What, orange juice has scary stuff in it, too? Ugh

I've been hearing about all the uproar about arsenic in apple juice, and I hadn't really given it much thought since we are not big juice drinkers. Apple juice seems to upset my youngest's tummy to the point that we must remain near a restroom if a well-meaning grandparent gives him a juice box that contains apple juice. Sneaky apple juice is in nearly all juice boxes, so Daniel brings a special bottle of water each day in his lunch box.

This morning, my kids had a delicious breakfast including orange juice. According to the packaging, this OJ is made about 20 minutes away from my house. I was thinking it couldn't be too terribly bad. And then I read this article a physician friend of mine linked to Facebook. And of course, if it's on the internet, it must be true! While ordinarily, I take things I read online with a grain of salt, this business of OJ not really being as healthy as it proclaims itself, is something that I've been thinking about since viewing Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix last week.

I've asked for either a juicer or a Vita Mix for Christmas, but I know Santa's budget is pretty tight, so I don't know if it will work out. It's in my quest to try to get more raw fruits/veggies in my diet.

This morning, I made a yummy smoothie in my cheap-o Oster blender that was a wedding gift 13 years ago.

1 cup of ice

1 cup of Almond Milk

2 TBSP greek yogurt

1/2 cup frozen strawberries

1/2 cup frozen blackberries

1 cup frozen spinach

1 scoop chocolate flavored protein powder

1 TBSP chia seeds

Documentary watching fool

I haven't had time to sit to post, and I have a dozen or so recipes to post. However, I have been spending some quality time with my treadmill and have managed to find a way to get my netbook to stay on the top of the treadmill so that I can watch movies while I walk/trot. I just watched the documentary Forks Over Knives. I had already heard much about it from my father-in-law, and it did not disappoint. My problem is (well, one of many!) that I know which foods are good for me foods, and which foods are bad for me foods. I just don't seem to have the time to make the good for me foods.

Then, a couple of days ago, while on the treadmill watching Food Matters, something really sunk in. I had been trying to hard to make meals based on what a "meal" was when I was growing up - meat, potatoes, veggie, rolls, and a drink. And meals my husband grew up with were vegetarian and moderately healthy, but full of sodium, preservatives and butter-soaked veggies.

So anyway, I'm watching this documentary and a light bulb goes off over my head when the documentary starts talking about raw foods. Duh, when my kids were little toddlers, our whole diet was pretty much raw or lightly steamed fruits/veggies. I would say our diet is about 25 percent fresh, raw fruits/veggies right now. I'm working hard to increase that to at least 50% of each meal.

I'm also working hard to not beat myself up when I don't have time to cook.

Dinner last night...

- Grilled Cheese (real cheese)

- Sliced honey crisp apples

- Carrot chips (found in the organic section of our grocery story - just sliced crisp cold carrots)

- Rice cakes (by request from the youngest)

- Ice water with lemon

Not impressive by any means, but also not a Happy Meal.

Chinese Cabbage Salad

Let me say that my husband loved this salad and requested it be added to the dinner rotation. I had intended for this to be a side dish, but since I live in Florida and it's ridiculously hot and humid, salads are meals around here. It became a meal when I broiled some marinated chicken cutlets and shredded the chicken to add into the salad.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (3 ounce) package chicken flavored ramen noodles, crushed, seasoning packet reserved
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 (16 ounce) package broccoli coleslaw mix
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 4 ounces toasted slivered almonds
• 
  
• 1. In a small saucepan, cook the vinegar and sugar over medium heat until dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in salt, pepper, ramen seasoning packet and oil. Set aside to cool.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the uncooked ramen noodles, broccoli coleslaw mix, and green onions. Pour dressing over salad; toss evenly to coat. Refrigerate until chilled.
  3. Sprinkle with almonds.

Surviving Dinner with Young Kids

I'm pretty blessed that mealtimes at our house seem to go without much argument. Since the early days of toddler-hood, I've believed in a "meal of 4 items". There are so many different tid-bits of information out there, that I find it hard to wade through the sea of knowledge without feeling like I'm sinking. I do believe in much of what Ellyn Satter has to say about it only being my responsibility to provide appropriate meals - it is my child's responsibility to eat. I've also had the pleasure of meeting members of the Popsicle Center.

So this meal of 4 items (and I apologize, since I don't know if I read about it somewhere, or how I started doing this!) is really a simple concept. Basically, it means that we aren't having just a dish of spaghetti, or just a bowl of cereal, or just a sandwich. Basically, with each meal I strive for 2 different fruits/veggies, 1 protein/carb and maybe something fun (basically, the 4th item is always something I know my kids will eat - even if I have to chop up a cheese stick.)

In this meal - we were celebrating our trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom. There is a salad, and Rainier cherries, and Mickey shaped chicken nuggets (Costco) and baked onion rings leftover from another meal. I know for sure my kids are going to devour the nuggets. So what's so important about being sure there's at least one thing you know the kids love? Well - that gives you creative licensing to mess around with the rest of the plate - add something new, or even re-try something that hasn't been successful a month or so back. It takes a few times to warm up to some foods.

Our "rule" on second helpings of food goes a little something like this: you don't have to eat everything on your plate, but if are hungry enough to want more chicken mickey heads, then you are hungry enough to work on the rest of your plate. With the exception of the new food. If the new food is a bust, then it's okay to overlook that slimy onion-ring for the sake of more broccoli in the salad. Who knew? My kids have never had onion rings before and really didn't like them! The whole point of having 4 items is that some will be hits and some will be misses, but you will likely get some nutrition in your kids without an argument, and without without bribing them to eat, and the big catch is that one day they will surprise you and ask for more broccoli for their salad.

Speaking of salads. I keep a variety of dressings on hand. Some store bought and some that I've made myself. My two favorite are here:
The hospital I work in has a great salad bar, but their variety in dressing is ho-hum. So as odd as it sounds, I pack along my salad dressing! This week, I've gotten up a little earlier and packed along some Super Greens to have with my salad. My big wish is for a Vita Mix for Christmas, so I can juice my greens.

Cheesy Taco Wraps

At our house, movie night means bento-style snacks. I was in hurry and did not snap a picture of the snacks this week.

We used these containers from the Target garden area. I couldn't find the exact picture, but that's a good similar picture.

In the long area of the container, we do air popped popcorn.

In one of the two small areas, I put in rainier cherries. So yummy! (By the way, I'm in the market for a good cherry pit picker and am open to suggestions.)

In the other of the two small areas, I made cheesy taco wraps.

Cheesy Taco Wraps

2 blocks cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 tbsp of onion soup mix

1 tbsp of taco seasoning

1 package of wheat wraps

Mix all of the ingredients (except the wraps!).

Spread mixture all over one side of the wrap and then wrap up. Wrap the wrapped up wrap in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

After an hour, take out the wraps and slice into appetizer sized yumminess - don't forget to take the plastic off first!

Reviews:

- I loved the wraps.

- Hubby loved the wraps and asked me to make more of the filling, which he used as a spread on some crackers the next night for a snack.

- All three kids gave it a collective 6 thumbs down. Apparently, it was a little too spicy for them, and so next time I'll leave out the taco seasoning (which is a combination that I made a while back that seems to be heavy on the cayenne pepper).

Skin Care Products

I've been trying to be more mindful of the chemicals that I put on my body and that of my family. My favorite line of beauty products is made by Yes To Carrots.

After checking the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database, I'm very confident with the products I'm using. I have extremely dry skin and I love the moisturizers made by this company. And as my kids are getting bigger, my daughter loves to sit with me while I'm washing my face at night when I get home from work, and I love that I can use the cucumber wipes on her face, too, when she wants to wash with me.

Don't even get me started on the eye cream. I love the cucumber eye cream. Unfortunately, I'm a belly sleeper, which means that my eyes are very swollen every morning. To add insult to injury, I get up at 5am for work, and my peepers need a little kick in the morning!

I'm in no way endorsed by these folks. I just wanted to share my favorite safe skin care products.

The Great Lunchbox Debate

I love to shop for school supplies. So I'm not the least bit put-out by the massive amounts of supplies sitting in a corner in my dining room waiting on meet-the-teacher night to be deposited into the K, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms for use by my children and their peers. We try to reuse what we can, and buy quality items when we need to get new. For example - for 29 cents more, a pair of Fiskars blunt-end scissors will last a heck of a lot longer than the Rose Art ones. Same goes for Crayola products - you can't beat 'em. (Except, of course, for those colored bubbles that recently came out - yikes!). And much to my children's sadness, the teachers recommended plain yellow #2 pencils (already sharpened, thank you very much) instead of pencils with TinkerBelle, or the like foiled onto them. Evidently, the cheap-o pencils are harder on the pencil sharpeners than the regular pencils. So having navigated all of that, we moved onto lunch boxes...

I bring my lunch to work most days. I carry a Laptop Lunchbox because I like to eat lunch bento-style.

I'm not really a sandwich, chips and apple kinda girl. I like left overs for lunch. However, I will say one of the issues that I have is that I don't really warm anything up in these containers, and I can't pack already warmed food and expect that it will stay warm. Also, my 7 year old and my 5 year old don't seem to be able to get all the little lids off, and by the time their teacher can help them, lunch is nearly over.

Then, I looked at one of these: a planet lunch box, but it doesn't seem to have the versatility of my laptop lunchbox, where I can remove sections if I needed to.

I also looked at old-school lunchboxes off of eBay. I remember being in the second grade and having a crush on a boy named Brian, just because he had a Dukes of Hazard lunchbox. I loved my Rainbow Brite lunchbox and thermos set. But I didn't love that my apple made a permanent dent in my fluffernutter sandwich. This might be why I'm not a sandwich person. See, blogging really is therapy!

Anyhow, we decided on plain lunch sacks - something similar to this. So that I can put leftovers in our Funtainers, and still have room to pack bento-style using our lock and lock containers.

I love to follow blogs about healthy lunches for both adults and kids. Some cute ones that I look at are:

Another Lunch

Bento Mama

Going Against the Grain - Gluten Free stuff here is awesome!

Why is there paint on my mirror?

When we purchased our home, the previous homeowners left a huge, framed mirror on the wall hung horizontally, as though a dresser should be beneath it. Up until last year, we left the mirror where it was and put our bedroom dresser below it. However, decided sometime last year to do away with our dressers in our master bedroom, and instead put in two giant wardrobes with deep drawers for easier clothing storage. This left the question of what to do with the mirror?

My hubby took the mirror and turned it on it's side and installed it on the wall as a full length mirror. He had to take the framing off of it to make it fit. This was ONE YEAR AGO.

Yes, that's the glue that surrounded the mirror from the framing. And, yes, it stayed on their for over a year, just waiting for someone to scratch it off. It's one of those things that I see so often, I forget it's there. Until one day last week, when our youngest asked why we had paint on our mirror. I was like, "huh?", and when he showed me, I was dumbfounded - has that really been that way this whole time?

So, very proud of myself, I got out a hand-dandy scraper and scraped it all off nice and clean. This brings me to having two issues....

1. How many things do I walk by that need to be fixed and I just don't notice?

2. Why hasn't my husband fixed this yet? :)

Professional Nursing Portfolio

Hey nurses! If you don't already have one, you should really put together a Professional Portfolio. I find it is extremely helpful to keep all of my professional items together in one area. This helps keep my stuff from looking like this...

and looking more professional!

I use my portfolio when I meet with my leaders for my annual review. It helps to show the story of who I am as a nurse and why I'm an asset to the organization. My portfolio is a crisp white binder with 5 divided areas -

1. Annual Requirements

- In this tab, I keep all of my professional and hospital required annual requirements. This came in handy just the other day, when the hospital misplaced my annual TB test readings. I was able to fax them the results when I got home from work that day. In this tab I keep...

* nursing license

* CPR card

* NRP card

* Mask-fit test results

* TB test results

* Most current evaluation - a word about this. Be sure to actually look at this from time to time. If your goal at the end of your evaluation (and everyone needs a goal!) was to join a unit-based committee or obtain CEUs with a focus in your area...you should be looking at those goals and making them happen before your next review.

2. Resume

- You should always have an update resume on hand in both paper and electronic forms. You never know when the opportunity of a lifetime will knock and you want to be prepared. In this tab I keep...

* updated resume

* a copy of the job descriptions from the last 3 jobs I've had. Why? Well, your resume as well as cover letter can and should be tweaked with the information that most pertains to the position you are applying for. For example, if you want to manage a department, you would highlight the management tasks you were responsible for on your previous job descriptions. Remember, your resume should be close to one page, two pages max. This is for a resume, not a CV. At some point I'll create a CV, it's just not necessary for the type of work I have been doing. Many other professions like to throw the title "CV" around, but unless you have given talks, been published or are professional recognized in research, then a true CV is unnecessary in this line of work.

* copy of your diploma

3. Volunteer Work

- Many industries are now requesting volunteer work from their employees that wish to advance in the professional practice model. My volunteer work tab includes thank-you letters from classrooms that I've taught handwashing to, my letters from volunteering with breastfeeding mothers in Alaska, as well as proof of being a medic at some local road races. Opportunities are endless, and the ability to volunteer is so easy these days.

4. CEU's/Conferences/Professional Organization Memberships

This is pretty self explanatory. You want to be well-rounded on your continuing education. Yes, you can get all your CEUs online these days, but you'll want to check to ensure your state will recognize online CEUs. I do a mix of on-line, in-hospital and community education. Our competing hospital has some great one-day conferences with nationally recognized speakers, and it has been nice to be able to rub elbows with other professionals.

* CEU certificates

* Conference flyers, as well as certificate of attendance

* Professional Organization card, as well as printed Mission Statement from their website.

5. Kudos and Special Moments

Our hospital uses a system-wide complement card for individual recognition. These can be submitted by anyone - employees or patients alike. I keep these in this tab. I also keep any pictures that family members give me of their child, and I make a quick note of why it was significant. I keep funeral notices and thank you cards from families. I keep emails from my boss that recognize my good work. And pictures that have been taken of the nursing staff for fun. This is the section of your portfolio that is more for you than for anyone. It's the part you turn to to remember why you do the things you do. It can also be used to show your manager a story or two of difficult patient cases that you successfully managed.

Snickers Salad

OK, let's just take a time-out from all this healthy business to have a not-so-diet-friendly dessert.

My goal is to have fun dye-free desserts with the kids. Now, I will confess that I did not fully read each and every label here, and so I can't be 100% certain that there isn't a food dye hiding in this salad. After all, did you know marshmallows have blue dye in them? I digress, there are no marshmallows in this recipe!

3 granny smith apples

3 snickers bars

1 small tub of cool whip

1 block of cream cheese

1. Chop apples and snickers bars.

2. Mix cream cheese and cool whip together in mixer.

3. Add apples, candy bars.

4. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Very yummy, all the kids loved it.

Baked Tomatoes

Sometimes I'm tired of salads, and sometimes I just want a warm yummy side-dish. Of course, since I'm trying to watch unnecessary carbs, I've been getting more creative. A friend of mine that is doing the South Beach diet shared her Baked Tomatoes recipe with me.

Forgive my lack of actual real measurements....

4 Roma tomatoes

Fresh basil leaves

EVOO

Salt

Pepper

Fresh Mozzarella

I've eaten this mixture cold on many occasions and it's delicious. For a twist on the salad-version of this...

Slice tomatoes in half longways. Scoop out the interior. Mix chopped mozzarella and basil together. Drizzle tomatoes with EVOO, put cheese mixture inside, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Put in the over 350 for about 10 minutes or so.

Very gooey-delicious yumminess!

Cherries!

Today is my weigh-in day and I'm at 153.0. I'm happy with that considering I was almost 160 just a few weeks ago. Yikes!

I went grocery shopping today and bought strawberry cherries. O.M.Goodness...they are fabulous! I had a handful with my lunch today.

I'm trying to eliminate some of the high-glycemic index foods and cherries are a very low glycemic index food. Cherries also naturally cleanse the blood from toxins. And they are a natural anti-inflammatory, which is great for post-workout soreness.

Yum!

I'm an Ostrich

Yup, that's right. I've got my head in the sand and my big butt in the air.

There...admitting it is the first step.

The second step...calling my doctor to make an appointment for an annual physical.

Oh, wait, did you say annual...since I seemed to have done this pretty regularly when I was in baby-making mode, but not now. It's been almost 6 years since my last pap/complete physical. The last time I had a physical, I was breastfeeding full time and weighed 129 pounds. My labwork was great and I was in the best shape of my life. Did I mention I had a 6 month old, 24 month old and a 3 1/2 year old? And I'm complaining now that I can't find time to work exercise into my day. Hmmmph...time to give that more though.

After casual conversation with some physician friends, I am showing classic thyroid/stress hormone problems. Ugg...I've always been annoyed by the Oprah-like excuse people use for their weight-gain, "my thyroid is off". But now, I feel empowered that there's a real reason why my weight watchers weigh-in is showing +9 for the past couple of weeks. I won't even put a picture of my weight on here, because I wasn't brave enough to want to see it every time scrolled through my pictures so I deleted it. To coin another phrase that I detest...it is what it is.

So, I'm still around. I have found that I avoid going out with friends because I don't have any clothes that fit me. There, that's my confession....

...I'm 30 pounds heavier than I should be, and I look about 6 months pregnant.

My doctor's appointment is the first week of August, and I'm making my list of questions now.

Yikes! That's a heckuva gain!

Happy Wednesday! That means, like it or not, I'm getting on my scale to see how I did for the past 7 days. Of course, just a couple of days ago I was filled full of IV fluids and gaterade and so I knew I would see no negative changes. I should snap another picture of my feet now that I have been up and about for the day, my toes look like sausages and I'm hoping to pee out most of this fluid through-out the day today. Anyhow...a 1.6 pound gain won't make me cry after all I've been through this week. I probably should not have gotten on the scale at all, but eh, curiosity was killing me. I was 152 on the hospital scale, so maybe things are moving back down? Or maybe I'm just really reaching here.

My RAK (Random Acts of Kindness) challenge last week was fun! I'd love to hear about other's experiences with being either the giver or the recipient of RAKs. I found myself NOT taking the parking spot closest to the door of the store we were going to, so that another family could. I helped an elderly man unload his grocery cart on the belt the other day at Publix. And I tipped the young man that served us at my daughter's birthday dinner out - twice what the standard amount because he was so sweet. I realize some of these things are things that most people would have ordinarily done anyway. But I will confess one of my shortcomings is that I tend to live in my own little bubble not really noticing when others around me are needing something when I am working on a mission. Take the grocery store for example, I'm pretty good at remembering to keep my cart to one side and all that. But do I notice the person down the aisle struggling to reach the muffin mix on the top shelf? Not really, I'm busy looking at my salad dressing for hidden HFCS. Did it take more time keep an eye out for others? Nothing too terribly significant?

I had a few opportunities to talk to the kids about RAKs. When we would see somebody drop something (for example, someone dropped money last week in Target), we would talk about what the right thing is to do. Sometimes it's not easy, and sometimes it's not very convenient, but what do we think God would want us to do?

So, do I have a challenge for this week? I sure do...

Vitamin D is a hot topic lately. My new probiotics provide 125% the RDA for Vitamin D - which is important because I don't drink milk. However, I also think good old fashion skin absorption of Vitamin D should not be overlooked or replaced by oral supplementation, and so without further adieu...

My challenge for the next 7 days is to soak up some rays for 20 minutes each day. Who's ready for some mood-boosting sun power? Let's not over-do it, though.

Why I Still Have My Appendix - Probiotic Information

I previously posted about wanting to try a bowel cleanse, because I just felt like things were a bit on the sluggish side. Then last week, my littlest had a tummy bug and I had some abdominal pains. I chalked it up to being a mix of PMS cramps or the tummy bug making its way to me.

I forgot to weigh in on Wednesday, because I woke up late. Thursday, I was feeling just a bit "off", no fevers, but some abdominal pain. Friday I made awesome cupcakes and will post about those another day. Saturday I still felt somewhat icky. And then Sunday night it happened...the dog walked over and sat on my lap and it was enough to bring me to tears. My bladder felt like it was full of razors. I got up early morning Monday and went to the local doc-in-a-box since I'm looking for a new PCP on my side of town. Doc said I probably ruptured an ovarian cyst and told me to go to the ER. ER doc was convinced I would be getting my appendix out. Well, long story short. If your appendix is only a little bit sick, it stays in and goes on antibiotics, so that's where I'm at right now. I guess if I held out another day or so, I'd be going under the knife. Instead, I'm on a ton of antibiotics, I still haven't tried a colon cleanse and now I'm in the market for a good probiotic.

I spent quite a bit of time today at the local health food store sorting through probiotics. Last night I did my research and determined that I needed alive probiotics vs. shelf stable probiotics. For more information on who should take probiotics - here's a site for you, it even has clinic trials and published studies. As somebody who is lactose intolerant, I really need to consider this for long-term use.

I decided on Raw Probiotics for Women and am pleased that they also carry a children's line (which I have not researched, yet). I start on these tomorrow, and will keep you all posted.

In other news....

- I was a whopping 152 at the hospital yesterday...yikes, that's moving in the wrong direction!

- My closet challenge is coming along nicely. I gave my sister 2 garbage bags full of clothes and she is loving having a new wardrobe.

- My Random Acts of Kindness challenge was fun, and I will update with some of the fun things tomorrow when I weigh in.

Tips from a slow runner and more Princess Half recaps

I love these guys...they are paler than I am and their arms are just as squishy as mine!

This post is inspired by my friends who are also perhaps a little rougher on themselves than necessary saying they could never run. I never thought I could do this, either. And quite honestly, I can't wait to do it again! My time was pitiful at just under 4 hours, and so I can only get better from here, right?

My tips and tricks that helped me prepare in the months/weeks/days/hours before and also during the race itself.....

- Plan! Find a program and stick to it. I have heard great things about Marathoning for Mortals, even thought I haven't read the book, I've read about the authors on other sites. I used a lot of Jeff Galloway for this half. And ended up being very comfortable with a 1 min run:1 min walk plan.

- Experiment with the types of fuel that work best for you. I had to leave my house at 3-ish in the morning for the Princess Half, which meant finding a breakfast that was going to last a few hours. This same breakfast had to be easy on the digestive tract, because it's pretty common for runners to get butterflies/nervous tummies. After trial and error, I found my pre-race fuel was a peanut butter cliff bar with a banana and a half bottle of gatorade in the minivan on the ride to the race. After every few miles, I squeezed down a gu - my flavor of choice being strawberry banana. At the race, they offered a mocha product, and I was glad I brought my own energy supplement.

- Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. I can't even begin to tell you how many people I saw struggling because they were afraid to drink because they were afraid to make restroom stops. Yes, you will lose time at the restroom....I stood in line for 10 minutes, but more importantly, you need your hydration. What worked for me was to get something to drink at each water stop. The first few tables would be powerade and the last few tables would be water. I would grab a powerade from one of the first volunteers and bend the mouth of the cup into a "V" and pour it into my mouth while moving. When done with the cup, the correct thing is to toss it aside, preferably under the table/off the track. I'd finish that drink and then grab a water cup from the last table and try to drink as much of that as possible using the same technique.

- It may be TMI, and very few people talk about it, but here's the scoop on using the restrooms. As I mentioned in my trip report, I had my menses during the run (boo!! hiss!!). This necessitated bringing along tampons in my spibelt. I also kept a baggie with a bunch of baby wipes and a small hand sanitizer in there (along with my cell phone and minivan key). I'm not sure if it was nerves or what, but as soon as I got to the race, before getting to my corral, I found a nice clean restroom and *ahem* took care of business. Starting the race with an empty bowel and bladder and knowing all girlie things had been taken care off, gave me less to worry about. Later, during the race, I stopped at another port-o-pottie and it was GROSS, but needed to be done. If I hadn't been menstruating, I could have made it through the whole race without stopping at the restroom. However, in the even that you do need to make a stop, I recommend getting all of your stuff together while standing in line. I pulled of my skirt, had my tampon and baggie of wipes out of my belt and was ready to get in and get out. I did my biz, then came out of the restroom to put my skirt back on and pull out my hand sanitizer for sanitizing on the road. Keeping in mind that for next year, there are real rest rooms at the Transportation and Ticket area and in the Magic Kingdom. I think I might try to run with a diva cup to in the event of mother nature playing mean tricks on me again next year.

- My final advice is to run your race. If you want to dress up silly or if you want to wear regular running clothes, that's up to you. If you want to take tons of pictures (I ran with my camera in my hand), or if you want to run straight through, that's up to you. You can run with a group, or plan to meet up at the finish. Don't worry about what every one else is doing. My seventh grade homeroom teacher said it best when she encouraged us all days before our first school dance - nobody will care what you are doing, because they are all too busy thinking about what they are doing.

I can honestly say that I felt so inspired and such a sense of camaraderie doing this race. Without further adieu, I present more recaps from the event...

In the Road to Tiarathon, a fellow Disboard runner posted a phenomenal race recap with great pictures. Way to go, Nancy - great trip report!

Here's a runner's you tube race report. Gotta warn you, I've watched it about a dozen times now and I cry every stinkin' time! It's such a great recap!

Here's another blogger's race report. She is too cute! And evidently, she's fast because it's still dark in some of her pictures.

I'm more of a recreational runner (read: slow runner). But this runner here, she's got some serious miles behind her!

Here are some you tube videos of the event, watch these while I go get some tissues...

A quick video - these were some of the top runners

Here's a longer video. You can see me around minute 7 stopping to take a picture of something.

Good luck everyone!

Weighing In Wednesday! Weekly challenge, too!

Hmmph...well, I think I just posted with just a picture of my scale! :) Oopsie...it's been a long, busy week!

Anyhow, this really did get taken on Wednesday of this week, it was after a run at around 2 in the afternoon, and as you can see, the scale budged down just a smidge! Slow and steady wins the race, right?

As far as my challenge to drink 2 of my water containers each day last week...I did great! I am definitely less hungry when I am hydrated well. I'm also less likely to reach for a calorie-filled drink when I have my water handy.

Two things that worked well for me:

- cutting up lemons, limes, or oranges and putting them in my water bottle, so my water has a taste to it

- actually bringing my water with me, funny how I like to drink while I'm driving (water)

I'd love any and all tips to get the water down!

My goal for this next week is to work on my attitude. I think I need to remember that mental health is as important as physical health. I don't go out of my way to be unkind to others, but being a little shy in nature, I don't really go out of my way to be kind to others, either. Last week, someone in front of me paid my toll on one of the major roads around here and it really made my day. Since it's Saturday night, I'll run this challenge for myself for one week. Between now and next Saturday night, I'll look for ways to commit random acts of kindness. I challenge you to try it too! Let me know how it turns out for you!

I'm leaving you with my weight this week....thanks for keeping me honest about what the scale shows!

Weighing In Wednesday!

Alright, here goes....I'm sharing my stats with the world. Just a couple of years ago, I was weighing in at a fit 128 lbs. Now, well, I'll let my picture (along with my scary post-half marathon feet) tell my story...

I have a neat little tool that I can measure my percentage of body fat and calculate my BMI. As you can see, shamefully, my percentage of body fat is a whopping 34.5%. Seriously, I'm obese according to that number. The average percentage of body fat range is 25% - 29%. I'd be happy be average. There is something about the word OBESE that is making my cringe.

The second number on the tool is my BMI. According to my BMI I'm just overweight and not quite obese, yet.

Basically, where I am at right now, is that even though I ran/walked/wogged just a few days ago, I'm feeling incredibly out of shape. I look at the pictures of me during the race, and even though I had a blast, I am somewhat ashamed of how out of shape I am.

My 7 day goal this week: WATER! I promise to drink 2 of my re-usable water bottles daily over the next 7 days. It's a simple goal and I hope that it, along with continuing to track my points will help this week.

By the way, my legs are still killing me, but I like the reminder of my awesome accomplishment.

I am a Princess Half Marathon Survivor!

I woke up at 2:30am this morning. Got dressed in my awesome outfit and jumped in the mini-van. I made a quick stop into the 24 hour CVS near my house for something to drink during the drive. The cashier gave me a funny look, and so I said, "you know, just because it's 2:45am, that's no reason to be dressed like a freak. Do you wear that all the time?" and he cracked up laughing! There was little to no traffic on I-4 and I was nearly to Epcot when I started to look for my direction for where to park, but in true Disney fashion, there was a blinking road sign directing me where to go. I arrived to the parking lot, did not have a bag to check, and so headed over to the Corrals.I knew I was anxious about starting and so I snapped a picture of where I was parked and that came in handy when it was time to go!
See, honey, other people are dressed in fun outfits, too. My husband thought I was crazy for dressing up to run my first half marathon.
See, I'm pretty tame. The outfit wore well. Under my skirt, I have running shorts and my new Spibelt that I got at the expo. It is packed with my cell, van key, wet wipes, napkins and *cough, cough* mother nature decided to deliver her monthly package yesterday, and so I had to be prepared with all of that paraphernalia - not what I was planning on.
I was in Corral D, which I managed to get there so early I was near the very front. My friends were further back, but my confidence was waining in my ability to keep pace and I was afraid to move back into the last Corral, I needed that cushion of time for extra bathroom breaks and I was cramping up a storm so I wasn't sure how fast I'd be at times (sorry for the TMI). I teared up as usual during the National Anthem, both at the song and at the over 17,000 princesses that all of a sudden became quiet to show their respect. I chatted with some great ladies in my Corral waiting to start. It was warm enough out that I didn't bring any throw-away clothes. The first Corral took off and it was one lone wheelchair racer - the fireworks when off and the big screen showed the one wheelchair racer and all of the princess erupted into a cheer of support.
There I am grinning like a fool, I'm nervous and excited and really can't even believe that I'm there. I'm no real runner and will spend more time walking than running, but I'm out of bed and I'm doing something I never thought I'd do!
Oh wow, it's our turn all ready. Fair Godmother counted us down and sent us off with our very own burst of fireworks and it was game on!
Because I was so packed in, I had to keep pace with those around me and I feel like I was going to fast. Sure enough, when I looked at my watch, I was going to run a 10 min mile. While I ordinarily run a 12 min mile, I knew I needed to save some gas in the reserve for the end, so I slowed considerably after the first mile.
The times on the mile markers are the times that the event has been going on. So as soon as the first runner passed over the starting line, the event clock is started.
Ok, so there's a lot of folks ahead of me. I'm feeling nervous, so I pull my Jeff Galloway podcast up and feel comforted because that's how I trained, with a run/walk interval. I felt like Lightening McQueen, "find your groove and make it stick" and I was feeling good!
Nope, I don't know these folks, but I wanted a picture of the mile marker! Mile 2 came pretty quickly and I was feeling pretty confident.
That is, until somewhere around the pirate boat, when I started to hear a roar of applause and cheering, I looked over on the other side of the road and there was the wheelchair racer heading past us. And then the first few runners heading past us over there. I'm pretty sure they were running to actually run the race and not to seek out a picture with Mickey Mouse. I waiting in line for 15 min to use the potty, since I've had a lot of water already. Glad I brought the hand sanitizer and tissue.
I never saw if the hot air balloon took off, or if it stayed down during the whole event.
"I Need a Hero" was blaring louder than my podcast, and so I came out of my running zone and jumped in line to see these handsome guys. My daughter LOVES this picture. My husband feels a bit threatened. :)
Oh my goodness, the Magic Kingdom is coming up. Really, time is flying by! And I'm loving every second of this!
I almost called my mom right about here, but cell phone use during a race is terrible etiquette. Mom loves Elvis and "Blue Suede Shoes" was blaring. How could I not get a picture with Elvis/Stitch! A good tip is that every time I was standing in a line (which was only for a few minutes each for most things), I stretched my calfs and hammies. I really think it helped me to finish in an upright position!
My daughter loves hula girls and so this one's for you, sweetie!
Mile Marker 4 and I'm feeling pretty good. Starting to get a little tired, but still confident that I'll finish this thing! I've seen a lot of great costumes and some awesome shirts.
These drummers were awesome and gave me a boost of energy with their pounding. It seemed as though my running cadence was matching their beat for as long as I could here them.
Oh, hey, is that the Contemporary? Right about now, I'm thinking some Mickey Head pancakes from Chef Mickey's sounds pretty good. I realize I'm hungry and pull a Gu out of my pouch and squeeze that down. I think my early nervousness burned off some of my energy reserves.
I appreciate how Disney was trying to give some entertainment along the course to keep folks moving. In true Disney fashion it didn't feel as crowded during some parts, and it was shoulder-to-shoulder at other parts.
Mile 5 and I'm thinking to myself, "really, I've only gone 5 miles, because I'm getting pretty tired". But I'm soooo close to the Magic Kingdom, you can do it, you can do it...now, I'm talking to myself in my head. This whole time I still have one ear bud in with Jeff Galloway cheering me on and helping me pace myself.
I loved these ladies! And I love Lulumon stuff. But these ladies where yelling encouragement to anyone and everyone! Many people had their names on their shirts, or "wish me a happy birthday" kind of thing.
Yippee! This is what every princess has trained for...the run through the castle! I found a nice cast member to take my picture and she gave me a hug and said she was proud of me. Awwww...I love Disney employees!
Chip and Dale were hanging around with no line, so I strolled up to them for a minute.
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, I love these guys! Another no-liner that seemed like a fun photo opportunity!
I could hear the trumpets before I made it to the castle, and then I saw them! Royal Minnie and Mickey! I waited nearly 13 minutes for a picture, because, really, when will I have the chance to do this again (next year? :) )Although, a panic set in, when I saw the dreaded "balloon lady". There is a lady walking that had 2 pink balloons floating over her from her waistband. You have to be in front of her at the mile markers, of you will be transported back to the start, unable to finish the race. Balloon lady yelled to all of us near Mickey and said that if we are not in front of her in the next half mile, when we hit the next marker, we'll be getting on the bus. Oh, no! Sure enough, right behind her are the bike riders telling folks to keep moving. Everyone was really nice about it, but I realized I better quite goofing off act get to running!
So in a sprint, I passed balloon lady and moved onto Mile 6. The man at the mile marker said I was a full minute in front of the pace time, and so I took that to build on, since I wanted a bigger window than that!
I didn't stop to see Genie, or any of the other characters over there. However, it looks like there may have been a character in this area that is taking a break, so I got a cast member to snap a quick picture of me giving a thumbs up, since I'm still in the game!

A big shout-out to the Reedy Creek Fire crew! And while I'm at it, I saw some awesomeness from the Medics. By now, it's hot and some folks are slowing down (including me!). There was a couple of medics on bikes that stayed right beside a few older folks and went to get them bottles of water. I love how everyone wants to see us all succeed.
Mile 7 and balloon lady is no where near me, I'm good! I feel good, getting my second wind, I decide to run most of this mile instead of walk/run.
My husband loves this picture, you can see my express is "oh crap, where did she come from". The freakin' balloon lady was walking by, meaning I'm loosing time by goofing off. Oh, well, I caught her before, I can catch her again! Fortunately, there are ASI photographers at most of the characters and I hope their pictures came out better than mine!
I'm in a full on sprint to make up time, so I'm not stopping, but wow, what a beautiful carriage. I'm sure it's reasons like this that people get married at Disney.
Still sprinting, I pass Aurora and her prince. I could have stopped, but I see Donald ahead.
We've just gone past the Shades of Green and the Polynesian. I've seen the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the beach on the Poly, so I'm feeling triumphant about how far back the MK is. I stop to chat it up with Donald for a bit.
Hey, Mile 8, wow, where did that come from! I decided that since I'm making good time, I'm going to walk for a bit, since I am tired and it is getting difficult weaving in and out of people.
I think I was actually faster walking than running, because Mile 9 came up really quick!
I didn't want to get in the long line to see the pirates, I was feeling tired and very, very hot right now.
Mile 10, just 3 more! I'm almost done and I'm feeling good! I'm still upright and I'm moving forward.
Oh, no, is this the dreaded overpass? Ick, how yucky to have it when we are all exhausted! Funny how the slant in the road really changes how your feet hit the ground.
I heard the army men yelling at us, "go, go, go" and it was pretty cute. I was feeling quite tired and was full on walking now. Uphill, a large group of people, yup, I've given up running this overpass stretch!
Mile 11 was upon me and I'm feeling my second wind (or maybe third or fourth right about now!) Really, 2 more, 2 more! I'm so close to finishing.
Flexing my strong self with Mrs. Incredible. After a quick pose, I'm back on the road. Mile 12 and I'm getting positively giddy! It's so close. Look, Epcot is right there!
The flowers smelt fantastic! Oh, no, Blogger is being crazy and my pictures from here get all out of order.
This is a shot after my finish with my step-mom.
Here is a shot with my father, they drove down from Pennsylvania.
My finish line picture with Mickey and Minnie. Really, what's a few more minutes on the clock?
Mile Marker 13, I did it! 13 miles down!
My hands-down favorite part, the choir at the turn towards mile 13 maker. It was very emotional hearing those voices singing songs of praise.

That's my story of the half. I'm tired and off to take an Epsom salts bath!