"Tough times don't last but tough people do." - A.C. Green

I am such a bad ass!! This morning I ran a half marathon and not just any half, a trail half! I did not train for this race. In fact, I haven't done a long run since my SurfnSanta 10 miler back on December 3rd. My longest run lately has been six miles of hills which, I like to think are equivalent to 8 miles of flat land. Hey, whatever works for you. This race was me, myself and I. Didn't even have my usual supporters. Though my mother was a bit upset because she thought she was coming along to support and cheer me on. Sorry Mom! :-) Thought I was doing them a favor. Considering I hadn't trained for this race, I had no idea if and when I would finish. It's far too cold out to spectate a race. I thought it would take me around 3 hours. It was a hard run just like every other run/race...hard! In the three years I've been running with all the races I've done and at this point that's 25+ and all the training I've done it has never been easy! When will it get easy? LOL! I'm just so proud of myself. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. Standing at that start line and needing to use the bathroom really badly all I could think was, "Why am I doing this. You really like torture don't you Tracey?". I'm not quite sure about my official timing. It was a small race so they're not as quick about putting the time up as the larger race organizers. My Garmin has it at 2.23 but like I said, I don't know how official that is. Overall, it was a pretty good race. Would I run it again? Maybe but, with trail sneakers next time. That gravel, mud and slippery leaves were hazardous. I must've ran with my head down the entire time. I'm such a klutz. I knew the odds of me tripping, falling or stumbling were pretty high. Luckily not until the very end. I had finished the race, got my medal and was on my way to refuel at the celebration tent when whoops...twisted ankle. Never fails. Last time I ran that course running a 10 miler I almost ate it!!! I tripped over a branch and almost did a serious face plant but fortunately I caught myself. Anyway, you ever want to know what you're made of? Well, sign up to run a race you didn't even bother to train for!

The Good:
1. Finished!
2. PR

The Bad:
1. Twisting my ankle on the course gravel

The Ugly:
1. Popping/copping a squat behind a tree 6 minutes into the race(I'm not proud of myself, lol)

Sorry I haven't been blogging more. My life is crazy busy these days! I have a pretty big course load this semester so, between work, school and all my other activities blogging seems to get the short end. I also have to admit I haven't been doing so well losing and KEEPING those dreadful 20lbs off. I'm on a constant roller coaster ride and like running for me this weight loss thing will never be easy. But, in an effort to continue my New Years resolution of not complaining and to not constantly be so hard on myself. I'm going to have to say, I'm doing pretty damn good all things considering. I am still ahead of the curve. Statistically people who lose the amount of weight I did tend to put it all(plus more) back on in the first two years and so far, I haven't even come close to doing that. I am not perfect but I made myself a promise that I will never allow myself to get 100lbs overweight ever again! And, even though I constantly struggle with the dreaded 20 I can say 1. I will never again drink soda for breakfast 2. I will always make time to work-out(even if it means going back to how I started...walking during my lunch break and 3. I will never deprive myself or exclude any food from my life. If I like it, I'm going to enjoy it but, in moderation which, I've been having a hard time doing lately. Hence, the extra 20 pounds. So, just those small things can make such a huge impact with losing weight and maintaining the loss. Okay, that's it for now! I seemed to be trying to make up for all the blogs I've missed!

Happy New Year!

Well, it's a new year and yet, I am still making the same bad choices. I don't usually make new year resolutions because...well, let's just be honest. No one ever sticks to them!! However, this year, I made one. Nope, it's not to finally get these 17 pounds off. Yep, 17 and not 10. If you're paying attention, you'd know that's a 7 pound weight gain(insert sad face here). But, we'll get to that later. Back to my resolution...I have decided to quit complaining, whining, bitching and excuse making! I'll be the first to admit, this will be very difficult for me. I'm a proud Virgo and we're known for our complaining, bitching, moaning and fussiness. Okay, maybe it's not a Virgo thing but a Tracey thing?! Lol! Anyway, I've been running with a woman from my running group and she has the best attitude ever. She never complains when she's having a bad run, she never apologizes for being 'slow' and, she doesn't make excuses. She's running for health and fun. Hmmm, I remember I used to run for those two things. Even though I've told myself a number of times that although it's a race it's not a race to win but a race to FINISH but, deep down inside I was always being hard on myself for not being faster or better or having more stamina. I'm not out there to run against anyone but myself. The only person I'm competing with is the former Tracey and so far, I'm running laps around her. :-)

Today was my first 'long' run since my car accident. Between the accident, briefly being without my car, the holidays and well laziness I hadn't done any runs longer than 4 or 5 miles. Well today, I ran 6 miles and not just any 6 miles. Six miles with 10 big hills! It was tough but I actually was loving it!! Who knew? Dare I say I now love hills? My running partner on the other hand was not loving them. She bailed at mile 5. At one point I felt like I wanted to run 2 more miles but, decided it would be better to ease back into my long runs. It wasn't the 8 miles I really wanted to run but so what, I'm not gonna complain...remember? :-)

I gained 7 pounds over the holidays! Not good! Even though it's roughly 'just' 10-25 pounds

that I've been struggling with since my big 100+ pound weight loss it's still not healthy. Going up 7 pounds down 4 pounds then up 3 pounds down 6 pounds etc...can not be good for me. I know what to do, I know how to get it off yet...I gained 7 pounds! Losing weight and maintaining that weight loss is extremely difficult. I plan to take the next couple weeks trying to get my mind set back to January of 2008 when I first joined Weight Watchers. One of the things I told myself back then is, 'it's not going to happen over night'. I'm starting to lose my patience and eating out of frustrations is a sure way to fail.