Working my way to the 1/2 marathon Disney 2010!

[KristinandChris]

Hi everyone,

I just started reading the WISH boards and they are great! My fitness goal this year is to train for the 1/2 marathon in Disney World 2010. I'm 29 years old, married, and the proud mom of a 3 month old baby girl. I love going to Disney and got this great idea to run the 1/2 marathon while I was pregnant so it was very easy to "talk big" without having to train Now that my daughter is here there's no more excuses!

I have to convince my husband that the race isn't just an excuse to visit Disney... well, it is sort of, but it's also an excuse for me to get into shape after having a baby. I gained over 40lbs during my pregnancy and while I wasn't overweight before having the baby I'm still a good 10-15lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight. The ironic thing is when I started gaining weight I was most affected by reaching 150 lbs and now I'm stuck on 150 My goal weight is between 135-140 and, more importantly, fit back into my clothes!

I started a fitness blog - http://couchtodisney.blogspot.com/ and so far I posted my first workout. I'm doing the couch to 5k program first and then working my way up from that. I tried running for a few days without really easing into it and became very sore. I think my body is still adjusting to the extra weight I carried while pregnant. I'm trying to watch what I eat but since I'm nursing I can't really diet. I actually don't have a lot of time to eat between work (I teach high school) and taking care of the baby so it's not a huge concern to me at the moment. We don't eat fast food and I usually take Lean Cuisines or WW meals to school for lunch. I do like an occasional glass of wine after the baby is in bed but only on the weekends! Hey, it's good for my heart, right?

I'm looking forward to reading everyone's journals and hope to see some of you at the 1/2 marathon in 2010!

 

[KristinandChris]

Day two and I ran again! Well, I did another day of the couch to 5k program at least. I'm sore now but it feels good to be sore. I might take tomorrow off from running but I'm definitely inspired to keep it up.

The tricky part is to find time during the week. I usually leave school around 3, pick up DD, and get home around 3:30 or 4. After a long day of teaching I'm exhausted and it's hard to get motivated to work out. I wake up at 5:30am, pump, shower, nurse DD, and leave for school at 7am. I have to find a chunk of 30 or 40 minutes in the afternoon/evening when I'm not nursing or grading or napping Wish me luck!

 

[KristinandChris]

Completed day three yesterday and I'm planning on running again today. So far, so good! I need to watch my diet though. I had leftover calzone and a piece of frozen pizza last night that wasn't even that good. Ugh.

Good news is I think I finally am below 150, woo hoo! I still have a good 10-15 lbs to go but I'm working on it. I lost the majority of my baby weight pretty fast but now it's dragging. I'm sure I won't lose the last few lbs until I stop nursing which won't be until the summer or fall. I'm not terribly concerned with how much I weigh just how I fit into my clothes. Some pre-pregnancy pants fit and others don't. The shirts are a toss up too since I'm a little bigger on top than I was before I got pregnant

 

[KristinandChris]

Update on http://couchtodisney.blogspot.com/. Don't think anyone is reading this or my blog but that's ok. I still feel accountable knowing it's there in print!

 

[KristinandChris]

Haven't updated in a while! I've been so busy with teaching and taking care of my daughter - she turned 4 months today and is doing great! She might be teething, she's drooling everywhere, constantly chewing on her hands, and is cranky at night but thankfully she sleeps well at night so we're blessed.

I'm on week 4 of the couch to 5k program and I love it! I ran/walked 2.3 miles two days in a row and I feel great. I'm still about 5-7 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight and I'd actually like to lose about 10 total but I'm moving in the right direction. For weeks I was stuck at 150 so seeing 146 is a great difference!

I need to look for some 5 and 10ks to run this spring/summer. Hopefully soon we (DH and I) can reserve our spots for the Disney 1/2 marathon. Then I need to start looking at hotels and eventually airfare, can't wait!

 

[tinkerbell of winter]

It sounds like you are doing great, especially with a 4 month old keeping you busy Keep up the good work, you will run that 1/2 marathon with no problem. You might want to look into the Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon in Virginia Beach, I ran it two years ago. It is as flat as they come and a lot of fun!

 

[KristinandChris]

It sounds like you are doing great, especially with a 4 month old keeping you busy Keep up the good work, you will run that 1/2 marathon with no problem. You might want to look into the Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon in Virginia Beach, I ran it two years ago. It is as flat as they come and a lot of fun!

Thanks! I just started week 5 today - still going strong, I'm very proud of myself!

When is the 1/2 marathon in VA beach? That's not too far for us. I know they had some sort of race there in September one year. We got married in September, 2006 and went there for a weekend trip after our wedding (I'm a teacher so we waited until spring break for our honeymoon) and the streets were closed for a race. Good thing because we took our Jack Russell and he got off his leash and went running through the streets Good thing there weren't any cars that weekend!

 

[momof2minnies]

Hi Kristin,
You are doing a great job.I remember those days with a little one- oh cherish every moment! I have 2 teenage DDs- 17 and 14! WOW! Where did the time go?

As for the 1/2 at WDW I would think about registering if you didn't yet- more than 1/2 full by now.

Virginia Beach is Sept 12th I want to say.I would love to do that but the girls are back in school and I am afraid to fly without my entire family.

Stop by my journal too.We can keep each other motivated.

Have a great day,
Linda

 

[Zoesmama03]

I'm working towards the 1/2 marathon too. I was hesitant to start training because I wasn't in financial status to come down to Florida but I had a crazy hair to move to Nashville for about a year. I did in Dec but my job didn't fall into place there quick enough and my savings was depleted so I drove the 11 hours down to my dads here in sunny central Florida. So since I'm here and its an hour drive I have no excuses. I'm going to start up a new journal here to track progress on both training and weight loss.

 

[KristinandChris]

I signed up DH and I yesterday! No turning back now!

Still working on couch to 5k - I'm on week 6 now. Luckily today we have a snow day (woo hoo!) so I can run in the morning/afternoon. I didn't run yesterday till almost 7pm. I like getting it done and out of the way.

I haven't had much time to come onto here but I've been updating my blog (http://couchtodisney.blogspot.com/). Things have been crazy at school and not always in a good way. My department lost a teacher last weekend, she passed away in her sleep unexpectedly. We're still trying to deal with the loss.

Thanks for the comments! I need to explore more journals on here and leave some messages - I know they are encouraging to me

 

[Sandy321]

HI Kristn

Great goals - and you are doing AWESOME!! I substitute teach (I used to teach)

Just keep on keepin on!! I know you'll have a great time at Disney!!

Dont forget there is the Wish/event/comp board here - they are all so very inspiring!! Just go post on the weekly thread, and have your name added to the "WISH team" You'll be glad you did!! You can also find others in your btdt - lots of helpful teammates!!

eta You beat me to the event/comp board!! I went to find the weekly thread link - and saw your posst over there!!

I ran the race in '08 with the couch-2-5K program, and it wasnt pretty - this time I'm determined to do BETTER!! Starting NOW!! (I hate runningi n the winter tho, big drawback!! BRRRrr)

I posted a TR - seriously the WISH Scream team was so AWESOME - they have a Friday before the Half Meet and Greet - so just come on over!!!

its fun!

 

[tinkerbell of winter]

The 1/2 marathon this year is on September 6th this year I believe. The fun part is that the American Music Festival is at the same time so there are concerts all up and down the beach that weekend. We went in 2007 and it was such a great time, got a great room and the weather was absolutely perfect. I am thinking about doing it again this year but with three trips to Disney planned the finances will be a little tight.

 

[KristinandChris]

I ran my first 5k in about 5 years this morning! I finished it in about 31 minutes, which is what I expected. It wasn't too bad although knowing I'll soon have to run 10 miles on top of that was a little daunting

My co-worker ran with me. She's in her mid 30's, has two young children, and is in great shape. She is my new inspiration! We live close to each other so we chatted about running together this summer. Since we're both teachers we'll take our jogging strollers out in the morning before it gets too hot. We're all counting down the days till summer already!

 

[KristinandChris]

Wow, I haven't written an update to my WISH journal in a looong time! Sorry about that! I think the last time I wrote was last March and time has flown by since then.

It is now t-minus 2 months and counting (actually less than that!) till the 1/2 marathon and I am EXCITED! I'm at a point the first time in my life when I feel comfortable with running and I'm actually really enjoying it. Here's what I've been up to the past few months if you are interested:

Confession: I stopped working out sometime last spring because I got really busy at school and taking care of my DD. During the summer I kept saying I would squeeze in a run, especially since I teach and have my summers off, but I was really good at making excuses. I got to the point where I was seriously afraid that I'd show up to the 1/2 marathon completely unprepared and have to walk most of it. Weight wise I wasn't doing too bad: I was down to most of my pre-pregnancy clothes but I didn't feel like I was in shape.

Fast-forward to September: I realized that if I wanted to seriously train for the race I needed to start asap. I found a walk/run program, the Jeff Galloway program, and decided to start the second week of school. I started running 3x a week - two 30 minute runs and one long weekend run. I started running for 4 or 5 minutes and then walking for 1 minute. It took me a while to get back into running, especially during the school week, but once I got DH back into it we started taking DD out in her jogging stroller. I've had one injury so far and it's such an embarrassing story! I was in Atlantic City for a bachelorette party and went running before dinner. Long story short, I fell big time on the sidewalk and tore up my knees and hands. I still have scars on my knees and one hand

Now I'm up to running 3 or 4x a week and I'm pretty much done with walking intervals, maybe I walk every mile or so but only for a minute. I love running outdoors and hate running on the treadmill. I'm a lot slower on the treadmill for whatever reason. I'm down to about 137 lbs and fit into all of my pre-pregnancy pants. The only downside to losing weight is I stopped nursing and my chest was the first to go But I love feeling healthy and somewhat in shape!

My longest distance now is 9 miles and 13.1 miles doesn't seem as scary as it did last year, but I still have a lot of work to do! I'm also trying to work on eating better as well. DD is eating "regular" food now so DH and I are trying to eat healthier as a family.

Sorry this was so long! I've enjoyed reading all of your updates and good luck to everyone!

 

[solar]

wow, great progress...i'm working on the c25k and to see where you are now is inspiring!

 

[KristinandChris]

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!

I ran my first race last weekend in months. It was a 12k race sponsored by the Marines at Quantico - 12k is almost 7.5 miles so it was a decent amount of running I finished the race in about 1 hr 15 minutes, averaging around 10 minutes a mile. Pretty much what I expected, although I would like to go a little faster. The race was great: not too cold, relatively flat, and having Marines cheer you on is always nice

The marathon weekend is coming up so soon! My only worry now is that I'm supposed to run about 12 miles when I'll be out of town for a girls' weekend without DH or DD... hmmm... might have to rearrange my running schedule for that My 30th birthday is in December so I'll be celebrating a little early with my girlfriends!

Hoping to squeeze in a run tomorrow morning before eating turkey! Hope everyone has a great holiday!

 

[KristinandChris]

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone enjoyed their day of feasting and relaxing I spent the day with my husband and his family. They are local so it was nice not to not worry about traveling. We also visited DH's grandmother who recently relocated from West Palm Beach, FL to a nursing home nearby. Although we loved visiting her in FL, we are very happy to have her close by, especially since she recently had a stroke. We try to visit her once a week and she loves seeing her great-granddaughter. Caitlin thinks the nursing home is her personal playground!

I did get in a 3 mile run yesterday and ran it in a little under 30 minutes. I'm hoping to get in a longer run tomorrow.