A love letter...and response = NSV

THIS WAS THE EMAIL I WOKE UP TO ON THIS FINE SATURDAY MORNING AS I AM ABOUT TO GO OUT IN 32 DEGREE WEATHER AND DO MY LONG RUN....

Dear Vanessa ,

One year ago, you ordered the following product from Zappos.com:

Levi'® Plus Plus Size 512â Perfectly Shaping Boot Cut - Impromptu - 20W/Medium

We wanted to let you know that right now, your size is still available from Zappos.com. You can order the same product again by visiting......


THIS IS MY RESPONSE: 


Dear Zappos,


I love you.  I love you for many reasons but right now I love you for reminding me that one year ago I was shopping for size 20W jeans.  Thank you letting me know how far I've come. However, I won't be ordering that size anymore, If you have something in a 10 or and 8 please keep me posted.  You see, last winter I took control of my life and will never again need a size 20.
I would love to ramble on here, but have to go running.


Cheers,
Vanessa

WFG must be punished and Weigh in...

Or that's what I was thinking this morning when I decided to go for a run ~ 34 degrees 8am on the road and bam! there it is ~ Sub 30 5K!  Quien es tu papi?  Yo Soy tu papi! Yeah ~ spanglish is my second language....

Weigh in this morning @ 160.2 = + .2 ~ which is balls b/c on Saturday I saw 158 ~ thus is my point of punishing the weekend fat girl.  2 slices of pizza and fro yo?  Who are you?  I was in a horrible mood until after my run.  Now ~ all good.  Working today and then..... yes, a FULL MOON Mountain Bike Ride out in Montauk along the coast.  I will try my hardest to keep the rubber side down this time. 

SUB 30 5k ~ FIRST EVER!!! WOOO HOOOO!

Monday Weigh In and TRX

Drum roll please...............

After seeing this # I may have jumped outta the bathroom nekked and shouted " ONE SEVENTY NINE BITCHES!!! WHOSE YER DADDY!!!" To no one in particular.   My husband just looked at me like an alien had landed! 

Ha! 

Loss of 2.2 for the week.  

Not sure how I pulled that off with my band being super loose in the evenings, the bike @ the shop, two rest days and last night while watching Antiques Road Show a slice of pizza jumped in my mouth....followed by some Skinny Girl Margarita 

Yes, I am such an old fart ~ we go to our neighbors and watch Antiques Road Show and make up stories about how the people REALLY found their treasures, it was so funny...it will become a drinking game....

So the only way I can wrap my head around this loss is that I'm building muscle and that my body has become a fat burning furnace....no not really.  I just ran a 5K this morning and then did some TRX before I got on the scale...it happens to be 88 degrees and HELLA humid here...so, well there you have it! 

TRX is awesome once you get the hang of it.  At first I felt like a retarded trapeze artist or at the very least a floundering seal, but once you get the hang of it it really makes your core so much stronger.  I aspire to have a 2 pack one day..

Here are my sweaty girl photos and one of the TRX ~ I look like a crack whore but what the hell if that's what it takes to get the weight off!

The gym ~ AKA the Man Room AKA the third bedroom 

Track Workout 1

So did I mention that a bunch of my friends are tri geeks and uber marathoners and ironmen?  I did...
As I was bitching about my super slow running skills (damn 12 minute miles) one of those insane ironwomen suggested we go to the track to do some speed work.  I have no idea what this means...they speak in a language all their own: negative splits? 8 x1 repeat? recovery mile? what tha?
I showed up and my friend had a big grin on her face ~ she announced that she had a workout just for me.  OY!
We started with a half mile jog warm up then did 5 x 200 meters "efforts" - not a total sprint but a lot faster than my usual.  It was pretty hard but about the time I was about to puke it was over.  Good times. I still don't quite understand what Perceived Exertion is but hope to soon. I am so lucky to have the best support system on the planet!  Just about everyone around me is pulling for me and ready to help in anyway possible with my goal of becoming an athlete!
Looking forward to testing the speed out on my next run.
On another note... My new Blog design is almost done!!  Jen @ just foolin Blog Design has done a great job!   So Excited to show everyone!
Oh and its Boot Camp Thursday (90 degrees + and high humidity) not sure about it today - this east coaster is not so used to such extreme heat~

BYOC!

~ First BYOC post ~

1. If you were asked to symbolize yourself as an animal 

– which animal would you be?

Lion because I am a Leo!

2. Did you ever play an organized sport 

– with coaches, rules and scoring? Tell us about it.

I played softball in High School and hated it ~ I rode the bench 

and hated running. 

I rode horses and competed in Hunters/Jumpers ~ not really

a team sport but it has rules/coaches and scoring

3. When did you start shaving your legs?

I think I was 11 or 12 ~ turned into a blood bath and 

made a huge mess of myself

4. When you’re in a crabby – pissy 

– want to stab everyone you see kind of mood 

– what do you do to get out of it or do you revel in it?
I go Mountain Biking or Running or go sit on the beach ~ but 

have been known toblast some Rage Against the Machine, Limp Bizkit or 

Social Distortion and jump around the house screaming!

5. Repeat question: Summarize your week in blogland and in real life.

Real Life: Best Week EVER!  Ran my first race ever ~ 8k ~ Booyah!  

Went mountain biking and kicked my husbands ass all over 

the woods ~ Sweet!

Went shopping size 14 now ~ was a 22/20. 

Ran this week ~ speed work.  

Did boot camp last night (80 degrees and 75% humidity 

outside in the dirt) and almost threw up ~ yeah!

Having a good week at work. 

Food has been OK ~ trying to work on portion control. 

Oh an the Tour de France is on ~ what's better than that!

Blogland: As a new blogger been trying to follow as many 

of you as I can and learn what this is all about. 

 I'd like to pimp out my blog a bit more 

and add more photos....

First Race (8K) is on the Books!

Can I kick it?  (Yes you can!)
First running race ever!  I am flying high now basking in the after glow of 5+ mile run!
Last week I ran the course so I knew it was possible but this morning with all the people, high humidity and sun I was a bit worried.  I told myself it would be fine to walk parts if I needed to.  Getting down my breakfast shake was not happening this morning with the nerves, so I had a gu 15 minutes before the race started and that did the trick! The course was flat which is a bonus b/c I usually am running on rolling hills during the week.  I looked around and saw elite athletes but I also saw people like me.  This was a big relief and took off a lot pressure.  My goal was to beat 1 person.  I did it!  In fact, I think I beat a whole bunch of people~!!  I'll ck out the race results online later.  The best part of the race was after mile 3 I passed a girl who looked very fit but I guess she blew herself out in the beginning of the race.  Slow and Steady...Slow and Steady...So the official time for my 5.05 miles was 1:01 = 12 minute miles no walking.  Exactly what the plan was!
Post race food - 1c soy yogurt and a peach
Lunch - 1/2 cup re fried beans and quinoa with tempeh
Dinner - at my parents house - I'm thinking it will be veggie rice...
Next race - July 16th - 5K - I would like to be doing 11 min miles....

Battle Wounds

I love battle scars as much as the next girl.  Generally they are nasty purple bruises, gashes to the leg or arm and a very sore set of muscles.  I have been known to go bragging about how I got my scars and bruises: "Dude! I was whipping down a trail and caught major air off a 4 foot drop and missed the landing" or "I missed the turn and tried to jump a log and wound up doing a superman into a tree".  This is usually followed by some high fives and woohoos from my gang of fellow crazy mtb chix.

Now that I have taken up running, I spend more time on the road these days and less time getting "sweet air" over big logs. My current set of injuries (mildly sprained left ankle and banged up right knee) are rather embarrassing, there is not one thing cool or daring about them.

So here it is.....I am a Klutz.  Yes, that's right...I can ride the piss out of a mountain bike and fly down steep hills without a worry, but when it comes to walking, I am a disaster.
I knew I was due for a fall, it had been a while.  I took two steps down a driveway and BAM there I was SPLAT on the road.  Ouch!

The good news is I taped the ankle and went for a bike ride...the bad news is I tried running this morning and I was like Franken runner -all kinds of gimpy on the knee.   There are now 4 days till race day and I'm just going to have to suck it up and do what I can.
I guess this is a good excuse to take up open water swimming.

Hello out there!

My first post in Blog Land.  Thank you Lap Band Gal for inspiring me to blog!  A bit about me and my Journey so far:
I am an obsessive mountain biker who just took up running.  I am vegan - who knew it was possible to be vegan and fat!  I had Lap Band surgery 12 weeks ago April 6, 2011.  My highest weight was 241 and I am now 192.2.  I'm pretty stoked!
I have always loved being active - although it was pretty hard to ride my bike at my highest weight.  My surgery went well and recovery has been easy.  I think that's because I was already active and had no co-morbidity symptoms.
My journey has little to do with what size jeans I'm wearing (although its fun to shop for smaller ones) but instead it is about becoming an athlete.  I am proud of being active and getting in my daily exercise but now I want more!  Now I want to win.  This blog, I hope, will help to keep me accountable and track my goals over the next year.  First goal - July 3rd 8K race.