The Marathon!

I'll bet you've all been on pins and needles waiting to read about the WhistleStop Marathon.  My deepest apologies that it's taken this long to post.  Life has raced along at a crazy pace ever since the race.

I FINISHED!  Yay!  I did it in 4 hours 39 minutes and 01 second.  Truly if I'd have known they were counting the seconds I'd have run a little faster!  Ha!

I'm so glad I did it.  It was not easy.  In fact mile 23 and 24 were VERY hard and if it wasn't for the support of my "fan", I probably would have walked the rest of the way.  I'd have finished... but it would have taken me a lot longer.  I am happy to say that following a couple days of stiff legs, I was walking normally only a couple days later.

I highly recommend doing a marathon.  If I can do it - you sure can too.

And I got a free t-shirt - whoot, whoot!

Tomorrow we leave for the marathon

Tomorrow morning we leave for Ashland so that I can run 26.2 miles on Saturday in the WhistleStop Marathon.

Just for the record... the marathon I signed up for is the one with blue skies, white puffy clouds, pretty fall leaves on the trees and 50 or 60 degree weather. Picture book perfect. Everyone smiling and happy. That unfortunately is not the forecast for Saturday! So much of a distance race is the mental part and I've been struggling with that aspect this week. Trying to prepare myself mentally for the prospect that there is a very good chance that I'll be running for 4.5 hours in the rain and cold, perhaps even snow. I am finding myself revisiting why I decided to do this in the first place. Here's what I've come up with:

* I first wanted to run a marathon when I was 17 years old. I am now 49.... you do the math.
* I am just about finished with one of the most emotionally draining things a person can go through and it's lasted almost 10 years. It was a marathon in itself and I am almost finished with it. 26.2 miles will be a walk in the park in comparison.
* I have been training to run this marathon for longer than I actually acknowledged it. It began in January 2006, I just didn't know it then. Therefore I am in the best physical condition I have ever been in, in my entire life.
* I want to "check" it off my list. I'm big on lists - refer to my post from the first of the year.
* I have had great support from friends and loved ones.
* I want to make certain people proud of me... including myself.
* This is not something I could ever do on my own. This is a gift of health and endurance from God and I am thankful of that daily.
* Just as eating healthy has become a lifestyle for me, running has as well. I like it.
* My dad will have fun telling people I did it. I like that.
* I have moxy. Whatever that means.

Wish me well my friends! I'll keep you posted.

Bacher out.

I rocked the Bellin 10k run!

So yesterday was the Bellin 10k run and I so totally rocked it! I really had not timed myself prior to this, but had a pretty good feel that I may be able to break an hour. So I set out and tried to keep a pace that was good for me. Not too slow and not killer. When I was coming around the corner at 6 miles and I saw the gun time I thought, I might be able to break an hour if I push it the last 3 blocks. So I tried to step it up a bit and push it to the end. Well come to find out I had an extra 2 minutes on my calculation because I didn't pass the starting line until 2 minutes after my wave started. Long story short - I finished in 56:28! An average of 9:06 minute miles. A personal best, thank you very kindly. In fact, in 1990 (when I was REALLY 29) I ran it in 58:43. So there you have it. I'm running faster now than ever before.

Next goal - running a marathon in October. I'll keep you posted on how the training is coming along.

In the meantime, NEVER doubt your abilities to do something better than you ever have before. Never say never.

My Weight Loss Journey

It felt like I had tried everything over the course of the past 30 years.

The hotdog diet.
The cabbage soup diet.
The cleansing drink diet.
Counting calories.
Cheap hypnosis.
The not so cheap hypnosis.
PhenFen - the magic pill that made it all melt off...until you stop taking them and it all comes back.
Nutri-System
Even Weight Watchers a couple times.

I even tried to tell myself that it didn't matter and that I didn't care. But the truth is I DID care. As I look back over my prayer journal that I started on Christmas 2003 my repeated, consistent and earnest prayer was for God to put the desire to want to eat healthy, want to drink water and want to exercise on my heart. I prayed and waited. Occasionally I'd start a "diet" or "exercise plan" but it usually didn't last long and my heart wasn't in it.

In January 2006 my co-worker, Pam, came to me and said, "I joined Weight Watchers, do you want to come too?" My first thought was, 'Do I want to do this AGAIN?', my second thought was, 'She's going to lose all this weight and I'm just going to be mad at myself!' and my third thought was, 'YES, I want to join with you!'

So on January 19, 2006 I started down a familiar, yet very different road. The first thing I think made a huge difference is that my prayers were heard and God was ready for me to do it.

There are several additional factors that I believe also made it different this time:
1) CORE program was a big hit with me because I wasn't required to track everything I ate which fit perfectly with my personality. In the past I'd be little Miss Perfect and track everything for a couple weeks, then I'd get busy and the tracking (and thus the weigh loss) would fall by the wayside. Then seeing no results I'd get discouraged and quit.
2) Somewhere along the line I stopped thinking of it as a diet and instead thought of it as a lifestyle.
3) My leader, Deb, was awesome.
4) The support and ideas I got at my weekly meeting was wonderful.
5) The support from my family and friends was great. (I'd pull out of the parking lot after a meeting and be on the phone to my daughters, mom and husband to tell them, "I lost 8/10's of a pound this week!" or "I lost a pound this week!"
6) The accountability and support of going the whole journey with Pam was key.

On September 28, 2006 I hit my goal weight with a loss of 50 pounds! On November 9th I made lifetime status and now as long as I stay within no more than 2 pounds over my goal weight I will never have to pay to go to meetings again!

I have many ideas and thoughts on weight loss and maintaining healthy eating habits. However I'll save them for future posts.

For now, let it suffice to say that this has been a hard fought journey and I know my weight will always be something I'll have to pay attention to, however now feel like I'm well equipped to keep on top of the battle!