

20- the number of minutes I have until the workday is complete

4- the number of miles I ran yesterday

2- the number of miles I will run today

24- the number of sweet cars I (or friends) have found

10,798- the number of days I've been on this planet (roughly)

224- the number of friends I have on Facebook

72- the number of friends I would actually call "a friend" on Facebook

17- the number of Twitter followers I have (follow me!)

926- the number of calories I have left to eat today (thank you DailyPlate)

109- the number of blog posts I have

66- the number of books I have read on Shelfari

306- the number of blog posts unread in my Google Reader

Me after my great 4 mile run last night

The 905 calories I have consumed today:

• bfast- English muffin, egg white, OG applesauce, 2 coffees
• Snack- OG yogurt, Kashi cereal with 1 banana
• Lunch- BIG bowl of Caesar salad with croutons and rotisserie chicken

let me see if you can run it

"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."

- George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian

Isn't this a great quote? 

I found it this weekend when I had a breakdown

Training for the 1/2 marathon hasn't been going as planned.

I couldn't run past 2.5 miles last week

so this weekend I jumped online and tried to learn ways to improve my form, found what I need to be eating before and after my runs, and most importantly I found ways to get over this huge mental hurdle I was having.

It sounds silly but the best advice I found was someone who said that whenever they wanted to quit- they would just say to themselves 

"I can just walk if I want to"

Saturday I changed my running route to this beautiful neighborhood that had a ton of trees

tons of tress = tons of shade = a less exhausted Ashley

My first 2 miles were perfect. 

Mile 3 I was starting to get tired but pushed through

Mile 4 I walked a little bit and when I was tired of walking I ran again.

In the end I completed 4.7 miles

it felt great

Also learning that I have practically been doing everything wrong 

as far as foods to eat and running techniques

I am starting to feel more optimistic about this race

finally

Positive thoughts from now on

Today's Eats:

• bfast- 1/2 english muffin, egg white, OG applesauce, 2 coffees
• Snack- Odwalla peanut bar
• Lunch- First Watch Power Wrap (oh so good)
• Dinner- 2 slices of pizza and 2 beers (Abbie is back in town- we celebrated)

Happy Birthday Dustin!

(sweet shorts bro)

Ain't nothing going to break my stride

Glee Rerun:
This was on tonight
Love this quote:

“We all have pressures, but you know how I deal with it? The natural way, with a rigorous diet and exercice rutine. I’m up at 6:00 AM every day, I have my protein shake with banana and flaxseed oil, and by 6:10 I’m on the eliptical. You know how I motivate myself? Not with anything artificial, I set a goal and I won’t rest until I reach it.”

source

***
These past couple of days I feel like all I wanted to do was eat, eat, and eat some more.

I don't know if it was stress at work,

or the fact that Abbie is in town and all I want to do is celebrate

and celebration = food

Today I finally wised up and doubled my breakfast eats

what a difference that made

I was able to just eat a salad for dinner 

and I feel great

****

Has anyone seen the new iPhone commercial where you can Skype?
How many relationships is this going to ruin?

boyfriend tells girlfriend he's playing poker with the guys.
Girlfriend demands to see via Skype.
Busted.
lol.

We Ordered Two Big Macs and Two Large Fries

Back to the grind.

After not drinking for the entire month- having a (couple) glasses of wine these past two days has nearly killed me. I've pretty much crawled through this day at work and will have to crawl through my 3 mile run pretty soon.

wish me luck.

in addition to the wine, I decided to celebrate being an American by eating like one

thats right

Fast Food: Burger King

(McDonald's was too far)

I had 2 cheese burgers, medium fries and a soda

it. was. so. darn. good.

and made me feel

so. darn. horrible.

But that's ok. I got my fix and will not need it again until next year. 

Abbie came into town to celebrate with the 4th with me after partaking in our calorie extravaganza he has agreed to run with me this week. He's buying shoes as we speak (his were stolen on our vacation).

Today's Eats

• bfast- english muffin, cheese, egg white, 2 coffees
• Lunch- Footlong Subway wheat, turkey, let., tom, pickles, cukes, vinegar, BBQ Baked Lays (I was starving all day)
• Snack- Mary's Crackers with Hummus, 10 M&Ms
• Dinner-
• Workout- 3 mile run
• Fruit/Veggies- 1

Bend and SNAP

Friday my prize from 

Lovin Losing

came in!

I was so excited.

This thing has so many lunch containers and they have SNAP lids!

That means they don't leak!

I was so pumped- you would have thought it was my birthday.

(ahhh... the little things in life)

So yesterday I was a little too excited about my 3 day weekend that I decided to skip both meditation and the gym.

Today though I made up for it by working my ash off at the gym.

I blew through 4 miles and then did 30 minutes of hard core weights. When I left the gym, my shirt looked like a different color (gross I know) but there is something about working up a sweat that makes you feel good.

Next week I'll start my training with the local running group. 

Special thanks to Laury for being my cheerleader.

Well, its 10:00pm on Saturday. I would love to fool you into thinking that I decided to write a blog before going out for a wild night on the town... but the truth is I am going to bed. I have a 6 mile run tomorrow and if I don't get up before the sun, I "run" (no pun intended) the risk of having a heat stroke.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Fraidy Cat

It's amazing to me how scared I've become with age

I'm easily intimidated and completely terrified to try anything new

I could feel this getting worse and worse so I tried to be conscious of my thoughts and actions. 

In fact, it is part of the reason I signed up for my first 10k and now this 1/2 marathon

I wanted to finally push myself from my comfort zone.

Recently my training hasn't been going so well

 I need is someone to run with and coaching of some sort.

Someone suggested I contact the local running club.

so i did

Blue = his email

Red = my thoughts

We have a Saturday morning group run every Sat. at 6am 6am! you crazy? in the north parking lot. This is a big how big, friendly how friendly group of runners who run at all paces does this include my super slow pace? and we run anywhere from 7-13 miles. well which is it? 7 or 13!?

 

Get there a few minutes early and introduce yourself to me...I have the big mouth! Is that a physical description?

How will I know how far everyone is running? What if I can't keep up? What if I hold the group up? What if I am the oldest or youngest one there? What if I pass out at mile 5?

I know these thoughts are crazy and I am doing my best to just stop my brain and insecurity and just do it... but sometimes it's hard.

I wasn't always this way. There was a time when I tried out for school plays and was a cheerleader, and had a solo in chorus. Not sure when things changed.

Anyone else out there get this way too? Any tips?

This was when I was at my peak of Bravery

Today's Eats

• bfast- ww mini bagel, egg white, OG applesauce
• Snack -Larabar
• Lunch- leftover taco surprise, 6 corn chips
• Snack- hummus and Mary's Crackers
• Dinner- halibut, 1/2 cuke
• Dessert- 3 cookies
• Workout- took the day off
• Fruit Veggie- 3