Success!

So today was the big day - I was going to try running the entire Race for the Cure. Did I succeed? No, but don't worry, I'm not too upset about it. I ran all but maybe 2 minutes of it, so still better than any of the other years I've participated. My sister Rachel and I had a great time and I can't wait to try try again next year (and probably a few times before that too)!

Rach and I by the giant ribbon and such excitement after finally finding bananas!

I've also been absolutely obsessed lately with the Young House Love blog (I'm late to the party). Haven't heard of it? Please please go here and check it out - you might become obsessed too. Anyway, it inspired me to do a little diy/clean up of our house, and after weeding through all of the drawers in our house (a lot with all of the built-ins we have), I feel organized and rid of clutter. It's a fantastic feeling! Also accomplished this weekend: a new railing on the balcony overlooking our backyard. We're hoping to put our little container garden up there once my seedlings sprout and are thinking about maybe putting a little table and chairs too. We'll see what happens; I'm just so excited it's finished!

Before and after!

Scatter-Brain

Life has been crazy (such a cliche) so I apologize if this gets a little disorganized.

First: running. This week has been a disappointment, to say the least. Sunday/Monday I tried running outside (hey, if I'm running 3 miles outside on Sunday, I should probably test the waters first, right?) and both days I did terrible! I don't know if it's the lack of a tempo that I get with the treadmill, or the minor hills/bumpy sidewalks I encountered, but my butt was sufficiently kicked. I was so discouraged that I skipped the 5K I'd planned on running Tuesday with the Lifetime crew and struggled through 35 minutes on a sweaty treadmill. Yuck. I took a break last night and tonight I was back at it, however I forgot to throw a pair of socks in my gym bag last night, so I ran barefoot in my shoes for 20 minutes before giving up to a nasty blister that started forming. I could've gone longer, but I need my feet to be in good shape!

Second: I didn't get a chance to gush but I'm going to toot my own horn for a minute. Last weekend I (along with two friends, Emily and Jhanna) threw a co-ed baby shower for our friends Andrew & Joelle. It turned out magnificently! The decorations were adorable, the food and drinks were tasty, and the company couldn't have been better. Everyone who attended seemed to have a great time, so I'd call that a success!

Our hard work in action

Finally: We're trying our hands at gardening vegetables this summer! We're getting a late start (I saw cute little sprouts WEEKS ago already at a friend's house), and we're going small for this first attempt. We bought a small container and plan to enjoy an assortment of fresh peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, basil, oregano, chives, cilantro and mint (if all goes according to plan). I'm all for sharing, so bring on the tips!

Doesn't look like much now, but in 7-10 days we should see some sprouts!

Food

The shoes work! I don't feel light as a feather, but somehow the minutes are getting easier and easier (I feel like I'm going to struggle tonight, just because I'm saying this right now). I'm still not looking forward to my runs, but not absolutely dreading them is encouraging ha.

So I'm sure you're sick of hearing me talk about running, back aches (yep you guessed it - our handiwork around the house this weekend enraged my rhomboid muscle again) and being a vegetarian (still going strong since Mexico (although I may be adding fish in here and there... stay tuned)!), so I'm going to share a delightful little recipe Jason and I made for dinner last night that packs in the veggies and smells amazing while you cook it. It's from the genius chef Andie Mitchell's blog "Can You Stay for Dinner" and it's called Lightened Up Pad Thai for Two. Like her, I could eat it for days at a time. Mine didn't look as pretty as hers does, so I'll share one of her photos: 

Try it and let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

New Shoes!

I've been ramping up my running in a big way over the past couple of weeks in order to do the Lifetime 90 day challenge 5K on May 6 and then the Race for the Cure 5K on May 11, and to be honest, it's getting pretty challenging (all of you long distance runners out there laughing, please keep your judgements to yourselves!). I'm not going to tell you how long I'm able to run before wanting to pass out, but I'm adding minutes daily and pretty soon I'll be proud enough of my milage to talk about it. Today is a rest day, but tomorrow I'm jumping in with these new pretties I picked up this afternoon:

Hopefully they'll make me light as a feather and I won't notice I'm running anymore...

Run Run Run

Well I'm officially cancer-free... again, says Dr. Howe. I completely believe him, but that doesn't solve my pain problem! I'm listening to the advice from many people I love and taking a week off from running. Just one week. It's going to drive me nuts, and I might sneak in to do some time on a stationary bike, but no one has to know. I have another quick massage tomorrow after work; hopefully Maggie will tell me things feel looser/less inflamed (they don't to me).

I just signed up for our annual Race for the Cure team. I've participated (as a walker/runner) for the past 4-5 years, always just to support the cause and raise money for a disease I wanted gone. This year, I'm running (no walking) and I'm running for me. I'm going to run this year to show cancer that it can take away my boobs (and in the process, replacing them with much perkier ones) but it can't keep me down. Race for the Cure is my third official 5k I've committed to this spring, and I fully intend to run (and maybe even enjoy running) all of them. I have some running to do, and this back pain better get outta town so I can do it. Pronto!

Weekend Update

Ahhh March, you've arrived to mixed emotions. I'm thrilled that we're getting closer and closer to spring, yet this ruthless winter is proving it still has tricks up it's sleeves. The latest: parking restrictions in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Before we bought our house, we lived in a tiny little shoebox of an apartment in Uptown and I remember dealing with parking restrictions then, but it's been four years and we've grown pretty accustomed to parking right outside our house. Not anymore, at least, not until the ban is lifted (I've heard April 1?).

In back injury news, I had an MRI earlier this afternoon and expect the radiologist's summary to arrive to Dr. Howe by EOD Monday. Hopefully it'll be earlier than that and hopefully he'll call me right away when it arrives. I keep getting asked if I'm feeling better and I don't know what to say. Yes? The fact that I have to question it though, makes me feel like the answer should be a no. I'll have stints, where I'll get super involved in work or an episode of Breaking Bad, and forget about the pain, and then the moment I stand up and start moving around again, it hurts. I've run three times since Monday, and although it's excruciating, I can't help but wonder if it's maybe, just maybe, helping a little bit? Then I wonder if it's all in my head? All I know is that I've been having this pain for five weeks now, and I'm more than ready for it to be better!

I mentioned it a few weeks ago, but I hit my goal of having my design website online by the end of February! You can be among the first to check it out at www.schobercreative.com, and feel free to pass it on to your friends/family! The portfolio tab is kind of a jumbled mess right now but I'll eventually get around to organizing it a little better. Baby steps :)

Anyway, enjoy!

Stomach Ache

Well that's all folks. Meat, we've had our fun and now it's time to say goodbye (thank goodness!). Today I'm not feeling awesome - it's almost like I have a meat hangover from all of the snacks I had while watching the Superbowl last night. The "hangover" started almost immediately after I'd eaten my last mini meatball; the number one complaint being that I felt like a huge fatty. Even though I'd gone for a run yesterday morning, the fact that I'd just stuffed my face weighed heavily on my self esteem (see what I did there?). Next gripe: swollen fingers. I think all the salt from the snacks went straight to my fingers. I felt like a sausage in my own skin, just ready to burst open. So so gross. Trying to drink as much water today as possible so I can flush it out of my system. My stomach was OK last night, but today it's not happy with me. I'm bloated and am having some crazy grumbles. I was totally expecting to feel this way today, and it will serve as an excellent reminder if/when the craving for a cheeseburger strikes. Done done done.

I've never been so happy to eat a bowl of raw veggies for lunch.
I know it's not a composed meal, but it's the only thing I want right now!

The rest of the weekend was jam-packed. Friday we had a few friends over for dinner; after we ate we did a little prep for the gender reveal party we were throwing on Saturday for our friends Albert and Jacqueline (I'm withholding their real identities so I'm not responsible for spilling the beans about their exciting baby news). Before the reveal party started Saturday afternoon, I helped celebrate my sweet friend Christine at a lovely baby shower in her honor that morning.

Breaking news - the little lady Tine was carrying decided to make her debut 7 weeks early!
Shea Emma arrived late last night! I knew it'd be a girl!

Jason met me with our nephew Josh and his sister Cecilia at the reveal party, and from there, we took the kiddos to our place for popcorn and a movie. After finally getting them tucked in for the night, I was exhausted and fell asleep much earlier than anticipated. Good thing I did though; I heard the two chatting away at 6:15 yesterday morning. We all got up, had a little breakfast, then after my sister rounded up the kids I made my way to the gym. After a very quick shower, we went my sister Erin's house to file our taxes, then did a little laundry and made our way to my sister Rachel's for the Superbowl. Yowza...

And now on to the week ahead... Happy Monday everyone!

One Step Closer...

...to being a full-fledged vegetarian. We had two "meat days" this weekend and totally stuffed ourselves with chicken, beef and pepperoni (my favorite). I felt fine for the most part, but after eating the delicious cheese-stuffed burger I almost instantly felt sick. Maybe it was too much grease (Jason and I split a side of onion rings too), but maybe it was my stomach saying "no thanks" to the beef?  Who knows - we're back on a no-meat diet now until Sunday (which happens to be Superbowl Sunday), when we plan on saying au revoir to our favorite meat snacks. I'm feeling OK about it - like I've said to a few of my friends already, I don't really notice that we're not eating meat. I've also been getting oodles of recipes and advice from my vegetarian friends, so I think we'll be able to find yummy substitutes for our favorite foods that typically include meat.

...to eliminating night sweats. I attribute much of my success in this area to removing meat from my diet. I've been taking tamoxifen for almost six months now, and have had 4, maybe 5 nights of sleep where I didn't wake up once to a night sweat (In case you're wondering, night sweats are much worse than hot flashes; you wake up soaking, and even after changing in to dry jammies, you hop back into damp sheets. They're terribly unpleasant.). In the past week I've slept 4 or 5 nights all the way through. Do you know how wonderful it feels to have a full night of uninterrupted sleep?! Glorious - almost to the extent that I can hear angels sing as my alarm goes off each morning.

...to getting my sun-shiny, positive, cheerful self back. Yesterday I started taking a multivitamin that packs a Vitamin D punch. I'm confident it'll get my energy level back up and kick my Debby Downer attitude to the frozen curb. I'm also keeping up my gym habit; last week I signed up for a 5K in April and I'm determined to run the entire thing. It's 3.1 miles, I'm sure I can do it (plus, I have lots of time to work my way up)!

Taking Care

I'm happy to report that our first attempt at cutting out meat was a success! We made some pretty tasty dishes Sunday through Wednesday this week and I hardly noticed that none of them included animal protein. I even ate out and was able to easily order some really delicious portobello mushroom fajitas. When we added meat back into our meals on Thursday (tacos), Jason was up with me during the night with a stomach ache (I was having one of my usual night sweats). I felt fine after eating meat Thurs/Fri, but after eating chicken tenders at our friend Andrew's birthday party on Saturday, I felt awful! I can't say if it was the chicken or the fact that they were fried, but it made me feel terrible (and happy to say buh-bye to them). Today we started day one of five days we're eating meatless so we'll see how this week goes!

In fitness-related news, I've been using the LT Bucks I earned for joining Lifetime Fitness over Black Friday to try out a few TEAM classes. For two weeks I was part of the TEAM Weightloss, and now I've moved on to TEAM Fitness. The fitness class is one level up in terms of difficulty, and instead of mostly cardio, we've been doing some serious weight lifting (my first attempt at kettle bells made me feel like an 80-year-old lady; I'm still nursing sore back muscles!). I like it, but my danceline background has me gravitating toward the cardio classes. I've also been back on the treadmill a few times slowly logging miles, and I'm pretty excited about how much I'm still looking forward to it. Yesterday my challenge was to do a 5K, which is something I've done many many times, but this time my goal was to run as much of it as possible and I don't think I did too bad. I wasn't really going for speed, but of course the faster you run, the faster you can be done. I finished nice and sweaty at 40:30, so with short stints of walking thrown in, I'm averaging a 13-minute mile. Certainly nothing to brag about, but it'll be interesting to see the improvement the more conditioned I get!

Finally, I had an appointment Thursday with Dr. Sanan, the surgeon who first discovered my cancerous lump. It's been about six months since I've seen him and ta daaaa - after examining me he determined there are no new lumps (not that I was expecting him to find any). Physically I've been feeling great and it's so great to have a confirmation from a professional. I also spent a little time with Lynnae, Carrie and Ali (the hospital's social worker) which was wonderful! They're all such great resources and care so much for their patients (me!). Ali's hooking me up with the oncology nutritionist to make sure I'm still getting enough nutrients now that we're modifying our diets. Once again I'm thanking my lucky stars I have them for my long term healing!

Natural remedies, here I come!

Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma madness

I promise I haven't forgotten to update, we've just been crazy busy and have a few more weeks of the madness before things slow down! 

Not much to report on the cancer side of things; I've been waking up sore every day so that's fun. The muscles in my chest and arms have been really tight and I've been trying to stretch as much as possible.  I think sleeping in my in-law's guest bed over the weekend, long jaunts in the car, short walk/runs, and playing kickball are all playing a part in the soreness.  I'm just overall not being very cautious with my body anymore and I think it's telling me to slow down.  Who has time to slow down though, when there's so much fun to be had? 

We got home Sunday night from a great weekend in WI!  We spent time with Jason's parents, cousins and aunt, went to Lauren's (one of the two cousins we saw) bridal shower, and to the Packer's (GO PACK!) v. Redskins game on Sunday with our good friends Andrew, Joelle, Robin and Emily.  It was a packed (see what I did right there?) weekend with little sleep, loads of fun and awesome memories made.

The girls and I dancing with the Tundra Line at Lambeau Field and some snapshots from the game.  We're super excited about our cool new Packer's sunglasses :)

Let the craziness continue (oh, and only 50 days until NBD)!