Rock On!

What better place to run my first half marathon than my "home" town of Chicago. Back in May at the Green Bay Marathon, I was overtaken by a moment of insanity and signed on the dotted line for the Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon. After the initial "what was I thinking?" moment, I set out to train. To my surprise, the training didn't stink as much as I thought it would; in fact, I found it to be rather enjoyable.

With Grandma Pokey & Grandpa Tiger volunteering babysitting services, Rich and I set off on Saturday for Chi-town. Our first stop was the expo to pick up my race packet:

While at the expo, I met a great organization called Team 413. You can read more about them on their website, but it is awesome to be able to not only participate in an activity that you love, but also share your faith in the process!

Afterward, we headed to our hotel to unwind. I ended up taking a nap (*gasp*) and slept through our dinner reservation at Rosebud. We ended up just having carry-out from Bucca di Beppo - a wise choice and I was able to hit the hay fairly early (4:30 a.m. comes awfully early!)



As you can tell, it was still dark when we arrived at the starting gates. Thankfully, it was an untypical August day in Chicago. We were actually cold while we waited for the start of the race!



Rich took this picture while I was waiting to start the race. He calls it "my game face".




At mile 4, I was "joined" by my sweet hubby. Technically, he was a "race bandit" which was forbidden, but he ran alongside me for almost nine miles snapping photos, getting water for me and providing me my Gu and Shot Blocks! Now THAT is a dedicated husband!


Most importantly, I FINISHED! My goal was to (a) finish the race and (b) finish the race without walking. With God's awesome power, I accomplished my mission! My finishing time was 2 hours and 19 minutes. I am thrilled to have finished this race and I thank everyone for their prayers and support!

With God, all things are possible!

A Brisk Run

On a bit of a whim, I signed up to run the Cellcom 5K Run this morning. It's a smaller part of the Green Bay marathon but the half was closed and I don't think I would have been up to that right now as I'm only about midway into my half training. But, why pass up a race on such a beautiful day I say.

There were over 4,000 participants in the 5K and it was a flat course for the most part (if you want to call that one blip a hill). The supposed "highlight" was running around Lambeau Field. Yes, it was painful for this Bears fan, but I conjured up the strength and made it through (heck, it probably made me run faster to get it over with). I ended up finishing in 27:17 which was almost 30 seconds less than the 5K I ran last month. (I'll take anything I can get at this point). I was 194th out of all the women and 21st in my age group. I'll have more official numbers as they update the site, but I'm pretty pleased with the results. I got to hang afterwards with Ms. N who also had an awesome race and took in all the post-race festivities including a nice massage. Next race is the MadCity Quarter Marathon next Sunday.

Celebrate the Journey

As Easter nears, it suddenly dawned on me that two years ago today, God began a mighty show of his power to transform! Not a day goes by that I do not give thanks to my Lord and Savior for what He has done for me! It is only by His grace that I have been able to accomplish so much!

Three Lousy Points!

Alright, this is going to sound really silly but it's also one of those "yay, God! Look how far I've come moments."

Every year, we have to take a health risk assessment for insurance purposes. We get slightly lower rates if we do and this year, they are actually "charging" more for people with risk factors such as smoking, obesity, etc. So now, in addition to just feeling good having lost all of this weight, we also have an incentive to keep it off! The assessments were last month but the follow up appointment to get results was today for me.

The one thing I really like about this test is that it shows your year-to-year progress. My first year, my score was 65 which isn't exactly great, but it's not where you want to be either. I actually scored negative points that year for being morbidly obese. Well, today I am a 97 out of 100! The only item that "held me back" was that my cholesterol ration was just a couple of tenths over the acceptable range of "excellent". UGH! So close! I always hated ratios in math class!

So, that's the good news of the day not to mention the fact that this year, I got a better score than Rich so I have bragging rights for the next year!

The results are in . . .

This morning, I participated in the Bellin 10K in Green Bay. It was my first ever 10K, so I was quite nervous but having done a practice run last weekend, I wasn't too worried about not finishing. The results were just posted (oh how I love the fancy little chip timers!). Here's my results:

• Time: 55:29
• Overall place: 2630/8710
• Overall place among women: 718/4357
• Overall place in division (30-34): 106/526
• Average pace: 8:56/mile

All in all, I am quite pleased. I have some new goals to shoot for and, next year, I move up to the next age division, so I won't have to compete against so many "youngsters". Thanks to everyone for their prayers and support and special thanks to Ms. S, Ms. B and Ms. L for being my running buddies!

Come on a journey with me . . .

A year ago, I handed over my weight struggles to God. I was horribly overweight and out of shape - even what most doctors would consider "morbidly obese". I don't know where I thought the journey would end or if it ever will, but it sure has been a ride. Take a journey back with me:

After my first six-week cycle:

May 22, 2007

Another six weeks later:

June 30, 2007

End of third cycle:

August 30, 2007

End of fourth cycle:

October 8, 2007

End of fifth cycle:

November 19, 2007

People thought I was "the other woman" at Rich's company Christmas party:

December 8, 2007

Would the girl who began this journey in April ever have thought she could run and compete in a triathalon?

February 24, 2008

And here I am today (sorry it is a little blurry, Ian was my photographer):



And, just in case you are really curious about the numbers:

1. I have lost a total of 95 pounds to date (a 38.9% weight loss). That is more than the combined weight of my two children.

2. I went from a size 24 to a size 6.

3. In various areas of my body, I have lost an incredible total of 91 inches.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me and continues to support me. Just remember with God, anything is possible!

Getting there!

Another six weeks has passed and I am now at then end of weight loss cycle number five. I am now within 3 pounds of the "high end" of my ideal body weight for my fram size though I want to get to the lower end of that scale. Thus, today I am starting on cycle number six. Not the easiest thing to do the week of Thanksgiving, but you can't stop progress.

Oh, and sorry about the x-ray vision on the flash. I swear in regular lighting this shirt is not see-through! (but then again, you can all see my "uplift" from Nordstroms!

Another update

Wow. I got to the end of my 4th cycle in my plan. Overall, I have lost 62 pounds to date which is approximately 10 pounds a month. This cycle was my "lowest" in terms of overall percentage weight loss though. I think as I get closer to my yet-to-be-determined goal weight, it will get trickier to lose it more rapidly. Anyhow, this is me today and I am happy with her. And, in case you were curious, this is
me six weeks ago.

Less of Me (again)

with vacation and getting back into the routine. I completely forgot to post my end of phase 3 picture. And just for your frame of reference, here's my picture from the end of phase 2

Even a little more less of me

Well, I am photoshop challenged. I had originally wanted to post a picture of me at the end of my last cycle next to this one so you could see the progress. Thanks to God and a lot of hard work, I am now down another 18 pounds for a grand total of 34 since beginning back in April. I am now in yet another smaller size and am determined to get into the next smaller pair of jeans in my pile. When we get back from our family trip, I am going to be packing up my "too big" jeans and saying goodbye to them. I'd really love to have a bonfire, but I think I'll just take the tax deduction and send them over to Goodwill.

Finishing up Round 2

For those of you who may have been following my weight loss progress, I am now in the "maintenance phase" of my second round of Lean for Life. I am actually glad to be on the maintenance portion because the last week I have hit a plateau which I know I will break (in fact, I had as of this morning). I'm going to do one extra week of maintenance this time around because we will be visiting family after the initial 2 weeks of maintenance and since the first week of this plan is usually the most crucial to get started on a good foot, I don't want to do it while I'm away. So far, since beginning the plan back in April, I have lost just over 30 pounds and am down about 3 sizes. Thanks for letting me share!

I made it through!

Yesterday was the last day of my 4-week weight loss cycle with . I now am beginning two weeks of "metabolic adjustment" which basically means gradually getting my body used to my new weight. Which through four weeks, I have lost approximately 15 pounds (not knowing what my true "start weight" was because I didn't actually go buy a scale until two days into it). Since this isn't my first time on this plan (the first time was pre-Kyra), I knew it would work but I still get amazed at seeing the numbers drop so quickly. In fact, I have a couple pairs of jeans that I can no longer wear. I've still got quite a journey to go to get back to my pre-baby weight, but at least it's a start and I'm determined to maintain my focus!

At the half way point

I have now been back on the "plan" for two weeks now. I start week 3 today of the 4 week cycle. Then it is two weeks of "maintenance" to get my body used to the new weight or "set point". I can honestly say it hasn't been horrid (though it wasn't the last time either). I am losing weight and inches. I didn't weigh myself on the first day, but since I did start weighing myself, I am down about 8 pounds total. Not bad for two weeks. If I could keep up this pace, I'd be at my goal by November. I'm sure I will hit a plateau or two, but all in all, I am quite happy especially when I am wearing some jeans comfortably that were just a litte too tight a few weeks ago.