Strawberry Picking

My mom and I went strawberry picking yesterday for the first time since we left Maryland, so the first time in 13 years. It was very exciting. I love going strawberry picking. We went to Jacquemin Farms in Plain City.

It was a lot of work though. As you can see (and no, your eyes aren't deceiving you), the strawberries were very tiny. They were baby berries. Apparently, the lack of rain here in the Cbus area has contributed to the small size of local strawberries. I wasn't sure if I believed the people at the strawberry patch yesterday when they told me this. I thought maybe they were just being defensive about their strawberries. However, it was proven true today when I saw very small strawberries by another local farmer at the Powell Farmers Market.

My mama made fresh jam and mini strawberry pies (see below) with some of our freshly picked strawberries. Shockingly, we picked 11 lbs. of strawberries despite the small size. In any case, yay for fresh strawberries!

*Note: It was very lowering this morning to discover that I was sore from picking strawberries for about 1.5 hours. It felt like I had jogged a gajillion miles and not stretched afterwards. Just when I thought I was starting to get into shape...

FFC: Week 6 Results

FFC Week 3

Here are the official Week 3 results for the FFC. I have totally fallen behind in the standings...curses!

Things have been kind of hectic lately, which is the reason for the lack of posts beyond the FFC results. My baby brother graduates from high school this coming Saturday (I can't believe it!) and we had his graduation party yesterday. So things were crazy the past couple weeks between trying to get everything ready for the party, my mom's birthday, and mother's day. I promise more in-depth posts soon!

I completed my second race of the year this past Sunday - the Habitat for Humanity Home Run 5K. I think I'm cursed when it comes to races taking place in Dublin. It was unseasonably and ridiculously hot and humid during the race just like it was for the Dublin Irish 4 Miler last year. I still did ok, though my time was about a minute slower than my time from the Fisher 5K a month ago.

Not too mention, I only got lapped by 2 people (the course was 2, 1.5 mile loops) - the top 2 male finishers. I managed to get my fat arse across halfway mark/finish line about 30 seconds before the top female finisher crossed the line. I guess I'll take comfort in the fact that I wasn't the last "runner" to cross the finish line. There were still a couple stragglers after me and the walkers. Hopefully, I'll have better luck in my next 5K in June.

FFC Week 2

Here are the results for Week 2 of the Fabulously Fit Challenge. Kumquat is leading the charge! You may also notice some changes from last week. Jackfruit is no longer - she didn't like her name, so she is now Jujube. We also have a challenge newcomer. Welcome Java Apple!

Fabulously Fit Challenge (FFC) Week 1 Results

Here is my fantastic, fun and colorful chart of the Week 1 results from the FFC. May the best tropical fruit win!

Potpourri

This post is going to contain a slight mishmash of topics since I haven't posted in a month. First up, a review of BLC. As I suspected, I don't really like the website. I don't know if I'm just not using it properly or to its fullest capabilities, but I don't find it particularly useful. I would get just as much benefit from keeping track of my food log and exercise log in a notebook, I think. I will probably be cancelling my subscription at the end of the 3 months. I like the BL program, just not the website.

The fitness challenge has been restarted - yay! It has been dubbed (by me) the Fabulously Fit Challenge (because I like alliteration and I like to be fabulous) and Week 1 started on Sun. 5/3 with the usual suspects taking part. It's the same rules as before: (1) must exercise at least 20 mins. for it to count; (2) can only count 1 exercise session per day; (3) the losers split the cost of a cookbook of the winner's choice. It's still up in the air as to whether it will be a 13 week challenge ending Aug. 3 or a 19 week challenge ending Sept. 5. So far, I have one vote for each option.

I'm off to a rocky start in the challenge because I've had a hellish cold. But I'm starting to feel better, so I may be able to salvage this week. Maybe I'll keep track of the weekly results on this blog if there are no objections from the participants. That could be fun if I can create a colorful chart or something showing the results. Hmmm...something to think about.

In other fitness news, I completed my first race of the year. I did the Fisher 5K a little over two weeks ago. I suprised myself and did pretty well considering I hadn't jogged the two weeks prior to the race because of my nagging big toe injury. I averaged a 13:41 min./mile, which I know does not seem particularly speedy, but is about 30 seconds faster per mile than my average times to date. Go me!

I have also figured out most of my race schedule for summer/fall. I'm trying to do 1 race a month, at least for the next couple months. Here's what I have planned:

5/24/09 - Home Run 5K for Habitat for Humanity, Dublin
6/14/09 - Race 4 Ellie 5K, Powell
7/30/09 - Dublin Irish 4-Miler, Dublin
8/8/09 - Beerathlon 5K, Bethel Rd. (NEW)
10/18/09 - Nationwide Better Health 1/2 Marathon, Columbus

I don't think I'm going to do any races in September and will just focus on training for the 1/2 in Oct. I didn't see any that I was interested in and that fit into my training schedule. We'll see how it goes. Let me know if you would like to join me in doing any of these races. Misery loves company. I mean, it's always more fun to have a buddy.

So Long WW, It's Been a Good Ride...

That’s right, everyone, I have officially quit WW after 7.5 years. I weighed in for the last time on March 5. It was a hard decision to quit because I’ve been doing WW for so long. But it was time. It wasn’t working for me anymore. It’s a great program and it helped me lose a lot of weight. I’m burned out though and I need to try something different.

So I’m following the Biggest Loser program (hereinafter “BL”). I know, I know, I’m obsessed with the Biggest Loser. I thought I would give it a shot, since it’s clearly successful. I signed up for a 3 month subscription to the Biggest Loser Club. We’ll see how it goes.

The jury is still out as to whether I like the BLC website. It’s kind of cumbersome, but it gets easier the more you use it. I think you can successfully follow the program without using the BLC website. It may be just as easy to keep track of everything in a notebook. However, it is nice that it gives me daily targets for calories, protein, fat, fiber, etc. Otherwise, I don’t know how easy it would be for me to figure out how many calories I should be eating. Here’s to the next three months.

In other news, I've started my own law practice. Don't get me wrong, I'm still looking for a full-time job. However, in the meantime, I'm all set up to take on clients. In fact, I have 3 clients, including 1 non-family member :-).

Nothing New

I lost 0.8 lbs. this week, but I'm pretty sure it is a fluke. I normally weigh in wearing pants or jeans, but today I was wearing work out gear. So I had a faux loss. I suspect I really maintained or gained a little bit. I guess I'll find out next week. So far this year I am averaging a 0.49 lbs. loss per week. Not what I was hoping for, but I'll take it.

On a more exciting note, I also started keeping track of my measurements when I started training for the 1/2 marathon in May (that I'm most likely not doing). I measured myself for the first time since I began training and I'm shrinking! Somewhat. I've lost 0.75 inches from my hips, 2.75 inches from my waist and 0.25 inches from both my arms. Results are inconclusive as to my thighs. I would think they should be shrinking, but they think otherwise. My pants are fitting better too, which is a major relief :-)

I think that's all for now.