Ropes and planks and snow, oh my! (Vigor 5K) and Meg's Birthday in Utah!

***** Meg just educated me on Mormons and Christianity. My apologies if I offended anyone by what I said below. I honestly didn't know and I was raised without religion. I just didn't want to assume that everyone prays, because I don't. Meg is an awesome friend for being so patient with a heathen like myself :-) *****

What a trip so far!

I am exhausted! Meg has SO much energy! I wish I could bottle it up and sell it! She's still going strong and out on the town while I lie here in my hotel room bed, hopped up on Midol, and blogging about what has happened in the last 24 hours or so...

Last night, we went to Rio Cafe for dinner just after landing in Salt Lake City. I was told by Meg and Amanda Tyson that this restaurant was bomb.com, but I think I "healthed up" my salad a little too much. It tasted ok, but it definitely tasted healthy and looked NOTHING like the scrumptious salads I saw others enjoying. However, meeting Meg's friends was lots of fun! She seems to know everyone in this state! Everywhere we go, someone she knows just happens to be there! And it's no surprise, but they are all happy to see her. I thought for a moment whether this could ever happen to me, then I had to chuckle... I definitely have a few people from my past that would not be excited to see me during a happenchance meeting! But, then again, Meg is much nicer than I am on a consistent basis :)

The bottom left pic was a funny moment, but you had to be there. Someone left his coat behind - size Medium. Meg decided to wear it. Haha! The bottom right pic is Meg and I trying to do our best "Courtney" pose! She knows what we're talkin' about!


I began my morning today with a little yoga to ensure I was stretched well enough for our race today. Then, I donned my crazy cheetah hat and bundled up just in time for room service to arrive with my scrambled egg and bowl of oatmeal with skim milk. Yum!

I was proud of myself for starting the day off right, but quickly realized yoga did very little good for me in the freezing cold. As we were driving to Park City, we learned that the temperature was around 5 balmy degrees at the race site. Ummm... what? My poor muscles are going to freeze and seize! I'm gonna be a Heathercicle. This Cali girl had no idea what 5 degrees felt like and wasn't so eager to find out! By the time we arrived, the temperature had doubled...which meant bupkiss. Still seriously cold. I'm glad we all had our crazy hats to keep us warm! Isn't Meg's birthday hat the cutest?!?!?


The Vigor 5K was a lot of fun and in such a beautiful setting! The race was well organized and the obstacle courses were challenging but doable! We scaled walls made of wood, rope, planks with chains... we shot wrist-rockets at clay pigeons... we tobogganed down a hill that we first had to run up... and we crawled through a maze of rope in the snow. "The chicken" (Jen - AKA girl wearing chicken hat) and I scaled the plank wall twice! I'm shocked at how much my upper body and core have increased in strength from P90X and Yoga! What a difference! No way I would have been able to conquer those obstacles three short months ago! Fist pump!

The night before, I attempted to run a few miles and my lungs were on FIRE because I wasn't acclimated to the holy-mother-it's-effing-freezing weather. But, my lungs held up during this race! The other pleasant surprise I had was that it wasn't as difficult to run in the snow as I had anticipated. In the powder, it felt like Malibu beach all over again, but in the packed snow, it was kind of fun! I really felt that core working! My feet started to freeze by mile 2, but it was still an enjoyable jog! Utah really is beautiful in the snow!

We did have one mishap. As our friend, Joni, was scaling the rope wall, her shoe got stuck in one of the squares and she fell backward to the ground. Her head hit with an audible THUMP on the packed snow.


It was scary at first, because she looked like she was hurt pretty badly. The paramedics came and looked her over. They suggested she ride back with them, but she insisted on finishing the race - dizzy, in pain, and enduring a massive headache. I was totally worried the whole time and kept thinking of Liam Neeson's late wife and her ski accident. I know I got a little preachy, but head injuries are nothing to mess with.




Joni made it to the finish line and true to our plan, we all finished together. It felt good to take the final photo at the finish line! So much fun! Meg's Bodybugg registered more than 20,000 steps and almost 3700 Calories! Incredible! I would really love to do the Vigor 5K, or some other snow race, again!

The race took longer than expected and we were all starving, so we headed to a little cafe called "Chick's." The funny part about this portion of our day is that we drove up and down the "main strip" of a little Podunk town, trying to find a place to eat. When Meg asked, "What do you want?" I said I didn't care as long as it wasn't fried food. Turns out that Chick's was a good ol' down-home country fried diner. We had no idea until we were walking inside! I resorted to ordering breakfast: two scrambled eggs and a slice of ham. The center picture on the left is what was served to someone else dining at the table... look at all that BUTTER and grease! Ugh! I could hear the arteries clogging with every bite!

After our so-unhealthy-it-should-have-been-featured-at-a-state-fair lunch, we headed back to the hotel to dress for Meg's birthday celebration. We met her family at a little restaurant called Cocolito's. As we walked in, the entire restaurant sang Happy Birthday to Meg! I was in shock! How did they get the whole restaurant to sing to her when she walked in AND they all sounded like they've had extensive choir practice!!! My jaw dropped! As it turns out, every last one of those people were members of Meg's family! HUGE family! Holy cow!!! It looked more like the number of guests you'd find at a wedding reception, not a night out for someone's birthday! Instead of introducing me to everyone individually, Meg let everyone finish singing, then announced in her best announcer voice, "Everyone, this is my friend, Heather from California!" I got about what seemed like hundreds of hellos in return! At the end of the night, even though it was Meg's birthday, she gave her little niece a gift and it just lit up that little girl's face! Isn't she cute? She looks a lot like Meg!


It was so nice to be a part of this day with Meg and to meet her friends and family! They all seem like such nice, wonderful, genuine people who care for her tremendously! It's refreshing to see that much love in one room!

I'm heading to bed a little early so that I can get up in the morning and head to the gym before Meg takes me out to my first Mormon church experience. I just pray (do Mormon's pray?) that I don't get kicked out of the church or spontaneously burst into flames when I walk through the doors. I'll be on my best behavior, I promise.

Before I go, though, the night wouldn't be complete without at least one Fitsperational Quote:

See you on the fit side!

-Heather

Flying to Utah for the Vigor 5K with Biggest Loser Buddies!

Vigor 5K, Here I come! I'm currently on a flight between Phoenix and Salt Lake City, using Southwest's new Wifi-On-Board. Look at me, blogging at 30,000 feet!


I am on my "disposable" mini laptop, so I'm not too worried about hackers getting to me. Besides, with all the iPads and other devices I see, they'll probably get bored reading my blog traffic and sifting through music before any damage is done. Security by deterrence! Plan: Bore the hacker to death and they'll move on to the next unsecured chump.

I stepped on the scale this morning and was surprised that I didn't see it reflect massive bloating and lack of exercise! My weight was actual down by a fraction of a pound since my last post. Truth be told: I know I got down to 182 on Tuesday morning, but I am not allowed to count it because my weight went back up and I didn't bother to blog about it. I don't have my other computer with me to create the FAT STAT graphic, so...

CURRENT WEIGHT: 183.6 lbs

  Personal Score:  D
I'll get back on track... we all have bad days and sometimes we just need a break. It doesn't mean that we are quitting, it just means we have pressed the "PAUSE" button.

Another milestone reached!

I probably travel by plane an average of once per month. The last time I took a flight was the day I left the Biggest Loser Resort. I remembered being excited to sit in my seat, anticipating I would see a noticeable difference in how a plane seat felt just three weeks before. However, there was seemingly no difference. Aside from possibly being able to cinch the belt a smidgen more than normal, I will still extremely uncomfortable and the seat arms still had to be put up in order for my big booty to fit without being crushed! I also realized that I still had trouble bending over to retrieve items beneath the seat in front of me and I still couldn't cross my legs when I sat down! What the heck? Over 20 lbs lighter and no difference! That's some bullsh*t! I was really disappointed. If you recall from my former blog posts, that day was... er... "interesting" and more eventful than I would have liked anyway, so I was feeling ultra-sensitive to anything that "went wrong."

Fast-forward 45 days later...Today I boarded a plane to Utah. It was the same style Boeing 737 Southwest Airlines plane that I had boarded 45 days before. For some reason, I wasn't even thinking about my seat (probably because it's now Friday and I haven't had a good workout since Tuesday), nor was I thinking about what had happened during my last plane trip. I was just texting with some friends and eagerly anticipating my flight to Utah to see Meg and her friends for her birthday 5K.

I sat down.... whoa.... the seat belt was let out too much... that never happens.... huh. Still didn't think much of it. I put my stuff under the seat and immediately remembered that I wanted to use my laptop during my flight. I bent over to retrieve it.... no issues whatsoever. Hmmmm... at this point, I was thinking, "It's so nice that my back isn't in pain anymore and I am able to bend over to get stuff!"... but that was it.... until...

I crossed my legs and continued to text on my iPhone. As if a giant light bulb went off in my head, I looked down and blurted out, "Holy sh*t!" Thank goodness the passengers were still loading and it was a bit noisy! But, I couldn't believe my eyes! Not only were both arm rails down without even coming close to touching my hips, but I could SEE THE EDGES of my SEAT! AND My legs were crossed!!! I immediately sent texts to everyone in my life that I knew would completely understand what a milestone moment this was for me. I began to tear up a little bit because I was so happy and I never thought this day would come! Even now, while writing this, I am looking down at my hips and getting misty-eyed. I literally thought plane seats were invented to give women low self-esteem. I've never actually heard a plane seat talk, but if they did, I would have heard them screaming, "You're fat!" over the last fifteen years! They must be one of the cruelest inanimate objects on the planet!

But today, I have beat the plane seat! I beat it like a bully on the playground that has taunted me for far too long. I win, plane seat! Ha! As wonderful as the moment was, it was elevated to amazing by being able to share what was happening over text message with friends I love so dearly! I really do have some super amazing and supportive friends! Thank you, all!



Honestly, I really let my nutrition slip this week. I ate out way too often and didn't make smart choices. I ingested WAY too much salt, and I didn't work out, at least not since Tuesday. I even missed my personal training appointment on Thursday morning. Poor Chris was waiting for me at 6am and I was nowhere to be found. My mind just wasn't in it.  Traveling was tougher for me than I anticipated. I understand now that I'll have to make some changes to my normal travel options in order to fit in workouts and nutrition. Here is a list of bad things I did this week:

Monday night:

I went out with Cara and Betty. Ate a plate of linguini. (But I passed on the bread and the free desserts)... Not so bad, except that I actually considered this my 10% for the week! Alicia called it (on Facebook) when she advised that I not use all of my 10% on Monday.... keep on reading for the epic fail....

Tuesday:

Skipped all my workouts (5am, 12 noon and 6pm) since I was commuting 45 min each way and my days were starting earlier and ending later than normal. I still could have gotten my booty out of bed at 4am, but, I didn't.

For breakfast, I ordered two scrambled eggs with diced ham from our work cafe. Throughout the day, I kept filling my mouth with cashews, banana chips, Ranier cherries and grazed on raspberries and blackberries all day with no real portion control. For lunch, I ate too large of a portion of a spicy stir-fry from our cafe; chicken, chili paste, hot oil, onions, and carrots over 3/4 cup of brown rice. At the end of the day, I had eaten 1/4 bag of banana chips, 1/8 cup of cashews, 1/2 container of each kind of berry and almost a full bag of cherries.

Wednesday:

Sushi (no rice) with Teriyaki sauce for lunch, 3 oz seared tuna and edamame. Drove home and thought about fast-food since I was so hungry, but I didn't stop. I reached for the bag of banana chips and ate until I wasn't feeling hungry... about 1/4 cup. Dinner is where I really blew it. I ate pizza. Super thin crust with chicken and spinach, but pizza none-the-less. This is where the downward spiral truly began.

Thursday:

Well, I blew it on Wednesday, right? So, I may as well eat what I want on Thursday! (Why do we do this to ourselves? I know better than this!) I had a Shakeology on the way to work, but found myself getting hungry around 10:30am... I went to lunch around 11am with a co-worker and ordered grilled fish tacos from Chevy's with black beans. I also ate quite a few of their chips with salsa... almost like I couldn't stop. I caught myself doing the mindless eating thing, but only after I noticed the chip basket was empty and my co-worker had stopped eating them long before that. I had two of the three fish tacos, no rice, and half the black beans. That couldn't have been good. Flour tortillas and all that sodium! As if that were not enough sabotage for the day, I headed home and went to lunch #2 with Marisa at 3:30pm. Mexican food again! Somebody stop me! I ordered the yummy carnitas from Zocalo. More flour tortillas. More chips and salsa. Didn't eat all of that plate during one sitting, but my body was definitely on carb and sodium overload. I'm guessing that, by this point, I've ingested about 1600 calories and approximately 3000mg of sodium. Ugh! Apparently I didn't have enough because I went home in full-on emo-eating mode and at about 9pm, I finished the rest of the carnitas and pickled onions with another tortilla. Where are the obnoxious alarms and red flashing lights when you need them! I've been pwnd by food. Meh! RESET!

Friday:

This morning's breakfast consisted of egg whites, 1oz of light mozzarella, whole wheat flax seed tortilla and two slices of turkey bacon. Yummy and filling! After that, I grabbed some beef jerky for snacking during the day (I don't arrive in Utah until 5:30pm) and boarded my flight out of Sacramento.

I actually woke up this morning with the attitude that "Today is a new day. I'm leaving tomorrow behind me." I identified where the emo eating came from and I'm over it. (Why do I let insignificant people rent space in my head for even a minute? DUMB!) So, I posted a derogatory comment about Neanderthals on Facebook and I felt much much better! Who knew that Facebook could be so therapeutic! Plus, friends that know me well also know that I'm the type to post sarcastic comments just because I think I'm hilarious sometimes, especially when someone pisses me off...Don't worry about me. Aside from being incredibly resilient, I have a bit of a silver tongue. My posts are not intended to provoke sympathy or comments like, "What happened? Are you ok?" I just want to make people laugh with me through a crappy moment in my day. So, a simple "LOL" or the like is highly appropriate and welcome. :-)

My workout is coming up. After the saga of the plane seat having a happy ending, I am going to reward my body with cardio and a few carbs tonight (for plenty of energy for tomorrow). I wanted to hit the gym when I woke up today, but I ended up behind schedule. So, I arrived at the airport in my gym clothes. This will be very convenient when I check into my hotel this evening, because I can just head straight to the hotel's gym for 30-45 minutes, with no excuses! That should give me enough time to shower and wait for Meg so that we can all meet up for dinner and have some fabulous Mexican salad at one of her favorite places around 7:30pm Utah time.

I am very excited about this weekend and I am hoping to blog daily while I am in Utah. I want to journal all of my experiences throughout this trip, and I don't want to forget a thing! Plus, I can't wait until we are able to wear our crazy hats and look like a bunch of goofballs! Fun awaits!

See you on the fit side!

-Heather