Mom Works It Out by Angela Gillis

Angela January 1, 2014

A new year of goals

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2014 and all that comes with it. Last year was great but I want to make this year even better. I started off my morning with a 7.70 mile run. If I would have known I was that close to 8 miles I would have kept going. We ran the resolution run with our friends to start off the year. I ran a little over 3 miles before we left home to meet the running group. I did a little bit more before the running group started and finished with the group. To my surprise,…

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Angela December 31, 2013

My year in running

When I started off the year I had only run two races in 2012, both half marathons. Who would have thought I would run 14 half marathons the next year? This wasn’t how I thought the year would go. The big question is: what fueled my racing desire? The answer: my running group! I told Jeremy I wanted to do RnR Dallas and he said he was doing it so that kind of pushed me to do the race. That was two weeks after the Gusher and I had never run a race that close together, but I did it.…

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Angela December 30, 2013

One crazy year filled with media

This year has been a crazy year for us! I really don’t know how it happened or why it happened, but I’m VERY glad that it happened. At the beginning of the year, I sat down with Willie and told him I wanted to blog about our weight loss. People were asking us questions, mostly the same questions, and I thought a blog would be the place to get the information out there. I had no idea that someone at CNN would be searching the internet for weight loss stories and stumble across the blog! The funny thing about the…

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Angela December 30, 2013

Stopping the bad talk

This weekend was a supposed to be a time for rest. It was supposed to be a time to relax so we went to visit a cute little girl and her family. There was lots of princess talk and it was fun. The infamous godchild is a big of ball of cuteness and fun. I also had my first visit to Charming Charlie. It is like a SPARKLY RAINBOW EXPLODED in the store. My mind was on overdrive the entire time I was in there. I couldn’t focus on just one thing. It was hard for me to found something…

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Angela December 27, 2013

Break out of the holiday rut

There’s still one big event left in the holiday season but you can break out of the holiday rut now. Christmas cookies have been consumed and that holiday meal is behind us. It’s time to get active and burn off those holiday calories. How exactly can you break out of the holiday rut? Here are some of my suggestions: 1. Just suck it up and work out. The good thing about being a fitness instructor is I have no choice but to jump right back into the swing of things so I had no problem with it. I promise if…

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Angela December 26, 2013

Christmas is over…

Christmas was pretty chill for us. We agreed to keep the gift giving to a minimum because we tend to go overboard. I got Willie a head light, Clif Bars and a cold weather pull over. He got me a BOX of Quest Bars and some chap stick. I’m a happy girl. I also got some airline giftcards (cause you know I’m always moving)! I’m planning out 2014 as I type this…lots of travel to be happening I hope! We went to my sister’s house for Christmas. I wanted to get a good picture by the tree and Willie though…

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Angela December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas from us!

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and Happy Holidays to everyone else! Let’s all remember the reason for the season and spend some time with family and friends…and hot chocolate. We found some no sugar diet hot chocolate so I made some for Willie this morning. I enjoyed some gingerbread green tea! It was so good! I might partake in some eggless eggnog later on too. Have you tried it yet? I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! We will be spending the day with family. I’m not sure what we’re eating but I’ll keep you informed and I don’t…

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Angela December 24, 2013

Race Recap: Santa Hustle Half Marathon

Excuse me for this being late, I was too lazy to blog yesterday. When my daily mile report came out yesterday it was all kinds of wrong. NO ONE should work out that much unless they are training for something and I AM NOT training for anything in particular. On Sunday I ran my 14th half marathon and final race of the year. This was supposed to be a fun run for me; kind of like a reward for all the hard work I put in this year. Christmas music + christmas cookies = a fun time. Everyone got a…

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Angela December 22, 2013

Santa Hustle complete

Today I finished my 14th half marathon of they year. No time to really talk about it that will come tomorrow. But know it is done and enjoy the pictures. We got cool shirts but… Too bad it was too hot and I had to strip at mile 6. Glad I wore a tank top today! Cookies on the course but I didn’t eat them. I think I would be sick if I ate a cookie while running a half marathon. I just wanted to document the moment. Finished in 2:18 but it was kind of a rough run for…

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Angela December 20, 2013

A Christmas light bike ride

Last night, Willie and I went on a Christmas light bike ride. We wanted to do it last year but we didn’t. I don’t remember why but it probably had something to do with the social aspect of ride. We just didn’t know anyone and it never occurred to us to just go out there to meet people. This year we were all game for it though. So yesterday I taught my 4:30 cycle class and then we headed out after for the 9 mile bike ride to see the Christmas lights. You know what I loved about it? 1.…

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Angela December 19, 2013

More than just about weight loss

We wanted to lose the weight to improve our quality of life and we did it! I’m here to tell losing weight was only the FIRST step in improving our quality of life. I learned in hindsight that the weight was holding us back from not just being physically active but also socially active. Don’t get me wrong, we both have a GREAT set of BEST friends in our life but all but one set live out of state. The in state people don’t even live in our city. Willie and I spent a LOT of time sitting at home,…

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