Happy Motivational Monday! This weekend has been a blur--it went by so quickly. I've been trying to keep up with email and all of the virtual 5K posts, but I've gotten behind. Hopefully I'll get caught up over the next couple of days!
It has been AWESOME reading about all of the people who ran the virtual 5K this weekend. Congrats to all of you who participated, and thank you so much for celebrating my birthday with me! There were lots of PR's, first-time finishers, and people who braved bad weather to get it done, and it was fun to read about.
Here are a few Motivational Monday stories to start your week:
Dana has always enjoyed the Motivational Monday posts, and told herself that she would submit a photo if she ever completed a full marathon--and that day has come! She and her sister, Darcy, ran the Charleston Marathon last weekend. It was each of their first marathons, and Dana's goal was to finish regardless of time, while Darcy's goal was to finish under 5:00. They both met their goals! Dana finished in 5:44:30, and Darcy finished in 4:59:28. Dana just started running in 2011 in order to help lose weight, and she got hooked on it!
Sarah did the "Rebel Challenge" at the Star Wars Half-Marathon weekend--that's a 10K AND half-marathon in the same weekend. Even more exciting, she PR'ed both races! She was thrilled to have finished the half with a great state of mind; just a week prior, she'd had the "worst half of [her] life", and vowed that after the Star Wars half, she'd be done for good. Thankfully, the exhilaration of a PR changed that ;)
Karen has lost 35 pounds over the last 15 months, and has grown to LOVE running! When she first started doing the Couch to 5K plan, she despised running; and whenever the little voice on her Couch to 5K app would say, "Start running" she would growl, "SHUT UP"; but she ran. And by the time she finished, she actually liked it! She finished her first 5K in July with a time of 28:48, and then went on to complete a 10K training plan, and eventually was up to 8 miles! Her next plan is a 10K trail race in April.
Alice just completed her first half-marathon! She set a goal of 2:30, and finished in exactly that time. She was hoping that her finisher's pic would be one of her holding her medal, but she had to resort to a selfie--in the medical tent! She was falling over, dehydrated, and exhausted, which led to some seizures and an ER trip (she has epilepsy). She is very proud of finishing, and that epilepsy hasn't stopped her! She is training now to run Ragnar Wasatch Back on an Athletes vs. Epilepsy team, which is fundraising to support the Epilepsy Foundation. (Alice's blog)
Last January, Emily started off the year with a 5K and Polar Bear Plunge into the Pacific Ocean. The 5K was a tough race, as it was only her third ever, but she resolved to get faster. She did the Runs for Cookies Virtual 5K a couple of weeks later, finishing in 53:17, and decided to commit to doing 14 races in 2014. She started tracking her food on My Fitness Pal, and bought a Fitbit to track her activity. Over the course of the year, she lost 20 pounds, and is thrilled to be able to start seeing a difference in how she looks! She hopes that by losing the weight so slowly, she'll be able to reach her ultimate goal. (Emily's blog)
Congrats to everyone on a great week! If you have a photo you'd like to submit for Motivational Monday, here are the instructions for doing so. Also, I'm collecting submissions for the 100th MM post (roughly 5-8 weeks from now). I'll be sharing before and after photos/stories of people who have lost 100 or more pounds! So if that is you, and you'd like to share, just use the subject "100" when emailing. I've loved reading the stories so far!
Thanks for posting these MM pics. It is always fun to read about other people's successes. Makes me realize I can do it too.
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