Reason For My Blog Title

So I mentioned in my last blog that I am married to a crazy Packer fan.  Let's be honest... he is actually a crazy Wisconsin fan.  If the Packers, Brewers, or Badgers (football or basketball teams) are involved then he is watching.  Not only watching but he is interacting.  He will cheer, he will yell at the TV, he will scream what the players should be doing in addition to the player's names while the game is happening.  I'm pretty sure he doesn't realize that his lively emotional outbursts have ZERO effect on the game.  Jon Leuer cannot pick my husband out of a lineup.  Aaron Rodgers and Ryan Braun may be friends, but they don't know my husband.  My husband could walk up to both of them and say "Aaron, why didn't you throw it to James Jones rather than run it in... he was open!?" or "Ryan, your shirts are butt ugly but you have a great swing."  No matter how much I want Clay Matthews to know who I am, he won't know me because of my husband.  Growing up in a household where sports were not Gods, it was hard to adjust to this insanity.  But, to be honest, I like it.  I prefer the intensity when his teams are winning.  Then my house is really happy.  If his teams lose, well lets just say there is a mourning period where he won't speak to me. He sort of sulks around the house.  For example.... the Brewers are in NY right now playing the Yankees.  The Brew Crew had their asses handed to them one by one during the first two games.  My husband has been extremely cranky.  He isn't very chatty.... he's just moping around saying things like "why is Braun the only one who can hit?!"  All I want to do is get out of my house.  It's a miserable place to be when the Wisco teams lose.  This weekend we're mortal enemies.  The Diamondbacks are visiting the Cheese State this weekend for a 3 game series against the Brewers.  I am still a Diamondbacks fan.  I'm pretty sure my husband won't be speaking to me for 3 straight days.  Happy Fourth of July to me.

Some examples of the insanity:

Packers vs Cardinals at NFC Championship in AZ (please note I'm wearing red and not green.  He didn't talk to me the entire ride home).

My first game at Lambeau Field (Packers vs Bears in 2008)

Packers vs Bears 2008 (in November I might add)

This guy is at EVERY SINGLE PACKER GAME dressed just like this.

Coolest gnome ever.  It's in the basement of Packer Husband's best friend.

There is more than one crazy fan.  My husband is NOT wearing the overalls.

Obviously, this is the Super Bowl, and obviously, we needed our Aaron Rodgers WWE belts.

Packers were not playing well... Packer Husband is pacing.

Clay Matthews gets the Steelers to fumble the ball and the Packers have initially sealed the deal. Packers win in the end (Super Bowl Champs 2010)

My sister is a traitor (on right).  She jumped ship to join the Brew Crew when she saw how cute JJ Hardy was.  I wear Brewer stuff to Spring Training games (only).

Perk of living in AZ: spring training, perfect weather for a tube top, amazing bloody mary's, and husband gets to watch the Brewers live and in person.

I am sure I have more insane photos of my husband at sporting events, but I think you get the clue.  The only things he wears are blue and yellow, green and gold, or red.  If he's not wearing something in these colors then he must be at a wedding.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that I am wearing a Packers shirt WHILE I WRITE THIS BLOG ARTICLE!  He is starting to have an affect on me.... dammit.

Changing it up...

I am changing my blog up a bit.  I was originally using this blog to mark my amazing feat at running 4.2 miles in the Pat Tillman run.  Since then, I've been trying to figure out what to write about since the race ended two stinkin months ago.  I have good friends from high school who now blog and have inspired me to write up things that happen in my life...online.  Like a diary for the world to read.  Guess I won't be describing my sex life in detail... or will I?  :-)  (If you're interested in the two blogs I read they are (in no particular order) http://domesticmanifesto.blogspot.com/ and http://becomingjuliegriffin.blogspot.com/.)  I'm sure no one cares about my little blog... but someone might (Mom?  Dad?  Anyone?  Bueller?), and so I write.  Hopefully something makes you giggle or at least think about your own life.

About me:

1. I am 27 years old... I'll be 28 in December.
2. I am born and raised in Arizona.
3. I have been married to a crazy Packer fan for almost 1.5 years (let's call him Packer Husband)
4. I have three lovely and psychotic dogs named Brinkley, Chloe, and Herc.
5. I attempted to be a CAbi sales rep... let's just say it didn't work out (but their clothes are fabulous if you are a lover of fashion).
6. I love taking photographs but haven't done much with it in the last few moths.
7. I play piano... or I used to play piano.  I got a gorgeous upright piano for Christmas which I have barely played.  I need to make it a priority.
8. I live in Gilbert, AZ.  Packer Husband wants to move back to Wisconsin as soon as possible.
9. I have baby fever and my girlfriends who either have beautiful children or are about to have beautiful children are not helping with my fever.
10. I am in boot camp.  Been doing it for about 2 months now.  I have lost 12 pounds because of it and hope to continue getting my butt kicked.

Enough about me.  Let's read something fun.  My Dad who is pro not having children (what does that say about me!?) and pro saving money sent me this article the other day about the price of attending a wedding.  I wish I could say the article surprised me, but it did catch  me off guard once I started adding up how much I have spent on friends' weddings.  Thank the wedding gods that I'm almost done attending weddings (that I know of).  I have two friends getting married in 2011 and a brother-in-law getting married next year.  Anyone else who wants to get married... just elope.  Save me the money... I'll send you a nice gift I promise.

Less than 24 hours until the run

Tomorrow at 7am PT I will be running in Pat's Run.  Husband and I are in corral group #15.  There are 13 of us running together (two ladies backed out for various reasons) or as close together as possible.  To keep us all motivated we are meeting for post run drinks and breakfast.  Yesterday we met as a team for happy hour and tonight we're meeting for a carb night dinner.  I'm not sure anyone really feels prepared.  I feel as prepared as I'm ever going to be.  I can't believe I've been practicing since October 2010 to get ready for this event.  I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be.  Wish me luck!!!

11 days left...

My Dad cracks me up.  Yesterday he and I were discussing my current eating habits and he said that what I was doing to my body was ridiculous because I am running 40 miles this weekend.  I was immediately confused and said "what?!  40 miles this weekend?" And he said, "isn't your race this weekend?"  I laughed and said "no, it's next weekend, April 16th."  He said ok but it didn't really matter because it was still 40 miles.  I asked him why he thought that and I said it's only "four point two miles."  Turns out every time I said "four point two miles" he thought I was saying "forty-two miles."  Good stuff.... he's clear now and thinks that the diet I'm doing is still crazy but acceptable.

On Friday I weighed myself and discovered I was at 160!  That is 7 pounds less than I was at my heaviest point.    This diet has been hard at times... but overall it wasn't painful.  It just took the right recipes and mindset to get me really into it.  Now I'm loving it.  I hope I don't fall back into old habits because I am full of energy (without caffeine!).

The run is in 11 days.  Yesterday I ran my fastest mile EVER... in my entire life.  I ran one mile in 9 minutes and 22 seconds.  I-N-S-A-N-E.  I was dying at the end but not nearly as bad as last week.  Allergy season has officially kicked in and it's kicking my ass.  Tonight we run 4.2 miles.  We're going to wait for the sun to go down so it won't be as hot.  I just need to figure out what we're doing for dinner.  I'm thinking roasted veggies brown rice, and beans.  Mmmmm... more beans.  But tomorrow... tomorrow is a big day.  WE GET TO EAT MEAT!!!  3-4 ounces of chicken, ground turkey, shrimp, fish... and preferably no red meat (but I'm sure we will this week).  We also get cheese, cereal, and DIET COKE.  Tomorrow is going to be a glorious day.  We just need to watch our portions and remember that if we're hungry we MUST EAT FRUITS AND VEGGIES.  No more snacking on crackers or Girl Scout Cookies.  Focus... I must focus.

Tonight I will be focusing on 4.2 miles.  It will be amazing and it will be easy.  (Or so I will tell myself at the 2 mile marker).

A New Day and A New Outlook

I woke up this morning ready to conquer the world.  I had a great dinner last night (brown rice, black beans, chopped tomatoes, sliced green onions, and 1 tablespoon of salsa) and got about 7 hours of sleep.  Boot camp kicked  my butt so my muscles are sore but happy.  This morning I got a load of laundry done, cut up some cantaloupe, and boiled some sweet potatoes for dinner.  I have this feeling today is going to be a good day.  Dinner tonight sounds great.  We're having Fall Vegetable Curry, a recipe from Cooking Light.  I am modifying it a bit.  I didn't want to stir fry the sweet potatoes in oil, so I boiled them and will heat them on the stove top.  I need something that is filling, has taste, and still meets the requirements of Phase 1 for Fat Smash Diet.  Hopefully this one rocks!

I miss my carbs

Today, I am sad to admit, there were tears.  I made dinner last night and it turned out not to be great.  I mean, it's a good side dish, but not a main course.  I just couldn't handle it.  My stomach has hurt for almost 24 hours now since I made dinner last night.  Not sure why, all I know is I wish that I could have a piece of bread.  One piece of delicious whole wheat bread to calm my tummy.  But NO.... I must be strong.  This is day 3 of my 9 day punishment.  In the end I will be happy.  In the end...

I found two new recipes that might prove to be better than the two I have made so far.  Option 1 is a Moroccan Sweet Potato Casserole.  It might make a nice lunch.  Option 2 is a pizza-like dish.  There are recipes in the book... but to be honest they don't sound great.  However, Ian K. Smith, MD includes things like "olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and Dijon mustard" in his recipes... so maybe we should try them out rather than killing ourselves.  I might make that pizza tomorrow.  Fingers crossed it doesn't suck.

Last night we ran 4.3 miles.  It was a new path that we jogged and 2.2 miles of it was boring as hell.  Nothing to look at except dirt.  BOOOORRRRIINNNGG.  However, I didn't complain and made it the entire way (although I felt dead afterwards).  Tonight is boot camp and leftovers.  So not looking forward to either.

6 more days..... 6 more days.... 6 more days.....

Day 2 of Smashing the fat diet... so far so good

Day 1 of diet was a success.  Plain oatmeal with fresh apples and cinnamon just doesn't get rid of the bland oatmeal taste.  Hoping that once our bananas ripen they will make plain boring oatmeal taste better.  Dinner last night was actually tasty.  Husband would have preferred hot sauce in it so "it tasted like something", but he added pepper and was as happy as he could be.  We ran at lunch which was awesome, however, Husband made me run the fastest I've ever run before.  We did one mile in 9 minutes and 47 seconds.  I almost vomited at the end.  My lungs hurt for 3 hours after our run.  After work we went to the gym and did some chest and shoulder exercises.  I felt great last night and we even got 8 hours of solid sleep!

Todays meals have been ok.  Breakfast was another round of boring oatmeal.  My snack was delicious... vanilla flavored light yogurt with fresh mango and oranges.  Probably the best thing I've eaten in 36 hours.  Our late lunch included salad with lots of yummy veggies but no dressing so it wasn't the best meal.  Tonights dinner sounds very good.  We might even have a side of sweet potatoes just because!  Dinner tonight is White Bean Salad with Asparagus and Artichokes, a recipe also from Cooking Light. I might even try to make enough for lunch tomorrow!  At lunchtime today we took one of our dogs for a walk.  It is getting hot outside in Arizona, so I doubt we'll be able to continue walking during out lunch break.  We're going to keep doing it until it's just too hot.  We're supposed to run 4.2 miles this afternoon.  I'm trying to get myself excited for it, but I just can't.  Hopefully once we start I will be happy about it.  The big race is in 18 days, so I need to keep practicing!

I talked to my Grandmother last night who just didn't understand why I was running for fun.  She made me laugh.  I wish it was fun!  Right now it's just hard work and at this point I'm not really enjoying it.  My husband loves running... I need to get in his mindset.  He strongly believes that running is hard but it's totally worth it and satisfying.  Maybe if there was someone holding a glass of red wine and chocolate covered strawberries for me at the end of my 4.2 miles I'd love running, too!