Month: December 2017

I keep thinking about this blog here: Tamara Shazam.  Throughout December I wrote minimally and didn’t even really think about it.  My enthusiasm is still here to blog, but my drive is minimal.  

That’s not to say I don’t have goals because holy moly, I do.  I’ve gained a bunch of weight.  I’ve been working out like a demon, but it hasn’t been nearly enough.  Apparently.  Last time I weighed myself I was in the 220’s. I thought it was my medication, but my doctor disagrees and directed me to a nutritionist and I’ve been there before to no good end so I didn’t go and…  I guess this is as close as I’ve been to giving up.  Letting go.  Falling off the wagon and forgetting how to stand up and get back on.  

Then, I realized I was choosing clothes based on which ones disguised my fat rolls best.  In spin class I’m having a hard time bending over my fat roll to ride comfortably.  I only look slim in my workout clothes anymore.  My fat is mushrooming out above and below my waist, so I’m determined to get things back in control…  I’m just not certain how this website fits in with that.  I’m good at instagramming right now if you want regular snapshots into my life.

My plans are as follows:

• Lose 30-40 pounds.
• Run run run- three days a week, with the kids to get back into good running shape like two years ago with Run the Year.
• Continue body pump 1-2 days per week.
• Squeeze in Zumba and hiking when it makes sense.
• Kick, claw, bite and fight my way back to my healthiest version of me.  I’m worth this promise.

Run these races:

• My Better Half Marathon*
• Hot Chocolate Run
• The Big Climb
• Kirkland Shamrock Run*
• Bubble Run (not signed up yet)
• Iron Horse Half*
• Beat the Blerch
• Captain Jack Treasure Run *

*Orca races- if you sign up, use code tamarashazam18 for an extra 15% off. This code will work for all 2018 Orca races!

Can you believe what landed on us for Christmas Day?  The snow was simply magical.  The last time I had this happen, I was 17.  It was 1990 and I was a senior in high school.  My grandma lived with us as well as our exchange student from Germany: Ute.  That year we had a date to ride the ferry to see our cousins in Kingston.  Talk about over the river, through the woods!  We headed over the Puget Sound, into the woods and up a bunch of winding hills!  In the snow.  With my brothers, grandma, Aute, me my mom and dad all in our car.  We couldn’t get up the hill and had to be saved by our cousins who could drive all over the place with no problem.  Anyhow.  I hadn’t any plans to workout on Christmas Eve after Zumba that morning, but there I was, walking around through the snow flurries by house lights and singing carols.  Talk about a magical night!  Waking up the next morning was just as beautiful.  After the exctiment of presents ended, we headed back out in the snow to take a walk and find the best sledding hill.  We got our steps in and even got sweaty in the process!  The snow was a gift on many levels. ❤️

In our quest for experiences over things, this year we offered our kids a choice: our usual Christmas with lots of packages to open on Christmas Day or a trip to Disneyland, a Macklemore concert and a small Christmas morning focused on one another, not the gifts as much.  They chose Disneyland!

High points from the trip:

• Riding the Haunted Mansion with Jack and Sally several times was so much fun. 
• Nighttime ride on the Mark Twain because the Santa Ana winds were too crazy (we were there for the start of the California fires).
• Our kids bonded and held hands while they walked around the park.  Boof- right in the heart!
• Appropriately aged boys checked Guinevere out and it was so cute to see her unaffected non-reaction followed by a smirk and blush as they passed.  Cute little 14 year old.
• Jude was a sweet little boy while we were there.  Disneyland allows him to embrace that imaginative, little kid while he’s there and for a little while, we have a little, young family again.  Plus a teenager.  We always had a teenager. 
• I was the runner who went back to the hotel and ran errands.  There’s something about being that guy who saves the day and puts a little extra energy in that feels good.
• I got one of the famous Disney candy canes in the last day.  I don’t know what I’ll do with it, but somehow it was one of my favorite experiences from the trip!