Engagement Pictures and the Fine Art of Looking Good

So, SF and I planned to have our engagement pictures right before the marathon since I would be in tip top shape and feeling good about myself... Well plans change but our engagement shoot certainly has not!  I came to the conclusion that It really doesn't matter if I look like I can run a marathon in my pictures because SF doesn't wanna marry me for my ridiculous running skills.  I think there may be something more than that to have kept him around for the past 6 or so years.  

However when it comes down to it, I'm still a girl and I still wanna look good so I decided to 

about all the bad exercise stuff that's happened and start doing something about it!  In addition to spinning, I've started on the elliptical which is actually less stress on my foot I think than spinning---based on how it feels for the entire day after, as well as rowing.  Back in the day I used to think rowing on those machines was T-O-R-T-U-R-E.  It's actually not too bad when you have music and a "pace boat" on the display screen motivating you.  

I also started with weight lifting because I never did that while training and I think it probably could have helped me a lot with my form and maybe even helped prevent a few aches I've had along the way.  I'm nowhere near being figure competition ready (nor do I wanna be, those girls are amazing with their self-control in terms of eating bad food) but I feel better about myself already and it's only been two weeks.  I have a little over two weeks left before our pictures and I've set my own personal goals relating to inches and the fit of my clothing over the next couple weeks and beyond.  We'll see how it goes, but I've been *mostly* good with eating healthy foods at home and when I'm not home, I try to get something not too horrible.  I've found that portioning is really the key to it all.  

Keep on running,

Runaway Bride

Turning into a Spinster

Hey kids!  Sorry for the long delay in posts (whoever reads this) but I've been going through a bit of a low point.  The move went well, of course we're still unpacking and everything is still in disarray but would it be Sir Fianco and me if it weren't?  :)

So I'm sure everyone (all 3 of you) are wondering how the training is going. In two words: It's not.  You might remember during my 100 days post, I spoke of heel pain.  Well the pain continued to increase or my pain tolerance decreased.  Whatever it was, something was definitely wrong.  I took a week off and tried again but the pain was ridiculous.  SF did his different tests on me and we tried icing and came to the conclusion that most likely, I have a stress fracture in my heel.  It's not really worth going a doctor when I don't have health insurance if that's what it is (or if it's even something less serious) because they'll say and do the same things SF would.  So I asked what kind of exercise I could do since I was going crazy from lack of physical activity.
"You can ride a bike."

WHAT?!

That's right.  Ride a bicycle.  After I have been running mostly longer than 5 miles for a couple weeks I'm supposed to sit and move my leg around in circles.  Now, no disrespect to cyclists.  Professional ones are pretty amazing, but when you're substituting it for running it's b-o-r-i-n-g.  So I thought, "What about spinning?"  I had done spinning once before in Lynchburg and really liked it.  It's intense, but it's still a bicycle!  So I tried that out on Saturday and loved it.  I think standing up while riding was a little too much pressure on my foot so I talked to the instructor and she gave me some good tips!  So I'm turning into a spinster while I'm engaged.  I admit, it sounds funny but it's at least something that gets me feeling like I might die (in a good way!!!)
I'm trying to make the best of this situation and transfered my registration from the marathon to the 10k on the same day.  I figure if I keep up with my cardio and start running a bit before the race I'll be good to go so I'm not just watching my pops run 26.2 without me.... which is what hurt the most when my marathon dreams for 2010 went up in smoke: I couldn't share this with my daddy.  We had been working toward this since April and now I feel like a quitter, even though everyone has told me I'm doing the right thing, including my father.  I'll see how the next 6 weeks go and hopefully my heel will cooperate.  Such is life...

As for the wedding, SF and I have pretty much nailed down our DJ... we're going for a consultation some time this week and are super excited about them.  We're going to do our engagement pictures in October and probably send out those really lame picture Christmas cards as our Save the Dates because well, SF and I are super lame.  It's why we get along so well. :) We're getting really excited that the countdown is getting close to one year.  We've been engaged for a little over 6 months, enjoyed every minute (well not EVERY minute, some have been stressful) and plan on continuing to enjoy it until we are husband and wife!

Keep on running (for me because I can't!)
Spinster Bride