Author: Tamara

I decided to retire this sweater tunic thingy. Last year I bought it at Ross for 3.99. At the time, it seemed like an autumnal addition to my closet as well as a quick Velma outfit were I ever needed to be a part of an ensemble Scooby Doo cast at the last minute. I have the sweater with the giant turtleneck and I can knock the lenses outta some glasses at a moment’s notice! But no longer. Today I was asked, “What is this? What is it?” The ‘this’ in question was my tummy, as this child pressed into it over and over..
So I told this very sweet child, who has some developmental delays, “That’s my tummy.”
He pealed out with giggles and retorted that, “It is a fat tummy!”
Other kids saw what was happening, and one child joined in, “You look like you’re pregnant!”
I returned that, “A gentleman never tells a woman she looks pregnant until he knows for sure that she is pregnant. And I am not pregnant,” followed by me, very nicely, telling the children that I was finished discussing the state of my tummy with them. I walked to my desk, kind of shaken, kind of sad and feeling really weird. No one was trying to be mean, it was just observational by children, but it was hard to hear such an honest assessment of my body.

The irony is this: I pretty much met my goal of losing that five pounds before Thanksgiving. Hello 220! Guess the spa is mine… But that goal was intended to keep my hand out of the candy bowl this Halloween, so maybe I’ll buy a body scrub treatment or something if I continue to lose weight until then.

Gorgeous Girl and I went for a run today. I arrived home to a slumping, exhausted husband who couldn’t take a step out the door. I asked Gigi if she was up for a run and she ran off to get ready! She was a little disappointed that I didn’t run in just my sports bra and running pants. I had to let her know that Mama might never run down the street in just a sports bra and running pants. Ever. We ran 1.8 miles at a 10:45 mile. My times are getting faster and faster lately and I’m feeling really good about that. This includes the time we stopped to tie a shoe, to rescue a runaway dog and the stitch-in-the-side walking times. I feel really proud of that!

We rolled out of bed at 6:15 this morning, bent on hitting the road by 7:00 so we could make our race. It started at 8:00, after a huuuuge line to pick up our race packets yielded a gigantic orange shirt for me. Nice. They ran out of my size. Oh well 🙂 I met up with my students who were excited to run the race with me and we hit the start line, waiting to hear the buzzer. While over there, a group of us from my school conglomerated and took a photo, which was pretty cool. I love those moments where you’re with people you see all the time in one setting but now you’re in a COMPLETELY different setting…

{if you are too visible in this picture and want more fuzz or removal, lemme know!}
The horn blew and we were off! I thought I might be running with my students, or my daughter, or my friend Melissa, or my husband, or Rhiann, but I ended up running with the para educator who works in my classroom. Because I’m Captain Awesome, we call her Super V. I usually call her Lois, but whatever. We ran the entirety together, chatted while we ran and it was really fun. I was glad to have the opportunity to do something non-work with her. As we ran, we saw Rhiann and her daughter, Jude & Bradley, Gigi and her new friend and lots of other people who I teach with, but what was really fun was that it was a ‘there and back’ kind of race! As we ran back we passed people we knew we would cheer and call out to them; there was a distinct sense of community and the race was really fun. For the most part, the route was pretty flat. There were a few minor hills involved that seemed big on the decline, but the ascent went quickly and painlessly and, of course, we didn’t stop. In fact, the last bit was down a hill so we blasted down and killed our last mile! We finished the race with a time of 32:05. As we passed over the finish line a huge group of my people cheered us to the end, and we heaved and huffed and hung out, watching the rest of us travel over the finish line. Gigi ended up running with a little girl from my classroom (who will likely now be coming over for play dates) and they finished before we did in 29 minutes, while Bradley and Jude came in about five minutes after Lois and I. Jude did such a great job- Bradley said he ran about 2/3 of the race!

What followed can only be called runner’s high shopping insanity. They should never have an event like this at the mall because afterwards we had children who needed to go potty and while we were in there we just kind of decided to see what the Disney store had. They had our Halloween costumes, apparently, along with a few necessary Barbie dolls and sweatshirts. The Baby Gap had Gigi’s current dream outfit and I could have spent a lot more on underwear for myself, a new sofa and an American Girl Doll. And lunch. I didn’t. I had my credit card out today and fortunately I managed not to use it as much as my id wanted me too. But my kids are going to be decked out this Halloween!

We came home and, because Bradley had to walk part of the 5k with Jude, we headed out for another walk. This was like a hike, though, as we lost and gained about 500 feet of elevation (each way) in the space of 1.5 miles. Yep, we live on a hill so we did the hills and then, only then, did I feel like I had worked out enough. When we got home, Bradley was all, “Wanna work our arms out with weights?”
I was all, “No. Absolutely not.”
…
It was a good decision. I’m super tired now. The good kind of tired though.
I will love my hot tub an extra bunch tonight.

The title kind of sums this article up. Expect to be wowed by my writing and blown away by my thinking because you’re in for a doozy…
Ha ha!
Quite the opposite.
I went into an autumnal coma, if you will, filled with hot cocoa nights by the fire, good books and lots of down time. Or the opposite of that. Perhaps I was a little more like a squirrel, doggedly and persistently running against the clock, scrambling for more minutes before bedtime to store more nuts, scurrying through leaves, frantic… Yeah… That sounds about right.
This week is one I’m not too sorry to let go. It was long, it was hard and I earned the right to my bed and six pillows every night!

We got school pictures taken on Wednesday and I couldn’t help but line up a comparison of my employee badges. What a difference a few years makes. I often comment that teaching is one of the few jobs that so effectively documents the aging, hair styles, weight gains and losses. In the past I haven’t always been so thrilled with the comparisons. It’s a new era!
***
Tomorrow is the Celebrate Schools 5k. I’m proud to say that my school has rocked it and gone over the necessary number of entrants to earn a grant for my school. That is pretty awesome. 🙂
Notably, I have not worked out in two days so I’m really looking forward to tomorrow!
***
I’ve also been spending time with Donnie Wahlberg on Vine. He made me laugh. What can I say?!
Nothing. I know no shame.

I went running with this awesome fella yesterday. I started out wearing a grey pair of capris and orange shirt when I was in my bedroom. Then I thought it might be cold… So I changed into my bright yellow sweatshirt. I also changed my mind about the pants, so I changed into my new dark blue ones. By the time I got downstairs, I looked down and saw a bright outfit but didn’t think much of it until we passed a lady who commented that we looked like a couple of Seahawks fans! Bwahahaha! Us? Football? Ha! But she didn’t know that. After we saw what she saw we got all picky about our outfits. See, what I failed to tell you is that not only were we dressed for The Hawks, we were also dressed almost indetically. The only difference was that he was a tiny bit brighter blues and yellows! Twinsies!

And, hey- Does this even look like the same person?! Oh, my, GOODNESS!

The first is me from yesterday and the second is about five years ago. I’m floored.

I was headed back to my classroom after work this afternoon when I spied a friend/coworker of mine waiting to chat with me. I won’t go into the vast details, but she told me about her struggle with her body, about her body goals and about how she read my blog and a few others and came to the decision that it is time to take control back. She’s totally got that determined glint in her eye. I’m so proud of her. SO PROUD. And so honored that she would share that with me.
***
One of the things we talked about was honesty and how one of the first steps in making this gargantuan decision is making sure to be honest with yourself. Using the excuses of, “I had a bad day so I deserve this decadent treat,” or, “I had a bad day so I don’t have to work out,” are just lies that we tell ourselves to get out of less favorable activities. It’s so easy to lie to yourself, too. It’s easy to say you’ve been soooo good so it’s ok to indulge or things have been so stressful that you need chocolate. I get it. I’m a big time stress eater. That is why PMS is so difficult for me! But the lies only lead to poor choices, and I find that the feeling of accomplishment far outweighs any material reward, food or otherwise, that I have found thus far. And I really hate screwing up and seeing the scale bump up a bit too! Being honest with myself and reminding myself of the authentic outcome of my behavior is a huge motivator for me!
So I keep running and watching my calories.
But look at what’s happening: community. 🙂
Like this:
Rhiann and I rocked the run today again. This time I was able to get a derpy run face of the both of us:

We kept a really solid pace too! After I got home I started looking at my statistics on my Strava. I was embarrassed at the end of summer that my Strava just read two runs per week when my goal was to have averaged 4 runs per week. Granted, I was working out on the Bowflex a lot more, using the elliptical and hiking a lot, but still. I was disappointed. Well, disappoint no more!

That’s right. Four runs per week! Woot! And the net result is the fat just seeming to melt off! I never lose weight at a pace like this. I’ve lost ten (yes TEN) pounds since the start of September! TEN! LOL! My back to school clothes are already starting to drape and the ones that were a little tight are starting to look a little bit better.

So… Do you see that?! Yep, I figured out if I wear fuzzy socks on the scale I look classy AND don’t have to show my gross feet. Oh, and I weigh 222.8. That’s all.
(Eye roll! I don’t even know when I ever weighed this much. This is like me at 19 or 20 territory!)

You can always tell when Bradley thinks I’m extra cute. As I’m running he scampers around and dashes ahead, falls behind and makes appreciative comments all while snapping pictures. I get a huge self esteem boost and awesome pictures for my blog! Sometimes I wonder what the people in cars are thinking though. Ha ha!

It all started because when Bradley was first running years ago he bought a few pairs of navy colored, ankle length running tights. He quickly lost 30 pounds and lost the use of his tights. After I met goal, he encouraged me to try them on and they fit! So I quite accidentally ended up with some new spandex.

Today, again, I made my second best times on both my big loop and home run. My times just keep improving and I’m really happy about that. We went 3.2 miles today in the pouring down rain. By the time we got home we were both billowing steam and dripping rain water and sweat!
Tomorrow I’m running with Rhiann again so I’m off and running. Oh, by the way, I breezed on past 225, skipped 224 and have landed comfortably in the 223’s. Things are going swimmingly!

Seriously. While I was running down the road today I snapped just six quick pictures and just assumed I’d look presentable in one of them. It cracks me up to look at these! Ha ha! I’m happy to report, though, that I’m continuing to beat my personal records for times! 🙂
***
I’ve taken up a healthy obsession with neon lately. A while ago my cousin lost her uncle, Dave Hensen, to a distracted driving accident and then I watched that video by Werner Herzog, ‘From One Second to the Next‘ that is going around the net about distracted driving and the tragedies that have occurred as a result of texting. I’m freaked out, to be honest. I’ve stopped texting and driving, but I see people bobbing and weaving all over the roads and it makes me fear for my safety. I’ve gotten a little paranoid, so I’m taking advantage of this neon fashion trend right now and I’m picking up bright clothing for super cheap all over. While I can’t change the habits of people, I can try to make myself as visible as possible to drivers.

My friend’s son had his 3rd birthday party today and I was shocked to walk in and see these two ladies! My friend in the middle is Elizabeth, aka: Lizard. We have known one another since 8th grade and we discovered an unbreakable bond in choir class. She looks amazing, though, because she spent her summer losing 35 pounds! Her sister, Vicki, is on the right. She and I were pregnant with my oldest and her youngest at the same time. Our daughters formed a really tight bond and over the years Vicki has become more of a friend than just Beth’s big sister. Anyhow, she has lost 28 pounds since the end of June! Here I was, all excited that I lost 40 pounds in eight months and they both just killed it in less than half that! Woot woot!