The Big F-ing Run!

So I did it. I f-ing did it! I ran my 10K. Without stopping, without doubting myself, with complete confidence in myself. I didn't even know I could do it. I realize that I have been training for weeks now, but I wasn't sure I would be able to do it. It was quite an amazing feeling.

I decided that because I am a pretty slow runner I should go near the back of the pretty large pack. This was a good idea. I paced myself well and never felt tired. The guy that won passed me when I had just hit the 2 mile mark... which means he was at the 4 mile mark. It made me feel REALLY slow! Anyway. I was making great time. at the 3.1 mile mark I was just under 35 minutes. That is just a few seconds faster than I ran my 5K a few weeks ago so I knew I was doing great.


I wish I had a camera with me while I was running. There a woman in front of me at the beginning  of the race. She was a HOT mess! She had on what I think were running tights, but possibly could have real tights. She didn't have on any underwear. Wanna know how I know that? Because her running tights were SEE THROUGH! I could see her whole entire ass! The whole thing people! It was not at all a pretty sight. I had to pass her because I could not stop staring at her ass. It was like an, an... I don't know what it was like. It was just ugly.


At the 4 mile mark I was beginning to feel a little fatigued. I even tried to stop for a second to catch my breath, but there was something pushing me to keep going. It literally felt like someone had their hands on me pushing me forward. It actually gave me a sense of renewal. It was a real pick me up. 
I also knew that at the end of the race I had people who really loved me there to cheer for me. Bob, and his partner Bill, my brother Christopher, and my boyfriend Mike. For some reason, I did not take a picture with my brother... weird.

 Aren't I a lucky lady? I mean to have all these great people here!

So, I finished the race in 1:11:20. My goal was 1:10... Now too far off eh? I am very proud of myself. I haven't felt this good about myself in a really long time!

=)

a little bit blah...

I'm feeling a little bit down today. I just haven't felt myself for a few days. It is a real icky feeling. My 10K is in a few days, but I am not all that excited for it. I was looking forward to running it with my brother, but then at Easter he admitted that he has not trained at all. It was disappointing to say the least. I guess I had this image of us running together. I don't even know if he is going to try running. I also thought I would have people there at the end cheering me on, but I don't think that will happen. I guess I am just feeling sad for myself tonight. 


Tomorrow is my last practice run before the big race. I hope that I don't run into any creatures like I did last week!

These two turkeys were on the path in my way. I started running towards at them thinking that they would get the hell outta my way. The female turkey flew up into the trees, but the big make turkey just turned around and stood his ground. I know from other's stories, that male turkeys can be mean. I decided that I would act like a crazy bird and get him off the path. I started flapping my "wings" and screaming, "get out of my way turkey!" There were some screams too. I wish someone would have been there to witness this awesome "crazy bird" move by me. It was quite possibly one of my finest moments!


=)

Ugh! Running is taking it's toll!

I just got done with my worst run to date. I just can't get my mindset to change. All I think about when I run is how much my back is going to hurt when I am done running. Seriously! Every time my foot hits the ground, my back cries a little more. If I didn't have a 10K in twelve days, I would probably quit running now. I paid and trained my ass off for that race, and I am not going to quit on it now. On April 23, I will take a much needed break and then go back to my regular working out regiment on April 24th. I just wish my back didn't hurt at all. I wish that I could figure out a way to get rid of the pain. I thought that after losing all of the weight that I have lost, my f-ing back would get better. It is so aggravating. 


On a better note, I am so happy with my relation with Mike. He is such a good man. He makes me laugh and smile and snort all of the time. I am really feeling lucky to have found him. 

Easter flowers from Mike

We are so cute!

What a goofy man!

 I don't know what else to say about him except this: I am totally falling for this guy! Oh geeze, I said it! Last week I made him meet my family. My sister and two of her kids came to Illinois to visit us. It was a surprise visit. On Friday I had already made plans to eat sushi with my sister-in-law and was surprised that my sister was there too. It was very cool.

Darren and a lemon

Darren and Shea

Colleen and creepy Danny

So, I called Mike.... well I texted him. Anyway, he drove up to my brother's house and spent the evening with my family. I hope they all like him. I know that Anjali, my sister-in-law, said she did. My sister said something about that fact that Mike looked like a golfer. Yes, yes he did. In fact, he came directly from the golf course! We then spent part of Saturday together at my friend Liz's house, and we spent Easter together. We had  a whole lot of together time! I don't want to go on and on, but he's a pretty cool guy and I am excited for what's to come. After the last break-up, I feel like I deserve a great guy like Mike. 

=)

Some really, really big news

I have been dreaming about this for years. I thought that it was something that I could only wish for, but after yesterday In know that it is in the cards for me.


Yesterday I went and and had a consultation at a plastic surgeon to get the excess skin removed from my upper arms. The skin is something that has made me so sad in the past couple of years. I cannot even wear certain shirts anymore because all this nasty skin hangs out. Now I know that all of you will be looking at my arms, but please try not to!


I am so thankful for my parents. They have been so supportive since I first started talking about having this surgery a few months ago. I wouldn't be able to have the surgery without them. They are such great people and I am the luckiest girl to have such great parents.


I haven't made an appointment yet for the surgery, but I will tomorrow. I am thinking that I will have the surgery the minute school gets out. That is going to be maybe June 4th or so. I seriously couldn't be more excited. 


The downside of this surgery is that I will be out of commission for 4-6 weeks. I won't be able to exercise and stuff. I believe this is a small price to pay. The doctor also mentioned the scars that I will get from the surgery will be noticeable, but you know what? I don't give a shit! If I can wear shirts and feel good about myself, then it will be all worth it for me. 


In other news, I decided that because I didn't run a long run on Sunday, I should probably do it today. So, I did. I ram six miles. The first five were great, but that last one was hell. My knees were killing and it was getting really cold and windy out. At mile 5 I was cursing myself for deciding to run a long run today. Ugh! I did reward myself with a bag of Craisins. There were delicious. 


=)

THE 5k and the big number...

So I did it. I ran my first race, and you know what? I like it. I really did. It felt amazing to compete and pass people on the course. Because I have been reading a bunch of running and weight loss blogs, I kind of knew what to expect. Everyone says, "don't start out too fast or you will have to stop. Keep your normal pace." So that it what I did, except I think I may have been going too slow. At the one mile mark I was at 11:55, ugh exsqueeze me? That's like 30 seconds slower than I normally run. Therefore, I picked it up a little. I really like passing the people that started out too fast. They all ran by me in the very beginning and then on the back half I passed most of them. I wanted to kick my dust in their faces!


Bahahahaha! I 


Here are my stats from the race:


Finish: 35:19
Pace:  11:23
Overall place: 223
Age Group: 23


Not great, but not too shabby either.


Garrett ran the 5k too and finished in 28 minutes. What a dick. Haha. The man didn't even train! Molly walked the two mile walk. It was so much fun, I cannot wait for my 10k in three weeks!


In other great news, I have LOST 100 POUNDS! What! Yeah! Yeah! I weighed myself on Thursday morning and almost fell off the scale. After my Spring Break fun I didn't think I would be able to get to this milestone this week. I can't tell you all how big a moment this is for me. When I started on this journey three years ago, I never thought I would actually get here. At that point in my life I was so sad about the state of my body and feeling that I could never be happy. May 6, 2009 was the best day of my life. It's the day I decided to make a change. A change that I have never regretted. I think that one of my blogs in the future will be something like 100 things that are different after 100 pounds. It will take me awhile to compile said list.


I also have some more exciting news. I have met a great guy. I mean it, a fabulous guy. He's a teacher in another district, tall, handsome, funny, and a good kisser. I haven't felt this way about someone in many years. He makes me laugh and he understands me. Anyway, it's just something I am very excited and happy about. 


=)

It's been a week, but So much has happened!

I have had such an amazing spring break! I don't remember the last time I had such a good time. I really do have amazing friends and thank God that I have been blessed with such great people in my life. We were down in Creole Springs, Illinois on Lake of Egypt. I just realized that I took zero pictures of the lake. What a dummy I am! The house we stayed in was right on the damn thing, you'd think I would have taken a picture! I guess I have one with the lake in the background!

Garrett's uncle let us use the house for a few days. The house was way better than I expected. It was four bedrooms, two baths, it had a down stairs sun room and an upstairs screened in  sun room. It had a huge deck that faced the lake. It was just wonderful.

We arrived late on Wednesday evening and just chillaxed. We drank a little and just hung out and had girl talk. This girl talk might have been a little uncomfortable for Garrett!

Bill and his friend Sam arrived on Thursday morning and we immediately decided to go geocaching. Go to this Link to find out more about geocaching. When we were looking for one of the geocaches we came across a washed out road. Well we thought it was washed out, but really it had a waterfall. It's hard to explain. Here are a few pictures to help you see.

It was quite an amazing sight to see a road just end and then a waterfall where one would think there should be a guard rail or something. After this, we got back on the road and found more geocahches and then saw the signs. The signs for wineries.Oh yeah, it was on! We visited two wineries. One was Bella Terra and the other is Windy Hill. I loved the wine at Bella Terra, but the wine at Windy Hill was yucky! I bought three bottles of the wine from Bella Terra. We went back to the house and started drinking. It was 4 pm. Yes, 4 pm. Needless to say, we were all in bed by 10 that night. That's a lot of drinking for me! I hardly ever drink, ya know! It was a lot of fun!

 We were supposed to go climbing on Friday but the weather was just too iffy. We decided to go hiking instead. We headed out to Molly's camp where she worked for a few years because there are a couple of waterfalls on the grounds.

Beautiful, right?

It was just a wonderful experience altogether. Three years ago I wouldn't have been able to do any of this stuff. I wouldn't have even gone. I was just too large and could not have done what I needed to do to get up and down the hills and through somewhat small crevices. I am so glad that I made the decision to change my life three years go.

Today I had a six mile run on my agenda as well as my cousin Morgan's baby shower. I knew the minute I woke up that this run was going to be a difficult one. After hiking up and down tough terrain and driving several hours, my knees were so sore. I was hoping to get a better time than I had last week, but I ended up getting the same exact time. Well, give or take a few seconds! I had to ice my knees after the run because they were hurting.

I then got ready and headed to the city to Morgan's shower. She is a very cute pregnant girl! I didn't take any pictures of her, but she is so adorable. I think I looked pretty as well today.

BTW- I totally omitted how much I overate this Spring break. I feel disgusting and DO NOT want to weigh myself. I will tomorrow, but I know I probably gained 5 pounds. This week will be a workout nightmare for my body!!!

=)

Holy SHIT! I ran six miles today!

Sometimes I amaze myself. I do things I never thought were even possible a few years ago. Today, when I was about to finish my run, I had a moment when I almost started crying. I think I was just overwhelmed with the feeling of accomplishment. I know that I am very fast when it comes to running. I know that sometimes that I have to walk, but I did it. I completed six miles. It was hard, but it felt amazing. 

I ran the Perry Farm Trail, which is a pretty flat trail. There is a small loop that is 1.13 miles and a large loop that is about 1.55 miles. I chose the large loop. I would have to run four of these bad boys to get my six mile day in. A few weeks ago when I ran my first five mile run, I was scared and  dreaded it. This morning I was so excited. I knew deep down in my core that I was going to get this run done and I knew it was going to be a great run. It was warm, but not too warm, it just rained, so there was a fresh clean smell in the air, and there weren't too many people out on the trail yet. I can only assume that these people were at church. It's funny because I feel a whole lot closer to God while I'm out running than I do at church. ANYWAY-- my first three miles were awesome. I was able to get my 5k time down from 37.30 to 35:00. That was pretty awesome. At about 3.5 miles, I hit a wall. I was pretty tired, but I pushed on. At the five mile mark I was like Oh yeah baby! I'm almost done! It was such a great feeling! I finished the six miles in 1:18 minutes. That is a little slower than I wanted, but I did not stop the clock right away. I am not sure how long I let it go, but at this point, it doesn't matter. Overall, today's run felt great.

After my run I had to go to Kennedy's 3rd birthday party. What a great little girl Kennedy is. I bought her a small Lalaloopsy doll. Hopefully she will love it! Here's the birthday girl. 

The theme to the party was The Hungry Little Caterpillar. Bethany, Kennedy's mom and my good friend, made a caterpillar cupcake cake... I didn't take any pics of it, but it was adorable. It was a cute party all together.

Here's a picture of my Shamrock shirt that I wore on Friday.

And a picture of the headband Allison made for me.

Damn, I'm adorable!

Well, it's officially spring break this week! Woo-hoo! I am doing something so important to me on Wednesday. I have been working up the nerve to actually do what I am doing. I will be going to a plastic surgeon for a consultation for skin removal on my arms and stomach. I don't even know if I will be able to afford this, but I have to find out if this is even an option for me. I will also be going to Southern Illinois to go camping with some friends. I have been looking forward to both of these things for awhile now. I couldn't be more excited!

=)