Outtake photos from Ragnar, part 1

I can't stop going through pictures from Ragnar! My race recap was so long that I didn't put many pictures in there, so I thought maybe I'd use this post to just post pictures (and video) that didn't quite fit into the recap. I write a brief description under each photo, so you know what you're looking at.

Turns out I have a ton of pictures, so I'm going to do a double post; hopefully they won't take too long to load! Here is part 1...

Interview with the Today Show before race start

Shortly after arriving for the starting line

Team decked out in pink for Leg 1

Angela filming the start of the race (that would be a
scary spot to stand, with runners charging at you!)

Van 1, at one of the exchanges

Ready for nighttime running

HUGE creepy bug at the exchange point

Obviously, this is our bib

People looking at our van (we felt like we were on display all the time--LOTS
of people stopped to check out our pictures. It was a great conversation-starter!)

Andrea's documentary interview at a major exchange

Behind the scenes

Ran into my brother at exchange 12

Catching a short nap at exchange 12

Finish line beer while we waited for Van 2 to finish their
final legs

In front of the finish line--best finish line party ever!

With my brother, who finished long before we did

Van 1 with Kerry Sanders from the Today Show

Ada behind the scenes for documentary

Ada behind the scenes for the Today Show

Rik's interview with Kerry Sanders

Behind the scenes with Rik's interview for documentary

Our team sprawled out at exchange 12


Click here for Part 2

Continue Reading...

If I had a million dollars...

I had planned on taking today off of running, but Stephanie asked if I'd like to go for a run with her this morning. She starts half-marathon training Monday (her first!) and invited Renee, Jessica, and I to go for a run today. Jessica wasn't able to, but Renee and I met her at the State Park at 7:30.

I didn't even ask how far we were running, but I figured it would be 5-7 miles, and at an easy pace. I missed Renee and Stephanie, because I haven't seen them in a while, so I really just wanted to go to catch up.

We did a lollipop route around the park, and it ended up being 5.5 miles. It was crazy warm this morning--49 degrees! That's really unusual for January in Michigan. It felt really nice outside. We finished 5.5 miles in 57:49 (10:27/mi pace). Steph took a picture of us when we were done:

You can totally see the bump from my heart rate monitor in front of my rib cage. (That's my only complaint about the Garmin 910xt--the heart rate strap! I liked the old one better).

When I got home, I had to decorate Eli's birthday cake. Jerry baked the cake last night, so I just had to frost it and put the other stuff on it. He wanted an Army cake, so we used chocolate frosting, and then a layer of crushed Oreos to look like dirt. Then we took some toy soldiers and tanks and put those on top.

Not the best looking cake I've ever seen, but Eli really liked it. We had his birthday party today at the roller skating rink. I was really happy that all of the kids he invited actually showed up. Usually, I don't get RSVP's, and I'm always worried nobody will show, and then only a couple of kids show up--but this time, every single person (but one) RSVP'ed. I wrote "call or text" next to my number, and everybody sent a text, so maybe that is the key to getting people to RSVP?!

Anyway, we spent the afternoon at the skating rink, and Eli had a blast with his friends.

Yes, that would be shag carpeting on the walls--the same shag carpeting that was there when I was a kid. The place is extremely retro!

When I cut into the cake, I could tell that Jerry totally overbaked it--neither one of us is good at baking!--so it was pretty easy to resist eating it. I took one bite of Jerry's, and a couple bites of frosting, but stopped there.

What I've been having a problem with the last couple of days is Biscoff spread! When I went grocery shopping, it was way too hard to resist the manager's special:

Those orange stickers beckon me! I hope this means that they won't be selling it at Kroger anymore. I've been counting the PointsPlus in it when I eat some, but it's eating up all of my PP! Last time I bought it, I said I wasn't going to buy it again, and I was fine with that. But the manager's special did me in. I bought two jars, so I think I might have Jerry take the other jar to work to spread the love.

---

So, lots of people have been asking me, "What's next?" now that I did my marathon and epic Ragnar Relay. The truth is, I have no idea! I have a couple of PR's I want to crush--my 10K (55:05), and my half-marathon (2:02:57, but I really want to hit that sub-2:00). So I think I'll continue to work on speed and hit those goals.

I have no plans to do another full marathon. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to run some Ragnar Relays, but there is no way I could afford to do that more than once a year or so. Ragnars are expensive, because you have to pay for travel, hotel, race cost, van rental, van gas, snacks, and finish line hotel. The trip to Florida cost Jerry and I about $2000--yikes!! (Granted, if I had gone alone, it would have been much cheaper, but we wanted to make a vacation out of it).

I haven't even decided yet what races I am going to do this year. I think I'll run the Martian Meteor 10K for my PR in April. And the Detroit Free Press International Half-Marathon for my sub-2:00. I'm not sure about a spring half-marathon yet, or even if I want to do one this spring. I really do need to come up with a plan, because I feel strange not having a "real" running schedule.

If I had a million dollars, this is what I would do this year:

*Run Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back with my high school friend, Julie, and her team in June
*Visit Andrea in Missouri and cheer her on for her first marathon
*Visit Sarah (and Meredith!) in Arizona, possibly run a race while I'm out there
*Visit John in San Diego, and run Ragnar Relay Las Vegas with John's team
*Visit Ada in San Francisco, and attend the Biggest Loser live finale
*Run a few other Ragnars with teams made up of readers who have shown interest in doing it
*Visit Jen in New Jersey, and run the 5K in NYC with her in November

So many ideas and decisions--it's hard to narrow it down! But fun to think about :)

If money were no object, what fitness-related thing would you splurge on?

Continue Reading...

Lifetime!

With all the excitement of the Today Show airing yesterday, I completely forgot to write about the fact that I am now, officially, a Lifetime Member of Weight Watchers! I feel a little guilty, since I was on and off and on again with Weight Watchers throughout my weight loss journey. However, I have been an on-again, off-again member for over a decade, so I really wanted to get this Lifetime Membership!

To recap the last few years: In 2009, I started my journey by counting WW Points (although I wasn't a member). Then I eventually switched over to counting calories with SparkPeople. When WW started the PointsPlus program, I joined for a couple of weeks to try it out, and really disliked it at the time, so I continued counting calories.

For a while, I stopped counting everything altogether, but that only made me gain weight. And then most recently, I was super inspired by my friend Stephanie's before and after photos to give Weight Watchers another chance. I joined the Weight Watchers Online program. I'm really glad I did! I started it with an open mind, and followed the program to the tee, basically so I could say, "See? It doesn't work." ;)

Obviously, I was wrong, because I lost 23 pounds, getting my weight back down, and reaching my ultimate goal weight!

A few pounds shy of my goal, I signed up for the meetings--so that I could lose the last 5 pounds with WW meetings and become an official Lifetime Member, where I won't ever have to pay for the meetings or the e-tools as long as I stay at goal.

Naturally, I would somehow plan it horribly, to where my final weigh-in for Lifetime would be the day after getting home from a week's vacation in Florida. But I counted my PointsPlus there, and did really well--I actually lost a pound while I was gone!

So yesterday was an exciting day for me--first, I was interviewed on the local news; then my team's story was shown on the Today Show; and then I went to WW for my Lifetime weigh-in. I stepped on the scale, not even caring what it read, because it was a given that I was under my WW goal. I had to fill out a paper to make it official, and then I went into my meeting.

Even when my leader asked if anyone wanted to share about their loss, I didn't speak up. I hate being so shy! I felt like I actually had every right to talk about myself yesterday, but I just couldn't do it. I sat through the meeting, and then my leader gave me my Lifetime award (a little key charm). She also gave me a 10-lb ribbon, meaning I'd lost 10 pounds since joining.

I should have spoken up then, and said that I'd actually lost that, plus another 110 pounds, but was still too shy. Everyone clapped politely for my award, and I could feel my face burn with embarrassment. When the meeting was over, one woman congratulated me on Lifetime and asked how much I'd lost. Finally, I told her--120 pounds. I showed her my before photo, and she was shocked.

From her reaction, everyone else crowded around and wanted to see also, including the leader. My leader didn't even know how much I'd actually lost! She was really excited for me, and I told her that by doing WW Online, my starting weight didn't really "count". She was kind of appalled by this, and gave me a 10% key chain, as well as the 25-lb, 50-lb, and 75-lb charms!

 Now I can give my sister her 10% key chain back ;) I also got a little "members only" type card, showing my Lifetime status.

I chatted with some of the members, feeling much more comfortable, and they said they wanted to hear more about my story next week. Now that I'm back on schedule (i.e. Ragnar is over), I can attend the same meeting every week and hopefully get to know the members in my meeting.

During the Ragnar, I was talking with Meredith and Andrea about Weight Watchers, and I was a little jealous--it sounds like they have great relationships with the other members in their meetings. I really need to stop being so shy, and just speak up. I felt awkward talking during the meeting before, because I was new, and everyone probably assumed that I was new to WW as well.

But I really do feel that I have a lot to offer at the meetings, and I would love to talk with the other members about their ideas as well. So I will try my best to speak up at the next meeting.

---

Yesterday, I skipped my run. I can honestly count on one hand the number of times I've skipped a run in three years! I NEVER skip runs. However, I was exhausted from vacation, I had gotten up at 3:45 AM to go to the news station, and I don't have an active running schedule right now. I just had in my head to continue to run Sun, Mon, Tue, Thur, and Fri.

I thought about running yesterday afternoon, but was so exhausted, and decided not to. I ran hard in Florida (24 miles total on my "vacation"), so I felt justified in taking an extra day off, even though I hadn't planned on it. I spent the entire day like this on the couch:

Today, it was REALLY hard for me to not skip another day. Fridays are my long run days, and I just didn't want to do it. But I did, just before lunch, and I felt a million times better for doing it. Since I don't have an actual running schedule at the moment, I just chose to do 8 miles--not sure where I came up with that number, but it sounded good to me.

I lost my Garmin USB ANT+ stick somewhere between Florida and Michigan, so I can't upload any of my Garmin's data until I buy a new one :(  I'm bummed! I'm pretty sure I had it in Miami, right before we left, but I don't have a clue what happened to it.

My splits: 8:58, 8:51, 8:53, 8:50, 8:55, 8:56, 8:45, 8:23. I ran 8.04 miles in 1:10:52 (8:48/mi pace).

I was shocked when I saw those splits! That just goes to show how much the humidity affected my pace in Florida. My pace for my 8.8 miler in Florida was 9:59 (including a couple of traffic stops).

Seeing these splits made me decide that it's time to PR my 10K distance. My PR is 55:05 (8:52/mi pace). Since I ran 8 miles at an 8:48/mi pace, I think I'm ready to kill that PR!

---

By the way, thanks for all the compliments on the red dress I wore on the news yesterday! I wasn't sure about wearing it, because when I bought it, Renee and Jessica both gave it a thumbs-down (in a nice, I'm-your-friend-telling-you-my-opinion kind of way). While I appreciated their honesty, I really liked the dress, so it's been in my closet for a year with the tags still on it! I like that dress, because it covers the parts of my body I'm self-conscious of (thighs, upper arms), but it's figure-flattering.

I'm glad I ended up wearing it, because I got a lot of compliments on it!

Continue Reading...

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?

Continue Reading...

Ragnar Relay Florida Keys, part 4

On Monday, I woke up and decided to go for a run first-thing in the morning. I dressed in my really gross, already-worn, running clothes. I should have brought extras, but I just re-wore the ones from Ragnar. I headed downstairs and then ran down Duval Street, and a couple of side streets. It was extremely humid, and I was pouring sweat. I completed three miles, at what felt like a hard pace, but turns out was kind of slow for my typical pace lately. I blame tired legs and the humidity!

After I showered, Jerry and I ate cereal in our hotel room, and then went down to meet the team. We waited in line for a while to take a picture at the southernmost point of the United States.

Then we saw a guy selling coconuts on the street, so we bought some. The fresh coconut water is delicious!! I've tried the Vitacoco coconut water before, and didn't like it, so I really was not expecting to like the fresh coconut water. But it was SO good!

We bought some tickets for the trolley tour, and then we had to say good-bye to Meredith and her husband, Dave, who were leaving. I’m hoping I’ll see Meredith in the spring, when I go visit my friend Sarah in Phoenix. Then we hopped on the trolley. We stayed on until I heard the words, “World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie”. I almost jumped off on the spot, but was patient enough to wait until it stopped.

The cookies were at a shop called Kermit’s, which had tons of key lime stuff. Andrea bought a cookie, and we cut it up to each try a piece. I took two bites, and decided it was nothing special at all—it tasted like a grocery store cookie, just dry and tasteless. It wasn’t worth eating any more.

I bought a piece of chocolate-covered key lime pie to taste; I just had two small bites of it, and then handed it off to the rest of the group.

This was the sign that sold me on it!

It was just okay, but again, not worth spending PointsPlus on. I don't think that the chocolate and key lime go well together. Separately? Definitely. But not together.

We finished out the trolley tour, and at one of the stops, we found a dessert place called Mattheessen’s on Duval St. They had ENORMOUS cookies and brownies. The brownies were 1/6 of a 9x13 pan, and their cookies were baked three to a cookie sheet! Andrea and I got a chocolate chip cookie to share—she does Weight Watchers too, and we guesstimated it at 20 PP for the whole cookie, so 10 PP for half. Not too bad.

Ohmygoodnessgracious, it was the BEST chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever eaten in my life! The center was a little raw, and was so good I was actually moaning when I ate it. If you go to Key West, you’ve got to try it! 

Once we were done with the tour, we wanted to see the sunset. The pier was extremely crowded, so we got tickets to go on a sunset cruise on a sailboat. They let us bring our own drinks. It was just Jerry, me, Andrea, and her husband, Andy who did the boat, while the rest of our group went to the pier.

The sunset was gorgeous, and I must have taken a hundred pictures of it—although my iPhone camera doesn’t really do it justice!

We walked back to the hotel, but stopped for dinner at Ambrosia, a sushi place. I’d never had sushi in my life, so I was excited to try it. I let Andrea order for us, because she and her husband have sushi pretty often. We got a large variety of stuff.

I tried a little of everything, and it was just okay—I didn’t hate it, but didn’t love it either. I could go the rest of my life without it and be fine. But it was fun to try!

After dinner, we went up to our hotel room, and the rest of the team joined us there for drinks. We had a ton of beer in our fridge that we had to use up. I actually didn’t drink anything, but chatted with the team. It was nice to chat with Allison, because I feel like I hadn’t gotten a good chance to talk much with her (she was in Van 2).

Everyone left at around midnight, and I said good-bye to everyone except Andrea and Andy, who were driving up to Miami with us the next day. I was so sad to see everyone leave—I could have stayed another week, for sure!

On Tuesday morning, I woke up and went for a run again. Just three miles, down Duval Street. It felt a little cooler than Monday morning, which was nice, but it was still super humid. Back at the hotel, I showered and then Jerry and I walked to my brother’s hotel for breakfast. We met up with him and Becky, and some of his team.

I (again) ordered an English muffin and a scrambled egg. The table next to us got their food, and I saw an amazing looking dish of fresh fruit, so I ordered that as well. It was SO delicious!

After breakfast, I said good-bye to my brother, and then Jerry and I went to the hotel to pack. Our hotel was amazing, and worth every penny (it was the Southernmost on the Beach).

We had to rent a car to Miami, so Jerry walked the 1.6 miles to the car rental and got the car, then came back and picked us up with the rental. We made our way up to Miami, and it was really cool to see some of the Ragnar course in the daylight. It’s much less scary during the day!

We stopped for lunch at a fresh fish place called The Fish House in Key Largo. I had the very best fish I've ever had in my LIFE there--I ordered Mahi-Mahi Matecumbe. Here is the menu description:

You can order it with your choice of fish, so I chose Mahi-Mahi. It was absolutely perfect--the perfect size (I was worried about getting a ginormous portion), the perfect price (although after tasting it, I think they could certainly get away with charging more). Everyone at the table tasted it and agreed it was absolutely amazing.

I estimated it to be 6 PP--4 PP for the fish, and 2 more for the small amount of olive oil. The other ingredients were 0. I so badly want to try and replicate this dish at home!

The rest of the day was pretty low-key. We got to the hotel, I blogged for a little while in the lobby (free internet there, but not in our rooms). We had dinner at the hotel restaurant. I wasn't really in the mood for "real" food, and I had quite a bit of PointsPlus left for dinner, so I decided to order a piece of chocolate cake for dinner. Yep, that's right. And it was sooo good!

Again, I was thankful the size of it wasn't ginormous. It was perfectly portioned, and I counted it as 12 PP.

After dinner, we went up to the room with Andrea and Andy (her husband) and had a glass of wine and chatted for a bit. We called it a night pretty early, at around 10, because we were all tired.

Jerry's and my flight leaves at noon, so we'll be home by dinner time. I have an interview with WDIV Detroit tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM--ugh! Nobody wants to wake up the day after vacation that early (probably 4:00?) but it's pretty exciting. (If you're local, they told me I would be on-air by 6:20 AM). I can't wait to watch The Today Show piece tomorrow! I wish I could specify what time it will air, because the show is so long, but I don't know yet. If I get word from the producer, I will post it to Facebook and Twitter. (Update: It's supposed to air at 8:15 AM)

Continue Reading...

Ragnar Relay Florida Keys, part 3

On Sunday morning, I actually woke up pretty early—7:00. Considering I was up until 2, that’s early! I blogged for a little while before heading to breakfast with the team. We went to a little café called The Six-Toed Cat. There were about 20 of us there (teammates and spouses), and our server was fantastic. We had such bad service everywhere we went, and we were so grateful to have such an awesome server.

I got an English muffin and a scrambled egg—pretty basic stuff, but it was SO good. The English muffin was obviously made from scratch, and it was amazing. After brunch, some of the team had to head back to Miami—Ada, Jen S., Jen R., and Carly—so we said good-bye. It was hard saying bye to everyone! I keep saying this, but I dearly love my team.

Jerry and I headed back to the hotel, and then we walked down to the beach to meet up with my brother. We sat on the beach for a little while and chatted with him and Becky, his girlfriend. He also had a woman named Megan on his team, who works for Ragnar. She want to interview me for some Ragnar publicity stuff (just fun Facebook page-type stuff).

We agreed to meet the rest of the team at a bar called Rick’s at 4:00, for the Ragnar awards ceremony, so we walked down the road for that. It was pretty packed when we got there, and we couldn’t see or hear much, so we just started chatting with other teams. We met an ultra team (an “ultra” team means they only have six runners, and they each run six legs, instead of running three). They were dressed as superheros, amazingly good-looking and fit, and also gay ;)

One of them, Tyler, had a boyfriend who was extremely flirtatious and fun to chat with. He looked a lot like Ryan Gosling (at least he did in person, not so much in photos), and his name was Brien—so we started calling him Brien Gosling. He told us about a “Tea Dance” at one of the hotels, which I then learned was a gay dance party in the afternoon—John wanted to go, so I said I’d go along, and Jerry came with us. It turned out to be a blast! Jerry absolutely LOVES dancing at weddings, and that’s pretty much what this was like. There was a DJ, a dance floor, and a bar, and even though I don’t dance, I had a good time. 

John was totally embarrassing me by pulling up my before and after picture on his phone and showing it to everyone, pointing at me and saying, “Look! This is HER—isn’t she amazing?!” and I have to admit, it was nice being told that I look “fabulous” and “gorgeous”, hahaha. Gay men are so great at making me feel good about myself, that’s for sure!

After the dance party, we met up with the rest of the team for dinner at our hotel. It was extremely expensive, but that was going to be our splurge meal, so I got blackened Mahi Mahi with mango salsa, wild rice, and asparagus. I also got a Key Lime Pie martini. I loved the martini, but the food was just so-so. Thankfully, our service there was good.

From there, we walked down Duval Street to find a bar. There are 150 bars on Duval Street, which is only a mile long! A lot of them open wide into the street, so it’s easy to hop from bar to bar. We stopped for a drink at a gay bar, and got into conversation with these men that were so friendly—one of them looked just like Eric Estrada, and I wanted to get a picture with him. (I have an inside joke with my friends about Eric Estrada).

They were very interested in our team, and very impressed with our weight loss, so we chatted about that for a while. Then who should show up, but Brien Gosling ;)  One word I could use to describe him is “conceited”—he was super nice and fun, but definitely thought he was the best-looking guy around. He even said, “I bet she wants her picture with me,” referring to ME. I humored him, and he lifted me up (no doubt to show off his muscles, haha).

It’s funny, I’m at goal weight, but I still cringed when he picked me up, because I was worried he could feel my fat. I still have that image in my head of what I look like and feel like, and I have a hard time pushing those thoughts aside. I was worried I was too heavy, which I know was ridiculous; Jerry proved it, because he let Brien pick HIM up as well!

Then we had to say good-bye to John, which was hard. He was going to be leaving in the morning. I absolutely love John, and had a blast with him for the couple of short days that we were there.

What was left of our team (and the spouses) before John left

We left there and walked a couple doors down to a mellow wine bar. It was a really nice atmosphere, and I had a glass of cabernet (yes, just one--surprised?!). We sat and chatted for a couple of hours before we called it a night. I think I had maybe two drinks the whole day? I had a lot on Saturday night, so I decided to tone it down for the rest of the trip to save my PointsPlus. I still had a blast.

 

(will continue tomorrow...)

Continue Reading...