Day 130 - 38.18

Ok, so that number doesn't represent a Bible verse or a chapter in any book I'm reading...hmmmm....just what is that number and what does it mean?

To me, it means BUCKET LIST, as in.....I ticked off 1 of my items :)

No, it doesn't represent that I ate 38.18 ding dongs, or walked 38.18 miles (YIKES! Not adding that to my bucket list!) Okay, enough with the games.....it represents.....(sorry, I may need a drumroll here, as this is pretty exciting to me....)

MY 5K TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As Hannah Isabel says, I DEED IT! or I DID IT!!!

I spent the last week in NY working....whew and it was a lot of working, that is for sure!
But I kept up the running, trying to push a bit harder each day as I knew this weekend I was signed up for not 1, but 2 (AM I CRAZY???? YES!!!!) 5K's!

So on Friday, my friend, Brenda and I ran along the Hudson River up through Battery Park...although we weren't sure, I thought it seemed pretty close to 3 miles.......or at least hoped so to prepare for this weekend....

On Saturday, Kelly, Jenny (one of my "non biological" daughters :)) and I (along with my sister, and nieces, Allison and Molly) ran in the Ferguson "LIVE WELL" 5K.....

Kelly and Jenny were kind enough to pace their running with mine....and together we crossed the finish line at, you guessed it: 38 minutes, 18 seconds... running the whole time! WOW, what an accomplishment from someone that couldn't run up my hill most of my life! The weather was cool and didn't rain after all, so it worked out great!

Then again this morning, Kelly and I headed to Forest Park for the GIRLS ON THE RUN 5k....Kelly is a coach for this great organization, which empowers young girls, among other things, with their health.....Unlike Ferguson, which had a nice size crowd of about 800 participants, there had to be a couple thousand here! Kelly, Carrie (another "non biological daughter" - I adore my daughter's friends!) and I ran together on this one....we tried to run with the girls at the school where Kelly is coaching but with the HUGE crowd, it was impossible, plus they were with their parents, etc....

This one had a few more hills than yesterday, especially the 1/8 mile hill at about the 2.5 mile marker but we plowed through and finished again without walking! YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was breathless in St. Louis (get it, sleepless in Seattle!?) when I crossed the finish line!

As I sit here typing and counting up the miles I have run this week, I am shocked and thrilled....no, I don't want to be a marathon runner or even run every day....but I do want to continue to work hard to stay in shape and run along the way! This journey is truly a testimony to what you can do if you put your mind (and your feet!) to it! Believe me, it wasn't EASY to get started but worth every ache and pain (I'll remind myself of that when I can't move in the morning....)

This getting healthy journey is awesome.....I have never felt so good in my entire life....but my true message is....to those reading this that have been in this place for a long time AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, kudos to you.....wish you would have hit me over the head a long time ago.....but I know now that no matter what you did or said, it had to be ME MAKING THE DECISION TO GET IT DONE....

For those still "on the couch" or "on the fence" still choosing ding dongs (and I understand, because I like them too :)) over workouts.....WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! Ding dongs will never be completely off the market for you.....but the opportunity to get in shape before life hits you with another challenge because of your weight and inactive lifestyle may slip away....don't let that happen....

So just for today, make a decision FOR you instead of AGAINST you......Just change 1 thing this week towards a healthier lifestyle...but the trick is, once you change it, you can't go back! So if your decision is to start drinking more water, don't do it 1 day and then stop......Ok, clock is ticking, what's it going to be?!

On another note, I said I would weigh in every couple of weeks and I did......I was a bit afraid as when I was in NY, I wasn't quite as clean as last visit.....but I did workout every day except 1 and also made sure I did get in some healthy eating.....so the scale was kind and actually went down a bit :)

158.2 pounds.....
Now, just figuring out how to keep it there....
Have a wonderful week!

Day 122 - Keep on moving......

Well, I did it! Today I only had a little bit of time to fit in some "running" (or trotting as I call it)....Kelly and Charlotte said they would come along....I took off first as Kelly was getting ready and said she would meet me at the top of the hill (on our street) with Charlotte....

I took off, walking past the first 3 houses, just to get my heart pumping and then started the "trot"....and went to 7 Pines Drive and back WITHOUT STOPPING! YAHOO! My first "non stop" 2 mile run :)....

2 miles may be "peanuts" to most people, but I'm telling you, before this whole LOSE A TON thing, I barely could walk the dang 2 miles.....now I can TROT them - haha!

This just reminds me what I have "relearned" through this whole experience. YOU can do what YOU put your mind to....Kelly and I were talking about that earlier today...what a difference from a year ago, where I am right now with my physical strength and endurance... I have a long way to go, but have come a long way!

I'm just continually amazed at where the strength REALLY comes from.....that little thing sitting on top of your shoulders.....as I mentioned in our last airing on SHOW ME ST. LOUIS......If you can get your mind to do it, your feet will follow!!!

Had a great evening with some old friends.....It's so surreal when I see people I haven't seen for a while and they are so surprised to see the weight I have lost.....I'm kind of used to this weight now and actually, although I'm proud of what I have accomplished, still see that I have work left to do! But for those that have been used to seeing me padded with another 30 plus pounds on for many years, they are now calling me "skinny".....

SKINNY!?!?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? I haven't heard that word associated with me for 100 years! Unless someone asked me if I wanted a "skinny cow" ice cream treat or something like that!? Although I am FAR from skinny, I must admit when someone uses that word, it does bring a smile to my face, almost a laugh, as SKINNY and MAUREEN have never been much of a pair.....

So tomorrow is Mother's Day - I'm so thankful that I'm a Mother to 2 such amazing young, beautiful women! And GRANDmother to 2 such amazing, young beautiful babies!!! How blessed can 1 person get! Although they are now in Heaven, I also had 2 amazing beautiful women to look up to - 1 was my mom, Marie - and the other was my mother in law- Mary.....2 ladies that I adored and respected and couldn't have asked for better role models!!!

I head to NY tomorrow for 6 days for work....It will be a very busy hectic schedule for sure...but I will enjoy the adventure.....

Just for now, enjoy your adventure, whatever it may be this week! But most of all, CHERISH your mom if you are BLESSED enough to still have her physically in your life....for those of us whose mothers have passed on, CHERISH the beautiful memories of your MOM....Happy Mother's day and God bless and keep all mothers wise and strong and full of the love they so freely give away!!!

Day 116 - 159 pounds!

What next?!!?!?!?!?!

Friday's final airing was wonderful......Diane, 57 years young, WON it all! Thanks for winning it for the "seniors in the contest", Diane!!! Kathleen came in 2nd and Taira in 3rd....all amazing, wonderful women and now friends! I'm so happy for them and for all of us, as we gave it our all and are now in a new healthier place!

Out of the "at home contestants", I came in 3rd, behind Becky and Cassie...man, I was only 1 percentage away from 2nd place....I'll attribute that to my dang broken foot, but still quite happy and proud of my 30 pound weight loss! But it's not over?!?!!? Many of us said that on Friday...

So what next!? How do we keep it going.....

After the show, a few of us went to have a celebration drink (and 1 person had a celebration dessert - not me, believe it or not - ha!) with JC, the cute, sweet head trainer throughout this competition.
It was great sitting around, celebrating our hard work and laughing and sharing....but the 1 theme that continued to come out, was THIS IS NOT OVER! All 5 of the contestants there all said the same thing, we have more weight to lose and we are not stopping!

I have thought a lot about this and wondered how can I make THIS TIME different from other times when I have lost weight and eventually gained it back....

Well, 1 painful way, that I have decided is that I will continue this BLOG, and post my weight every 2 weeks, just like the other weigh ins...that will help keep me in check....so if it goes down, YAY, and if it goes UP, then time to stop and figure it out........With all my friends doing the weight loss thing, I figured, I can get gets of advice when it goes up....you know, I'm not just writing this blog to GIVE advice, but rather to SHARE what works and what doesn't....to SHARE the ups and the downs.....

It was a very busy 1st week back from vacation....I was off Monday, but cancelled my vacation day on Tuesday and after about three 12hour work days, Friday finally came....My dear friend found out her boyfriend is in stage 4 cancer, so prayers for George please.....so instead of gym time this week, I found myself working late and then heading out to dinner with my friend while she was in town...I wouldn't have had it any other way, she is so dear and definitely didn't want her to go back to the hotel and be alone.....Friday was the show and celebration so by Saturday, I knew I needed to HIT IT HARD! But instead on Saturday, I headed back into the office and spent the entire day there...by 615p, I left the office and went to the grocery store and came home....thinking oh oh, this isn't the way to keep the weight off!

So this morning, I got up and got moving.....first Buster, my 10 year old overweight pup, and I took just a short trip down the street and back...that's as far as he can go....Next up was Charlotte, my "granddog" that would run until the "cows come home" whatever that means....you get where I'm going....

So I told Charlotte, okay, girl, make me sweat on this one....so off we went up the hill, a few houses and we started the run.....about half way into my usual 2 mile walk, I decided to mix it up a bit and push myself harder, especially knowing I hadn't done much this week, so I changed the course and off we went.....By the time we got home, we had done 4 miles.....and I figured out that I had run 2.9 of those 4 miles and walked the other 1.1 mile -WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that is what I'm talking about.......It feels GOOD!

Along the way today while walking, I met Becky, with her 2 sweet labs and for those that know me, it isn't hard to believe that we stopped and talked for probably 30 minutes.....all because we were letting our dogs say "hello" first - ha! Becky and I hit it off, and the conversation flowed from 1 subject to the next....she is an extremely smart, talented young woman, who, like so many others, is unemployed right now, but looking for work..in the meantime, she has gotten her 2 sweet labs certified for "touch therapy" at the Siteman Cancer Center....funny how 1 disappointment in life (getting laid off) can lead to 1 of the MOST REWARDING THINGS SHE HAS EVER DONE IN HER LIFE!

Made me think alot about this today....and I came to the conclusion....that life throws you a lot of curves, you all know what I'm talking about...those challenges that knock you down, scare you, take the wind out of your sail......what I truly understand now, is that it isn't the CHANGES in life that make you who you are, it is YOUR RESPONSE to those CHANGES in life that really shape your life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just for today, think about that the next time that life throws you a big old curve ball........how will you RESPOND?! How will your life be forever CHANGED!?! It's all up to you on how you want to RESPOND and CHANGE your life.................Thanks for taking this journey with me....hope you can continue......would love to hear from you...what is working, what isn't and what we should do next!?!

Have a great Sunday.....I already have and it's only half over!!