Turkey Trot 5K Race Recap

On Thanksgiving morning, I had my first ever Turkey Trot 5K to run. Being my first year running, I signed up for a lot of races. I wanted to experience all sorts of different types, in different cities, so I could find out things I liked or didn’t like about a race or location. I decided as part of this inaugural year of running that I’d sign up for the local holiday races: the Monster Dash, Turkey Trot and Jingle Bell Run (coming up on 12/8).

All week I was watching the weather to see what we could expect on race day. We had a nasty storm coming at us on Wednesday so I was hoping it wouldn’t shift and change to Thursday. Luckily, it stayed on schedule and while the weather wasn’t any fun to deal with on Wednesday, at least I didn’t have to run in it! Instead, we had reallllly cold temps and gusty winds, making it feel even colder. Bright and sunny though…bright. and. sunny. See that “feels like” temp? Yep. It felt like 22*.

 

 

Being that this would be the coldest race I’ve ever run in, I was concerned about how much to layer (or not). I ended up wearing my capri pants with my compression sleeves, which kept my legs warm other than the tiny slit on my ankles. On top, I opted to go with a tshirt underneath a pullover. Prior to warming up a few minutes before the race, I also had a jacket over that (which was great until I took it off!). I made sure I brought gloves and also a warm headband that covered my ears. Boy, was I thankful for those last 2 things!

 

 

Turns out I had planned it perfectly! I was so, so cold at the beginning, even while I was warming up, but by the finish I was pretty warm, almost hot. Poor Tara was numb by the time I finished. Guess that’s the price of being a professional sherpa.

 

 

I didn’t realize it when I signed up, but this course would be exactly the same as the course I ran in May as part of the Navigant Running Festival. And then someone at my job, that was also running the Turkey Trot, reminded me of how hilly it was! Oh man! I went in dreading it, but figured I would just go slow and steady. They were really good about getting us started right at 10am so that everyone could get to their family gatherings, which I certainly appreciated.

 

 

At the beginning is a short downhill, but then we go around the corner and over the highway and there it is: the first gigantic hill! So rough starting out that way, but it was a good confidence booster for me. Being that I hadn’t run in about 3 weeks due to my IT band, I figured I’d be walking early on. Surprisingly, I made it up that first hill by just taking it slow. I’m not gonna lie, it felt pretty good passing people that started out fast and couldn’t handle the hill.

A big bummer about this course is that it’s very industrial. We go by Interstate 95 and then lots of industrial buildings. We barely go through any residential neighborhoods, which could also be boring, but are still better than staring at brick warehouses and semi trucks. I definitely don’t think I’ll be signing up for any races on this course again anytime soon. I like races with at least partial nice views!

Once I got up that huge first hill, I kept my pace steady. Once I saw that first mile marker, I knew I’d gotten through the toughest part (for me, anyway). I though, hey, maybe I could run the whole race. Around mile 2, I had a pretty stiff calf, but it wasn’t painful so I kept going. I didn’t feel very fast, but I felt solid which made me really happy. What made me even happier was the big downhill toward the end that I knew was coming up, our reward for going up it at the beginning! I let my legs move a little quicker going down that hill and felt awesome.

It was around this time that Frankenstein appeared. I’ve nicknamed him this because of the way he runs and because he’s a really tall, square-headed dude. This man drives me insane!! I’ve probably done 5 or 6 races that he’s run in also and we must go pretty close in pace because he’s always near me. What drives me nuts about him is the fact that he will sprint (kind of) for maybe 50 feet, then stop and walk. I have no issue with the method if that’s what works for me, but what makes me cuckoo bunnies is the fact that when he stops to walk, he’ll do it DIRECTLY in front of someone running and that person is usually me. Ugh!

What brought me great joy is that at the bottom of that hill, right around the last corner, I saw him just ahead of me again. At the end of every race I run, I give it all I have left in the tank for that last 100 yards or so. This race being no different, I stepped on the gas and passed him…along with about 4 or 5 other people.

 

Here I am, about to pass “Frankenstein”

 

I felt so awesome and couldn’t wait to see my time. I stopped my Garmin at 34:58!! I couldn’t believe it!! My official chip time is listed at 34:59 so it was pretty spot on. This is a course PR of 1:42 from the other time I ran it in May (36:41) and my second fastest official 5K time overall!

 

 

I’m definitely paying for it today with soreness, but I like to blame it on all the driving we did visiting family and friends right after the race all day. I feel like a beginner runner again but it was well worth it!

 

 

Overall, a good race, but a crappy location. A plus at the start was being able to use indoor plumbing and being able to hang out inside the Blackstone Valley Visitor Center to stay warm prior to the race. This was also a negative because that meant around only 6 bathroom stalls for all the women to use which meant a long line. There also seemed to be some disorganization at the finish line on where to get water or a banana. They weren’t together and it was just set up really awkwardly. Other than that, no real big complaints to be had!

 

 

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Face The Music Friday #11

My weight this week is:

188.1

Beginning:  240

Last week:  186.9

This week: +1.2 lb

Total loss:  51.9 lb

 

I’m still dealing with residual bloat that usually hangs around for two weeks, but this also includes Thanksgiving yesterday as well. I’m not gonna lie, I ate what I wanted and loved every minute of it. It’s not a whole lot of fun not eating your favorite foods for one day because you’re dieting. One day isn’t going to screw up a year’s worth of progress and I just keep telling myself that. Back on the horse we go!

 

 

My workouts this week weren’t stellar. I took 2 unscheduled rest days this week because I just think I needed it. My body has been fighting me with soreness lately and I think it was yelling at me. I still did pretty well overall (going up in weights again this week on most exercises) and I rocked my Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning so it’s not all bad!

Fitness this week:

Saturday – 50 min elliptical

Sunday – Shoulders, Legs, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

DB OH press – 20 lb, DB front raise – 12.5 lb, DB lat raise – 10 lb, Barbell upright row – 30 lb

Leg press – 90 lb, Leg extension – 70 lb, Leg curl – 80 lb, Hip Abductor + Adductor – both 160 lb, Calf Extension – 70 lb

Plank – 45 sec x 4

Monday – Unscheduled rest day

Tuesday – Chest, Triceps, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Bench Press – 17.5 lb each side, Fly – 75 lb, Cable uppercut – 10 lb each side, Push-ups to failure – 7 (no knees), 20, 17 (last two on knees)

Tricep Dips – (Assisted w/ 95 lb), Rope pull-down – 27.5 lb, Kickbacks – 12.5 lb

Ab Crunch – 70 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 20 lb, Cable hold – 15 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 4, Plank – 45 sec x 4

Wednesday – Unscheduled rest day

Thursday – Turkey Trot 5K (recap to come)

Friday – rest

 

For the music this week, I’m going slow and serious. My choice this week was Breathe Me by Sia. Not only is the song itself haunting (and been used in numerous TV shows and movies), but it strikes a chord with me for other reasons. I may or may not decide to write about those reasons some day, but for now, they’ll stay with me.

Think about friends or family you have that may be struggling. Give them a call. Give them a hug. Tell them you think about them. Tell them you love them.

 

Let’s Talk Jellybeans, or What Are You Going To Do Today?

The other day, a friend of mine shared a video on Facebook. This was originally posted back in June on YouTube, but I hadn’t seen it before. Before I start rambling, please check it out:

 

 

Interesting, right? I’ve watched it several times since I first saw it. I’ve thought about it and thought about it. I feel as though I don’t have an answer to the question at the end – “what are you going to do today?”. I get up. I go to the gym. I go to work. I come home to spend maybe 2-3 waking hours with my wife. Bed. Rinse. Repeat. If we’re lucky on weekends, we may have one of our adventure dates. If not, maybe we have plans with friends. Or maybe we’re stuck doing yard work, cleaning the house or getting errands done.

I feel like I’ll never have a truly great adventure. This video got me to thinking of all the sights and places I would love to see in my lifetime, but will never have the luxury of a big, fat bank account to fund it all. I started a bucket list. Anybody else reading this have one? I haven’t posted it yet because I’m still adding to it, but eventually I’ll probably share. There are some relatively simple things on there that actually don’t require a lot of money (or are free) so I should be able to get to them at some point in my life.

Hopefully I’ll have enough jellybeans.

 

 

 

 

The Day Of The Doctor and a Cat Cave

On Friday, after I made my weekly Face The Music post, WordPress told me it was my 50th post. I thought this was totally awesome, obviously, since my post included quite a bit of excitement about the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who. Totally unplanned, but totally amazing!

As I said before, we went up to Julie and Dan’s house this weekend to view the episode and hang out. We headed up Friday afternoon when Tara got home from work and just hung out and caught up. Saturday, Dan and I got up and headed to his local Planet Fitness for a workout. He headed in to use weights and I went on the elliptical. It felt pretty good and my knee didn’t bother me too much so I think I’ll use that instead of the bike.

I had a set goal in mind when I got on the elliptical due to this challenge on a blog I love. I thought it was a genius idea and couldn’t wait to join in, so I made sure I hit my 50 minutes!

 

 

After the gym, I showered up and all us girls went out for a quick shopping trip to Michael’s and Christmas Tree Shop. Tara needed to buy some yarn because she saw a cute pattern to crochet a “cat cave” for our baby, Flynn. He gets so chilly when the weather gets colder and he LOVES being covered up and cozy with blankies or snuggled up in our pajamas with us. While we watched the shows, Tara was able to make most of the cave and finished it this morning, just in time to come home and see how our little man liked it. He loves it, however Delilah seems to like it more. She likes to declare ALL THE THINGS are hers, so she started attacking him while he was in it and now won’t let him near it! HA!

 

 

Once we hit up the stores we needed, we got home in time to make the “fish fingers and custard” for our viewing party. They came out pretty good, thanks to Dan, Julie and Tara working out the dough issue. Made a great little snack to have while we watched. The episode was amazing and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here. Moffat is an evil genius!

 

 

We just hung out and had a low-key night after Doctor Who and played some “Would You Rather?” type game Dan found on the iPad. It’s always interesting when you get the four of us together! Dan and I headed to the gym again this morning for shoulders and legs day. I have to say I’m a little jealous because his Planet Fitness is probably twice the size of mine! They have way more machines than we do, but my gym is newer (probably only 5 years old). Oh well! Gotta work with what I got! After an hour and a half or so at the gym, we came home for some pancakes and bacon that Julie made us. We ate, finished packing up and then Tara and I came home.

I had the BEST package in the mail when we got here. My virtual race medal came for the Doctor Who race that I had entered back in September. I think the coincidences are just amazing because it arrived in the mail ON the 50th anniversary. 50’s all around this weekend! Love it!

 

 

The winds have been crazy today (gusting around 25 mph) and as we pulled into our driveway at home, we realized our little garden flag was hanging precariously off its stand. As we were unpacking, it flew off but luckily got caught up in our holly bush. Not so luckily, we realized we had no power when we walked inside. While I was checking my cell phone to report the outage to National Grid, our neighbor called Tara’s cell phone to let her know about the power and to see if we had any. He said it had been out for about 1/2 hour or so which was a bummer. Thankfully, it was only off for about an hour total (if that?) so that was good considering we had laundry and stuff to do when we got home.

Another great weekend and now we have a short (but crazy for me) week and Thanksgiving to look forward to! Hope everyone has a great week!

Face The Music Friday #10

My weight this week is:

186.9

Beginning:  240

Last week:  183.2

This week: +3.7 lb

Total loss:  53.1 lb

 

Ahhh, I really hate being a woman sometimes. Let’s just say, we’ve entered the danger zone for the month. I’m not concerned with my diet or workouts this week because I did well with both, so the only thing I can say is this much of a gain is due to a little word rhyming with goat, boat, coat…what is it…I can’t think…oh yeah – BLOAT! Grrr. Stupid Mother Nature. I know you all love reading about it. You’re welcome.

 

 

No new foods tried this week, but have regularly added broccoli in now. In terms of workouts, I decided I’d try the bike at the gym as my cardio since I opted not to run regularly at this time. In the past I would have just gone on the elliptical, but I found when I used it while I was injured early on that it still bothered me. Maybe too similar to running? Who knows! I hate biking because the seat hurts my butt, but I figured I’d give it a shot. What I discovered though is that it KILLS my hips…so I may be switching back to the elliptical next week. We’ll see! I’m pretty satisfied with the gains I’m making in my strength each week. This week I actually felt strong for the first time while working out. I definitely loved that.

 

 

Fitness this week:

Saturday – According to my Fitbit, we walked about 4.5 miles around Newport on our adventure

Sunday – Shoulders, Legs, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

DB OH press – 17.5 lb, DB front raise – 10 lb, DB lat raise – 12.5 lb, Cable rear delt – 5 lb each side

Leg press – 85 lb, Leg extension – 65 lb, Leg curl – 75 lb, Hip Abductor + Adductor – both 155 lb, Calf Extension – 35 lb, Glute – 65lb

Ab Crunch – 65 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 17.5 lb, Cable hold – 12.5 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 4, Plank – 40 sec x 4

Monday – Cycling– 30 minutes

Tuesday – Chest, Triceps, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Bench Press – 15 lb each side, Fly – 70 lb, Cable uppercut – 7.5 lb each side, Push-ups to failure – 4 (no knees), 20, 14 (last two on knees)

Tricep Dips – (Assisted w/ 100 lb), Rope pull-down – 25 lb, Kickbacks – 12.5 lb

Ab Crunch – 65 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 17.5 lb, Cable hold – 12.5 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 4, Plank – 40 sec x 4

Wednesday – Cycling– 30 minutes

Thursday – Back, Biceps (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Row – 35 lb (switched to dual pulley), Back Extension – 90 lb, Pull-up (Assisted w/ 122.5 lb)

Regular Bicep curl – 17.5 lb, Hammer Curl – 17.5 lb, Reverse Curl – 17.5 lb

Friday – rest

I’m BEYOND excited because it’s finally here!!! Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who. Ten is back! Rose is back! We find out about “The War Doctor”! SO MUCH SQUEE!!!!

 

 

Tonight we’ll be heading up to MA to stay with Julie and Dan for the weekend. We’ll have a viewing party for The Doctor in between sweat sessions at the gym on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I love going with Dan because he’s like a walking strength encyclopedia and he definitely is a great gym partner! Too bad we can’t always go together!

Now on to the music! If you thought I was going to do anything other than things relating to Doctor Who, you are sadly mistaken. If you’re bored by my geekiness at this point, you can stop here! Here are a few gems that I love. Enjoy and have a great weekend!!

 

 

And the official trailers for tomorrow! So pumped!!

 

 

A Day In Pictures – Newport Edition

Two quick notes:

1. I decided that I may not run much for the remainder of the year, depending on my stupid leg/hip. I have two fun holiday-themed races coming up and, other than those, I may limit my running to allow better healing of my issues and during that time I’ll focus on strength.

2. Yesterday, Tara and I headed to Newport for a helicopter tour of the Newport Mansions. We received a generous early Christmas present from one of her grandmothers for the two of us to take the tour and it needed to be used by a certain date in December, so we figured no time like the present since we had an “open” weekend. What was supposed to just be a trip down there for the helicopter ride turned into an entire outing while we were there. We did the helicopter tour, a tour of Fort Adams, lunch at O’Brien’s Pub, dessert at the Newport Cookie Company, walked around the shops on Thames Street, sunset at Easton’s Beach and then a tour of The Breakers mansion that we flew over earlier in the day. FYI – there are no pics of the inside of the mansion because they are not allowed. It was crazy though! So much fun was had that I didn’t want our adventure date to end! Enjoy some pics!

 

My anxious face pre-flight. I’m not a great flyer, so I was nervous but the helicopter was actually much smoother than a plane!

Getting my headset ready!

Newport Bridge

The red roof is actually The Breakers, that we toured later

Not sure which mansions these were – the pilot didn’t say.

Fancy prep school

Fort Adams

On top of the fort

Lots of restoration going on

Inside the listening tunnels

Lunch involved Captain Crunch. This version was much more delicious than the cereal.

Rochambeau and I will show you the way!

Sunset at the beach

The Breakers mansion tour – built by the Vanderbilt family

Moonrise over Newport

This was the children’s playhouse! Crazy!

Just me and my old friend, Neptune. I think the moon is photobombing me.

My cute souvenirs from the day. Since I drink coffee now, I decided I’m going to collect mugs when we have adventure dates. I got the “keep calm and eat cupcakes” mug at the Newport Cookie Company and the other one at The Breakers.

Face The Music Friday #9

My weight this week is:

183.2

 

Beginning:  240

Last week:  185.4

This week: -2.2 lb

Total loss:  56.8 lb

 

Another successful weight loss this week. I’ll take it! Running on the other hand, not so much. Starting late last week and becoming more noticeable on Monday was my knee pain again from my IT band. I roll like a maniac, but I need to get better about the PT stretches. I stretch after every run, always, but I do the stretches I did before I got hurt. I haven’t been good about keeping up with the specific strengthening that the PT gave me. So that will start again this coming week. I can’t stand being injured or being in pain all the time. I just want to run!!

One point of success is my new attempts at food. I’m 4 for 4 on the new veggie front. I’ll now be including broccoli, peas, spinach and asparagus. The first time I tried the spinach it was disgusting, but apparently Tara had cooked it too long and didn’t realize (even she thought it was bad and she loves spinach), so we tried again and it was pretty decent.

Other than that, the only new thing I’ve been trying is coffee. I’ve decided I’m now a coffee drinker (especially now being up and at the gym at 4:45 every morning), so I’m trying to find little sampler packs so I can experiment with different flavors. So far, I’ve liked almost every one I’ve tried – except this morning. I tried one called “Cafe Caramel” and it was SO sweet. I didn’t even add anything to it because it was so sweet. It definitely tasted like caramel, but I wasn’t sure that was a good thing. I had trouble finishing it.

We also tried a new recipe that Tara concocted – stuffed peppers. I don’t think I’ve ever had them before but they were really good. She used red peppers, chicken sausage, brown rice, onion, parmesan cheese and some seasonings I can’t remember. It was delicious!

 

 

Fitness this week:

Saturday – Running (outside) – 27 minutes

Sunday – Shoulders, Legs, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

DB OH press – 15 lb, DB front raise – 7.5 lb, DB lat raise – 10 lb

Leg press – 80 lb, Leg extension – 60 lb, Leg curl – 70 lb, Hip Abductor + Adductor – both 150 lb, Calf Extension – 30 lb, Glute – 60lb

Ab Crunch – 60 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 15 lb, Cable hold – 10 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 3, Plank – 30 sec x 4

Monday – Running (treadmill) – 27 minutes

Tuesday – Chest, Triceps, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Bench Press – 12.5 lb each side, Fly – 65 lb, Cable uppercut – 7.5 lb each side, Push-ups to failure (knees) – 18, 12, 13

Tricep Dips – (Assisted w/ 105 lb), Rope pull-down – 22.5 lb, Kickbacks – 10 lb

Ab Crunch – 60 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 15 lb, Cable hold – 10 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 3, Plank – 35 sec x 4

Wednesday – unscheduled rest day (IT band/knee pain)

Thursday – Back, Biceps (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Row – 35 lb (switched to dual pulley), Back Extension – 85 lb, Pull-up (Assisted w/ 130 lb)

Regular Bicep curl – 15 lb, Hammer Curl – 15 lb, Reverse Curl – 15 lb

Friday – rest

 

 

A couple of funny/nice things I’ve seen the last couple of days that I wanted to share as well. The first is this really sweet story and then after that is something SO true about me (just ask Tara)!

Jim’s Last Group Run

Hangry People

Now it’s time to pump up the jam! This week’s selection is a favorite of mine for my pace: Anna Sun by Walk The Moon. The video is actually really fun too (considering I just watched it for the first time right now). I love the way it builds up slowly and then it’s an all-out party!

 

RIRR

Back on 11/2, I made the decision to suck it up and finally join a running group – the Rhode Island Road Runners. If you’ve been reading my blog for long (you know, the whole 3 months I’ve been writing it) then you know about my social anxiety. To make the decision to join a group (on purpose) is a huge leap for me. I signed up through their website Paypal link and then didn’t hear anything for a few days. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to have done anything else, but I also asked to join their Facebook group at the same time (which is a closed group).

Last Tuesday I got several emails from the President of the running club, welcoming me to their group and giving me lots of information. He included the members of the board as well, and then sent some current and previous newsletters for me to check out. I was also admitted to the Facebook group the same day.

I had seen on their website that they have monthly meetings on the second Tuesday of every month. I decided that would be a great way to get to know some of the members in a smaller, non-competitive setting, so I let the President know that I’d be joining them for the meeting on the 12th (yesterday). He thought it would be great and asked me “not to judge them by their boring meetings”. I understood why once I got there, but didn’t judge them for it.

It was basically more of an administrative meeting for the first hour to hour and a half. I just listened and took it all in and chit chatted with people in between discussions they were having as notes were taken. I got to know about 10-12 people while I was there (some more than others if they were sitting next to me or stayed longer). After the administrative business, everyone just relaxed and talked and had some beers. It was nice and low key at a Sons of Italy bar so there really weren’t many other people in the bar itself.

All in all, I think I made a good choice on clubs to join. I also joined another Facebook group the same day I signed up for RIRR called the Pavement Pounders, but their Facebook page doesn’t seem very active. I still put up a “hi” post when I joined and was accepted to the group and one person responded so that was nice. I didn’t pay to join that group, and as far as I can tell they ONLY have the Facebook group page, so I won’t be concerned if that one doesn’t pan out.

Look at me, being a big girl!  😀

 

 

 

Two Loves Combined

The other day I was at work, on my lunch break, listening to my iPhone and a song came on. There are just certain songs that take you on a journey. Maybe it was a time in your life that you did a “freeze frame” and will always associate the song with a perfect (or not so perfect) moment in your life. While I do that, I also tend to associate certain TV shows or movies with a certain song that will bring out emotions as well. This particular song reminds me of a very intense, very sad episode of Bones. That’s where I’ll begin…

There was a serial killer hunting Booth and he accidentally shot and killed one of the “squints”. He was my favorite of the interns on the shows later seasons once Zack was gone and it was a very emotional moment on the show. I was bawling my eyes out when we first watched it. Bones episode “The Hole In The Heart”.

Keep The Streets Empty For Me – Fever Ray (not a great video, but you get the scene and the song)

 

 

It goes without saying I’d include Doctor Who. They don’t typically use mainstream songs or anything like that, but this is my absolute favorite theme that’s been used on the show. Typically something very crazy is going on when this song plays.

I Am The Doctor – Murray Gold

 

 

Next is from one of my all-time favorite shows, Friends – “The One Where Ross And Rachel Take A Break”. It’s not exactly a happy moment in Ross and Rachel’s relationship, but I always associate the song with this episode.

With Or Without You – U2

 

 

This brought tears to my eyes just searching for the video! This is from the episode “Heartland” of NCIS. A sweet look back at when Gibbs first met Shannon.

Lost – Michael Buble

 

 

And honestly, found this great video with some awesome NCIS moments so you should watch this too:

 

 

This one is from CSI, back when I actually still watched it. Warrick’s death scene in the episode “For Gedda/For Warrick”.

Come Tenderness – Lisa Gerrard

 

 

From Criminal Minds episode “JJ”, this was her last episode (before she came back, of course). Guess that’ll happen when you can work out contract disputes.

Let It Be Me – Ray LaMontagne

 

 

Let’s get happier, shall we? From the movie Pitch Perfect, I could pick pretty much any of the songs so I’ll leave you with these:

 

 

 

 

Tell me what some of your favorites are!!

Face The Music Friday #8

My weight this week is:

 

185.4

 

Beginning:  240

Last week:  186.5

This week: -1.1 lb

Total loss:  54.6 lb

That’s more like it now. I like putting a negative sign instead of a plus sign. This is the first full week I’ve completed with my new routine and mixed up eating. I made it to the gym every single morning by 5am and got my workout out of the way. I feel like it lifts a weight off of me when I think about having to go when I get out of work so that was a nice benefit. I also branched out in my menu and didn’t have the same thing every day. I even added two new veggies to the list of things I’ll eat – peas and broccoli. They’re not favorites obviously, but I’ve decided I’m OK enough with both of them that I’ll add them into my menu.

I’ve also decided on Fridays that I’m going to add in my fitness for the week so I can see how I’m progressing, as well as my monthly measurements that I take to watch that as well. Just throwing it all out there and you guys will all make me feel accountable.

Fitness this week:

Saturday – Running (outside) – 24 minutes (still building back up after IT band injury)

Sunday – walked approximately 3.5 miles around the Wrentham Outlets according to my Fitbit

Monday – Running (treadmill) – 24 minutes

Tuesday – Chest, Triceps, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Bench Press – 10 lb each side, Fly – 60 lb, Cable uppercut – 5 lb each side, Push-up to failure (knees) – 13, 11, 12, 8

Tricep Dips – (Assisted w/ 115 lb), Rope pull-down – 20 lb, Kickbacks – 10 lb

Ab Crunch – 60 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 15 lb, Cable hold – 10 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 4, Plank – 30 sec x 4

Wednesday – Running (T) – 24 minutes

Thursday – Back, Biceps (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Row – 40 lb, Back Extension – 80 lb, Pull-up (Assisted w/ 130 lb)

Regular Bicep curl – 15 lb, Hammer Curl – 15 lb, Reverse Curl – 15 lb

Friday – rest

Inches lost so far, only recorded since January 2013:

Chest – 4.75″

Waist – 6.25″

Hips – 7″

Thighs – R 5″, L 4.5″

Arms – R 4″, L 3.5″

This was a very exciting week for my wife and me. In late June of this year, DOMA was ruled unconstitutional. This was  the MOST exciting development to come out of the last few years for us. Let me back up and tell you why.

In February 2009, we were married in MA because they were already performing same sex marriages. We really just did it so that Tara could be added to my health insurance at my current job – we’d already been engaged for years at that point. Tara was branching out to a full time nanny position and would be requiring health insurance and since my employer at the time was awesome and said they would add her if we were married, it was a done deal. We had a JP marry us at Seekonk Town Hall (just over the border with RI) with my best friends and Tara’s parents. Later that year, we had a reception for all of our friends and family, but that’s another post for another time.

So we’re married now, tra la la. Time moves on and in late 2011, I lost that job…which means neither one of us now had health insurance. We got temporary insurance and luckily neither of us got gravely ill in the meantime. I got a new job (the job I have now) in early 2012. The problem was they would NOT offer her health insurance because it was a company policy that they only would offer if it was federally recognized. It didn’t matter that we were legally married in MA, nor did it matter that by this time RI had passed a civil union bill (2011) and then later said it would recognize out of state marriages (2012). Even when RI had legal marriage passed in 2013, it still didn’t matter. We had to pay for her plan out of pocket every month. We only got the most basic we could to save on the huge payment each month, so she ended up paying for a lot of stuff that would be covered for me (like PT, lab work, etc).

It wasn’t long, though, until DOMA went down. The day the ruling came out, June 26, 2013, I was so excited. I immediately emailed our corporate HR department to see how they planned on proceeding. I was told legal was already talking about it and an announcement would be forthcoming. Around September I still hadn’t seen an announcement and was getting antsy so I followed up and she said an announcement would be made during open enrollment (November). I finally got the confirmation in late October that I would be able to add Tara to ALL of my benefits (medical, dental, vision, life insurance, THE WORKS!!).

Earlier this week, I submitted that enrollment. We’re going to save almost $150 a month by not having to pay for her terrible plans separately anymore! This makes the federal benefits that much sweeter that we’d already be getting, like if something were to happen to one of us, or for tax purposes.

In honor of this great personal achievement this week, my song will be Same Love by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.