getting to the finish line one inch at a time.

A Nod to San Francisco and a Stranger: 2011 Danskin Triathlon Race Report

Ok. Can I have a quick shout out? This was our (Team Fro Fro and Jo Jo’s) seventh annual Danskin Triathlon. SEVEN YEARS IN A ROW PEOPLE!

Enough with that roaring…back to the content at hand.

I’m sure you’re curious as to why I’m bowing my head to San Francisco in my 2011 Danskin Triathlon Race Report. Well frankly, I believe that my success this year was entirely due to living I this chilly hilly city. Let me explain..

So we’ve already talked about how this was the 7^th time I was preparing myself for the Danskin Tri. And, as usual, the date snuck up on me like a puppy at the dinner table. I found myself a month before the race thinking “Well you’re pretty fit these days, you can pull it off. You should really get into the pool, on the bike, out running.” Mostly I thought “bugger, I haven’t trained again”. Not for the lack of resources. I have a perfectly good bike in my storage unit and this year access to an endless pool (think treadmill for swimming) a mere 2 blocks from my house. As you know, I’ve also got a delightful park just outside my front door.

But I had this “you’re pretty fit” mantra running in my head. Laura and I have talked about this before. Just the actual act of living in San Francisco, even if that’s just walking outside your front door, requires you to do “hill work” on pretty much a daily basis. And unlike all our friends in the baking central states, if you haven’t heard, the weather in a San Francisco summer can be downright chilly. No “it’s too hot to workout” excuses for us.

So Laura and I showed up in Austin “San Francisco Fit” and ready to race. I won’t bore you with the details of the bike pickup, expo etc etc as you’ve heard it SEVEN times before. What was noticeable this year however was a distinct lack of people. The first year Laura and I participated there were nearly 4000 participants. This year I don’t think the group even made it to 1200. Not that I’m complaining. Laura and I both scored up front bike spots and weren’t overwhelmed by the crowds as we entered the water.

So the swim this year – not my best. I couldn’t swim in a straight line to save my life. I kept finding myself veering to the left when the course veered to the right the whole way around. I KNOW I swam further than the ½ mile course mapped. It did mean I was relatively free of other bodies so swim – check.

I trotted up the hill to my super duper bike spot, jammed on my shoes and helmet and took off again. I had one goal for the bike course. Not get off the bike. Surprisingly the Austin course is quite hilly. There’s even one hill that requires you to come screaming down one hill and make a sharp right turn to head up the other side. It’s brutal. Previous years, even when I was in better shape, I’ve had some sort of bike issue on the hills. I was determined to crank up them whatever it took. This year – SUCCESS! Hills conquered!

Back in the transition area I tossed my bike happily back in the racks and headed towards the run start. While I was jazzed about my performance so far this is where your mettle is really tested. If I haven’t said before, the run is HARD. It’s only 3 miles but it’s on grass almost the entire time and it’s HOT. Texas HOT. Oh, and if you haven’t read recently. Texas has had record highs. I was later to find out that the high in Austin that day was 102. Keeping cool and not going crazy was going to be the key to success un running the full course including getting up the dreaded hill – straight the freak up hill at the end of the course in the open blazing sun.

Have I convinced you to join us next year yet?

As I turned the corner at the bottom of that final hill I looked up with trepidation. It was going to take something else to get me up there. Just in front of me was a young woman jogging slowly and painfully. I knew what she was feeling. She started to walk and I saw her shoulders slump. The hill was beating her. As I came up behind her I gently put my hand on her back and said “Come on. You can’t walk now. You’re nearly done. I’ll run with you up the hill.”  She looked at me like I was some sort of insane person and started to run. Now I couldn’t walk. Plus she ran faster than me so I had to push to come close to keeping up. As we neared the top I could see her falter. I shouted “Come on! You can’t let the crazy lady pass you!” She started to run again.

She made it to the top. Poor thing looked terrible and it had taken everything in her to get up that hill without walking. We cheered for a moment and kept toward the finish line on the fabulously flat black asphalt. Yeah.

Now I don’t know what she said to her family and friends about the insane woman on the course that wouldn’t let her walk and nearly killed her.

But I tell you, my family and friends. This stranger on the course got me up the hill. Without her I would have walked. Without her I wouldn’t have posted my BEST TIME EVER at the 2011 Danskin Triathlon.

 

So thank you San Francisco for getting me ready. And thank you stranger on the course for making it a winning day for me. Now I’m all motivated to beat the time again in 2012. Don’t hold your breath tho. That race sneaks up on me every year. Let’s see if I get my act together this time.

Crossing the finishline back in February 2011

I’ve sat down to write this post more times than I can count. Each time I’ve written a couple of sentences and stopped. Stopped because I just couldn’t think of how to put my thoughts down on “paper” without sounding like some jerk. Wow, even reading that now I’m shocked at my opening. Then as time has gone on I’ve moved from postponement to denial. By taking so long to write this post nothing was getting written. I know, now I’m a jerk AND I’m lame.

So what happened?

I’ve been putting off writing my February race report. I put it off because I just didn’t want to celebrate it in any way. It didn’t seem like the right thing to do.

Why?

Well because a man was dying as I cross the finish line.

No you didn’t read that wrong. As I ran under the finish line banner I looked to the left and there on the ground was a man violently getting CPR. I didn’t know he was dying then, I learned that  he’d died later.

So how can I cheer about my accomplishments on here?

I’m still at a loss.

Even now, I don’t know what to say.

I keep writing sentences and deleting them.

So here’s the deal.

I’m still running. I’ve actually run a couple of races since the XX month race. I’m also kicking up my training for a Marathon in late June. I’m still struggling with sticking to my goals both eating and athletic.

What I haven’t been doing is participating in my weight loss and fitness community. Participating here or on the myriad of other digital mediums I use to motivate and focus.

I didn’t know Peter Haas. He was only 36. But I’m guessing that as he was a runner (and a fast one by all accounts) he’d give me a kick up the ass and tell me that I shouldn’t be using what happened to him as an excuse not to participate.

So here I am, participating. And please, don’t tell me that I’m not a jerk or lame. It is what it is and I needed to write it down. What I won’t be is a lame jerk any more. I

My new goal?

Participate.

And just so you can all hold me accountable. I have the Mermaid ½ Marathon on May 7^th, feel free to bug me for the race report.

Did I get to the finish line? Looking back on 2010...

I’ve been looking back at post from the beginning of 2010. I was in the same place I had been many years before. Wanting to run faster, wanting to weigh less, wanting…wanting. I made promises to myself on Moloaa beach in Kauai and gave away my television in hopes that it would motivate me finally to reach my goals.

So what did I accomplish? Let’s take a look shall we?

Weight Loss –

I’m currently 8lbs away from reaching my original goal of losing 100lbs I set for myself back in December of 2003. Yes, it’s taken me THIS long to get THIS close. Of course, over this year I moved the goal as I realized that 100lbs, while an impressive and clean number, wasn’t the right number for me. As I’ve emerged with a new body I’ve learned that I have a petite frame. A petite frame that should actually be 120lbs lighter than my starting weight.

Running Faster –

How close am I on this one? Well it depends on the day. Again, keeping my numbers all nice and tidy I’d set myself a goal of running consistent 10 minute miles over a ½ marathon course. For most runners moving the needle on the speed you run is as hard as adding muscle to a weight lifter. It’s hard. I knew that at the beginning of the year but tossed my head in disdain at the unachievable. I was going to finally lose the weight and just by being lighter I’d run faster. Or at least I hoped and prayed I would. Luckily for me I was right. I’m down some 60lbs since the beginning of the year. It’s dramatically impacted my speed and I’ve gone from an average 12:30/mile to 10:15 – 10:20/mile. Yes, that’s close to 15 seconds away from my speed goal. If my math is right, I can see the sub 10 minute mile in my future.

Running further –

This wasn’t really a goal. I just knew I’d need to run a LOT this year to meet all my personal goals. Other than a couple of times when I pressed the buttons wrong on the watch, I’ve worn my Garmin GPS watch on every single run this year. According to the little tracky thing, I’ve run just shy of a whopping 800 miles this year. Holy crap! That’s like running from X to X. Now that I’ve measured it I’m going to have to make a goal for 2011. 

Did I get to the finish line in 2010? Well no, not really. I did, however get a LOT closer than I’ve ever been in years past. I also feel, for probably the first time in my memory, positive about my accomplishments in 2010. While I didn’t reach the finish line this year I can clearly see it just over the hill in the distance. I don’t hear the voice in my head saying “OK. Here we go again…” This year I hear “Almost there!”

So what do I have planned for 2011? Well I’m already jotting down ideas I’ll be sharing with you soon. I absolutely expect to get to the finish line on the goals I didn’t finish this year. But knowing me, I’ll have added a new one before 2011 is out. But it’s not finishing the race that’s important is it? It’s about the journey.

So what’s going to be your journey in 2011? I’ll be rooting for ya!

Another ½ Marathon?!? The Rock N’ Roll Las Vegas ½ Marathon race report

I think this was my fourth running of the Rock N’Roll Las Vegas ½ Marathon. Is it bad that I’ve lost count? With all this documentation of my races you’d think this would be an easy task for me. I just updated my race schedule with my finish times and races more races I have scheduled for 2011. Something tells me it will be handy to look back on the dates, times and locations of all these events.

What I WAS clear about in prepping for the Vegas ½ was the fact that this would be my sixth race in the ½ Marathon-a-month project. Running a  ½ Marathon and being ½ way to my goal of running one a month for a year. It seemed weirdly “right” in my head.

What also seemed “right” was the idea that I needed to run a ½ Marathon. I’ve gotten to the point in the process where I’ve moved from “I SHOULD run a ½ marathon this month because you can’t give up this early.” To “Ok. It’s time to run a ½ Marathon now.” I’m not saying that it’s any easier to run the 13.1 miles. It just feels like the flywheel is spinning, I’ve created momentum and stopping now would just be odd.

I think this is also why I haven’t been highly motivated to write my race update. I made a video too. Running the ½ Marathon seemed like such a normal thing to do that I couldn’t find the hook in my story. Don’t get me wrong. I had a great time in Vegas. It was Vegas people. I was also surrounded friends who joined me for the final race of the year. I had 10 fellow runners join me out on the course (two impressively finished their first Full Marathon) and other friends who played the part of the cheerleading section. We were non-stop play from the moment we hit the ground on Friday night to the crawl to back to the airport on Sunday. I’ll still be back next year as the entertainment around the race is worth every step. Maybe you should come with us next time?

Where was I? Ah yes, the race. Again, I’m stuck for something interesting to say. The running Elvi were out in force and several couples taking advantage of the run through wedding chapel. I didn’t have a personal record but then didn’t have a bad race either. Is this what momentum is?

So I won’t go on any more about Vegas but look towards the races scheduled for next year. I’m already booked to run the Los Angeles 13.1 in January and have two ½’s scheduled for February. One race starts literally a mile from my front door, the other in Austin Texas. I’m particularly excited about the Austin race. My 13 year old nephew Gus is running his first distance race with me. He’s quite the athlete so I don’t think 13.1 miles is going to be much trouble for him. Frankly, my guess is if I let him run by himself he’d beat the pants off me. We haven’t discussed logistics yet so we’ll see what happens. Either way, I’m thrilled to be part of this experience for him.

I’ve got all sorts of other events scheduled for 2011. The Marathon leg for the Vineman Ironman Triathlon you already know about. I’m also putting a team together to run a 199 mile relay race from Calistoga, CA to Santa Cruz, CA.

Ha! I think I just found my “hook”. What happened at the Las Vegas ½ Marathon? I think I finally became an athlete in my own head. Who knew?

PS. Finishing time 2:18:44.

Hang on a second... How did that happen?

Not surprisingly, I’m fairly active (no pun intended) in the health and fitness space online. Last time I counted I was subscribed to over seventy different blog feeds. I’m also active on a couple of message boards as well. While I gave up the TV for the moment, I certainly haven’t given up my internet addiction. Hmm, now I think about it, maybe I should curtail that too.

I was on one of my favorite boards the other night. It’s full of people who’ve lost a significant amount of weight and have made exercise a significant portion of their life. These are people I can seriously relate to. The majority of the people on the board are signing up for their first 5K and asking about training programs and the like. In case you’re interested, the #1 program recommended? Couch to 5K www.c25k.com It’s the same program I followed (I just didn’t know it at the time) when I started running. Also known as, run a little bit – then walk a little bit – then run a little bit – then walk a little bit. Repeat. Next day, run a little bit further – walk a little less – run a little bit further. Repeat.  There’s also a smaller group of regular submitters who hard core. Now when I say “hard core” I don’t mean some mamby pamby ½ Marathon a month type of hard core, I’m talking about folks who’ve completed Iron Man Triathlons or Ultra Marathons.

Side bar: One of the most frequent questions I get about my running is: “How far is a ½ Marathon?” It’s funny, when I tell people it’s 13.1 miles their eyes get wide and inevitably the follow up question is: “Are they all 13.1 miles?” Just in case you were wondering, yes. A ½ marathon is always 13.1 miles.

Side Side Bar: Funnily enough, a full marathon is 26.2 miles. Not, may I add, the distance that Pheidippides ran from Athens to Sparta, but a distance established in 1924 by the Olympic Comittee because the British kept fiddling with the distance to the finish line so that the Royal Family would have a good view of the finish.

Back to my original Side bar: Now I’m just teeming with statistics I’ll finish off what I’m sure you were originally wondering. An Iron Man Triathlon consists of a 2.5mile swim, a 114mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run. Yowza! An Ultra Marathon is any run 50+ miles or longer. Many are known to go for 100 miles. And no, you don’t get to stop for naps or spread the race over a couple of days. Both these events are an “all in one go” type of thing. Bottom line, the people on the board are NOT messing around.

Anyhoo, I was perusing the board when I saw a post from one of the hard core peeps titled:

Runner Needed

I was intrigued, I wondered if I would qualify as a runner. I clicked on the link to read the post.

Here’s what it said.

Am thinking of putting together a team for the Vineman 140.6 relay http://www.vineman.com/relayevents.htm

We have a swimmer interested
I'd like to do the bike
So we need someone for the run

The Vineman is an Iron Man Triathlon, and if you'll remember the "run" portion is 26.2 miles. And yes, you guessed it….I threw my hat in the ring. You know what’s worse? They picked my hat!

Now I’m signed up to run the last leg, a marathon, of the Vineman Ironman 2011.

I hadn’t planned on running a marathon again. I was doing the ½ Marathon thing really well. And if you remember, I like ½ Marathon’s better because “I’m lazy like that.”

But you know what I realized when the whole thing was done? The race is in July 2011. You know when I started the ½ Marathon a Month project? July 2010

Seems right to end the year of running with a bang no?

Funny how things work out like that.

Well I’m off; I’ve got to go train.

Magic powers? Pshaw, Harry Potter Ain’t Got Nothin’ On Me…

Did you know I have magic powers?

Magic powers I can’t control but I have them.

I can only do one spell, but that’s what counts right?

And what is my magic trick?

I can turn street lamps off just by my mere presence.

Seriously.

Let me explain…

When I head out to run in the morning; it’s dark outside. AGAIN.

It’s not the, “oh I can kinda see in front of me” dark. It’s the “holy crap, did I wake up in the middle of the night and run” dark. You can’t see a thing.

Luckily for me, my entire morning route is brightly lit by streetlamps. They bathe the path in front of me with light so I don’t have to worry about either a) tripping on some crack or root or something and fall on my ass or b) not being able to see some unfriendly character lurking in the bushes.

Ok, maybe I’m being a tad overdramatic. I can see ok when the lights are dim, I’m not really in any danger. What I can’t see is the readout on my Garmin watch which as numbers obsessed as I am is a problem. I was going to get over it until I started to use the street lamps as a marker.

When I started this whole running shindig back in 2004 (I was technically still a walker then) I used the striped poles dotted along the San Francisco Embarcadero to get myself from walking to running. I started by running between every other pole (they’re only about 500 yards apart) and slowly worked my way up to full on running by adding a pole each time things were getting to easy. It took me a while but one day I ran the whole route.

I’m a pretty good runner now. No need for walking between poles any more. What I’m not is a FAST runner. I want to become a faster runner and everything I’ve read tells me I need to add short sprints to my runs and slowly work up. Sound familiar?

Hence the lampposts in Golden Gate Park…

I decided to sprint between the lights on the last mile of my morning run.

Then the buggers started going out.

Of course a lamp that’s out doesn’t count does it? I have to keep sprinting until I hit a streetlamp that’s on.

Of course the only ones that went out were the ones marking the end of my sprints.

I even switched up my “starting lamps” when I went out the next day.

No luck.

My mere presence turns off lampposts.

Anyone know a spell to turn them on?

Sheesh.

Big Sur ½ Marathon Race Report: I have a cheerleading section!

Let me start by setting the stage for the Big Sur ½ Marathon..

Since running my last ½ Marathon in the Luberon I had:

1. Started a new job.
2. Started a new job where they stock the kitchen like it’s a 7-Eleven.
3. Traveled to New York not once but twice for the new job.
4. Traveled some 6000+ miles to Buenos Airies for a friend’s 40^th Birthday extravaganza

And last but not least…

1. Organized a going away party for my beloved Husband as he took off on his year long journey around the Pacific on our 31’ sailboat Murre

Needless to say, there wasn’t much running going on and there was MUCH drinking and eating happening. All those rumors you’ve heard about the wine and steaks in Argentina are ALL true. I got back from that gluttonous trip a mere four days before I was due to run my November race.

My goal was to finish. ANY time would be good. I must admit, I was a tad worried.

What added a sheen of loveliness to the entire event, was that Randall (the husband mentioned above) had plotted a course to meet me in Monterey and cheer me on as I tackled ½ marathon number five.

This was a pretty big deal as; while he’s participated in a couple of my races (realistically 3-4 years ago), he hasn’t been there to cheer me on since my first race the Nike Women’s Marathon in 2005. It was fun to have a supporter there. It was even more fun for Randall as the race start and finish was a mere 500 yards from the Marina so while I was out pounding the pavement he got to sit on the boat and watch the world go by.

Anyway, enough about him let me get on with the race.

Surprisingly, while this is called the Big Sur ½ Marathon the race doesn’t actually go into the hills of Big Sur. THANK GOODNESS! The race was a simple out and back from Monterey along the coastline. We pretty much kept the ocean to one side the entire route which certainly made for a lovely scenic route.

What wasn’t so lovely about the race was the crowded course and the hill I wasn’t expecting. Let me explain about the crowds first.

When you line up for most races they line you up by your estimated finish time. The faster runners get to be in front, with the slower runners bringing up the rear. The idea being that the faster runners would have a clear path in front of them. What inevitably happens is batches of people (you know who you are) park themselves at the beginning of the pack and then proceed to walk four abreast down the street. This requires even the slowest of joggers to have to maneuver around them to pass. Let me ask you…have you been on the highway when there’s some dolt going super slowly? Traffic slowdown across the board. The same thing happens on running courses. I don’t like to drive slowly either.

I’ve never run a race where this hasn’t been an issue. However, usually by mile 4 or 5 the pack of runners has spread out and you’re in with your pace group. Weirdly this didn’t happen until more like mile 11 on the Monterey course. Maybe that’s because I’m actually getting in the top 50^th percentile of finishers so there’s just more of us running. I don’t know, all I do know is I ran a full 2/10ths of a mile further than I needed to.

The other unexpected item was a hill. I’d looked at the course elevation map. After the Los Gatos course surprise this is a “must do”. To my untrained eye it looked relatively flat. I’d also run along the path about a year ago and didn’t remember going up any hills. We did, and it was a hill that went on for what seemed like eight miles. The eight mile point was where I turned around to head back to the finish line. Ok, so it wasn’t a big hill by any standards. But when you’re expecting “as flat as a pancake” a gentle up is annoying.

With all the nonsense above the Big Sur ½ Marathon ended up being a pretty good race. I ran the first eight miles (that turn around point had a timing mat) at a 10:08 pace which is pretty darn fast for me. Frankly that statistic makes me happier than anything. Due to my appalling lack of training and enormous levels of gluttony prior to the race I did slow down pretty significantly on the way back. I ended up finishing in a modest 2:20 right on the nose. Not shabby for a slacker.

I created another video of the race. If you can’t see it just click here.

I’m off to Viva Las Vegas next weekend for the annual running of the Las Vegas Rock N’ Roll ½ Marathon. I’ve got thirteen friends joining me on the course this year so it should be fun.

Until next time…

The great television debate…aka…the question remains unanswered.

If you’ll remember, I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about goal setting. I asked you what goal I should set for myself to “earn” back a television.

You were not helpful.

Ok, a couple of you (and I mean literally only about three of you) actually chose a goal. Three, really?

I got a lot of, “Just do it!”, “Go Jo Jo!” comments – while I appreciate the sentiment, it doesn’t answer the question. Just do what exactly?

I also had some friends (yes, you know how you are) who don’t believe I’m even going to BUY a TV. They also decided that I shouldn’t be tied to a goal because it was arbitrary. Their solution, toss a coin each day with “even” and “odd” written on each side. Then when the day came where my weight was the same (an even or odd number) as the coin then that was the signal to buy a TV.

Don’t you wish you had friends like that too?

Needless to say, I still don’t own a television. And based on the response from you lot, I’ll have to set my own goal. Thanks.

Now I’m guessing that you want me to tell you what it is. Well I’m not going to tell you.

Not because I’m being a brat. Really.

But as I dug around the internet looking for information about goal setting, I found this excellent video from a TED conference. Derek Sivers talks about keeping goals to yourself. Intriguing .

 

Wasn’t that cool? If you’re new to TED videos go to the website and check them out. They’re fascinating and you’ll learn all sorts of things.

What did I learn from the video? Well not to tell you guys my goal of course.

I will tell you when I’ve reached it. Will that work for you?

I ate my body weight in Cheese....Semi Marathon du Luberon Race Report

Let’s play a game. I’m going to list a bunch of words and you’re going to tell me what it makes you think of..

Llama

Cheese

Three Musketeers

Camel

Mercedes

Wine

Dosey Doe Disco

Heart attack

Piscine avec a hotel (Piscine = pool)

Bread

Horses doing Yoga

Robert Downey Jr.

Pumpkins

Confused? Me too, and I was there.

There is just so much to tell about my trip to Pertuis, France to run the Semi Marathon du Provence that’s I’d be writing forever. Let me give you some of the highlights..

The night before the race we went to the Paella Party. It’s part of the whole “experience”.  One of the new members of our group kept on exclaiming “you didn’t tell me about THIS!”  over and over again. I explained to her that if we’d TRIED to describe it to her she’d have thought we were off our heads. It’s really that odd. The bonus from this year’s party is we made French friends at our table with a group (one with a broken arm) that were running the race the following day dressed as the Three Musketeers. We also met a guy who can only be described as Robert Downey Jr.’s French brother.

My fellow runners also learned a tough lesson at the Paella party. Drinking an entire bottle of wine the night before a race (no, I didn’t partake) while entertaining, can make run a little challenging.

Race day dawned a fabulously sunny and breezy day.  Wanna see? Look!

 

If you can’t see the embedded video please click here for the video race report.

As you can see I had a great race day and pushed my personal best up to 2 hours, 16 mins and 8 seconds. Considering the challenging course with the heat, wind and hills I was pleased with the result.

If you want to get the story around all the other words I listed at the beginning of the post we’ll have to schedule cocktails and a chat.

I’m off to Monterey for next months’ race.  I’m going to try and break the 2:15 time I’ve set for myself.

Until then…

I forgot a vital step...

Many of you will remember the letter I wrote back in December of 2009 to my television. I banished the television from my house as it was distracting me from my goals. In discussions with friends at the time and over the past year I got a lot of “You did what?!?” followed quickly with “Well when will you reach your goal and get a new TV?”

So what did I forget?

Well at the time I had lots of goals, both specific and vague. What I didn’t do was choose ONE of the goals to reach to qualify as television purchasing goal. Honestly at the time I wasn’t entirely confident that I’d be able to reach any of them. I had convinced myself that giving away my television for the year was better than setting yet another New Year’s resolution that I wouldn’t accomplish. What I THOUGHT would happen was I’d go the whole year without a TV, feel like I’d sacrificed enough to then justify the purchase of a new sparkly 37” LED/LCD paper thin flat screen television. Yes, I’m that bad.

Then a weird thing happened.

Life.

It’s happened to me before; I’m not sure why I’m surprised.

The difference is that the results however are usually negative rather than positive.

Let me explain by listing both the specific and vague goals I’ve had in my head since I started this journey…

Specific:

• Weigh less than my husband. He’s a freak of nature (sorry honey…I love you but you are) and weighs pretty much nothing and, if you remember, is the reason I started this whole thing.
• Lose 100lbs from my highest weight
• Run a sub 5 hour marathon
• Compete in the Danskin Tri in a two piece swim suit like the “proper” athletes and not be worried about the jiggly bits.

Vague:

• Run faster – never set a specific number here. Whoops!
• Hit a certain number on the scale – my final goal number has changed several times this year. It keeps going down!
• Spell out the word A-T-H-L-E-T-E on my charm bracelet. You’d think that this would be specific but I’ve changed the amount I needed to lose for each letter at least a dozen times.

So as you can see all the goals fall into two categories, either a number on the scale or the speed I’m doing something.

And what’s the status of my goals?

Well I weigh less than my husband. I have for a couple of weeks now. He’ll tell you I did a little happy dance around the kitchen the first time I did. It was a GOOD day.

I’m around 10lbs away from being at that 100lb lost target

While I haven’t run a marathon recently, you’ll know that I’ve handily finished several ½ Marathons in less than 2:30 so I’m pretty confident about the marathon pace.

I still have “jiggly bits”.

I AM running faster. I actually ran a sub 10 min/mile pace the other day over a 5 mile course in the park. Also a GOOD day, something about being under the number 10 made me feel great. That’s about a 2min 30 second improvement per mile(on average) since the beginning of the year. I’ve seen such a dramatic improvement and still have a ways to go on the scale that my current thought is I should aim break the four hour marathon mark, or even better, qualify for Boston.*

Based on the current “loss per letter” my charm bracelet spells A-T-H-L and I’m about a pound away from the next letter “E”.

So what is my problem?

I can hear you now. “You’re doing great! You’ve hit some of your goals.” “Go buy a TV!” (Cindy, JL –I’m speaking to you both specifically on this one.)

Well I don’t feel like I’ve really earned the TV yet because I didn’t have a specific goal. And while getting to my current state (lighter and faster than I’ve ever been in my memory) I don’t feel like the journey is close to finished. I’m having TV purchasing guilt and I haven’t even bought it yet.

How can you help?

You’ve all been part of this odyssey and I feel like I’m cheating if I set my own goal. I’d like YOU to choose my specific goal, the one that earns me the right to go out and buy the TV guilt free.

So which should it be?

100lbs lost?

Sub 5 hour marathon?

All the letters on my bracelet (would require me to lose another 21lbs from my current weight)?

2 piece suit at the Danskin?

Something else?

I’ll take suggestions in whichever form you want to send them: Facebook, Message boards, email, phone calls.

Do a girl a favor and give her a goal. J

 

*to qualify for the Boston Marathon next year based on my age I’d have to have run a marathon in less than 3 hours and 50 mins.

**Note: this would also mean I wouldn’t get a TV until next June at the earliest – just sayin’.