First 5k.......check

I am elated that I actually ran in a 5k.  I truly never thought I would ever get to say that!  When you get rid of an extra 30 pounds, it's rather amazing what your body is more capable of doing. 

Two fantastic women that inspire me and I was fortunate enough to run with today.

I woke up about an hour before the alarm clock, was able to go back to sleep and got out of bed when the alarm went off.  Everything was laid out, all I had to do was stay calm, follow the list in my mind of what I needed to do and all would be fine.  My best cheerleader and running buddy texted me first thing and I shared that I wanted to be sick.  Just race day jitters, right?  She gave me a way to deflect and it came in handy at one point.

Hubby was great, supportive, calm, camera in hand.  My mom and dad came out and cheered me on.  Great friends racing and a great group of family and friends cheering all of us along. 

Everything I read said to take pre race pic, so here I am :)

Shortly after this was taken, as we were getting ready to start, met a very neat lady from Bradenton.  This was also her 1st 5k, she was running in it for her son who is autistic, running alone.  Debby and Pam talked both of us thru the start and what to anticipate.  This nice lady came and found us after the finish, great experience.

Last night I worked and worked on my playlist, strategically placing songs based on where I should be pacing.  I labored over the thing a bit too much for a 3 mile run.  But knowing my competitive nature, I knew I had to come up with some way to pace myself.  It worked.


Enjoying my playlist and telling my Dad what I'm listening too....I so love great music!

Race starts, things are moving along, I'm staying with some, getting passed by others, passing a few of my own.  As we are making a sharp turn, I determined something about my future in running.  I either need to be faster, grow taller, or just not run when there will be a lot of men. 

I'm not a tall person, ok I'm short (or as a friend once said "fun size").  Normally this doesn't bother me, but when you are crammed into a small space and everyone is trying to move along (think crowded football stadium) I am armpit height to a lot of smelly armpits!  So, I need to work out a strategy for that next race, walking no problem, I'm pretty fast at that, running, new ball game....

I paced myself really well, stayed within my 10-11 minute mile range I was shooting for.  We came out of the main park we were running at and I totally got distracted.  I started heading towards my family, no that wasn't the course.  Had to double time it a bit to get back on course.

I did walk a tiny bit of the last 1/2 mile, I really wanted to finish strong and new I had to breathe for two cones in order to do that (staying in my 10-11 min pace as well.)  But I did it!  I finished!  I have a PR now, pretty funny considering a couple weeks ago I had to Google that to determine what all these runners were talking about on their blogs (Personal Record.)

Headed to the finish with my Mom cheering me on (I so love her!)

All in all, great experience!  I really enjoyed the running and knowing the money was going for a good cause.  I am so grateful for Pam and Debby and all the support my friends have been giving me.  My hubby rocks, he was super patient even when the race was over and I was chatting with lot's of people.

Recapping and celebrating 1st 5k with Pam and Mom

So, my 5k PR is 32:25 with an average pace of 10:36.  Best pace of 8:19 (maybe for 2 seconds while escaping armpits?)  I'm already excited for the next one and seeing how I improve.  October I'm going to do another 5k for Heart Disease with several more running ladies I hope. 

Greatest moment for me was when my play list hit a certain song and all I could think was, "Thank you Lord for giving me legs and helping me each step of the way."  I truly am blessed.

Temperature Dropping

I completely enjoyed my run this morning.  The temperature was a bit cooler, full moon, great run!  I worked a few more speed drills in and finished stronger than I anticipated considering I stayed up too late last night and ate dessert (shhh!  don't tell.)

With cooler temperatures and the seasons ahead, I know how busy schedules are getting.  It's evidenced by my calendar and trying to sync it up with everyone else's calendars.  Football games, holiday events, women's retreats (I'm really looking forward to running at the beach in just a little over a week), events I want to participate in, events I need to participate in, general fun I want to have.  Then there are those things I know are profitable.  Decisions, decisions, decisions....

I'm working on saying "no" more often.  "Working" is the key phrase in that sentence.  I'm finding that I am often stretched a bit more than what is likely good for me, the fam, my friends, and the list goes on.  Yes, I know several of you have warned me about this, often.  Yet, I still find myself in these little quandaries where I'm  having to make those tough decisions.  My great friend A and I have had the conversation many a times, that just because we are capable of doing something doesn't necessarily mean we should be the ones to do it.  Yet we still argue with ourselves, to offer my time and services or to keep them to myself.

Isn't that the whole reason I wanted to get healthier, so I would have the ability to help others.  But as with all things, there must be proper balance.  Ahhhh, Balance....must work on that some more!

Overall, excited about my first 5k this weekend.  Grateful that God took great care of my mom today, the gall bladder is gone and now recovery begins.  Next week I get to start working on the next level of training.....10k then Half Marathon!  Bring on the open road!

Monday Monday.....

I fully understand now why I do my running first thing in the morning.  This morning I woke up in time and did my 3 miles, added in some short speed work.  Great run, good heart rate, finished in ample time.  All in all, great run.

Then things started going down hill......I couldn't find paperwork I needed, couldn't find choices I wanted for some proposals I was working on.  I feel like I've hit a brick wall and I'm so ready for bed.  Not an option!

Great value in getting out of bed early enough to get the running in.  I can't imagine if I hadn't, this evening I would be dying!

So excited, I run Wednesday and then my first 5k will be on Saturday!  I'm a bit nervous and excited.  My primary goal, FINISH.  Secondarily, stay absolutely injury free.  I need to make sure my little competitive streak doesn't get in the way of staying healthy!

Sorry no pics, hopefully some from this weekend!  Oh and first day of no sodas, excellent so far!

Healthy Habits

After another three day weekend of a family member getting ill and ending up in the hospital (she's ok, the gall bladder must go), I've decided that every month I'm going to add a new healthy habit to my lifestyle. 

Over the summer I changed several habits: eating only lean proteins and veggies, exercise (which I now enjoy), and drinking less soda.  Now that we are looking autumn in the face, I think a new healthy habit a month should be achievable. 

Starting Monday I'm going to stop drinking sodas, entirely!  I have cut way back, but typically will have one a day.  They are always diet, but they are still bad for me.  So no sodas in September!

 I love the holidays, I know they are fast approaching and I know there will be a ton of food that I LOVE!  I'm not going to deprive myself, just not going to over indulge as I normally do. 

But now that I've committed to this idea of adding healthy habits, I actually have to figure out some healthy habits to add.... research time!

C25K.....check.....now what?

Today I finished the couch to 5k program. I followed it to-a-t, dieted, and am on my way to dropping the last 10 pounds I need to take off.

Why, you might ask, am I now writing a blog? Well, this morning as I was running I started writing this post in my head. Then the rest of the blog started forming. You see, I'm just not what one might call athletic. Over the last 9 weeks, I can honestly say I have fallen in love with running. I feel better than ever, I have become a bit obsessed with running blogs, running accessories, all things running related.

You see, I'm a bit of an over achiever, type A, love to work, wife, mom, sister, daughter, friend, student........the list goes on. I have battled with my weight since I was 10. I am not coordinated at all, just ask my friends who were there in 6th grade to watch me break my elbow while flying a kite....seriously. During college I achieved what I thought was a great weight. Wedding day, oh yeah I went on a major diet and looked great. But truly, this was an absolute roller coaster.

Over 2 years ago, while shopping with my mom and daughter, I had a major seizure, fractured my skull in 3 places, perfectly fractured my eardrum in my left ear (I hate to do things halfway). After another seizure in the ER, transfer to Shands Hospital, week of tests that I have just one little memory of, there was no medical reason for this. This is common for women in their late 20's and beyond to have happen, the only thing they can attribute this to is stress. Really? I hate answers like that, but that's all I got.

The Lord truly had a plan for this event in my life, especially after being told multiple times how close to ending my life this event came. My hubby was perfect (even while sleep deprived, stretched, woken up due to massive leg cramps.) My family was amazing, my church family did more than I could have imagined, the prayers alone were more than enough!

The one question that stuck with me...what are your hobbies? When I answered reading, the neurologist said, no, that's not a real hobby......I didn't like that answer either, as I love to get lost in a great book.

In the months and months to follow, I kept adding weight, my doctor put me on cholesterol medicine because that was climbing. Every time I heard the same thing "Stephanie, you really need to lose weight and get some exercise.". No kidding.....but I don't like to exercise and I love food....no really I LOVE food!

A friend of ours started biking last year, did P90x and dropped a ton of weight. He truly inspired my hubby and I to get the DVDs. So we tried that. Let me just say, I really don't do the superman/banana moves justice. I think I spent too much time laughing at myself. So, then our buddy Steve took my hubby biking. Dave got hooked, the next thing I know we are all biking.

Quick side note, my hubby has only fluctuated 10 lbs in the 10 years we have been married. He now weighs 5 lbs more than he did when we got married. I on the other hand have fluctuated well over 40 pounds in those same 10 years.

So, we start mountain biking (totally love Santos Trails in Ocala and the fact that we live 15 minutes from the trailhead!). Dave is progressing, Ky (our daughter) is great at it. I enjoyed it, but really didn't see myself improving or losing any weight.

I go to church with some amazing people. Two of the women ran in The Disney Princess Half Marathon earlier this year. A couple months ago they talked our pastors wife to run in the Half marathon next year, if they could get 12 women from our church committed to do it also. So, these amazing women started asking around, telling us how much fun it was, showing us the medal they received for finishing it. There's something about shiny sparkly things that just makes a girl smile! So they told me about C25k.

This was shortly after my very good friend Lisa and I decided to challenge each other to lose 30 lbs, (you'll have to read my bio for the cause for that challenge) so we began the program in hopes to complete the half marathon in February 2012. Now, there are several of us encouraging one another, and my best cheerleader and running accountability partner, Amber, helped me prepare the schedule for the next segment of training.

I'm going to run in my first 5k on Sept 17, so we'll see how it goes. If you're reading this, welcome to the beginning of my journey. Where will it go? Not totally sure right now. I've titled my blog "Faith Run" because my greatest desire is to live my daily life trusting God and running hard after Him. Do I always succeed, well NO! Does that mean I give up, NO WAY! So, my running is actually about more than my physical health. I'm now down 28 lbs and I want to lose another 10 now. Lace up because I'm running, are you coming with me?