She's One Tough, Dirty Mudder!

I've often been curious about - and intrigued by - the Dirty Girl Mud Runs. So when we heard that our friend had taken the plunge, it only made sense to get her to tell us all about her fun here!

Enjoy!

Tillie

Feeling a bit crazy in the middle of Summer, I decided not only would I sign up for this Dirty Girl Mud Run, I would sign up my 16 year old too! I sent out a message asking who would be interested in joining me and in the end, we had a team of 5. I was a bit disappointed in the size but in the end, it was the right number. 2 teenagers who were not happy and 3 ladies who were scared about what was to come on race day.

It's no good if you stay clean! (Reverse these pictures and you have a Tide commercial!)

Outside Looking In: 5ks and Half-Marathons

A few months ago, my oldest son ran his first-ever 5k with his dad and Spinster Beth; my 10 year old ran a mile; and the two younger kids each ran as well. It was an early morning trek to get to Gettysburg for the 5k, and (from a non-runner perspective) a Whole Lotta' Crazy.

After their first-5k at Gettysburg. All still look pretty fresh

It was a beautiful day. The weather was fairly mild; excitement and energy were high. Spinster walked the 12-year-old through some stretches and gave him a Gatorade super-sugar thing (no idea what those are really called, but they come in a fairly small packet that you drink to boost your sugar to superhuman levels for sustained endurance

The 22nd Annual Spirit of Gettysburg 5k

Here I am! Chip time 39:40. I'm in the pink. It was hot and hilly, so I didn't push myself too hard.

The scenery was beautiful. I don't have any pictures of the actual course, but here is a shot from Round Top, overlooking Devil's Den.

After the 5k, there were several kids' events. A 1-mile dash for the pre-teens, a quarter-mile dash for the youngers, and for the under-3 crowd, a  40-foot run between balloons. There were so many kids there, and they had a great time!








It was really really nice to go somewhere and *not* see fat kids poking at electronic devices all day. Really. When I was a kid we had Atari, and it was attached to your TV set. When you went out somewhere, you were lucky if you had a Merlin or something to bring along. Otherwise, you actually had to interact with people. Or maybe actually read a book or a comic book. Wow!

Anyway ... I seem to have hit a plateau with my weight loss, although I continued to lose inches for a while longer. I would be most happy if I could just run all the time for exercise ... but doing one thing over and over is the best way to hit a plateau, not to mention get an injury (my knees ache sometimes now). So I'm splitting my time between the elliptical, arc trainer, and the treadmill (running outside is just not an option for me until it gets below 70 degrees again) and doing a lot of weight-machine work. I think I'll add some speed work because I have read several articles that say it's a good way to speed up weight loss (sprint for a short burst while jogging or on the elliptical).

The only downside to all this exercise? I am SO HUNGRY all the time. I don't mean eat-an-apple hungry, I mean eat-my-own-hands hungry. It's not boredom or thirst or cravings, it is actual real hunger that has to be addressed quickly, or I get weak and shaky. Perhaps I should re-think all the weight training, but it really does help burn calories throughout the day, doesn't it? 

Thanks for stopping by!

Spinster Beth's First 5k

I, Spinster Beth, couch-potato extraordinare, am facing my first 5k. In about 36 hours. Realistically, I expect some of this 3.1 mile course will be walked. I only started jogging at the end of August, so I'm not quite up to running 5k straight ... yet. I have made a lot of improvement over my August self, but my October self still runs at a slow pace ... say, "Snail with Tail on Fire." But even when I stop to walk, I only walk a short while, until I recover enough to continue. No quitsies!

Since starting this jogging journey, I have noticed a lot of changes about myself, physically and mentally. Physically, I've lost 14 lbs and I have ankles again. Mentally, I'm more alert, happier, and more energetic. I stand up straighter. Physically, I don't creak as much as I used to. I was afraid jogging would make my old running injury, plantar fasciitis, worse -- but it did just the opposite. My sore feet are much better, and in the morning, I don't hobble down the stairs, I just walk down. I had no idea ... I thought exercise like jogging would make these old injuries worse! Losing weight is a big part of it. I have lost about 6.5% of my mass, and for knees and ankles, that's significant!

Me, in Wales, in cooking oven at some castle -- Sept 2010

I spent much of the last four or five years making excuses to not exercise. My weight had finally settled in one place, I was happy with that. I didn't want to join the gym at work, because I'd have to haul a big backpack around. After a long day at work, the last thing I want to do is stick around longer. Etc, etc. Well, I happily haul around a big backpack now. I look forward to that time on the treadmill. Yesterday I had afternoon meetings, so I went to the gym in the middle of the day and it really got me past the afternoon sleepies! (Although I suspect the icy cold shower I had to take afterwards had more to do with waking me up ... thanks, Facilities Maintenance, for insisting there was nothing wrong with the boiler).

One great benefit of the extra activity, at least for now ... guilt-free carbohydrate consumption! I had spaghetti for dinner (a childhood favorite). I need the carbs for the run!

Me in front of some old building ... May 2010

I know eventually I'll hit that plateau, and the pounds will be harder to lose, and I'll have to go back to scrutinizing my diet. But I was starting from a point where I was eating too much, drinking too much alcohol, and not moving much ... just getting up off the couch helped! But this is not about weight loss so much as it is about health and fitness. I want my 40s to be awesome. I want to go clothes shopping and enjoy it, not endure it.

I look around me at work, at older women (say, late 50s to 60s) and I see three different types; impeccably groomed, stick-thin career women who wear suits and 50s hairstyles every day; overweight, sad women who stare at the floor and wear short, unflattering haircuts and elastic-banded clothing; and fun, funky, happy women who go gray with defiance and laugh at life. Guess which one I want to be? 

Me in Anne Hathaway's garden, England (Sept 2010)

So, Slick and I will be at the starting line (or behind 300 people) at 0900 Friday morning. Wish us luck!