The weekend by the numbers!

4.5 - Recovery miles walked on Saturday!

1.6 - pounds lost this week!

95.3 - total pounds lost on my Weight Watchers journey!

3.2 - pounds left to goal!

10 - the age my youngest boy will turn on Tuesday!

40 - the age I will be in 11 days!

Picture of me finishing my first marathon!

This is my finishing picture which the race organizers so nicely made available to us for free - I think it is the best pic I have ever seen of me at a finish line! I was about two steps from being in pain again but for that moment there was nothing but adrenaline, joy and accomplishment!

Weight Watchers Recommitment Day!

So for much of the last few weeks I have not been able to fully commit to being on program due to the higher mileage and getting enough fuel to make my body go - so today is recommitment day. I weighed in at 168.8 which is a .4 gain from two weeks ago. I know I can't trust this number completely since I ran a marathon yesterday, but I will take it and move on from here. I could possibly show a higher number next week as well, but again I will take the feedback and move on! I'm fully committed to kicking these last few pounds to the curb and getting to my next goal which is 164 my Weight Watchers goal weight! And then 162.5 (100 pounds lost mark)

I'm a marathoner!

First I must say I finished and I must acknowledge all the people who supported me along the way (you all know who you are!). I know I couldn't have done this without your help!

The weather was perfect and the first 10 miles were great, but then I started having a hamstring issue that slightly altered my gait. At the halfway point my hubby was there and I took some Tylenol and he massaged my hamstring which made it feel better, but it became obvious that my altered gait had put pressure on my other knee and it started bothering me later on in the race. I was hoping for a 6 hour finish - and at the halfway point I was on right on pace for that, but the last half was slower and I walked a majority of the last 9 miles. I did everything else right, my nutrition was spot on, my hydration was perfect - it's just sometimes on race days things are beyond your control. I kept my walk pace as quick as I could and kept chugging along even though I couldn't run any longer without pain. As I rounded that last corner I saw the finish line and something came over me that I still can't explain - I ran across the finish with no pain! I had pain again once I stopped, but for that brief moment it was like my body wanted me to have that experience of running across the finish line! I came in with a chip time of 6:34:24 and I am beyond thrilled with that! I will have some pictures to post, but I wanted to get at least something posted for now. It was a most amazing experience and there were times I just wanted to stop on the side of the trail and quit because I was upset I wasn't able to run, but then all my training would have been for nothing - I would have put in all the miles and not achieved my goal!

Today I'm sore, but I feel great - I'm a marathoner and nothing can ever take that away from me! When I crossed the line yesterday I told someone (don't even remember who) that I was never running another marathon again, but this morning once again I'm looking forward to CIM 2010 - my second marathon!!

Marathon Madness!

I sit here on Friday morning - thinking about Saturday morning. Just 24 hours from now I will be at the start line ready to run my first full marathon. I am surprisingly calm about it. I'm ready, I have the training, I have the support and I have the motivation. I know I can do this! I can already picture myself crossing the finish line. I get overcome by emotion still when I cross a finish line and I know I will cry, but they will be happy tears! I will be a marathoner! I am already thinking about when I will run my next marathon (probably Dec 5th, 2010 California International). But first - Run the River 2009! (that link has a really cool google course map in case you want to take a look!).

A midweek post!

So I spent much of Monday beating myself up for the weekend - there was cake (lots of cake...no - really, more cake than you could imagine!) and pizza and beer and there was no weigh in (I was going to sleep in but I was awake and knew the results would be bad so skipped it anyway...) and I felt guilty. Why do we do this to ourselves? I was reminded by a great Weight Watchers leader of Rafiki from the lion king...



Here is the dialogue in case you can't watch the video. There are such great and wise life lessons in Disney movies!

Simba: I know what I have to do. But going back will mean facing my past. I've been running from it for so long.

Rafiki hits Simba on the head with his walking stick)

Simba: OW! Jeez, what was that for?

Rafiki: It doesn't matter. It's in the past.

Simba: Yeah, but it still hurts.

Rafiki: Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.

swings his stick at Simba again who ducks out of the way)

Rafiki: Ha. You See ....

Sacfit Saturday!

I had an easy 5 miler today and I took the opportunity to do it all by myself. I talked to my head coach and asked her if she had coverage for the groups then I would love to just run by myself and recharge my batteries. It was lovely! Just me, the trail and my music! I have spent the rest of the day doing NOTHING - well I can't say nothing - I did catch up on TV that was DVR'ed but other than that, really nothing! I think it was just the sort of day I needed to recharge my batteries! I think my busy schedule was just catching up with me and I was feeling really worn out. I feel much better tonight!

Oh and I have only 2 runs before I run my marathon! My taper schedule has me running 30 minutes on Monday and 20 minutes on Wednesday! I can hardly believe at this time next week I will have completed a marathon!!

On the food front - because I feel like being completely honest here - I didn't weigh in this morning - I stepped on the Wiifit on Thursday and I'm up over 2 pounds, but with the marathon coming up, I can not be limiting calories. I'm not going to go overboard either, but I don't want my focus this week to be the number I see at my weigh in. I might or might not go to my meeting tomorrow - I'm really hoping for once in a very long time, to turn off my alarm and sleep in. I don't know if my internal clock will do that since I pretty much get up between 5:30 and 6 EVERY day, but I'm willing to try! Wish me luck! I need to be well rested!