Motivational Monday #127

Happy Motivational Monday! As you know, I am in New York City right now for the Better With Pets summit tomorrow. It's been a super fun trip (although very short--I just arrived this morning, and I leave tomorrow night). Despite being in NYC, I am doing my best to stay on track and not go overboard with the food!

I won't be home until late tomorrow night, so I won't have a blog post until Wednesday. Hope everyone had a great Monday! Here are a few motivational stories. Enjoy!

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Des has been playing on local tennis leagues each season, and when she was asked to join a mixed doubles league as a relatively new player, she jumped at the chance. She feels like her game has improved quite a bit since playing with these men and women, and over the course of the summer, her team actually went undefeated (10-0) in their local league. They went to the Sectional Championships in Chattanooga, and ended up making it into the finals! (Des blogs at Finding the Skinny Geek Within)

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Sharon (on left in photo) recently completed her first double digit race! Michelle, her daughter, wrote in the accomplishment because she is super proud of her mom. The two of them worked together to create a training plan, and over the last 12 weeks, Sharon learned all about distance running--long runs, fueling, discovering what works for her body. Michelle said that when Sharon crossed the finish line of The Perfect 10-Miler, she was glowing. She had such a great race that she is now thinking about tackling a half-marathon in the spring! (Michelle blogs at The Slow Sheep)

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Cathy recently completed her first marathon! The five hour time limit was intimidating to her, but she finished in 4:38:04, which earned her third place in her age group. Her entire family was extremely supportive, and leap frogged her the whole length of the race (she never had to run more than two or three miles without seeing them). Because she was so worried about finishing the last four miles, her 17-year old son even joined her! (Cathy blogs at Running the Dream)

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A year and a half ago, Sarah and Lauren (friends for 15 years!) decided to get healthy together. They joined a gym, started using the My Fitness Pal app, and started attending Zumba and Body Combat classes together. Since then, they've lost a combined 175 pounds!! Taking on the challenge together has made the entire journey easier and more enjoyable.

In May 2014, Amanda ran her first half-marathon--she didn't train, and it was painful. She decided to start training after that, and eventually, she started following the Hansons' Half Marathon Method. Recently, she decided to try again, and totally smoked her time goal! She wanted to finish in 2:20, but was secretly hoping for 2:10. She ended up finishing the half in 2:00:18! Needless to say, she is incredibly proud of her two-hour half-marathon time.

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Rebecca recently ran her first full marathon! She just started running two years ago, in order to get healthy. She lost over 140 pounds and became literally half her size! During the marathon training, she was tempted to quit; but she took it one day at a time (not looking any further ahead than that). Before she knew it, it was race day. It was a difficult race, but she was thrilled to have finished in 4:48:37. Her husband met her several times along the course to cheer her on!