MBN- i absolutely consider race day just another day, food wise as well!! As runners we DO tend to overeat- "i just ran 10 miles, i can eat whatever i want!" The only thing i do differently is before a really long run i will have a larger brkfst, ie; a WHOLE bagel instead of HALF a bagel...and i will put a smear of p-nut butter and honey on it.... thats about it for me too.....

You gal's are right. He needs to suck it up. Before I started my journey, we would always go out to eat and such so maybe that's why he's feeling upset. We do need to put more non food activities together. Ive tried to get him to go to the gym with me, but he has to work out for an hour every day as part of his work day so he is never 'in the mood' to go when I go. But I am totally determined! I am doing this for ME and him but mostly ME! I finally realize that now, because if I was doing it for him, I would have stopped because it made him upset. But since I have no intention of quitting, I know for a fact that I am doing it for ME. I've gotten to know myself so much more in the past 13 weeks and I'm really liking who I am and who I'm becoming. I have a purpose in life now. I look forward to each day instead of dreading every minute. And I wouldn't give that up for anything! We are having a date-night tonight and we are going to a nice restaurant where they have an awesome spinach and feta salad! I'm going to add grilled chicken to it because I love me some protein!

Button- WELCOME!

Sporty _ I absolutely love your avi. That pig is sooooo cute.

MBN/MK - Yeah I don't change my diet for a long run either, maybe an extra fruit or something. Not really long, but I ran 7.5 last night and if I converted that to food its about the equivalent of a 3oz burger with a slice of FF cheese no mayo and a few fries (of course prepared at home)....hahaha. Yeah I don't change my diet for lengthy runs.

MK - That's AWESOME!!!! 600 out of 2000 and its your first! You are awesome!. As far as the drinking and smoking .,....you PB&J! But we already know you conquer what ever you feel like.....so it'll be no sweat my pet! LMAO.

Eve - HUbby may have wanted you to eat healthy and go to the gym but then didn't realize that he would be affected as well. Maybe he think about the fact that there would be less eating out and you being away from home more in order to make it to the gym. Like MK said just keep resisting and eventually what you are doing will just be normal and he will leave you alone. He just has to realize you are truly serious about it and you won't quit....even for hubby.

Shannon - GJ....are kidding?!?!? 4 miles is better than ZERO!
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Well I got in 7.5 miles last night. I will crosstrain today and run 9 or 10 on sunday and then begin to taper for Saturday. Needless to say I am pretty sore since I haven't had a longish run in a while.
Have a great day ladies!!

Hi everyone! May I join you? I am a new runner, and I've been lurking for a little while, and have found all of you to be such an inspiring, motivating group!

A little more about me...I'm 31, married, with a 2 1/2 year old son and I'm living in Wisconsin...although I grew up in Florida and will ALWAYS consider myself a Floridian at heart! Anyway, over the summer one of my good friends did Couch to 5K, and even though I have NEVER been a runner, she really inspired me to try it, and I was looking for a weight loss/exercise challenge anyway to help me lose an extra 30 pounds. So I started C25K, and now am in the very last week of the program, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE running! My race experience so far is a 5K for the local zoo in September, which I walk/jogged, and a two mile run for Gilda's Club last month, which I did in 21:28...which I'm very proud of given that I could barely jog for a minute in August! I'm doing a Turkey Day 5K in a couple of weeks, and possibly a Jingle Bell 5K in December. My DREAM race, however, is to run a half marathon at Walt Disney World! I spent a lot of time at Disney growing up and I am a HUGE fan, so it just seems like the perfect place to race. I have my eye on a HM they're having next October as part of the Food & Wine Festival. I truly hope I can be there! I'm a bit nervous about being able to do the whole distance, but I have a year to train, so that's enough, right???

Nice to "meet" all of you and I look forward to chatting some more with all of you!

Cake- Thanks for the encouragement and the inspiration! You awesome for doing 7.5 miles!

crk- Welcome! I'm fairly new to running as well. I'm starting day 2 of week 2 this morning and I'm loving it! I've signed up for a Half Marathon in June and that's only about 7 months. I'm going to train train train til I can finish that race in June and I absolutely think it's doable. Since you are already on your last week of c25k you should be just fine with a half marathon. You go girl!

crk, I am new too, and also lived in Madison for 4 years, where my 2 oldest were born. I started running to lose baby weight, around Lake Monona and the campus. Never ran before that, but have kept on for 23 years. Now I have 4 children, most are independent, but the best time for me to run is still the am before the school chaos starts.

I have done some 5K and 10K races, trying to motivate myself to do a half marathon. I notice when I train in the longer distances my hip flexor is sore, so am thinking I should trim down to a better BMI.

My new favorite toy is the stopwatch app on my iPod. I am starting to put sprints into my morning 5 mile run, especially the last uphill push on my favorite route.

Welcome, Crk! I am in central Virginia now in the blue ridge mountains (you guessed it!) but am originally from the Madison area. Congrats on having some races under your belt, and it sounds like you have a clear vision of what you are looking for which is great. Disneyworld, here you come!!!

EveL - your salad sounds tasty! I love feta, and I love me some protein, too! It sounds like you're planning ahead so you can still go out to eat together which he enjoys while staying on your eating plan. Be patient - he may come around in time. It can be threatening to others in our lives when we take control of our lives since it challenges those around us in ways that they may not want to face. Not sure if this is the case w/ your hubby, but I've definitely experienced it in my own life, both with my health as well as with a job change. Just keep leading by example and focusing on reaching your goals for yourself - you don't need anyone else's permission or blessing to do this. Congrats on the half marathon sign up - that is huge!

So I banged out another 3 miles on the treadmill yesterday. I think I am going to set the goal of about 10 miles a week spread out over three ones: 3.1 miles for speed (no incline, just get the lowest time possible) 3.1 miles where I play with incline and do more walking, and a 3.8 mile 'long' run. Okay, not long compared to some of y'all but I'm still pretty new to this. On my off days I plan to do elliptical, swim, dance or yoga, or a workout video - and of course strength training 3x/week. (Did I mention I have biceps now??!!) Trying to keep it varied.

I have found some great 5ks in Boston in July and planning to do one if all continues according to plan.

Have a great weekend all!

Hey girls! There's so much going on here, wow! I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond to everyone, but my exam is next week and you know I tend to disappear around exam week, but I've been reading what you all are up to so I'm staying in the loop! Welcome to all the new members, good job to all of you for keeping up with the running and pushing yourselves to new distances, and Cake - welcome back!!!

Quick update: I ran 8 miles today!! Unfortunately, it was through a park so I can't be sure of the exact distance, but based on my time (1:20) and by asking people about the trail, I'm pretty sure it was 8. Close enough! I started waaay too fast and was so tired after like 2 miles, but then slowed down and easily made my way to the end. It feels great! My half marathon is exactly 3 months from today, so I'm getting pumped up about it! And I signed up for another 10K in 3 weeks, just for fun Anyway, I promise I'll be back after next week and actually participate in the convo. Have a great weekend and week everyone!

Blue- The salad was FABULOUS! yummy! We both had a great evening, it felt more like our norm (minus all the horrible calories!) So that is a great start for us. And congrats on the biceps! I'm starting to feel mine too but they're still under a few layers of fat, lol.

Hey all... was supposed to do about 15 miles today BUT ended up cutting it a little short, and did ALMOST 13..... at an 8:32 avg...so im pleased..... it was pretty Zen-like, for about 8 or 9 miles...then i think all the hills i had been running in the earlier miles caught up with me, and the run started to feel less zen-like and more like work, which is why i cut it short...i want to keep this very positive happy peaceful feeling surrounding my long runs..i dotn WANT them to feel like work! i want them to be the one run i look forward to all week, ya know?

Heres some awesome news though...went in to the MRC weightloss center to weigh-in. I am technically on maintenance but i still go in every two weeks or so to weigh-in and check in, etc... Theyve been helping me since i quit smoking with meal plans to minimize the weight gain... ANYWAY, since before my marathon id been hovering around 137-138...but it stayed there consistently since i quit smoking (gained about 5 pounds total) So i go in a weigh-in today.. and WHOOSH!! I am down 2 or 3 pounds to 135!! WAHOOS!!! AND ive been eating MORE lately!! Ive been trying to very gradually up my calories, because theres NO reason, being as active as i am, that i cant be eating 1800 to 2000 cals a day, on a NORMAL day.... No more of this 1300-1400 crap!!! Well....i havent been gaining, so i think my metabolism has started to regulate itself out!!

Mk- Congrats on the weigh in!

I got impatient and ordered Chalean Extreme and some select tech dumbells. I'm soooo excited to start! I always have such a hard time trying to get a good strength session in at the local gym. All the machines/dumbells/space are taken up by muscle heads and it's hard to get in the groove when you have to wait for someone else to finish their EXTREME GRUNT PROVOKING VEIN POPPING HARDCORE LAT PULLDOWN! Frustrating.

Dancer - When I was much younger, I broke a piece of bone off the top of my tibia and the way it healed causes my knee to track higher than it should, leading to the kind of pain you describe. Specific strengthening exercises that firm up the muscles and tendons that hold the knee cap in place help, as does wearing a brace, taping my knee in place and icing at the first sign of soreness keep it at bay too.

If it's something you have consistent problems with, it's definitely worth having your doctor refer you to a physical therapist. They'll be able to figure out the best solution for you, based on how and where your knee cap is going out of alignment.

Eve - glad you guys had a good time, and the salad did sound fabulous! Some people just have a hard time with change, even when it is change that they encourage...

Mk - congrats on the weigh-in! Maintenance is so much harder than I expected, and I don't have stopping smoking in there. You seem to be doing great!

Crk - I'm new, too.

Cake - I was was pleased with the 4 miles, more disappointed about being trapped indoors than anything. I loved my treadmill until I started getting to the park more, now I tolerate it more than enjoy it...

5 miles today at the park, didn't go until late so it got dark while I was still there. Haven't done a lot of after dark running, park was pretty crowded so I felt fine. Took out one of my earphones and listened to the crickets and night noises. Peaceful.
I'm pretty sure I'm doing a Turkey Trot 5k on the 21st, it will be my first formal event, pretty excited. I'm giving serious consideration to signing up for the ING Half here in Atlana in March. DH asked me why I wanted to do it and I couldn't immediately give a good reason, I just feel like I want to do it. I'm going to think on it some more, because I know it will be hard work.

I'm posting on my iPod while DH watches the GA Tech game on DVR so hard to scroll back to read posts. I'll be back tomorrow on my computer.

Good night everyone!

Shannon-- Congrats on signing up for the Turkey Trot-- your first "formal" event! You will have a blast!!
Putting our bodies through the stress of training for a distance event (such as a half marathon) is not something that non-runners can, or will, EVER understand!! That's ok. I suppose, looking at it from the outside, it DOES seem crazy to WANT to run 13.1 miles, or 26.2 miles!! That's not even including all of the training miles, which is where the REAL dedication comes in (and also the real ENJOYMENT, in my opinion!) When i was running the marathon, someone was holding up a sign that read "YOU ARE ALL CRAZY" !

Give it some serious though. March is not very far off (But definitely doable, if you commit!) and there will ALWAYS be another half mary if you dont feel you are QUITE ready!! Youll make the right choice!

Shannon - you should definitely go for the Turkey Trot! It's such a great time of year for racing, and the atmosphere of a race is just insane (in a GOOD way)! I'm running a turkey trot too and I'm very excited. It will be my first 5K. I told my husband about my goal to run a HM, and he looked at me like I was completely loopy, but he wouldn't even run 3 miles much less 13.1, so there you go. If you pushed me for a reason why I want to do the HM, it's really hard to nail it down, but that's because there are SO MANY reasons why it will ROCK! Even if you decide you're not ready for March there will definitely be others down the road.

Eve - Oooooo, I keep hearing the talk about the Chalean videos and am interested to hear how they work out for you. I really struggle to get my strength training in (due to lack of motivation) so I'm always on the lookout for new ideas to make it more interesting!

MK - congrats on the GREAT weigh-in! Maintenance is tricky (I'm there too...) and that's awesome to hear that you're doing so well.

Today is my last day of a vacation in FL, where my hometown is, after having been here for a week. Flying back to Wisconsin in about two hours (blah), and I'm already daydreaming about my next trip to FL! I've been having a good trip and been great about staying on track with my running and (at least somewhat) with my eating. Also, Santa (my parents) gave me my Christmas gift a little early...a Garmin running watch! Of course I HAD to get up early this morning to try it out!! For now, I have to go get myself on a plane! Talk to you later!