Gund Top Dog Contest!

As a baby, Angelica received so many Gund stuffed animals, so I can attest to the fact that they are of high quality. She still has a pink lamb made by Gund that she snuggles with almost every day!

Now through August 5,  you can enter to win your very own Gund! Inspired by the wildly-popular "World's Cutest Dog" Boo stuffed dog from GUND, the “Top Dog” Contest invites pup parents from around the country to submit photos of their own four-footed friends on the GUND Facebook page in one or all of the following four categories:

·        Most Beautiful Dog
·        Ugliest Dog
·        “Doganista”/Best Dressed Dog
·        Dog that Most Resembles its Owner

The Grand Prize in this contest is so cool! GUND will create a limited edition model of the winner’s dog. The dog will be available in gift and toy stores in 2013. People will be able to buy an adorable toy version of your dog. How cool is that?



To enter,  submit your dog photos via the contest tab onGUND’s Facebook page. The contest will run July 16 - August 15, 2012; winners will be chosen the week of August 20^th and announced the week of August 27^th.

GUND is also running another contest, called the “Most Pinteresting Dog” Contest on Pinterest. To enter, post your picture to your own Pinterest account, “tag” @GUNDMostPinterestingDog and submit the link to GUND at MostPinterestingDog@GUND.com. The “Most Pinteresting Dog” Contest winner will be selected based on the number of times the entry is “liked” on the GUND Pinterest board and the winner will receive a selection of GUND products valued at $250 retail.

Disclosure: This information was provided by Child's Play Communications on behalf of Gund. I was not paid to write this post, but will recieve a stuffed dog toy from Gund in exchange for posting. Good luck to all who enter!

Pity Party for One

I haven't really been keeping up with the diet/weight loss posts because, to be honest, I've spent the past few weeks throwing myself a giant pity party. Since moving to Boston, I've gained a lot of weight, and while I did exceptionally well (given my expectations) at the race a few weeks ago, I hit an emotional roadblock shortly thereafter and things just spiraled downward from there.

And with that, I fell into the trap of telling myself that I "can't" do this. That it hurts too much/that it's too inconvenient/that it takes too much time/etc. And that's when I turned to my wonderful hubby and he gave me some options and advice.

Today I stepped on the scale and noticed I was actually down three pounds from the last time I stepped on it...I was 273. I don't remember the last weight I reported on here, but I had gotten up to 277, my highest non-pregnancy weight. And that is when the emotional breakdown began. But here I am, back down a few pounds and really, I am ready to get moving again.

Even if I don't do as well as I did two years ago when I started running (and was 20lbs lighter) I can at least try. I can at least do my best. And I will. I'm going to remove the self-criticism and just go with it. And everything will be okay.

Not So Wordless Wednesday -- Carnival

This past weekend we went to the Italian Festival in Newton. It was in it's 77th year, people! That just blows my mind! Anyway, it was a super time had by all. We joined up with Scott's work friend and her husband...they both just moved to Boston and I'm glad they did. They're good people.

Angelica hadn't been to a carnival since she was about two, so this was a fantastic event for her! In early 2011, we took her to Islands of Adventure at Universal and she was terrified of the rides, so I was sure she'd probably take one look and have a breakdown. Instead, the first ride she went on was a kiddie rollercoaster...and then asked to go on it three more times! She was absolutely drawn to some of the faster rides, but she was too short to go on them.

She hated the funhouse, though. Haaated it. We went in and she was okay at first, but as soon as she saw we had to go upstairs to get out she totally freaked out. We couldn't get back out the way we came so we had to go out that way, so she eventually let me scoop her up and carry her up...and once we were up there, she was fine.

She also loved the games! She played the "pick a ducky" game and won a very, very loud trumpet toy (which may or may not be....ahem...missing...).

But most of all...she loved THIS:

 

COTTON CANDY

(and yes, folks, she did eat the whole thing. and had an EPIC sugar crash.)

 

I did it!

In 2010, I started Couch to 5k. And got six weeks in and quit.
In 2011, Well -- overall, it was the worst year of my life, and I barely made it to week 3.
In 2012, I've started and stopped so many times I might as well have finished, but never actually did.

On July 12, 2012, I completed a 3.5 mile race. That's right. I completed a race that was .4 miles LONGER than a 5k.

Back in March, my company sent out a memo saying that we'd be participating in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge race in downtown Boston. At that point in time, I decided that gave me plenty of time to prepare so I signed up. At the time, I didn't realize it, but I was one of 12,000 people who registered for the race.

In the meantime, lots and lots of things came up that should have totally derailed me. For example, on Easter, I fell down the stairs and broke my toe. At that point I was 4 weeks into Couch to 5k, and was initially told -- no exercise for 6-8 weeks. That eventually got taken down to 4 weeks, but you can lose a lot of training in 4 weeks (not to mention, it's not like I woke up on the first day after the four weeks and had no pain...in fact, the toe is still achy from time to time but it's healed).

So I did the best I could, worked out like crazy (even if I wasn't running) and showed up on race day with the goal of finishing in 60 minutes or less.

The race started off with a bang, literally. I somehow got grouped in with the "6 minute mile or faster" runners, so when the race started, I had to pound pavement as fast as I could to keep from getting run over. Eventually the crowd thinned out, and I took a walk break to catch my breath.

And that's pretty much how it went from there on. I'd run, run, run, especially on the downhill portions of the race, grabbed tons of water at the water stations, and before I knew it, I was approaching the finish line.

That, my friends, is where the fun began. Remember that hour goal?

As I approached the finish line, I saw the clock -- it read 59:00. I said -- well, yelled -- some words that I cannot repeat in friendly company and proceeded to run faster than I did when I was trying not to get killed by the 6-minute-miler group, telling myself over and over, "Fast feet to the finish line!"

As I got closer, my teammates were standing on the sidelines (yes, I was the last from my team to finish) and they saw me and started cheering, and I ran even faster.

I crossed the finish line.
I looked up at the clock.
It read 1:00:15.
I breathlessly repeated some of the not-so-nice words that I said when I saw the 59:00 on the clock, and felt like the air had been kicked out of me.
Then, I got the text message.
Official time: 59:53.

And then the raw emotion hit me. I leapt up in the air and screamed for joy. Scott texted me (he got the alerts from the race, too) and congratulated me. I did it! I did it! I set a goal and I beat it by SEVEN SECONDS.

What an amazing experience. It truly reminded me of why I love running. The whole race experience. The feelings of accomplishment (especially in light of people who tell me I can't/shouldn't run because I'm a fat chick). The pre-race jitters. The runner's high. The spectators cheering you on. It is a total rush.

I registered for my next 5k this afternoon. I'll be running another Boston race in September. I'll be training like mad until then. I cannot wait.

My company's team -- Our t-shirts say "Search engines crawl -- (our company name) runs" -- we're a SEO agency, which is where that play on words comes in :)