Busy month!

Wow, looking at my blog post list tonight is making me feel guilty....this will be my first post in the month of February- and probably my only one!  I'm so sorry that I've fallen off the face of the blog world this month- I wasn't home for 2 weeks and had very limited access to a computer.  Then I came home and was swamped with work...I know excuses, I'm

And the reason being was because, I was in....

Magic Kingdom with Adrian!

If it looks like we were cold, it's because we were.  Apparently February in Florida can actually be cold at times.  Yeargh.  The day that picture was taken it was around 40 deg F with winds blowing all day.  I was wearing a winter hat and gloves all day, and was still cold.

I was actually mostly in Disney for work.  I know, such a hardship...

My view from my balcony at the Dolphin Hotel

Coronado Springs Resort

The second picture is the main resort I stayed in- Coronado Springs Resort.  I also stayed 3 nights in the Dolphin Hotel for another work conference.- which had a MUCH better gym since it is owned by Westin, not Disney.  Although Westin chain hotels are typically out of my traveling budge for work, I stay there when I can because I LOVE their gyms.  They all are really great and have updated equipment like foam rollers and massage sticks at every location.  It figures, that the only disappointing thing about Coronado Springs was the TINY and poorly equipped gym- and I was there for 8 days!  It did give me more incentive to run outside, and around the beautiful lake you see above- obviously a hardship. ;)  In all reality, though it does get rather cold in February in Orlando.  We were lucky during the conference to have higher than average temperatures, but then we were inside all day, unable to enjoy it....

Animal Kingdom with Heather

Except, they gave us some time to play- we had a night in Animal Kingdom that we had the park to ourselves!!! It was so cool, we were set up in Africa and there was live African musicians, dancers, flame eaters and throwers, stilt walkers, and of course- Mikey and Minney!!  Then...the icing on the cake....they opened up this roller coaster just for us for an hour!!!!!

Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom

If it seems totally incredible and you are insanely jealous....it was and you should be! :D

We also had an afternoon in Epcot and then had front row, saved seats for the Epcot Illuminations light show.  Unfortunately it rained most of the afternoon, but my friends and I enjoyed some delicious food in Mexico before walking around in the rain, jumping in puddles, and having a grand old time getting wet before having another big group dessert and cocktail reception while we waited for Illuminations to start.  I love my job! :D

After the end of the conference, Adrian joined for 4 days, which was AWESOME!  We had a great time going to a fancy dinner at a South African restaurant, enjoyed the wonders of Epcot and had great Moroccan food and entertainment, felt like kids again in Magic Kingdom, and discovered the wonderful world of MagicQuest!  Downtown Disney has so much to offer, we were shocked- we even saw some live Irish dancing, had fresh made sushi at a luxury bowling alley, and listened to live Australian music on the street!

Disney does Morocco!

All in all, it was an amazing time, but we were also very happy to come home to this little bundle of joy:

Ding! <3

So, tell me- where have you been lately?  Ever go somewhere really cool for work?

You can lose while on vacation!

The title is pretty self explanatory, the bottom line is you can acheive your goals while on vacation- whether it is to lose, maintain, or simply minimize your gain.

My goal....it's always to lose (at least until I hit my goal weight).  Vacation is awesome, because I am NOT on a diet.  I have changed my entire life style which means I eat as clean and healthy as possible all the time because I my body feels so much better when I do.  I allow myself to enjoy the things that I love- in moderation.   While on vacation I am going to naturally indulge a little more than normal, but I make sure to get extra activity in to counter balance it.

I have gotten 2 runs in so far- both in Prospect Park in Brooklyn.  First I ran with Jen H on Sunday morning, which was great! I love running with friends and the run felt effortless and fun with great weather and a ton of other runners, walkers, and bikers out.  There is something about working out around lots of other people that just pushes you on.

Speaking of which....I returned to Prospect Park on Monday morning by myself and had a blast! I was planning on an easy 3 mile run because it took me forever to leave.... and then I got there and the combination of beautiful weather and tons of fitness enthusiasts out enjoying it spurred me on.   I ended up running a solid fartlek because I was feeling DARN good!



Minus #2

 For those that are saying- what's a fartlek?! here is a good definition, from cool running: "Fartlek is a form of road running or cross country running in which the runner, usually solo, varies the pace significantly during the run. It is usually regarded as an advanced training technique, for the experienced runner who has been using interval training to develop speed and to raise the anaerobic threshold. However, the 'average' runner can also benefit from a simplified form of Fartlek training, to develop self-awareness and to introduce variety into the training program.  There is no predetermined schedule to follow, but instead the athlete will set her/his own interval lengths and pace in response to their own feeling of the workload. An advantage of Fartlek is that the athlete can concentrate on feeling the pace and their physical response to it, thereby developing self awareness and pace judgement skills. Also the athlete is free to experiment with pace and endurance, and to experience changes of pace."

Here are my splits: (total 3.34 miles)
mile 1: 10:59 min/mile - good warm up mile
mile 2: 9:06 min/mile ----> Fastest mile EVER!!! The speed work is finally paying off! I felt so good throughout and was shocked every time I looked at my garmin because it didn't feel as impossibly fast as that number is to me on a typical day- so I just kept going.
mile 3: 10:53 min/mile - good solid mile, almost entirely up hill
last .34 mile: 11:58 min/mile ---> cooldown, purposefully slower and all up hill

And of course we walked a TON while in NYC and even rented bikes on Governor's Island and had a blast with some of Jen's friends.  One of my favorite things we did was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge- very cool and obviously good exercise. ;)  We walked ourselves into complete exhaustion by the time we got to the Yankees game and were all grateful for some seated time.  We also did some walking (duh) while with George and Kyle at Six Flags, New England. 

So, tonight I went to a weight watchers meeting right by our hotel and I lost 0.8 lbs!!  The leader found out my weight loss by pressuring me after I answered a question....and it became a Colleen show where I answered a ton of questions, people cried (including me) and it was pretty amazing and inspirational.   I had members approach me afterwards, even as I was pulling out of the parking lot, just to thank me for coming and sharing my story.  I got hugs and congratulations and tears all over the place over my weight loss.  The thing that everyone kept coming to was that I was there on vacation- that blew them away.  The leader said that she would be telling my story for months to come and felt honored that I came to her meeting.....wow.