My First Official 10k!

Hey there!  It's been a little while since I've written a post here and I thought today would be a great day.  It isn't that I haven't been over here plugging along on my journey, quite the contrary, I'm still most definitely plugging along on this journey!

I wanted to share a few things from this weekend with ya'll!  On Saturday I completed my first official 10k race, at The Freedoms Run, and it was amazing.  I say "official" because I've run that distance many times but this was the first time I was doing it as a race.  Since I hurt my knee training for my half marathon, I haven't run too far and this was the longest I have run since May!  I was super happy and finished at 1:21 - nine minutes sooner than I planned!  And even though I have completed longer runs on my own, I was still scared as HELL to do this; but I did it anyway because you know my motto:  if it scares me, and I won't die trying, I'm gonna do it!

Here is a pic of me at the finish:

You'll notice I'm carrying a flag and I just want to take a minute to talk about the significance of this flag for me.  I am a member of this wonderful running group and it's called Bros Andbras...this is our official flag that is flown at races as a sort of beacon for our members to gather and as a rally point.  There are some pretty amazing runners in this group and I am honored to be a part of it because there are still some days that I just don't think of myself as an official runner.  We have so many levels of runners from beginner to expert.  So, to carry this flag over the finish line carries a lot of significance for me.  Especially since it came at the end of a tough last mile of hills and I was just exhausted.  The first 2/3 of the race was really great.  We started in beautiful downtown Shepherdstown, WV and ran down to the river and most of the run was on flat road along the river; a "nice" up-and-back.  I knew that I had to run back up a big hill which I had already pre-planned to walk.  I had felt great up to this point and was so happy to see the Hubs a few times along the route to keep me motivated.  He is and always has been my Number 1 fan and I'm so grateful!

About the time, I was to head up the biggest hill of the race, our leader Kevin (above, in red) came out of nowhere to find me, carrying our flag.  He had signed up to run the 10k, too but he made it his mission to help every single one of us in both the 5k and the 10k get up that big hill.  He was there to make sure I was doing okay.  We got to the big hill and he told me how to pump my arms, and throw my knees forward and that worked for a little bit.  I had to walk though because I was having trouble breathing.  He grabbed my hand and pulled me along telling me that all I had to do was concentrate on getting my breath back and he'd pull me.  We made it up the hill and since I was the last of our group he ran the rest of the way with me (with a few more hills, ugh) and met up with another member, David (in green) and the three of us finished, together.  Both of these guys are much faster runners than me - they had signed up for their own races, but they chose to finish their races with me.  As I write this, I am again in tears at how much this meant to me. 

The funny thing is that I am a lone runner...I don't typically like to run with other people because I'm slow and I never want to hold anyone back - plus, I am normally out of breath so I'm not much fun to chat with.  Even so, finishing WITH these two was one of my favorite parts of this whole experience.

I am so proud of myself and my knee for holding up and that I was able to experience such a great day with some pretty great people.

You know I always want to leave you with some positive advice and what I want to say to you today reiterates what I have been saying all along:  be brave...go do something that scares the crap out of you because every time you do, you start to realize how strong you really are.  And you are strong!

Questions, Part II

Hello there!

It's time to answer more of your questions.  One I often receive is how to stay motivated and that's what I'm going to tackle in today's post.

As I mentioned in my last post, I really thought I'd be at my goal weight by now...I knew it would take me a while but at the time I didn't realize how long it would actually take.  In truth, it's been 33 months.  That's 2 1/2 years...yah, it's not fast people.  And I'm only 2/3 of the way to my goal.  But lately I've realized that it's sort of becoming less of a worry to GET to that goal weight I set out for and more about LIVING a healthy life.  That's what I have gained  in this process...I didn't even know that was a goal, but I stumbled upon it and it was honestly, the best surprise of this whole journey.  What if I hadn't started?  It would still be 2 1/2 years later, and I'd still be unhealthy...or worse :(

Because here's the thing:  that number is really sort of unrealistic...for all of us.  Now, don't go getting all up in a bunch.  Yes, you need to set a goal.  Is that always a "number"?  No, for some people it's a range, or for others it's to eat better, still others just strive to drink more water, and others more veggies, etc.  However, we are taught by society to have a number in mind.  So, you try to get there, and then perhaps you actually do get there.  Then what?  Your healthy journey doesn't just suddenly end when you get there.  You still will want to maintain it, right?  Some days you're going to go up and some days you are going to go down.  Sometimes life might get in the way and you have a big gain.  It's called LIFE and it will get to you.

I don't even know what it feels like to get there and maintain, but I'm a planner so I know when I get there I will have some work to do.  But I'm ready for it, because I've worked so hard and there's no way I'll ever go back to 283lb Jenn again.  Ever.

And that's part of my answer to the question of how I stay motivated:  I want it badly enough.  And by "IT" I mean, my healthy life, not the random number I picked to strive for.  Oh, I'll get there; I can't stay here, I'm still not at a healthy weight for my body...so I'll continue to make adjustments and do what I have to do...but in the end, for me, it will always come back to putting the right kinds of food into my body and working my body with fitness because I love it so much...the weight will take care of itself.  I cannot consume myself with a number.

I remember hearing the advice that losing weight was about changing your lifestyle - that's all you have to do!  Just change your life!  Well CRAP, who the heck has time for that???  That's a lot of work!!??  It IS!  But small changes make big results and I talked about that here.

I've been stalled at the same weight for 9 months.  How frustrating is that, right?  Every day I try and some days I am successful and some days I'm not...and stalling for 9 months can do some crazy things to your brain.  In that time, it wasn't that I wasn't doing what I was supposed to do.  On the contrary, all I do is try.  But it's about finding what works for you.  And sometimes what worked last week, doesn't work this week and you go back to what you did the week before and it just doesn't work anymore and you're back to square one.  But square one shouldn't be that number, it has to be your healthy living.  In that time I've tried eating more, eating less, different workouts, cutting some workouts out, working out more.  And it can be is exhausting...then I went on vacation, gained 3lbs, came home and got right back into my "normal" life and boom, the 3 vacation pounds came right off without trying anything fancy, no big changes, just getting back into my life.  That's when I realized that I was less stressed about this whole process than I used to be and it felt GREAT.  It wasn't something I decided to do; I am just living my life.  I will need to continue to make adjustments to be in a deficit to lose, but I will do it as a secondary goal.   I came to the realization that eating healthy and exercising has become my main goal.  I know that doing that IS GOOD for me.  So, I will continue to just keep going.

Here's a picture of my before (283lbs) and during (195lbs).  I'm healthier now then I was then...bottom line.

You want to stay motivated?  Stop thinking of it as a temporary thing and just make the change in your mind that it's about how to live healthy.

Also, a motivation for me is that so many of my friends and family are getting healthier, too.  When I am feeling blah or need some inspiration, I read my healthy blogging friends' posts, or see their posts on Facebook and Instagram (look me up @jenns_healthymakeover) and that motivates me to keep going.  So, if you are the same way and that sort of thing helps you, just think of me, you are NOT alone - I am here, every single day, doing my thing and we are in this together.

I do have to share this beautiful message from my 12-year old nephew.  Could there be any better advice for any of us????