My New Running Partner

This here is our newest addition to the family.  His name is Toby and we adopted him the end of August.  I have been having the baby bug and now that we made the decision to have no more children, this guy here was the next best thing.

It has been an adjustment between skin issues, and issues with our other dog Krista.  But slowly but surely he really is coming around. 

He has been such a snuggly ball of fur for me and I just love him so much and it filled whatever void I had.  As exhausting as he can be. it really has been a joy to have him around and to know we rescued him!  We adopted him from NE Ohio Lab Rescue and I am so glad we did!

He has been amazing with the children and our other dog.  SO, I decided to make the decision that he would be my new running partner.  He is pretty good on a leash.  That means he still needs corrected and managed slightly to avoid distractions.

I researched for a whole weekend online as to what would be a good leash to use when I take him running.  I hate having the leash in my hands because it is so distracting to me and I can't focus on my run because I am to worried about how I am holding the leash and how it feels in my hand.  When my research was complete I had found the perfect solution.

So this is the Stunt Puppy Stunt Runner Hands-Free Dog Leash.  I bought it on Amazon.  Big surprise because I buy everything off their website LoL.  So we started last week.  Day 1 was really hard.  I have bruises on my shins and I am pretty sure I took fur off his paws when he cut me off to chase squirrels or people to play with.

Day 2 went a bit better.  I only tripped over him once.  I would say that was pretty good!  The only issue is that his training collar slides around his neck so sometimes I have to make a quick stop to adjust it for him.

Today went VERY well!  I took him to one of the local Metroparks with a friend and we ran together.  I did the best time since I started running again and made it in just over 37 minutes.  I have really been struggling, so I was so happy with that result.  There were a TON of people walking past us and he did AMAZING!.

Our first furry baby loves walks, but she can't keep up with the runs.  She hits 1.5 miles and she just stops.  Her arthritis gets bad too and then she can't even walk up the small 6 steps to get upstairs.  I feel bad when I leave her behind, but she just can't do it.

So, our Toby has been doing amazing and I will tell you something; he behaves so much better when he gets that exercise. 

So, this has been my crazy life so far.  I have been a lazy bum with my fitness and eating.  I just started back up with my running this past week because my last two races have been AWFUL time wise.  Work, kids, dogs, life.

Never a dull moment, but I am taking it in stride and enjoying every moment as I can :)  Happy Fall to all of you my friends.  Enjoy your baked goods and cinnamon-y smells.  I have my fall candles going and my fall decorations up.  Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins.  I just love pumpkins! :)

 

~ <3 ~

Me

Welcome Year TWO!

Well, I have begun my second year of my lifestyle change.  Not only am I impressed that I even made it this far (by a thread) but how motivated I still am to continue doing better!

I celebrated my one year healthy lifestyle anniversary Monday by going for a run.  It felt amazing and I really maintained a great pace throughout a 3 mile run.  I kept around 11:30-ish most of the time which I was impressed with because I haven't been able to do that since last year after finishing my 5k training.

My husband started a healthy eating regimen for work because they are having a competition on who can lose the most in a few months I guess.  Him doing that has made SUCH a huge difference.  We don't have as much junk in the house and we are eating a ton of healthier stuff.

I made the venture into the world of GMO free and Organic food last weekend.  I am trying to really pay attention to what we are buying and what we are putting in our bodies.  I figure I had one year of working out.....now it is time to focus on food.  This is my first week and it has been going QUITE well!  We have been eating a ton of grilled chicken, organic products and I have been aiming at getting GMO free as well.  It is so overwhelming but I am trying to get it slowly but surely.

I have had friends in my past that would really get going about organic stuff but at that time I wasn't ready.  Hell, my life was full of chaos, depression, really bad crap and I wasn't even thinking of my own health at that point.  Well, now it is time, and I have one heck of a support system around me to guide me and help me.

This handy little label has really helped me in my search....and yes if I see it I will buy your product over one without it.  There is just so much I can do and change and yet so much TO change that I feel overwhelmed and sometimes don't know where to begin....but so far so good!  Baby steps!

I had my PT training yesterday and for the first time I can say I feel like death LOL  He did an AMAZING job working my upper body!  Afterwards I went and did 6 miles on the elliptical machine.  I am pooped!  However I still went and ran almost 2.5 miles today with our doggy.  I had to walk the last .5 because she was starting to limp :(  Poor gal!

Ok I need to get some sleep and rest up for a busy work day and another PT Session!!!

Thank you all for your support from my one year blog posts!  I chuckle because my typed out post where i poured my heart out had like 38 views and my photo blog was like 115 or something BAHAHA.  I mean I am honored you all want to see my scary pictures but don't forget the emotional changes that can happen during this journey.  You're right though....even I can't stop staring at them LOL!

Thanks again for all of your support and bring it on YEAR 2!!!

~ <3 ~
Me

Little Miss Busy Feet

Yep!  See that?  I have over 10,000 steps going for today!  I am loving my Fitbit !  It is so interesting to see how active I am or am not and when I am most active.  I cannot lie that my FAVORITE part so far is the sleep tracker!  Really interesting to see how I slept last night.

Anywho, today was a busy day!  After the kids went to their babysitters I came home and went NUTS on our house!  I cleaned from floor to ceiling, vacuumed and steamed the floors.  I even ran the steamer over the one room of carpet we have to freshen it up.  I was super sweaty and knew I was burning those fatty pieces I just love so much :)

I know this is supposed to be a blog about my journey but I had to share a personal story.  Our doggy broke her tooth!!  She has to be sedated tomorrow to have it taken out.  Our poor furry baby!

I can't wait until it is over and we can bring her home!

OK, so back on topic.  I had a decent day today.  After my horrible eating yesterday, I won't lie that today was hard!  I felt that familiar pull towards wanting to eat everything i saw today.  Once i was sitting on the couch all I wanted was ice cream.  I was literally screaming at myself in my mind to shut the heck up and deal.  I drank more water hoping that would help.  I still want it....I do! 

I plan on running my 3.1mi again.  I HAVE to get back on track!  I finished my couch to 5k app and just fell off the wagon.  I was doing so good with it too!  I can't give up!  I have come so far!  My official 4 months weigh in/photo shoot takes place soon and I am excited yet nervous.  I see the difference in older pictures but some days I don't feel like I look different.  I don't want to be model skinny with all my breakable bones hanging out.  I just want to look healthy and toned. 

That is where I will leave this post as I plan on getting into my weights and my experience with Jillian Michaels sometime soon.  Have an amazing day or night (depending on where you live) and thank you again for reading!  Loving the support and knowing people are out there!

~ <3 ~
Me