The Today Show aired!

Reality hit hard yesterday when I got home! Jerry and I got home at around 4:30, and we had to unpack, spend time with the boys, and get them back on schedule at home. We had no groceries, so I had to run to the store while Jerry helped them with homework.

Since yesterday was my Wednesday Weigh-In, I got on the scale before hopping in the shower. I was really worried that I'd gained a ton of weight in Florida. I had counted my PointsPlus all week long, but I definitely splurged on alcohol and dining out. I had no idea what my weight was going to be. My jeans still fit well, so I hoped the damage wasn't too bad. I got on the scale, and was pleasantly surprised:

I couldn't believe I spent an entire week in Florida and I actually LOST a pound!! I was thrilled when I saw that I hadn't gained.

I woke up at 3:45 this morning for my interview at the local news station in Detroit. My mom picked me up at 4:30 and drove us there. I invited her to come along, since Jerry already got to see the behind-the-scenes stuff in Florida.

We arrived at the station and waited around for about 15 minutes before I was taken to the green room. I was pretty nervous, because I'd never done a live interview before. When I was taken to the studio, I met the news anchors, who were extremely friendly and welcoming--a relief! They chatted with me a little before my segment.

I was clueless as to what was going on, so I just did what I was told and the whole thing was over with in the blink of an eye! I answered a few questions, and actually felt pretty comfortable because they were so friendly. Then it was over!

Unfortunately, I don't think it's up on their website yet, so I can't link to the video. But here are a couple of pictures I took of the TV ;)

That was on at 6:20 ish. A couple of hours later, the Today Show aired the piece about my From Fat to Finish Line team. It was AMAZING. I knew everything they'd filmed, but I still cried when I saw it. It's always nerve-wracking when you don't know what the editing is going to look like. I thought the Today Show did a terrific job! They used some footage that Angela gave them from the race, which makes me even more excited to see the film!

Here is the Today Show piece, if you missed it and would like to see it.



I'm still in disbelief about the whole Ragnar Relay experience. It was SO amazing, and I'll probably be writing about it for days to come. I wanted to write a few 'thank yous' to people who helped make this happen...

*First, there's Jerry. He's been SUPER supportive of this whole project, and was just as excited as I was about it.

*My mom, who helped with whatever I needed, particularly with watching my kids (and cats) while I was in Florida.

*Angela, the film producer, who has been working her butt off for a YEAR on this thing, and it's only the beginning for her. Now she has the job of editing down a ton of footage into a two-hour movie. She's been amazing, and I've never seen someone so passionate about her job.

*Angelina, at Race Junkie on Etsy, who made my super fun pink tutu to wear during the race. It's safe to say that it was a hit! I got lots of compliments on it.

*Jenn, at Viva la Glitter, who made glitter nail polish not just for me, but for my entire team! I'm so bummed that I forgot to put it on my fingers for the race, but you can see that I'm sporting it on my toes in the scale picture above. Love it!

*My entire Ragnar team, of course. Nobody backed out at the last minute, everybody did his/her part, and made the experience fantastic and so fun!

*And finally, all of YOU, my dear readers! If it weren't for all of you reading this blog, this whole thing never would have happened, and for that, I'm very grateful.

A couple of people have asked if my team plans to run another Ragnar, and the answer is YES. My entire team is on board to run Ragnar Relay Tennessee 2014. We're even bringing the camera crew along, but they are leaving the cameras at home because they are going to RUN IT on their own team!! They thought it looked fun while they were filming us, so they plan to run it next time. Also, some of the spouses of my teammates decided to run it as well. Awesome, right?

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Ragnar Relay Florida Keys, Part 2

(...continued)

In the morning, we drove to the next major exchange point for Van 2 to hand-off the bracelet to us. Because of the issues they were having, it didn’t look like John would hand off the bracelet to me until much later than anticipated; and I was worried we weren’t going to finish the race before the cut-off time.

We called the Ragnar officials, and asked them about our options. They told us that we could have Van 1 start before Van 2 was done running, and we just had to keep track of our leg times so that we could still have an official time at the end. That way, all of the legs would still be run, but we would finish earlier. We decided that John (runner 12, the last runner in Van 2) would start his leg as normal, but when he started, I would start the next leg at the same time to get Van 1 rolling again. Hard to explain, but it worked out.

I started my third and final leg at around 9:15 a.m. It was only three miles, and Angela strapped a camera to my head to wear during the run.

Since it was only three miles, and it was my final leg, I decided to push my pace, even though I was tired. I ended up passing a couple of guys, one of whom said, “You’re making me look bad!”

It was extremely humid (once again), but the course was easy and I finished my last leg with an 8:42 pace. 

We went to McDonald’s to use the bathroom and get some coffee and hang out for a few minutes before going over the 7-Mile Bridge to the next exchange point.The bridge was really cool, and I've never seen anything like it; but I certainly didn't envy Meredith for running it, because it was SO hot and humid, and that was an "unsupported" leg (meaning vans are not allowed to stop to support runners, and there were no water stops, so she had to carry water with her).

While we were waiting for Lealah to finish her long (very, very hot) leg, Angela interviewed us--just a couple of quick questions about the race itself.

Behind the scenes with Andrea's interview

I was SO happy to be done with my runs! I wasn’t “allowed” to change out of my sweaty clothes just yet, though, because the Today Show wanted to interview us at the finish line. I used baby wipes to clean up the best I could, but I still felt gross. We went to the next major exchange point to hand off to Van 2. Jennifer was the first runner in Van 2, and since she'd had a bad run the night before, we wanted to give her extra support.

It was so amazing. I can't even talk or write about this without crying. We all wanted Jennifer to have an amazing run, and gain some confidence back, so all 11 of us went to cheer for her at the exchange point. We were chanting her name as it was time for her to start, and I just felt this amazing love for all of my team! They are SO supportive.

After that, I just relaxed in the van until it was time for us to drive all the way to the finish line while Van 2 did their third legs. When we arrived at the finish line, we parked the van and went over to where the Today Show was set up. I met Kerry Sanders, who would be interviewing me. He was very sweet. I felt a little rushed during the interview, and I’m not so sure it sounded okay, but at that point, I just didn’t care! I was way too excited to be at the after party.

After Rik and Ada were interviewed, we finally got to go party! First, we went to the Ragnar shop, because I wanted to get a shirt or two. The hoodies were really picked over—they had all XXL’s, and two XS’s—nothing in-between. I tried on the XS, and it actually fit, so I got a hoodie; I also got a t-shirt. It was hard to choose, because I wanted everything!

Then we sat down on the beach with the spouses, and we had a couple of rounds of drinks while we waited for Van 2. I had a mojito, which I’d been craving ever since we talked of Ragnar Florida Keys.

Ada, Andrea, and me

Finally, at around 7:00, we went to the finish line to wait for John. He was runner 12, the last one, and when he came down the street, our entire team joined him. We all grabbed hands and slowly ran the last couple hundred yards or so together.

I can’t even describe how amazing it was to cross the finish line with my team! We all started hugging (and crying) and I just felt this amazing sense of camaradarie. I love all of them so much, and they made this experience amazing. Rik handed out our medals, we did some more hugging.

I don't know what our "official" finish time is, but it was about 38 hours. We had been told by The Today Show that they were going to do some photos of the team on the beach after the race, so we had to do that before anything else. But when it came time, they only wanted Rik, Ada, Carly, and me to go. I was really upset by that, because I wanted it to be the whole team. Maybe it was the drinks, maybe it was the emotional finish, maybe both, but I started crying and I just said I didn’t want to go without the whole team.

My team was fantastic about it, though, and they kept telling me to go, that it was ridiculous for me not to and that I had to “represent” all of our stories. So I ended up going, but my eyes and nose were all red from crying, so I can’t even imagine what it’s going to look like.

They just had me stand there while they moved the camera all around

When we were done with that, we dropped Ada off at her hotel, and then we went back to the finish line party (which was overwith by that point). John said he wanted to go out and I really did too, so John, Jerry, and I went to a bar/restaurant for some dinner and drinks. I tried tuna steak for the first time in my life, and it was pretty good. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.

On Facebook recently, we were talking about how we should treat ourselves better; that we deserve to do nice things for ourselves (inspired by this post from Jennifer). John said (on Facebook), “When we get to Key West, we should all order a top shelf drink”. I jokingly said, “Sure John, if you’re buying!” So I wanted to buy John a top shelf drink, but he ended up beating me to it, and bought me a top shelf margarita (which was fantastic!)

The restaurant kicked us out at around 11. I was tired and planned to go back to the hotel, but when we got down to the street, John saw a bar that he wanted to get a drink from. It didn’t take more than a “Come on!” from John to talk me into it ;)  So we sat and had a beer on the street.

Duval Street in Key West is… well, an experience in itself. It was so much fun to people watch! The crowd was very interesting, which is the only way I can really describe it. John got a cab back to his hotel at around 1, and Jerry and I walked back to our hotel (about a mile away). I took a shower (finally!! I had two days worth of sweat and grime on me) and then crashed in bed.

The Ragnar was AMAZING! I will write more about my thoughts on the whole thing later; for now, I'm living it up in Key West! 

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Bienvenido a Miami

I made it to Miami! What a day it has been. I set the alarm for 4:00 a.m., and my dad drove Jerry and I to the airport for our flight this morning. I was terrified to fly (as usual) and when I got there, I realized that I forgot my Xanax, which I always take before flying.

Jerry and I wound up having adult beverages at 6:30 this morning instead:

Unfortunately, one glass of wine wasn't nearly enough for the super bumpy flight! The flight was about three hours, and the whole thing was really bumpy. I was on edge the whole time. I even chose the seat right above the wing, because it's supposed to be the least turbulent spot. The sun looked pretty cool coming up over the clouds, though.

We finally arrived in Key West, and the fabulous John was there at the airport to pick us up! (And as I type this, I haven't gotten pics with any of my Ragnar team yet... will have to do that for sure tonight). I absolutely love John. I knew I would, but I love him even more than I expected to.

When we got to the hotel, I chatted with Angela and John for a little bit. I met Carly, Ada, and Meredith--all as lovely as I expected! Jerry looked outside and saw my brother Brian pull into the parking lot--did I mention he happens to be at the same Miami hotel? So I went down to say hello to him. I also saw Lealah when she arrived--she's as adorable as I expected as well! 

I've been dying to write about this for a couple of weeks now, but I promised I wouldn't say anything until today... The Today Show is featuring our team!! They have a studio in Miami, and they are going to be at our team dinner, the starting line, and the finish line of the race. Also, they wanted to share a few of our stories--Rik's, Carly's, Ada's, and mine. So my interview was scheduled for 2:00 today.

A limo service picked Jerry and me up (!!) and took us to the studio.

I had no idea the Today Show segment was going to be this big of a deal--I thought they'd maybe say a little bit about our team, but they're going to film quite a bit. Very fun!

When we got to the (tiny) studio, I sat down for an interview that probably lasted about 30 minutes. I wasn't nervous at all, probably because I'm used to answering these kinds of questions about my weight loss. My lips were super dry, and I licked them a lot--but only in-between questions, so I hope they edit that out!

After my interview, we had to wait for the driver to come back to drop off Rik, so that Jerry and I could head back to the hotel. We walked around a little, and it was VERY touristy--right by the cruise ships. The weather is super nice, but VERY humid. I'm going to be pouring buckets of sweat when I run tomorrow. I don't run well in the humidity.

The driver took us back to the hotel, and here I sit typing my blog post :)  We're going to leave in about a half hour to go to our team dinner--where our entire team will meet for the first time as a group!--and then we're going to decorate our vans tonight. I might write a short post tonight before bed.

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