USAF 1/2 Marathon….2014

I do love this race, it’s a fun one.  It’s not too difficult…..it’s also the PR for my full marathon distance, so it does hold a special place in my heart.  I like that it’s a military run.  I get a chance to honor my grandfather every time I run one.  And it’s a local race…..I run (ha ha) into a lot of friends on the course….that’s always fun!  Here’s the sunrise just before the gun goes off.

This year, I have intentionally been pushing myself.  Any excuses that I would of had in the past have been cleared away.  I have just been through the worst (well maybe the 2nd worst) year of my life.  I am far stronger than I ever thought I was capable of being.  And there is no reason to allow myself to be easy on my self.  I am the only one who knows exactly how hard & how far I can go.  I plan on finding out in the next few years.  I have a couple of running goals I plan on achieving in the near future.  I’ll be damned if I get in my own way!

This race was my 17th half marathon.  I did not feel so awesome that morning.  Woke up with a migraine.  Wouldn’t be the first time that has happened, but I was just thankful that I was not throwing up…that has happened in the past!  Took some anti-migraine meds & prayed that I would finish the race.  Oh dear GOD…left me finish the race!

Got to the start, made it all the way to mile 7 before I started to feel kind of gross again, more than just pushing through 7 miles as fast as you can.  I stopped at the 1st Aide station for some advil & away I went.  I do not remember this race course being as hilly as it was this year, so they must have changed it again.  Either way, it’s a beautiful one!  I felt pretty good all the way to the end.  Which is a complete mind game…..you see the finish line for the last mile & half.  And you think you’re a lot closer than you are, but you just..keep…walking….ha ha ha!

I did tear up a bit at mile 12 (you hear the finish line and about a quarter mile later, you see it, finally).  Not because I didn’t think I could, but because I knew I was going to make it.  Sometimes I forget how far I have come.  And I do remember my very first race, sometimes like it was yesterday.  And there have been many races where I wasn’t sure I was going to finish.  This being one of them; who gets up with a migraine & runs a marathon or a half?  Um, this girl…and it’s happened twice now.  I am extremely intrinsically motivated….and something about knowing I was a mile or less away from my 24th long distance medal had me all choked up inside.  I believed I could, so I did.  Knowing you can do something and being so close to the finish line that you can taste it are two completely different things.  And being at that finish line never tasted so good!

It wasn’t a PR or under 3 hours, but it’s pretty damn close & I get another chance in 2 weeks.  Fingers crossed for speedy feet!

Hope, Peace & ZUMBA Love,

Jen 🙂

Weight Loss Challenge…..

“You can have results or you can have excuses.  You cannot have both.”

Weight loss…..ugh, weight loss!  It’s a challenge.  I don’t care who you are or if you’re over weight, under weight or trying to maintain.  It’s hard!  After loosing 70 lbs over 2 years ago….I am abundantly aware of how quickly it can slide back on.  I do not obsess over my weight.  And when I was going through very hard times, I did not stress myself out with unrealistic goals.  As long as I was able to maintain my work out regime and my clothes still fit (while they were starting to get tight), I was OK with myself.  However, I have arrived on the other side of my big challenge and it’s time to put some focus on the 15-20 lbs I have gained back.  While a good 7-10 lbs were water weight (damn you nacho chips!!!), I still had an actual 12 lbs to lose of real weight.  So when a friend asked me to join a weight loss challenge (appropriately names), I gladly accepted.  I am keenly aware of what it took to lose 70 lbs and am not walking into this 12lbs blind.  In fact, I am taking it very seriously.  Why you might ask?  Because 12 lbs doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but it is.  It puts me back where I was when I had reached the GOAL the first time.  I was so happy to be there!  And, it puts me back into a smaller pant size.  But mostly because I feel better at that size.  I have some big marathons & half marathons coming up this racing season & I’m a whole lot faster when I’m not carrying around extra weight.  My body recovers faster too.  Do I need to keep going?  Basically, I do it because I want to be healthy.  I am a role model to my ZUMBA (r) students whether I like it or not.  So, I might as well be a good one for them to follow!  The ones that have been with me for 5 years or more know that I have gained & lost the weight that I have….they know how long it took and what I went through to do it.  If I can do it, they can too.  And I’m not afraid to tell anyone that it was not easy & that it did take a long time!  Why?  because I would be lying to them if I said anything different.

I just recently spent the week on the beach with the family.  After asking my best friend & mom for “size comparisons”; you know what I mean…..”do I look like her?  Am I close to that size?”  And being comfortable enough in my own body to walk around in front of perfect strangers in a 2 piece swim suit (I said 2 piece, NOT bikini…..I’m healthy, not a model…I understand the difference, wish more people on the beach would grasp that concept).  That is something I never would have imagined doing 3 years ago!  Never!  In my head, I still see a very chunky person in the mirror, who is on the morbidly obese scale, but family confirmed that I’m not.  I am not sure my “mental image” of my body will ever really recover to a normal image of myself.  Maybe that’s OK…..I wouldn’t want to think I looked like J.Lo, when really I’m 2-3 times her size.  There is a huge difference in they way those people should be dressing!  Yikes!

So in this weight loss challenge, we have to lose 6% of our weight & earn a certain # of points to “win” and the ante will be divided amongst those that “win”.  So far, I only have 3.95 lbs to go & only 35 pts away from the “win” amount.  I GOT THIS!  🙂  No worries!  When the challenge ends, I’ll keep going for another 10 lbs.  But this was the swift kick in the arse I needed to get it back in gear & back on focus.  It is so easy to let it slide….to let life & stress rule your decisions…..to let the waiter bring you another basket of nacho chips at the Mexican restaurant when you could just as easily say no.

Here is an article that pretty much sums up the rest of what I would say………

5 Signs You’ll Reach Your Weight Loss Goal

If you monitor your weight loss progress, you probably look to your bathroom scale for feedback. Or perhaps you gauge pounds lost by how your clothes feel. While these visible indicators show you’re releasing weight, they don’t reveal the whole story. As any yo-yo dieter knows, these progress markers can come and go. Some other signs of success, however, aren’t so obvious, but once you achieve them they’re with you forever. A missing element in many weight loss approaches is developing your inner strength. You’ll reach your weight loss goal more easily when you erase negativity and doubt from your mind. Here are five signs that prove you’ve done so.

1. You Have Patience Many people feel discouraged when they hit a plateau or the pounds don’t come off fast enough. They then give up too quickly. Permanent weight loss takes time. When you feel defeated re-evaluate your nutrition and exercise plan, and have patience. The longer it takes to release weight, the more time you have to change old ways of thinking that contributed to gaining weight in the first place. Patience helps you do that. You not only lose weight responsibly, you become a more confident person in the process.
2. You Persevere Through Set-backs As you develop new lifestyle habits, you may falter sometimes. We all do. It doesn’t matter that you slip; what matters is what you do about it. Use set-backs as a valuable opportunity to strengthen your strong side. For example, if you missed exercising for several weeks, tell yourself with no judgment, “Tomorrow is a new day to keep moving forward.” Each time you persevere, you develop confidence. You weaken that taunting inner voice that says, “See, you can’t do this.” Perseverance responds, “Yes, I can”.
3. You Accept Your Body Accepting your body doesn’t mean you tolerate being overweight. It means you honor your body as it is, while helping it become the best it can be. If it’s a big leap right now to “love” or even “like” your body, that’s OK. What’s important is to respect it. That means speaking to your body with kind words. It means giving it nutritious foods and movement so it thrives. You’ll reach your weight loss goals when you stop rebelling against your body. As you accept your body as the treasured gift it is, taking good care of it becomes your only option.
4. You Focus on Your Goal Focus on where you’re headed instead of obsessing about where you are. You can’t move forward if your mind dwells on self-critical thoughts about being overweight. What we focus our attention on grows. Shift negative attention away from your current weight and concentrate on the positive lifestyle changes you’re making. This inspires you to succeed. When your desire to look forward overshadows the tendency to complain about where you are, you’ll reach your goal more easily.
5. You Make Yourself a Priority To achieve weight loss success, your well-being must be of prime importance. This means setting boundaries. For example, if you plan to exercise after work and your friend asks to go shopping, what do you do? Do you skip exercise or do you skip shopping? If breaking promises to yourself becomes a pattern, you’re either not committed to your goals or you make other people’s needs more important than your own. When you make yourself a priority, however, you’ll not only reach your weight loss goal, your success will last forever.

You can do it!  But only you can do it.  No one can do it for you.  ONE hour of exercise is 4% of your day, just 4%! No excuses!!!!

Hope, Peace & ZUMBA Love,

Jen 🙂

 

JUST DO IT!

So I became very aware that it is swim suit season.  Yup, the 90 degree weather gave it away, but it became blindingly obvious when I suited up for the 1st swim of the season.  Anyone reading this for a while is aware that I have been on a weight loss trek & not doing too bad.  In fact, I am 3 lbs from my goal.  But, I put it on a sliding scale, so I really want another 10 lbs……so I am 13 lbs away from goal.  But 3 sounds better in the short-term.  It’s better for my sanity & ego.  🙂

But, I am writing this because I have considered wearing a….wait for it…..wait for it…..2 piece bathing suit for the 1st time in almost a decade.  HO-LY SH*T!  Yup, I never thought my tummy would ever see the sunlight again.  But, here I am ready to leap over the edge & let the world see my belly, stretch marks (they’re not that bad…I gain the weight slowly & lost it the same way), and all my imperfections.  I have come to a certain level of peace with my imperfections.  And, it feels really good to be OK with the idea that I am not a super model.  I am curvy, and beautiful.  And, if they don’t agree……they obviously need glasses.  LOL  No seriously, it took a long time to get to this place.  And I would confess that I still have days where I see the “fuller” me in the mirror.  Husband says I’m being overly picky, but that voice in the back of my mind has been hard to quiet.  So, I’m trying to kill it off once & for all by stepping out on the beach in 2 pieces.  I may be one of those people who “should not wear that swim suit”, but I don’t care.  And, you shouldn’t either.

I put the picture above in this post because I was talking to a dear friend (who happens to also be my health coach) a few weeks ago.  And I was telling her how much MediFast has saved my world.  It changed me, my husband & now my mom.  I am so proud of all of us.  None of us are done, but we have a pretty good support system with each other & we are all making such great progress.  My health coach & I were talking about how to get some friends of mine into the MediFast system.  They are giving me the same excuses I gave my health coach before I started.  I have to wait until I have some more money.  The timing is not right, I’m really busy right now.  Blah, blah, blah.  Ultimately, I was scared shitless!  And, I know they are too.  I was in their spot at one point.  Taking that leap of faith…..its scary & changing your life, even for the better, is beyond intimidating!  I know, I was there!  But, the feeling you get from being lighter/healthier/better-in-shape, does not compare to how hard the work is.  I promise you!!!!!  JUST DO IT!  DO NOT spend this summer covered up under a chair & not out in the water living your life!  If not this summer, then when?  No time will ever be a “good time” to start this journey.  I started November 1st….yeah, I was on a diet through the “holidays” people, in an Italian house hold.  It was TOUGH!  But, I did it!  JUST DO IT!

Don’t be scared, don’t hold yourself back from the greatness you are capable of!  You never know if you can do it until you TRY!!!!

Hope, Peace & ZUMBA Love

Jen 🙂