BRB

Hey folks...

Special Education progress reports are due at work this week. Have I mentioned that I am a special educator? Anyways, it is also registration week and there are always a lot of little fire to put out on any given day so I need a little time before I post again. In the meantime, please read my teammate Sherri's blog. The last 2 posts are doozies and I will cover the same material from my POV in my next post.

Thanks for reading. More later...

SUPPORT, Part Two

Okay, by now you know that it is going to be impossible for me to talk about support for my weight loss and training without mentioning sports bras. Aw, come on! You saw that was coming. I do truly feel that someone should have an entire blog dedicated to undergarments. Oh wait. Maybe that’s my blog. Anywhooo…as I mentioned in my 3/1 blog, “there is nothing like extreme weight loss coupled with aging and having carried 2 ten-pound babies to get you thinking about underwear.” As I have increased the intensity of my workouts, my sports bra concerns have become more pressing. It is bad enough that when you lose a lot of weight, you have to try to figure out what new everyday bras to wear – but to add in the confusion of sports bras? Forget it!

Sports bras are the most interesting, mind-boggling piece of clothing. They range from the completely unsupportive, cotton-spandex, comfy tank top/cami jobbers, to rib-crushing, androgynizing steel wraps that again, inhibit breathing and may in fact cause permanent organ damage. I have a couple of prerequisites. One – lift and separate; no uniboob. Two – underwire and front or back clasp closure; nothing that requires trying to pull it on over my head. Three – Support! I am talking high impact, jump roping, trampolining, equestrian competing support.

Right now, I have two sports bras that are considered “medium support”. This means that they are very comfortable and not at all supportive. I have two others that are considered “high impact”. These are the right support but not at all the right fit and I spend a lot of time tugging at them during my workouts. No one wants to see this, and during one adjusting bout, I lost my balance and nearly fell off the elliptical. Embarrassing. I need to find one that does its job and that once I am in it, I don’t have to think too much about it. I realize that getting into it may take some time and effort. But like Spanx, the return should be worth the investment. I cannot stand Elisabeth Hasselbeck but she once said that her boobs were “like, origamically folded” into her bra. This is hysterical, and so easy to relate to. Check out the way she describes it. Too funny.

Now that I have dedicated two blog entries to the issue of support, I am sending out the call for help. I know that there have been over 100 hits on this page this week. Like any good blogger, at least 95 of those are me checking to see how many hits I have. I have to assume that 3 or 4 are my mom (hi mom!) so I am wondering who the other 5 of you are. Jeanmarie, a family friend of my teammate, Sherri, sent me the greatest email. Thank you, Jeanmarie. Your feedback was awesome! I want to encourage everyone to click on a “reaction”, leave a comment, let me know you were here! So here is the first challenge…find me some underwear! Leave a comment with suggestions…bras and panties. Don’t be shy! And if you are shy, you can leave your comment anonymously! I am walking 60 miles and sleeping in a tent for 2 nights to save the boobies so it is okay to talk about them!

Thanks for reading. More later…

SUPPORT, Part One

I love getting the mail these days. You have all been amazing! The checks are coming in steadily and I am now over the 50% mark and I have been fundraising for less than a month. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am so grateful for amazing friends. The support means the world!

The thermometer on this page is more accurate than on the 3-day site because I can include the mailed donations before they get officially posted. If you have not yet donated, please consider giving even a small amount. If you donate online, you can spread the donation out over more than one month. I know everyone is having to tighten the belt a bit more these days, but trust me, it will feel good. I cannot do this without you!

Don’t start skimming! Did you think I was just going to be funny all the time and amuse you with stories about underwear without ever hitting you up for some cash? Focus, people. That is the whole point here. Are you still reading? Good. I listen to NPR almost every day and as soon as they start laying on the fund drive guilt, I am right back to Matty in the Morning! Thanks for hanging in with me…now back to the news.

Support. It’s about time I mentioned my biggest supporter. My husband, Tommy, has also made a huge commitment to the 3-day. More than the training, the weight loss, or the shoes, he has made it possible for me to do this. Last March two crazy cool physical education teachers started a “Biggest Loser” competition at work (Courtney & Lauren – holla!). I had just started trying to get healthy and I asked my hubby to support me in joining the competition. Despite being incredibly sarcastic and an expert at picking on me, he has not complained once about the burdens that fall on him while I commit long hours to exercise, shopping for healthy food, and blogging.

For those of you who do not know him, Tommy is the most dedicated, hard working, salt of the earth type guy. His work ethic is just unbelievable. He has always been like that, since before I knew him. When we first met in the early 90’s, Tommy was on the grounds crew at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton. I was a student across the street at BC. All of Tommy’s closest buddies went to BC and he was there so often that it took a lot of convincing to get me to believe he wasn’t actually a student there. One thing that he and I had in common from the start was our love of partying…first to show, last to leave, if know what I mean. But on the day after, while the rest of us were still buried deep in the covers well past noon, Tommy was at work at the crack of dawn – and not behind a desk, but out in the hot sun, knee deep in mulch, running from the bees whose nest he had hit with a hedge clipper (remind me to tell you that story some day).

So when our second child was on the way and we were not sure how we were going to afford 2 in full-time child care, Tommy decided to work nights so he could be home during the day. I went part time at Newton North (.8 actually) and almost 4 years later, we are still somehow making it work. I leave for work by 7 am as Tommy is getting the kids up and ready. He gets the big one off to 1st grade and then it’s preschool, play gym, or dance class for the little one. Some days, he can get in a nap before lunch but not all the time. I work until 12:30, head to the gym and then pick up the 1st grader and get home in time to kiss Tommy goodbye on his was out the door to work at around 2:30. He works until midnight on a good night – sometimes it is as late as 3 am – comes home, sleeps briefly, then does it again. We often joke that the kids have 2 single parents who are still married.

I complain about it all the time but Tommy keeps plugging along, knowing that he is doing what is best for our family. So on weekends when I am at the gym for hours, or when I am calling him to pick up our son for me b/c I got to the gym late, he really has NEVER complained. He knows this is important to me and therefore it has become important to him too. He always takes the time to tell me how great I look, albeit in his special, smartass, less-than-romantic way. For example, today I got a smack on the butt and a catcall. On a couple of occasions he has remarked that my “ass is like half the size it used to be.” Sometimes when he hugs me, he says, “Come on, let me powerbomb you just once cuz I could totally pick you up now.” Isn’t that so sweet? He’s all mine, ladies!

We don’t get to see a lot of each other and we have had to sacrifice some things, but I think we a re a pretty good team and I am glad he is in my corner (and not Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka-ing me from the top rope).

I love you, honey.

(puke)

Thanks for reading. More Later…

I can't get up!!

Mother Nature dumped another 9-10 inches of the white stuff on us this morning. Snow Day!!! This used to mean a baseball hat and sweats for the day, but the training must go on! Like the US Postal Service, no snow is gonna keep me from that dang treadmill. In fact, the snow added quite a bit to my work out today.

First of all, the kids wanted to “help” shovel. So the workout began with the suiting up and Randy Parkerizing of the kids. This is about as easy as dressing sand. Why is it that kids think they should be as lifeless and not helpful as possible when being poured into snow clothes? So off we go to make snow angels and shovel the walk and driveway. My amazing husband joined us shortly after two mitten replacements and a tissue run. An hour later, the kids had frost bitten cheeks, snotcicles, and plenty of filthy snow in their bellies, and my hubby and I had a clear walk and driveway and defrosted cars. Between the “help” from the kids and the Framingham DPW, we definitely shoveled both the walk and the end of the driveway two, maybe three times.

So with the car freed and the kids ready for lunch, I headed to the gym. I think I was supposed to have a “rest day” after the ten miles yesterday, but I was feeling up to the challenge. Besides, I love when the gym is empty – and it was empty. There were 3 or 4 people there. One is a man whom I have watched over the last year because I would love to know his story. He has lost well over 100 pounds since I joined the gym last year and I know how much work that takes. One of the trainers speculates that he had some sort of weight loss surgery based of some things she has observed. He is still in that gym every day from what I can tell – so surgery, shmurgery – he is working really hard and that is awesome!

About 4 miles into the workout, I was greeted by the kind of back pain that either means I am 7 months pregnant, or I have shoveled too much. Thankfully, it’s just from shoveling. So I decided to cut my losses and head home. I am hurting, for sure, but it’s nothing a little rest, some pain reliever and a heating pad can’t fix. Damn New England weather!

So how do you like the new blog site? There is a ton you can do here most of which I am still learning, but I have added a “Followers” gadget over on the right. So go ahead, come follow my journey, leave a comment or two, hang out, drink the Kool-Aid! Off the make dinner.

Thanks for reading. More later…

[Oh, okay nosey! We’re having pasta and meatballs. Turkey meatballs. The kids get real pasta, but my gluten-free behind gets brown rice pasta – which really should not be allowed to be called pasta.] Peace!

Maybe it's the underwear!

First of all, let me yell this one:

I completed MY FIRST 10-MILE TRAINING today! Woo-hoo! Go me! Go me! Do the Cabbage Patch! Actually don’t, cuz you’re sore as hell! Ten miles. Cool. The most exciting part is that it really wasn’t that hard. I suppose that is a good sign since it’s only a sixth of the 3-day. Toward the end, my quads were burning but I definitely felt like I could do more. And even now, sitting at the computer, I feel okay. It is when I get up from the computer that I can feel those 10 miles! When I do get up, the first ten steps or so are certainly not graceful and they are accompanied by “Ooo, ahh, eee, uhh, ow. oh.”

So what was the most important thing I learned on my first ten-mile training day? Was it that I have really come a long way in my physical fitness over the last year? Nooo. Was it that I can do anything I put my mind to? Nooo. Was it that it is indeed the shoes? No. I learned why it is that Michael Jordan went from selling sneakers to underwear! Even more important than a good pair of sneakers to this kind of training, is the right pair of underwear! I had on the complete wrong underwear during every step of those ten miles today. Let me tell you, blisters are one thing, but chaffing…not fun!

There is nothing like extreme weight loss coupled with aging and having carried 2 ten-pound babies to get you thinking about underwear. Any woman (I am assuming this doesn’t apply to men, but I guess one should never assume) who has ever gone out for a night on the town in some Spanx knows you put them on BEFORE hair and make up. This is because getting into them involves more pushing, pulling, contorting, grunting, and sweating than your average Pilates class. They really do make a difference, but you do pay for it! My last outing in a little black dress cost me more in undergarments than in actual dress. And then there is the permanent organ damage, I mean, that flab all goes somewhere, right? The aforementioned night on the town landed me in a picture in Bill Brett's "The Seen” section of the Boston Globe, so I am grateful I was all sucked in nicely. And in the picture, you can’t even tell I wasn’t breathing.

So obviously underwear is an important consideration when out for the evening, but since my weight loss, I have really been on a quest for the perfect everyday underwear. I will try not to venture into the realm of too much information, but when I find them I will let you know. I am praying it is before the 3-day! For now, I am off to powder my rear.

Thanks for reading. More later…