You're a Runner?!

My last post I wrote about seeing the world with a new pair of eyes! How losing my weight has changed the way I view everything! Wellllll today I learned that other people also see me with a new pair of eyes!

I went to the doctor today since my foot is still in pain, going on over a week now from the Half Marathon! As I was talking to the nurse and she is writing down all my info (I'm a new patient) she looks at me and says so you are a Runner I see. (I'm dressed in my normal workout gear and wearing my running shoes, visiting for a foot injury) Now lets just stop right there and rewind 3 years ago......

If I would have walked into the doctors office wearing my same exact workout gear I wore today! With a foot injury. The nurse would have never in a million years assumed I was a runner! She would have thought I was some lazy woman too lazy to put jeans on, and fell down the stairs on her way to get cheeseballs!!! (for the record when I was at my heaviest I always put on jeans to go out in public for that exact reason of hoping people wouldn't think I was lazy!)  I know I shouldn't be surprised we live in a world where we are unfortunately judged on our appearance. But it felt so much different being on the positive end of that judgement :)
I was treated by the nurses and staff so differently (yes one time a nurse practitioner told me that she couldn't find the heart beat of my baby because of the amount of fat between the Doppler and the uterus and in a very rude way!)

Maybe it was just because I carried myself with more respect and confidence?! Who knows?!?!............
buuuuuttttttttt for the first time in my life I was not embarrassed to step onto the scale!!!! Hallelujah it's a miracle!!!!! I never thought I'd see that day!

SOOOOOOO the verdict on my foot..... I was sent to have an x-ray

The doctor said that she is optimistic about my foot and that she didn't see any fracture but if it was hairline fracture it could still take a couple weeks to show up on the x-ray, but not to run on it for a few weeks, then do a test run and if is still in pain after that to come back and go in for another x-ray. She wanted me to wear this boot thingy for 2 weeks but I said no thanks :-/

 

So I'll be sticking to strength training and lifting for a few weeks! I'll be Elisha Lift Lift Lift instead of run run run for a while! But that's okay I need to work on my building my mom arm anyways!!!!!

This was my first arm workout since I stopped strength training in place of running and let me tell you DON'T stop! I felt like such a sissy starting all over!!!! I can't wait to tone up again!!!!

 

 

 

So I leave you with a little jealously because it is 81 DEGREES today!!!! That's shorts and tank weather!!!!!

Just kidding I didn't wear those shorts out in public! I put my running capri's on! Just because I WANT TO RUUUUNNNNN so bad!!!!

 

 

I leave you with my motivation for the day! This seriously was the best reaction I ever got from someone after seeing the "new" me :) Have a FITtastic day loves xoxo

 

What Does Your Smile Say?

The weekends at the V house are rarely spent "in" our home! If it's a beautiful day out I will never let my family waste that day indoors! Thankfully we have always lived in places where there are many outdoor activities to do with the family! Hiking is one of our all time favorite outdoor activities! Even in Texas where the land is all flat we still drove out to the State park and walked the nature trails, and that was in my fluffiest days! I know I've said it before I have always been a happy confident woman! But until I shed that layer of fat I felt a happiness come out that I have never felt in my entire life!!!! It feels like you're standing on top of the world with your arms wide open! Rose at the edge of the Titanic with her arms wide open soaking in every second kind of happiness!

 It feels like I lost the fat and gained a new pair of eyes. I see the world in a newer brighter light! That is why I write these blogs! I want every single person to feel the happiness you feel, when you feel beautiful all the way from the inside pit of your stomach, out to the tip of your big toe!!!! Please if you are feeling down or in a rut from your works outs, if you feel like they are not getting you anywhere! Keep pushing! Keep fighting! Keep saying no to the bad food and yes to the clean food! Walk 30 minutes everyday if that's all you can get in DO IT! You deserve every happiness in the world and I know you have it in you to get there! Trust me this is coming from a girl that has been overweight her entire life!

Check this out! When I had my first son I felt a love and a bond that I have never felt in my life! Holding my first baby in my arms is a love that only a mother knows! When I hold him I am the happiest in the world! Now check out my smile, my posture and this was a very happy day spent with loved ones! You can still see it this picture how uncomfortable I was in my own skin. I was trying to hide behind my 1 year old come on now!

 

Now check this out! Another day out with loved ones a few years later, holding my second born! With a smile that says it all! My posture is straight! I'm not hiding behind anything or anyone and you can see the confidence and happiness through the my smile! This pic was taken last year......

 

Just looking through old pictures I noticed this and these were taken doing things I love and holding people I love the most in the world! Go through your pictures! Are you truly happy? Are you fully confident in yourself? If so then you are doing great! keep on keeping on girlfriend! But if you feel like you need a change! Then lets do it!

 

You have it in you! YOU can feel on top of the world with just you and your two feet! You don't need anyone too make you happy! You just need yourself, and your happiness will shine and reflect onto your children, your family, and your loved ones! If I can help you in any way I am here for you just send me an email! You got this girlfriend I believe in you! You just need to believe in yourself!!!!

 

 

I leave you with my lunch today it's called Elisha's Spicy Black Bean Avocado Chicken Salad, with fresh salsa dressing! It's only 392 calories and it blows Chipolte salads out of the ball park! Eat Clean All Day Every Day!!!!!

 

 

Happy Weekend have a FITtastic day XOXOXOXO!!!!

 

Ab's are Made in the Kitchen!!!!

It's a sad week in my fitness world! I can not do any impact related workouts on my foot for 4-6 weeks. The pain in my foot is still very high, even almost one week after the half marathon! SOOOO I will be working on my six pack and reducing my workouts to yoga and strength training until further notice.

Don't judge me on my form, I am horrible at Yoga but I'll be getting better now!

Taking this week off has really opened my eyes as to how much I take advantage of my workouts, I let myself slack off on my eating since I was still burning a ton of calories especially during training these last few months. This week I really had to be strict on my eating since I was not burning any calories with workouts, and man is this eating clean HARD!!!!!

 

Staying on track is hard for me if I don't have a plan! So about a year ago (when I was strict with eating) I made a menu for my kitchen. For about 2.00 with some chalk paint. I started using it again and it has helped tremendously! All my recipes are low calorie and I love it my menu why did I stop? now my husband comes home and just looks at the menu instead of asking me whats for dinner eevvverrrryyyy single day!!! It also helps lower the grocery bill, and keeps me from falling behind which leads to taking the family out to dinner because I didn't have anything planned.

I have Saturday and Sunday on there as closed because we usually have a night out on the weekends. Amazingly I have lost 1lb this week just by being very strict on my eating. I am trying to follow Chris Powell's Carb Cycling eating plan which has seemed to be working?!

SOOOOOO hopefully when my 4-6 weeks of resting my foot is up I'll be back out running and be brewing some sweet abs under my kangaroo pouch I carried my kids in!

Many people think that the ab workouts is what gets you abs but, you have to remove all the fat around the abs first and the only way to do that is by eating the right stuff! and staying away from the wrong stuff!

 

How to Find Your 6 Pack Abs Under That Flabby Belly

The trick to reducing fat around your middle is to:

13.1 Los Angeles Half Marathon

I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT!!!!!! 13.1 Miles, on 1/13/13, in 1:59.13, for 13 lives saved in Africa!!!!

Let me start by saying that was one of the most hardest things that I have ever done in my life both physically and mentally! But I am very proud to say that I made my personal goal of 1. completing a half marathon, 2. with the help of my amazing friends and family meeting my Team World Vision goal of providing clean running water to a child for every mile I ran! and 3. for completing the half marathon in under 2 hours!!!!!! I told my sister that night that I just want to be under 2 hours I don't care if it's 1:59.59 I just want that 1 in the front! Oh man why did I challenge myself like that?!?!!!! If you know the "new" me, if I set out a goal I am going to reach that goal no matter what it takes! Boy did that take A LOT out of me!

My mom, sister and I arrived in Los Angeles the night before to pick up our race packets and check into the hotel. After we did all that we went out to a very nice, very good Italian Restaurant to CARB up baby!!!! They had Pumpkin Ravioli if y'all know me you know I'm a pumpkin flavor freak! I seriously have about 10 sugar free pumpkin spice creamers in my freezer so that I can have it ALL year long! Anyways we carb'd up and went to bed by 9:00pm to be ready in the hotel lobby by 5:45am!

 

We arrive at the start line at 6:00am and it's about 37 degrees outside! My sister and I thought it would be a good idea to just wear our tanks and capri's so that we won't have to gear check anything or tie a sweater around our waste for 13 miles! So we were FREEZING by start time 7:00am!

So the first 3 miles by body was just defrosting which was a good thing because my feet were numb and I couldn't feel any pain!

Mile 4-5 I was feeling really good thawed out and feeling like a champ!

Mile 6-7 okay I can feel my foot now and it's painful!

Mile 7-8 my foot is on FIRE, burning, can I please stop now, there is no way I can run with this pain!

Mile 9 I see my mom and sis pass me as the traffic went against each other and they gave me the push I needed! If my 52 year old mom is still going, who has a stress fracture and my 6 week pregnant sister is still going, then there is NO WAY I am stopping! Then Usher came on and told me "Can't stop, Won't Stop!" his words was a sign telling me to keep going! It felt like the bone in my foot was hitting the pavement and dragging with every step!

Mile 10 came and I said to my self you have a 5k left you have done them a thousand times you got this girlfriend!

Mile 11 came and I see the gun time say 1:40 I think to my self if you are going to meet your goal you have to keep your pace! Even though every part of my body wanted to walk, stop, sit, just STOP!!!! The only thing that kept me going at this point was knowing that my husband, and babies smiles were waiting for me at the finish line!

they took this for me the day I left for the race

 

 So I pushed and at some point I'm sure God's grace was the only thing carrying me through it because the last mile was a blur. I can't even begin to explain the mental battle that I had with myself not to stop. At one point I was about to stop just to walk for a minute, but then I knew that I couldn't meet my goal or say that I RAN a half marathon! All I know is I kept telling myself to do it for the kids you are running for, do it for the people who wish they could run but physically can't, do it for the girls who are in the same shoes you were 3 years ago, who only dream of doing something like this, and do it to show them that they CAN DO THIS!!!! 

I see the blue flags and I hear my Nike app tell me 1 hour and 58 minutes and 13 miles, and I just started hauling ass!!!!! I see the clock above the finish line click to 1:59 and I just booked it and as soon as I crossed the finish line I grabbed a water and ran to my husband and kids who were waiting for me with open arms and the smiles I had been picturing for miles!!!!

As soon as I stopped I could feel all the pain immediately!!! My hips hurt really bad with every step! We went over to the Team World Vision Tent and had some recovery snacks and drinks and we left. We were so beat up! We went back to the hotel iced our injuries for a about 20 minutes and checked out! Went to have lunch and by that time we could hardly walk. My sister, mom, and I all agreed it felt like we just gave birth the way our hips were feeling?! My sister said she didn't feel like that after her first half marathon. Maybe it does have something to do with giving birth who knows?!

 

A HUGE shout out to my Mom who is 52 and ran her first half marathon in 2:16 with injuries! SHE IS AMAZING and I get all my mental stubbornness from her!

and

My sister who is 6 weeks pregnant oops and ran her second half marathon at 2:10! I know for a fact she would have crossed the finish line with me but she had to go a little slower just to keep baby safe!

They are both amazing and my inspirations!

 

SO today, a day after the race I feel super sore all over my body! Mostly my legs and feet of course but I am not complaining I'm simply telling my story! I LOVE this pain!!!! This pain reminds me of so many accomplishments and goals that I achieved! and this pain is ALL worth it! I would do it again tomorrow if I was physically able to! This is not my last race I just set the bar high for my next one!

 

I will post more pics as I get them!

 

 

This girl has officially gone from FAT to FINISH LINE!!!!

A little "wrap" to go with the Ice Ice Baby

Well today is the 4th day I have gone without running or working out, besides 20 minutes on the stationary bike Monday! Which puts this the first time in over a year that I have taken this many days off from working out! Does that make me some kind of addict? Because I sure feel like a addict! I am going crazy up in this house! We are in the middle of a winter advisory the kids have a snow day from school and I haven't worked out in 4 days!!!! Please someone come save me I need a fix!!!! So I dressed in my workout gear today just because I miss it so much! minus the shoes because it's so cold outside!!!

As I dropped my son off from school yesterday, I drove past 2 runners and I was *so* jealous!!! You know you're a true runner when you see someone else running outside when you can't and you get very jealous!

So the real reason for my post today! One because I miss y'all so much! Two because I went to see my friends husband at his work today who is a Physical Therapist! He is a runner so I knew he wouldn't tell me to skip out on this race but he taped up my foot and told me yes it sounds like the start of a stress fracture and after this race he strongly advises to take a 4-6 week break from running! NOOOOOOOOOOO that is very hard pill to swallow :'( I'm dying at only 4 days off from running, how am going to make 4-6 weeks?!!!! So he taped my foot which feels like he taped all the bones back together ha! it feels so good right now! I felt like Humpty Dumpty sitting on the therapist bed! So I made a little rap while sitting there watching him tape my foot!
Sing it in your best rap beat here we go.....
Humpy Dumpty sat on a chair,
All I needs is a lil prayer
See this tape, it holds the bones in place
Hoping it's enough to finish this race
I need to keep my pace 
So I don't fall on my face
booom booom psshhhh boom boom pssshh
Bahahahaha that's all I got for now I'm still workin' on it! but don't y'all be stealing my lyrics now I know they are fresh :)

He said if I think I can run the race with it on, to do this on race day too! Not sure about that yet we'll see how it feels after a few hours!

Ignore my ugly running feet :)

So I will leave y'all on a positive note! It's Thirsty Thursday! H20 all day everyday!!!Cheers

"Drink a large glass of lemon water, it balances PH, keeps your skin clear and glowing, it kick starts your digestive system, helps with weight loss, and helps to control your coffee habit. Lemon is also a natural energizer, it hydrates and oxygenates the body so it feels revitalized and refreshed!"-Pinterest  Now drink up! Cheers!!!

Cheesy Turkeloaf with a Dash of Tears

So tonight was my last opportunity to attend my friends Les Mills Body Attack class that she teaches at the gym! She was launching a new version and I really wanted to check it out! She gives low impact options so I was going to stick to that because of my foot injury! Sadly I had to leave the class 10 minutes in tears :'( not because of the pain because I couldn't do the class because of the pain! and I am so mad at my foot!!! So I did the seated bicycle for 20 minutes = 11.85km which said it only burned something like 100 calories which made me even more mad because I could run over 2 miles in 20 minutes and burn over 200 calories! Okay my pity party is over and I will behave and elevate my foot for the rest of the week with ice! FINE!

Look see I had my foot elevated....... 

just kidding this pic was taken from a previous class! But if you ever get a chance to take a body attack class do it!

So what do I have for you tonight! My Cheesy Turkeyloaf recipe, it is a big hit in the V house! It's about 350 per serving ~5 oz. We had it tonight and it's almost wiped out! Even my 1 year old niece practically swallowed it whole! Ok here is the recipe! You can tweak it to your own but this is the ingredients I had in the house to work with tonight......

2lbs of lean ground turkey
1 cup of Italian bread crumb
1 cup of non fat milk 
1 cup of reduced fat or fat free cheese 
2 eggs 
Thin layer of ketchup on top optional. 
Preheat to 400 degrees and cook for 55 minutes!!! Delish serve with veggies and everyone is happy :-)

oh yeah I almost forgot I have a facebook page now! Elisha Run Run Run there is going to be some fun stuff going on over there soon so make sure to go over and "like" the page!

Okay now I promise I'll keep my feet on light duty until race day. Uuuggghhhhh this is so hard to do and it's only Monday....... Stay Positive Elisha!!!

Half Marathon One Week Countdown on Ice

ooooohhhh man I am hoping and praying my injury that I was in denial about a few weeks ago is not a stress fracture making it's way! This Saturday was supposed to be my last long run 10 miles before the half marathon this Sunday and sadly I only made it to 6.67 before I had to stop! I'm pretty sure my foot was about to fall off! I researched with my good friend Dr. Google and there are a few things that I think it could be, one of them being the signs of a stress fracture making it's way! 

My solution is to ice it and no running until race day! I really hope this doesn't make me lose my running mojo, and I hope I can still reach my goal of 2 hours or under with this injury! I know by mile 5 my foot will go numb like usual so I'll be good after that! After the race I will go see a real doctor, but nobody is stopping me from doing this race! I have worked way too hard and I owe it to all my amazing friends and family that have supported me throughout this journey, and generously donated money to help reach my goal of 50.00 a mile for Team World Vision 

It is truly a selfless act to donate money to such an amazing cause and I am truly blessed to have so many people in my life with giving hearts! So I will finish this race for them, for the lives we are saving, and for the ex fluffy girl inside of me! even if I end up with a fractured foot at the end I'm finishing this race! But lets all bow our heads and pray that doesn't happen!

So there will be no exciting news this week as far as runs go because my foot will be on ice all week! But that anticipation is growing strong as race day approaches and I am SO SO SO SO excited and thankful to God that I have this opportunity in my life to do this race and to have come this far! 

To think that just last year 2012 I ran my very first mile without stopping. It was a personal goal that started me running, because even in high school I was never able to run a straight mile! and to now in just 7 months to have ran 10 miles without stopping still doesn't feel real! I have left a lot of weight and inches on the side of the road, and those are miles I will never run by again! Sometimes I still feel like that fluffy girl in high school too embarrassed to run because my fluff would giggle! But then I run by a window and catch my reflection and think wow that fit girl is running fast and that fit girl is MEEEEEEE! If any of you are thinking of taking up running or want to run your first mile! DO IT! Start today! Start out slow and you will get there way faster than you ever thought! I'm here for you! In just 7 months you can be on your way to a half marathon! YOU have to believe in yourself and YOU can DO IT! You have all year lets do this!!!!!

I leave you with a recap of my time well spent this weekend! "Zombie" hunting with my boys and lunch on a mountain top! Life is AMAZING! Don't waste your time indoors! 

I'll keep y'all updated on my foot! It's on ice as I type! 
Ice Ice baby! I'm out..........