Since it is so late and I am tried, I am going to give you this race report in pics...after all, they say a picture is worth a thousand words and I sure don't feel like writing a thousand words tonight!  Enjoy - I know I did.  And... I got THIRD PLACE in my AGE GROUP!  Woohoo!

Me and Millette at the start

Mississippi Track Club Van 

Rosalyn 

Denny 

John 

Group Pic

Goofing off and relaxing before the race

Phillip Dorion

Andy Sanders

Our friend John rounding the corner - way before us of course!

Me and Millette

Still hanging in there

Not giving up.....

Rounding the corner of the home stretch

Finish line at last!!

Me - Third place in my age group

Race started at the BB King Museum

Martha

We had a great time.  It was so much fun. And to get an award was cool too.

Here are my stats: 
Time: 41:21 (not my best but I tried) 
Mile 1 - 12:57 
Mile 2 - 13:30 
Mile 3 - 13:10 
Average pace 13:21 
Ratio 1:1 
Avg Heart Rate - 123 
Max Heart Rate - 182 
Calories per Garmin - 407 
I was third in my age group and 133 out of 144. 

I can tell I am improving. My average mile used to be a 15 minute mile. Now I'm hitting on 13!! That is iimprovement and you can't ask for more than that! The awards were cool too. It was at the BB King Museum so the awards were old 45 records with original label on one side and race logo with place you won on the other. Really cool! It was a fun race and one I would love to do again! 


And last but not lease, here is Debbie, my best cheerleader. She goes with me to all the races and takes pics, carries my stuff and cheers me on.   I could not ask for more than that!!!

Lost 4 pounds. Is my plateau over??

Had another great run last night! It was hot but a nice breeze was blowing. Me and two friends ran together. We have a race on Saturday and I am excited about that. 

Here are the stats for tonight. 

HRM: 
Time - 47:49 
Miles - 3:37 
Calories burned - 887 
Avg HR - 149 
Max HR - 165 

I forgot to start my Garmin until we had already ran about a mile. So the following is for 2:37 miles: 
Time - 33:51 
Avg pace - 14:16 
Calories burned - 302 

My eating has been going great. My OA meeting last night was great as well. I will weigh in the morning. I have decided to weigh once a week instead of 2-3 times a day....he he..... 
 


I had a great walk this evening with my Lillie.  She was tired when we got home.   


I have lost 4 pounds this week!  Yippee!  



Have a great evening everyone. 

Today, one day at a time, I WANT To!!

I have been abstinent for 8 days. I have a food plan and I plan on sticking to it to the best of my abilty ONE DAY AT A TIME. If I look at it as a lifelong process I fall away too quickly. I can do ANYTHING for one day at a time. That is the process I used to stop drinking, drugging, and smoking and I figure it will work for compulsive overeating as well. I just have to apply it. 

I have struggled with being abstinent since January. After going back to OA for the third time in January of this year, I was abstinent, losing weight, and feeling great but fell by the way side after three months. Maybe I got too cocky! But here I am back and ready to go at it again. I never stopped going to my meetings but my weight loss stopped and I actually gained some back by eating way too much. Then I started reading the book Abstinence written by OA members and it sparked my willpower I suppose. It gave me courage to try again and I knew that if they could do it - I could do it. I just had to want to. Today - I want to. 

I have been focusing on my running so much that I think I let my food slide. So now I am focusing on my disease of compulsive overeating and letting my running take a back seat. Which means - I will still run, I will still blog about it, I will still exercise as always but I must put my abstinence first. I had the mentality that as long as I ran I could eat just about whatever - oops!!! Don't work that way - at least not for me. So here is hoping that this way of doing it and doing it ONE DAY AT A TIME, will be the key for me. Heck - it can't hurt! 

I hope all of you have a wonderful day. If your plan for today is to exercise, I hope you get to do that. If your plan for today is being abstinent, I hope that happens for you. We are in charge of our destiny. We can have whatever we want, however we want it. We just have to WANT it enough. Today - I want it. 

MAKE it a great day friends. 
 

Just finished with a 2.5 mile run and it was hot hot hot!!!  Too hot to be running I believe.  We are going to have to wait till it gets darker!  But we preserved.  2.5 miles is better than none at all.  I have had a headache all day long and it finally quit.  Now after my run it is pounding again.  I think I will go to bed early.  

I had eaten supper thinking we were going to run at 7 but my friend called and wanted to run at 6.  uhhhhhhgggggg.  I had a full stomach and I could tell too.  I thought I would have two hours after I ate before we ran. But that's okay.  We got it done and that is what counts.

Today is my daughter's birthday.  She is 37 years old!! Wow! Makes me feel old too!! he he.  Hopefully this running will keep me youthful!

I have a 5K this Saturday.  This is a local race and lots of us are going. We want to support as many of the local races as we can. We don't have but 1 or two around here so hopefully if more show up they will keep having them and maybe add some more.  

I will be so glad when it gets COLD!  This hot weather is killing me!!   It is 93 degrees right now.  What were we thinking - running at 6 pm.  Crazy huh? But we weren't the only ones. There were others out there too. But they were men and they can run half naked.  I think I would get arrested if I attempted that. he he..Humidity was 40%. There was a nice breeze as we were finishing up so that helped.  I got side stitches right at the end so had to walk a bit.  They didn't last long though.  All in all it was a hard run.  But I am glad we got that behind us.  Now for some rest and relaxation.  Yeah.

Garmin report:
Time:  39:25:24
Mileage 2.69
Average pace 14:37
Splits:
Mile 1 - 14:27
Mile 2 - 14:01
Mile 3 - 15:44 (had to walk more)
Calories burned:  332

Heart rate monitor got erased before I wrote the info down but I did see I was in target heart range for 30 minutes of our 39 minutes.  Would have loved to see the calorie count since it has been showing over 1,000 calories burned each time...but I find that hard to believe. I can't be burning that many although today it probably felt like it.

Signing off now.
MAKE it a great day friends.  

Half Marathon Training Week 2 Sat Group Run

Well, here I go again.  Becoming more motivated, more excited, and more determined to "do it" this time.  Hope it lasts.

Today we had our group run of 4 miles.  It was 88 degrees with 70% humidity.  Weatherman said "feels like 109"  ya think?!!!! Yea.  I think so!  But there was a nice breeze on the back side so it wasn't too bad.  I was running with my friend who has just started the training program.  She is doing so good!  We are going to make a great team when we run the half in December!  Our fearless leader stressed the importance of today being a long SLOW run so I obliged him and took it slow - not that I am a speed demon anyway.  Ha ha.  We did 1/1 ratio which seems to work better for us since it is so hot. It is supposed to get to 99 today and 100 tomorrow.  I never thought I would see the day when I am looking forward to cooler weather getting here.  I used to hate the cold weather.  But after running in the heat I am certainly look forward to some cooler runs.

I decided not to eat breakfast before I ran and I am not sure that was a good idea.  I was so sluggish and tired.  Usually around mile 3 - 3.5 I get an energy surge and can pick up the pace but that did not happen today.  I have run before without eating and don't remember it bothering me but I think I won't try that again.

I am also wondering if I am going too much exercise.  My calf muscle has bothering me for the past few days. I hope I don't tear it again.  I might just do my 3 runs each week and and that is it or at the very least maybe I'll walk on the two other days.  I have been doing spin class on two days.  I don't want to end up injured again like I did last year.  Some days the calf doesn't bother me at all and other says it does.

I have been doing well with my eating.  I have been abstinent for three days now.  NO eating compulsively!  Yeah for me!  I have stayed within my caloric range.  I am taking it one day at a time.  When I look at the big picture and think about not being able to have this or that for the rest of my life - it sounds impossible.  But I can do anything for one day!

I have the first Garmin that came out and it does not have a heart rate monitor.  So I borrowed a HRM from a friend and have been using that as well.  So today I had my garmin and the HRM.  I am interesting to see if I am running in a range that is meant for calorie burning.  

So here is the run down for today:

GARMIN:
4 miles
Time - 59:37:73
Splits - 15:26
            14:53
            14:53
            14:16
Calories burned - 480

HRM:
Time - 58:10
Average heart rate - 137
Highest  heart rate - 158
Calories burned - 1,103  (I wish but I seriously doubt it.  Will go with what Garmin says)

For me to have starting running over a year ago and still doing it is great progress!!!  And I am up to 372 miles of the 500 I said I would run for this year.  I just might make it!  Woohoo!

Have a great weekend friends.

I don't get it......or maybe I do!!

 would really like to know how to lose weight! Calories in vs. calories out they say. And yet, I am having no progress. I know that I don't eat right on every single day but then again, my exercise should help with some of it. Is it really so easy to gain weight that missing a few exercise sessions and eating a little two much on 1-2 days out of the week would make a difference? I know there have been days when my calories count was off the roof! But most days it is within my calorie range. Am I eating too much? Is my calorie count spark people gave me correct? Am I not exercising enough? I don't know what the problem is. I know that I have lost and gained 1,000 of pounds. I have used every diet known to man over the last 30 years, plus fen-phen, diet pills - you name it! Have I messed up my metabolism so bad that it can't be repaired? Am I destined to be fat all my life? 

I went shopping the other day and I was happy to know that I can shop in the "regular" sizes and not the XL sizes. I have made some progress over the past five years but my weight loss has stopped and I have been getting absolutely no where for the past two years. It is so frustrating. It makes me want to starve myself. If I don't eat then I WILL lose weight! But I don't want to just be skinny - I want to be healthy. Maybe I should see a dietitican or a personal trainer or a hypnotist, or a guru........maybe I should just put duct tape over my mouth (don't laugh-that thought has crossed my mind but I didn't think it would make a very good fashion statement). 

Weight loss is so frustrating......weight loss is so frustrating....have I said that weight loss is frustrating???? ~sigh~ 

I get really motivated and it lasts for about a week. I am exercising, counting calories, recording calories, going to OA meetings, but I still find myself binging on certain foods. For instance - I go to a recovery meeting every Thursday night where I am a small group leader, so I have to be there. We serve pizza every Thursday. I have tried everything to not eat that pizza. I have gone in late, gone in early, stopped helping to serve the food, etc, etc. Last Thursday I even ate before I went, told myself I would not eat the pizza over and over and then as I ate the pizza my mind was saying, "You don't need to be eating is" but I had no mental defense against it. 

Sometimes I think it just boils down to - "what do I really want" Evidently I want to be fat because that is what is happening. I am CHOOSING to eat those things, I am making conscious decisions that I know will hinder my weight loss. What the hell is up with that???? It must be what I want or I wouldn't be doing it. 

But - at the same time - is it NOT what I want. I DO want to lose weight, I DO want to be healthy, but my actions are saying otherwise. I guess if I REALLY wanted it, I would do it. Sounds simple huh? But yet it's not. There are days when I am eating and saying right at that moment, as I am eating, that I do not need to eat this yet I just keep eating. I just keep eating.............!!!!!! Why can't I stop? Why can't I, when my mind says stop, just stop? I don't have the answer to that question but as always, I refuse to give up on me. I will continue on this beaten path - it is all I know right now. Somewhere deep down inside me is the yearning to be healthy and I know exactly what to do but I am not doing it. When am I going to stop feeling sorry for myself and suck it up and just do it? I am so sick and tired of this yo-yoing back and forth. (not too sick of it, or I would stop huh???) I am torn between two lovers - the love of food and the love to be a normal weight and a healthy individual. 

I know it sounds like poor pitiful me, once again, but I can't keep this stuff and these feelings bottled up. I have to let them out. So there it is. My rant for the day. I am still going to MAKE it a great day. One day at a time. I hope you do too.

I would really like to know how to lose weight!  Calories in vs. calories out they say. And yet, I am having no progress.  I know that I don't eat right on every single day but then again, my exercise should help with some of it.  Is it really so easy to gain weight that missing a few exercise sessions and eating a little two much on 1-2 days out of the week would make a difference?  I know there have been days when my calorie count was off the roof!  But most days it is within my caloric range.  Am I eating too much?  Is my calorie count spark people gave me correct?  Am I not exercising enough?  I don't know what the problem is.  I know that I have lost and gained 1,000 of pounds.  I have used every diet known to man over the last 30 years, plus fen-phen, diet pills - you name it!  Have I messed up my metabolism so bad that it can't be repaired?  Am I destined to be fat all my life?  

I went shopping the other day and I was happy to know that I can shop in the "regular" sizes and not the XL sizes.  I have made some progress over the past five years but my weight loss has stopped and I have been getting absolutely no where for the past two years.  It is so frustrating.  It makes me want to starve myself.  If I don't eat then I WILL lose weight!  But I don't want to just be skinny - I want to be healthy.  Maybe I should see a dietitican or a personal trainer or a hypnotist, or a guru........maybe I should just put duct tape over my mouth (don't laugh-that thought has crossed my mind but I didn't think it would make a very good fashion statement).  

Weight loss is so frustrating......weight loss is so frustrating....have I said that weight loss is frustrating????  ~sigh~ 

I get really motivated and it lasts for about a week.  I am exercising, counting calories, recording calories, going to OA meetings, but I still find myself binging on certain foods.  For instance - I go to a recovery meeting every Thursday night where I am a small group leader, so I have to be there.  We serve pizza every Thursday.  I have tried everything to not eat that pizza.  I have gone in late, gone in early, stopped helping to serve the food, etc, etc.  Last Thursday I even ate before I went, told myself I would not eat the pizza over and over and then as I ate the pizza my mind was saying, "You don't need to be eating is"  but I had no mental defense against it.    

Sometimes I think it just boils down to - "what do I really want"  Evidently I want to be fat because that is what is happening.  I am CHOOSING to eat those things, I am making conscious decisions that I know will hinder my weight loss.  What the  hell is up with that????  It must be what I want or I wouldn't be doing it.  

But - at the same time - is it NOT what I want.  I DO want to lose weight, I DO want to be healthy, but my actions are saying otherwise.   I guess if I REALLY wanted it, I would do it.  Sounds simple huh?  But yet it's not. There are days when I am eating and saying right at that moment, as I am eating,  that I do not need to eat this yet I just keep eating.  I just keep eating.............!!!!!!  Why can't I stop?  Why can't I, when my mind says stop, just stop?  I don't have the answer to that question but as always, I refuse to give up on me.   I will continue on this beaten path - it is all I know right now.  Somewhere deep down inside me is the yearning to be healthy and I know exactly what to do but I am not doing it.   When am I going to stop feeling sorry for myself and suck it up and just do it?  I am so sick and tired of this yo-yoing back and forth.  (not too sick of it, or I would stop huh???)  I am torn between two lovers - the love of food and the love to be a normal weight and a healthy individual.  

I know this sounds like poor pitiful me, once again, but I can't keep this stuff and these feelings bottled up.  I have to let them out.  So there it is.  My rant for the day.  I am still going to MAKE it a great day.  One day at a time.  I hope you do too.   
GOD IS GOOD....ALL THE TIME!
Sent from my Cellular South BlackBerry® Smartphone

Slow easy run with a good friend-now that's what I'm talking bout! Plus pics from last race.

I just finished a 3.26 mile run with a friend. It was hot, hot, hot! But I decided I could not wait on the weather. So I called up a friend, Millette, and she was more than willing to run with me. As she is just starting to run and it was so hot, we took it slow, which was fine with me. I can't seem to get myself out of bed in the morning to run so I decided tonight to do it around dark. My husband won't let me run after dark by myself but I can with a friend. We did a 1:1 instead of my usual 2:1. Millette is going to train for the half marathon with me and I am trying to encourage her and not scare her of. ha ha!! She wants to run fast but I have encouraged her that we need to keep it slow at first. Time is not important. Endurance is what we are looking for. 

Speaking of endurance, I think the half is my favorite distance. I know I can do it because I have done it twice and when I finish I feel like I have accomplished something. The 5Ks are too short and I usually end up running too fast at the beginning and feeling like I'm gonna crash at the end!! I think I would do a half marathon every few months if I could find someone to run with me. I am not sure how good I would do by myself. I really dislike running alone. When I have someone to talk to, the time just flys by! 

I have heard the best food to eat before a run is a banana and I do feel pretty good after the run. Did not get very tired either. I think part of it is because we were not pushing ourselves either. We had no where to be so we just ran and talked and had a great time. Sometimes it is good to just run...and not worry about the time. A friend passed us and texted me asking if that was me. She said she saw sweat and reflectors. I laughed and said yup, that was us!! 

I am off to the shower and bedtime my friends. 

Here are a few pics from my race last Saturday. I got first in my age group! Woohoo! 


Mary, Martha, Me and Jason

Finish line 




























winners

Me with trophy

Pinkcoconut's blog, from another blog place I visit, about comparison to others got me to thinking. Am I doing too much? I am 53 years old, stopped abusing drugs and alcohol 18 years ago, and quit smoking 16 years ago. I am still 50 pounds overweight and have been running for over a year now. My schedule goes something like this on most weeks: 

Monday - Run 3 miles (takes around 40 - 45 minutes) 
Arms of Mercy, Inc. Board Meeting once a month 

Tuesday - Spinning class 40 minutes 
Recovery meeting 7 pm 
Team leader meeting 6 pm once a month 

Wednesday - Run 3 miles (40 to 45 minutes) 
Bible study at noon 

Thursday - Spin class 40 minutes 
Leader for recovery meeting 7 - 9 pm 

Friday - Off 
Bible study every other Friday 
Recovery meeting every other Friday 

Sat - Long run for half marathon training (anywhere from 45 minutes to 3+ hours depending on the mileage. 

Sunday - Recovery meeting 9 am 
Church 10:30 to 12:00 
Church 6 pm 

I would like to run "everyday" like I think most runners do but I just can't seem to do it. And I have the hardest time exercising in the morning. I want to do it because others tell me it is the best time and it burns more calories during the day but most days I wind up NOT doing it. Why am I trying to be like others and do what others do? Why can't I just do what works for me? 

I know that being 50 pounds overweight, I should probably not push myself with the running and I need a few rest days in there somewhere. Maybe I would have more success with MY program if I DID MY PROGRAM and not what I think others are doing. Wow! Novel idea. 

And instead of tracking my food compulsively and trying to eat exactly the amount (to the number) of what it says I should, I am going to eat when I am hungry and stop when I am full. Another great idea. What didn't I think of that? I had to have my OA sponsor tell me that! That is not easy for me but is doable I believe. 

I am slowly learning that I am not capable of doing what others do, no matter how bad I want to. This should be MY program and I should do what I am capable of. Who cares if almost everyone else runs once a day? Who cares if I am the slowest runner out there, at least I finish what I start! Who cares if so-and-so runs at the crack of dawn. I need to do what I know I WILL DO and not what I "think" everyone else is doing. 

Sounds simple huh? Wish I had thought of it sooner.