Woo Hoo!!!

Never would I have ever guessed that I could really do it....20 minutes, no stopping! Woo Hoo! Even after I did my 5 minute warm-up, then stretched, I was still doubting whether I could really run 20 minutes without stopping. I started up, felt really good until about 12 minutes into it, then I started feeling tired (I think was a mental thing). My lungs actually felt really good the whole time, my legs did feel tired, and my calves got a little tight toward the end, but nothing I couldn't keep moving through. When I got to the last minute, I did increase my speed and really push myself, although I'm still slow as a snail. My goodness, how do people run so fast, lol?! When I reached my 20 minutes, I actually kept going to 21.5 minutes so I could reach my 2 miles. I was definitely tired when I was done, glad I pushed myself through it all and definitely happy I pushed myself a little more at the end. My legs are tired now, but I'll ice a bit later and they should be fine. (of course Shawn is in Oklahoma, I have Bennett, I'm baking cakes like crazy so I can get all of those and my decorating stuff packed up and ready to go to Kristi's house tomorrow after work. I'll spend the night and decorate, decorate, decorate Saturday for the party!) I'll get Friday and Saturday off this week since I'll be at Kristi's Saturday.

I'm still a bit frustrated with the lack of weight loss. I know I should be patient, but I'm doing a pretty good job of eating better and much healthier than I had been. I'm exercising WAY more than I was (doesn't take much when you go from no exercise at all to 4-5 days/week) and still 3 pounds, that's it. For someone who is as overweight as me, it's frustrating. I did talk to a couple people, including my brother, David. I'm trying something different on my "rest" days from the C25K program. On those days, I'm running as fast as I can stand it for 0.5 miles and then some walking to try to boost my metabolism some. Also need to make sure I'm not cutting too many calories and keeping snacks in me. David suggested not eating a snack like I was 30-45 minutes before my workout so I would burn fat instead of what I just ate for energy. I'll give that a try. He also told me to stop worrying about it as I'm likely losing weight, but also gaining muscle weight at the same time. I do see a difference in how my pants are fitting so there are some changes going on. :) Patience.....not something I always have a lot of. I did take Eric's advice and took a picture with shorts and my sports bra and will do that every month so I can see a difference, hopefully, anyway!

Now, I'm going to bake cakes and bask in the glory of my accomplishment. I'm pretty darn proud of myself tonight!