Reflections on 2009!

2009 was my year! It was the year where I PR'ed at each of the three half-marathons I did. It was the year of my first half-marathon that I traveled any distance to do that was an amazing experience! It was the year of my first full marathon. It was the year that I hit my goal weight at Weight Watchers. It was a year where I watched myself change from 206.4 (my weight at my last weigh in of 2008) to my current weight of 164! It was also the year that saw me turn 40 at my healthiest and fittest ever!

I do know that I have a lot of will power and a lot of drive to get me to where I wanted to be, but I could not have done it without the wonderful support of my hubby! He has a schedule that allows him to be home before I am so he cooks, cleans and does the grocery shopping. He makes it possible for me to leave work and go to the gym on the way home by taking care of Logan's needs We sit down a plan out a menu and he makes it happen. On Sundays after shopping we make little individual serving sizes of my basic lunch stuff and cut up veggies for the week. He is the rock at home that makes my life easier so I can spend the time taking care of my needs. Thank you so much for being there for me this year! Here is to many more years with you my dear!

I don't know what 2010 has in store for me, but I'm anxious to find out!

A quick weigh in post!

I gained this week - 2.4 pounds to be exact - but like my future Daughter in law says - it is all Macaroni and Cheese - I can not resist my moms homemade mac and cheese. There was other things for Christmas dinner, but I didn't have much of anything else! Mainly Mac and Cheese! It was a rough week food wise and an even rougher week workout wise. I still need to get into my grove with the new activities and I also depended too much on getting activity on Saturday and my bike ride I had planned ended up not working out because I found I don't have the right things to wear for cold weather biking! My bike ride was supposed to be around 2 hours and it ended up being 30 minutes! This week will be much better and I will get some of this gain back off! It puts my weight at 166 and that is exactly 2 pounds above my goal and I'm not happy with that at all! I also don't much like the way my body feels right now. I'm very sluggish, my tummy isn't very happy and I feel dehydrated.

I'm doing half a Duathlon!

I would love to say I'm doing all the Duathlon - but I will remain good and not run until released by the doctor = so there is a New Years Duathlon on January 2nd and one of my running buddies will be doing the running part for me and I will do the bike! I'm excited because this will get me out of my comfort zone. I have never cycled in an event before, I will also learn a bit about transition areas in Duathlons, and Triathlons and it sounds like a ton of fun! I'm very excited! I now have a short term goal for the next two weeks and I have a long term goal! I'm set!

Oh and I bought a TYR swimsuit yesterday! I can't believe I can fit into a TYR swimsuit! Yes it shows off my trouble areas more than my regular suit, but if I'm going to be serious about the Tri thing I needed a good sport suit!

Weigh in Day!

This mornings weight was 163.6 - I'm down .8 from last week and .2 under what I weighed in at goal on December 6th. It was a challenging week with lots of food at work (which I only indulged in a little bit) and then on Friday we went out to dinner to celebrate my oldest graduating from college. I made great choices and I'm very happy with my loss this week.

The coming week will also be challenging - I'm going out to late lunch/early dinner today at the cheesecake factory and then Christmas eve will be spent at the in-laws and Christmas day at my parents. There will be lots of food around and I'm going to try and make the best choices I can. I'm just going to take each day as it comes.

The one thing I wasn't really happy with was my lack of activity this week - I earned no activity points this week. One problem I have been having this week besides motivation is the fact that right now I don't really have a "goal" - I need to be training for something to keep me out there and with the ankle injury I can't run, so that puts another added challenge in there. I have decided that for this week I will get myself to the gym at least twice, Next Saturday I'm planning a bike ride and for my long term goal I have my eye on a Tri-For-Fun on June 5th - it is a .5 mile swim – 16 mile bike – 3 mile run. My wild card is the swim, I have not been in a pool much so I need to get going with the swim training!

Weigh in Day!

So I'm now 5 weeks to lifetime! My weigh in today was up .6 - at first I was not OK with that, but after thinking about the amazing losses I have had the past four weeks I figure it was probably my body going "Whoa Nellie!" On maintenance I'm supposed to add 4 points to my daily target and I didn't do that since I still want to hit the 100 pound loss mark, but it was also a challenging week with pizza and See's candy at work and bunco night on Friday. I used up all my points and all of the activity I had earned and went over by a half a point. I have struggled with the activity this week as well. I don't have a set schedule down like I did when I was running. I need to get my butt to the gym and get on the bike! All I have to do is not go over my goal weight by more than 2 pounds and I will be lifetime in 5 weeks! This week will prove to be challenging as well I'm afraid - tonight I have the Sacfit banquet and on Friday we are going out to BJ's Brewery to celebrate my oldest sons college graduation! I have found very limited nutrition info on BJ's so if anyone knows where I can find it let me know! I want to go in to the place with a plan!

One last goal picture!

Hopefully you can see the picture - it is what my E-tools said to me when I put my weight in on Sunday! Yes I'm a big geek and I sat here taking pictures of my computer screen! LOL!! I love the stars!!

A day I will never forget!

So after a very stressful week of weighing myself when I shouldn't have and being way more stressed than I needed to be because of the number on the scale - here is the scale at my weigh in this morning! Good thing I invited all those people!! LOL!! I hit goal!!!

Official stats for those keeping track at home? Current weight 163.8 - Loss this week of 1.6 - Total loss - 98.7 pounds!

The meeting was an emotional blur - there was some very nice things said about me - again - when did I become this person? I know it seems weird, but I have been doing this for myself - not really for anyone else, but if I can help people along the way then BONUS! I got a really neat picture frame from my leader since I always carry a before picture with me they want me to have a frame for "The first day of my after"! It was so nice to have my family there, my parents and my older son and his fiance braved the cold and early hours and came out. I also invited a few other people who had been important to me and my journey and they came as well! This pic is my leader Cara on my left and Carol on my right. On a side note - when I met Carol and found out she was a runner it inspired me to run and she ran her first marathon because she wasn't going to let me do a full marathon before her!

And then as if the day wasn't already emotional - my parents dropped me off in the freezing cold so I could do my leg of the CIM relay! I had the last leg and the rest of my team did so great! The pressure was really off me to run fast and I could just enjoy the ride! CIM is amazing - I can't wait until next year so I can run the whole thing! After I finished I walked a couple of miles back out to bring in a teammate that was struggling - CIM has a course limit and she was behind that which means she was on the sidewalk and had to wait for traffic lights and such, but she did it! It was so cool being out there cheering people in, watching people make their goals and just giving back to the people who had supported me 3 weeks ago when I ran my first marathon!

This is me and Leslie - one of my relay team members waiting for the person to come in to hand off to me!

It was a very long, emotional, (and cold) day - so after going to Fresh Choice to eat I came home, took a hot bath and snuggled under the electric blanket and took a nap. I got up in time to watch about an hour of TV and then it was bedtime!

Fit by Forty? You Betcha!!

So today (December 3rd) is my 40th birthday! I can hardly believe how much I have accomplished in the years between 37 and 40. I never really intended to be "fit by forty" but here I am - 97+ pounds lost - thousands of miles ran - 5 half marathons - 1 full marathon - numerous other races and training runs - a new bike with many miles on it - a whole new way of looking at food and fueling my body - a treadmill that isn't a coat rack - I feel great - I have more self-esteem - I have more confidence - my goal weight is right around the corner - I'm a stronger woman mentally and physically and last but not least I'm a good role model for my children.

Thanks for supporting me in my journey everyone!

A quote leading up to a big weekend!

This weekend I will be running my last run for a little while - I have an injured ankle and I have been cleared by my sports medicine doctor to run my leg of the relay, but then I need to give my ankle the time it needs to heal. Probably two months of no running - just cycling or swimming and my PT exercises that I have been given. I am thankful that I have not injured myself badly enough that I can't run the relay and thankful that the injury isn't a permanent thing and will heal. The injury will also mean I will not be able to coach for about the first month of the new season with Sacfit - but they can't get rid of me, I will be out there on my bike supporting the runners all that I can!

Our "Rowdy Red" running group coach sent out the last email we will get from her this season. I say that like I won't see her ever again, but I'm blessed to not only call her "coach", but "friend" She is one of the great ladies that is making my dream of running a leg of the CIM relay come true and has been there every step of the way to see me meet my goal of running my marathon 3 weeks ago.

She sent out this quote and it is just perfect in every way - in every part of this journey I have taken. Thanks Betsy!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

--- Marianne Williamson