Women Inspired (sponsored post)

I don't normally write sponsored posts (I've actually only done two sponsored programs in the 4+ years I've been blogging on Runs for Cookies), and I don't plan to start doing them on a regular basis; but when this opportunity from Prudential came along from BlogHer, I was very interested in pursuing it.

With this program, in July, I'll have the opportunity to learn from a financial advisor, which is something I've always been interested in. Money isn't as tight as it used to be a few years ago, but I am clueless as to how to plan for the future financially. We certainly have enough to get by, but we have very little savings, and I'd like some help in changing that! So, while this is a sponsored post (the first of three over the next few months), I am excited to learn from it.

For this post, I was asked to write about when I was inspired to be the person I am today. First, I have to look at who I actually am today. I am a person who loves setting and working on goals. I've always loved making checklists of goals that I wanted to accomplish, but it wasn't until I started to lose weight in 2009 that I really felt the confidence that I could really achieve what I put my mind to.

I made a list of 30 things that I wanted to accomplish before I turned 30 years old, and I included some pretty hefty goals on that list--things like reaching my goal weight, running a 5K race, stepping out of my comfort zone by wearing a very trendy outfit, learn to play the Turkish March on the piano, pay off my MasterCard (which was $5,000 at the time), and knit an afghan. Some of them were silly, and some were more serious, but they were all things that I wanted to accomplish over a period of about two years.

To give away the ending, I did not accomplish all of those goals--but that list was a huge part of who I am today! The biggest factor on the list was running the 5K race. If it weren't for my friend Renee, that goal probably would have been shelved right along with the others that I never did accomplish (like playing the Turkish March!).

Renee, a runner, saw my list and said she wanted to help me achieve that goal. The thought of running a 5K when I had never even run around my block was daunting--but I really would have been embarrassed to admit to her that I couldn't do it. Renee picked a race for us to do together (the Detroit Free Press 5K) and she helped me as I trained for it. I remember calling her after I ran for 8 minutes straight, and I was SO proud. She continued to encourage me, and eventually, we ran that race together. Running that 5K was just what I needed to achieve all sorts of other goals. I had done what I felt was impossible!

Achieving that goal was just what I needed to start working on other goals that I felt were impossible. Reaching my goal weight? Even though I included that on my list, I thought there was NO WAY IN HELL that I would actually do it. After the 5K, though, I started to reconsider that thought.

I finally realized that the goals that seemed impossible were actually possible when I made a plan. I couldn't just go out and run a 5K race one day--I had to follow a training plan and work my way up to it. I couldn't just knit an afghan one afternoon--I had to find a pattern, plan out the color scheme, figure out how much I needed to work on it each day to finish it in time, etc. I couldn't just pay off my MasterCard by writing a check for the full amount--I had to make a budget, and have a portion of money automatically set aside to pay that debt down.

Reaching my goal weight was the most difficult on the list, because it required a plan with a ton of variables, and a HUGE dedication on my part. But, thanks to that 5K, I was confident in going about tackling that goal. Prudential's mission with this program is to inspire women to their own financial security--this is a topic that I don't know very much about, but I'd love to learn.

I worry all the time about not just my own future, but that of Jerry (I want him to be able to retire and enjoy life) and my kids. I imagine this will involve setting some goals, making some temporary sacrifices, and having the dedication to follow through--the same formula that I used to reach those other goals on my list!

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Exhausted puppy

As I mentioned yesterday, I took Joey to Lucky Puppy (his doggy daycare) in the morning, and he spent the day there while Jerry and I did the field trips with the kids. We picked him up at around 5:00, and he was exhausted. As soon as he got home, he crashed on the floor and didn't move a muscle...

He actually looked at the couch like he was going to jump up there, but realized it would take too much energy, so he plopped himself on the floor. He always LOVES going to daycare--when we're in the car, and we start to get close to it, he gets so excited. They opened the pool for the dogs on Memorial Day, so he's been swimming as well as running around with the other dogs, and he gets completely exhausted. Buzzfeed just made a list of The 100 Happiest Dog Photos, and one of the pictures from Lucky Puppy's pool was on there:

Anyway, Joey laid like that all evening, and then I had to force him to go outside to pee before bed. Then I had to lift him up onto Eli's bed (where he sleeps), because he was too tired to jump. I don't know why I found it so funny, but it cracks me up that he plays so hard that he can't move for two days. He's been sleeping away the day today, too. I'm amazed at how tired he gets from a day of play, because when he was running with me (even 5 miles!) he still had energy to spare.

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I had to miss Weight Watchers this morning, because Noah graduated from D.A.R.E., and they had a little ceremony at school for it. My mom and I went to the ceremony. Noah got his certificate and t-shirt for completing the program.

I have a similar picture of him holding his preschool graduation certificate, and making the same face as he is in this picture. Yeesh! Where did the time go?!

I was a little disappointed that I had to miss my Weight Watchers meeting today, but I'll just plan to go to the Friday meeting instead. Tomorrow, I have a physical therapy appointment. I ran from the driveway to the front door this morning, and my leg was still painful where the stress fracture is. That worries me--I've already had to miss so many races over the last six months, I'll be really upset if I can't train for the Detroit Marathon. Hopefully, the PT will give me some good news tomorrow!

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Greenfield Village and La Pita

Even though Eli just had a field trip on Friday, he had ANOTHER one today... and so did Noah. Jerry and I both volunteered to chaperone (he for Noah, and I for Eli). The kids go to different schools, but their field trips were at the same place--The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village (the museum is indoors, and the village is outdoors).

I've been to the museum three times this year, so I just couldn't do it again, which is why I decided to do Greenfield Village with Eli. I took Noah there two years ago, and we thought it was pretty boring, but since I went with Noah, I thought it would be fun to do the same field trip with Eli.

Over the weekend, I asked my dad to look at my Jeep, because it felt strange when I drove it--almost like it was really windy, and rocking the Jeep a little (except there wasn't wind). My dad checked it out yesterday, and discovered that the ball joints were completely shot--he said I'm lucky they hadn't already broken completely, because that could cause a serious accident. Also, the brake pads and front tires needed replacing.

I'm so lucky that my dad is an auto mechanic, because I've saved a fortune over the years with car repairs (I get the "free labor" discount for being his daughter). The parts and tires were an unexpected expense, and along with replacing the weed wacker that was stolen, we were getting hit one after the other with these things this weekend, which is a bummer.

Anyway, my dad said that I absolutely should not drive the Jeep until I replaced the front tires, because they were completely bald. That was last night, and since Jerry and I both had to report to different schools this morning, it was a bit of a problem. I drove Joey to doggy daycare and dropped him off at 7:00 this morning (using Jerry's car). Then I went to Eli's school, and Jerry drove the Jeep a very short distance to Noah's school. After we got our "assignments" for the field trip, Jerry and I drove together in his car to Dearborn for the field trips.

Just like two years ago when I took Noah, there was almost a 1:1 ratio of parents to kids, so Eli was the only one in my group. That was nice, because we could do whatever interested him the most. Like me, Eli isn't very interested in history. We rode the train when we first got there, and then Eli played on a playground for a little bit. He was dying to go to the gift shop, of course ;)

On the train (I took a pic with Noah like this two years ago... now I see where
the 27 pounds I gained since then went! haha

After that, though, we decided to go out to lunch at La Pita, which was just a couple of minutes away. Jerry had other kids in his group at the museum, so he couldn't leave, but Eli's teacher told me we could leave whenever we were ready. So we decided to have lunch and then go back and pick up Jerry and Noah.

Today is the last day of my Weight Watchers week, so I wanted to use up the rest of my weekly PointsPlus. I had 26 PP remaining for the week, so I decided to get my favorite meal there: the chicken kabob lunch.

I estimated it as follows:
Chicken- 6 PP
Rice pilaf- 7 PP
Garlic sauce- 12 PP
Hummus- 7 PP
Pita bread- 2 PP each
Salad- 1 PP
A grand total of 35 PP for the entire meal. That seems so high! But the garlic sauce (the white stuff in the photo) is a huge chunk of that. It's counted the same as mayonnaise (3 PP per tablespoon) because it's basically oil and garlic.

I ate about 25 PP worth of the meal. I totally could have eaten it ALL, plus about five more pitas, but I am doing so good being back on track that I didn't want to screw that up! It was really delicious, and a healthy way to spend a big chunk of points (my other option was going to be a flurry).

I am THRILLED that I actually made it through two weeks on a binge-free streak and not going over my Weight Watchers Points!

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Motivational Monday #109

Ohmygosh... so many thanks to Jenny Yule, who commented on my last post, and helped me solve the issue with the Photos app! It was as simple as restarting my computer. I never restart my computer unless it's required for an update or something, so I hadn't tried that. But she had the same problem, and after Googling solutions, she figured it out. I'm so glad to have that headache over with ;)

It's been three weeks, so I'm going to jump right into the Motivational Monday shares...

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Christa recently completed her very first marathon! She finished the Delaware Marathon in 5:20:36. She had a goal of sub-5:00, but after training through the cold winter, the humidity on race day was much more difficult than she was used to (I know how that is, *ahem* Cleveland...); but she is very proud that she completed her goal of running a marathon!

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After losing about 50 pounds and 5 sizes, Diana completed her first half-marathon! She started tracking her food on My Fitness Pal last year, and ran her first 5K in September. In January, she made a goal to run the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon in May. She trained all winter, reaching a peak of 11 miles for her longest training run. The race was harder than expected--75 degree temps and very hilly--so the end was a struggle, but she pushed on and crossed the finish line in 3:30:42!

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Today, Ashley celebrates 8 months of her weight loss journey... and she's lost over 69 pounds! She's been running for 6 months, and just completed the Austin Autism 8K race in Texas. Her secret goal was to finish under an hour, and despite the mass flooding in Texas (which also prevented her family from being there, even though they wanted to), she finished in 54:56! She ran the race not just for herself, but on behalf of Zell, her boyfriend's son who has autism.

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Amanda just completed the Annapolis 10K! Her friend Michael, who ran the race with her, convinced her to sign up and train for it. She didn't have a time goal, but made a plan to run 3/4 mile and then walk 1/4 mile, and repeat for the duration of the race. She is proud to have finished in 1:17:41! Her next goal is to run the entire distance. She said that one thing she learned about this experience is that even though her weight isn't where she'd like it to be, she shouldn't let it stop her from doing something she wants to do.

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Brittany was on Motivational Monday in December after running her first 5K in 46:00. She continued to train, and has since lost 40 pounds! She just ran another 5K, and PR'ed with a time of 35:05. Her husband, who has lost 30 pounds and just started running last month, completed the race as well--even placing in his age group!

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During the last year and a half, Laura has lost 50 pounds and and 6 pants sizes! She did it on her own, by portion control, cutting out semi-daily stops for Mexican fast food, and a lot of running. She said she "mustered the courage to join a speed training group, enjoying the challenge of trying to keep up with the speed demons in compression socks" ;) She just completed her 21st race, a 5K--and set a PR of 29:50!

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Kaitlyn has just hit the eight month mark in her weight loss journey, and she's lost 34 pounds! She said that it's coming off slower than previous weight loss attempts, which is resulting in her sticking with it for the long haul. She's only creating habits that she could/would stick to for the rest of her life, which has broken the restrict/binge cycle (that so many of us are familiar with!). In August, she is going to be doing her first 5K!

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Congratulations everyone! You can check out more stories (and share your own) on the Motivational Monday Facebook post. Have a great week!

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Making old habits new again

It poured rain again today, all day long. When I woke up, I did the routine I created on the Wii Fit U. It was a 35-minute routine that was mostly yoga and strength training exercises to work my hips and balance.

Even though I've been doing the physical therapy exercises for a while now, I don't feel like they are working. I don't think I've gotten any better at them, which means it's unlikely I've gained any strength (I could be wrong, we'll see when I go to my appointment this week). I noticed when I was walking on the treadmill yesterday that my left knee still buckles inward upon each step--and that's what the physical therapist is trying to correct. When I look straight ahead, it doesn't feel awkward or anything; but when I look down at my legs, I can see that my right leg looks like it's functioning normally, but my left has that weird buckle.

I tried SO hard to correct it while I was walking, but even when I really focused, I couldn't make it look symmetrical to the right leg. So, I'm afraid that even if my stress fracture is healed, I'm just going to fracture it again unless I correct that problem. I can't help but wonder if it's happening because of my weight gain... when I was at my goal weight, my thighs didn't rub together when I ran; but after gaining 25 pounds, they do. I think it may make me swing them out to the side a little when I walk or run, and maybe that's causing my knee to buckle in. I'm not sure why it would be on just the left side, but it's just a theory.

Regardless, I'm going to continue with the strength exercises and getting my weight back down. I've been doing really well on Weight Watchers! The weight is coming off very slowly this time around, but I've logged a loss each week this month, so I'm happy with that. And I'm currently on a binge-free streak of 12 days. That may not sound like much, but it's my longest streak in months, maybe even a year!

After I wrote the post about the habits that helped me lose 125 pounds, I decided to take my own advice and stop worrying about what's "right" or what other people think about my diet. Over this past year, I was eating a lot of crappy food that I wasn't used to eating (fried foods, particularly); so when I was trying to go back to eating a healthier diet, I realized that I just didn't love the healthy foods that I used to. Adjusting my taste buds takes time.

I ended up impulsively buying a couple of Lean Cuisine meals because they were on sale, and while I never really cared for them before, I discovered that I actually like them--and they make staying on track during/after lunch much easier for me. I know that the LC meals have all kinds of processed junk in them, but they are definitely healthier than a binge or super heavy restaurant meal. They're the perfect amount of points for lunch (6-8, generally), and I pair them with a fruit or vegetable, so they're really satisfying. Lunch has always been the most difficult meal for me, because I never know what to eat, and I don't want to cook for just myself. The LC meals have made that easy for me.

For dinner lately, I've been experimenting with new recipes from some cookbooks that I have. I remember doing that when I first started losing weight--I would go through cookbooks and mark several recipes to try, and then we'd try them. If they were good, we added them to our rotation, and if not, we just didn't make them again. Today, it was pouring rain all day, and soup sounded really good. I ended up making an old favorite, Stuffed Pepper Soup. So good!

This whole bowl, 2-1/2 cups, is only 6 PointsPlus

I love this soup, and I think I'm going to try making a stuffed cabbage soup as well, by replacing the peppers with cabbage.

Since the kids started baseball, I've been making a lot of dinners in the crock pot. I normally like to eat dinner at around 4:00, but we don't get home from their practice until 6:15! For the first couple of practices, I was starving, and it was stressful to try and make dinner while helping the kids with their homework and all that. Using the crock pot is so helpful!

In the evenings, I've gotten back in the routine of having a small dessert. This whole week, it's been a tin roof sundae: 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream with 1 T. chocolate syrup and 1/2 oz. peanuts. It's small, but because I love ice cream, it gives me something to look forward to at the end of the day.

I've actually managed to keep a container of ice cream in my house without eating more than 1/2 cup per day--crazy! ;) Usually, it doesn't last one night.

And finally, I've gotten back in the habit of NOT snacking. I lose weight best when I eat just 3-4 times per day, so now I've been having breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. Because of this, I can eat more filling meals (I can spend more points on meals, since I'm not spending them on snacks) and I'm much more satisfied.

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I'm going to do Motivational Monday tomorrow, no matter what! I still haven't figured out the whole Photos app thing, but I figured I can at least take a screen shot photo of the email, which saves to my desktop. I really need to take an Apple class or something to get this Photos thing figured out. I can save pictures there, but they aren't there when I want to upload them. They don't show up until DAYS later. So frustrating! But anyway, if you have a submission, here is how to do it :)

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Incline walk

Well, I found out what happened to my iPod... remember I mentioned someone had broken into our garage last weekend? Yesterday, my mom saw an article in the newspaper about a bunch of teenagers in a nearby neighborhood who had a party Sunday night, and five of them decided to go around and break into garages, stealing a bunch of random stuff, just for the fun of it. They said that it "seemed like a good idea at the time".

From our garage, they took (along with my iPod) our weed wacker, a gas can full of gas, and a hammer (that we know of). They may have taken more, but those are the things we noticed, because we needed them all yesterday. I didn't file a police report when I noticed my Jeep had been broken into, because my deductible on my insurance costs more than the value of items stolen, so I didn't think there was any point. But after reading the newspaper article, we hoped maybe some of our stuff was recovered, so we ended up filing a police report. The police said they had recovered a weed wacker, which was awesome--but then we discovered it wasn't ours. It sounds like the teens stole a LOT of random stuff from several garages. Jerks.

Yesterday, Eli had a field trip at the River Raisin Battlefield (a battlefield from the War of 1812) and I was a chaperone. My friend Andrea was chaperoning as well, so I met her at her house, and then she drove to the field. History is not exactly of interest to me, so it wasn't the most exciting field trip; but it was cool to see the memorial that was still up from Memorial Day. They had flags (I think there were about 450) in the ground in rows, and a list of names of fallen soldiers that each flag represented. Seeing that many flags in one area really puts the loss into perspective.

The kids participated in some sort of reenactment, and even dressed the part. Eli LOVED that he got to carry a gun ;)

As you can see, it was pouring rain. It's been raining hard all week. We lost power a couple of times, and three out of four of the kids' baseball practices were canceled!

Today, I really wanted to get in a workout. Not just my PT exercises, but something that would burn a lot of calories. I decided to walk on the treadmill, with a high incline, and see if I could get my heart rate up as high as it is when I run. I set the incline at 12% (the highest it goes), and the speed on 3.5 mph, and started walking.

I wore my Garmin and heart rate monitor so that I could get an accurate calorie burn, and I was shocked when I saw how many calories I burned just from walking! By walking at 3.5 mph (I even decreased it to 3.2 mph for a little bit, because it was tough) for 30 minutes on an incline of 12%, I burned 335 calories! That's the same as, if not more than, I burn when I run for the same amount of time. I continued to walk for about 10 minutes afterward on a 0% incline, so the total for 40 minutes was 2.08 miles and 380 calories. That incline is no joke!

Heart rate for my incline walk; during a typical run, it is usually in the mid- to high-150's. 

After the treadmill, I did my PT exercises, and then did a few games/exercises on the Wii Fit U. I set up a routine on the Wii Fit U that includes a bunch of exercises that are for hip strengthening and balance (two things I really need to work on). I'm getting discouraged because I STILL feel pain in my leg here and there, and marathon training is supposed to start soon. I'll see what the physical therapist says on Thursday.

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My dad finished another painting that I absolutely LOVE. As soon as I saw it, I pretty much claimed it as mine :)

I think it's the colors that I love so much. Now I just need to get a frame for it so I can hang it up!

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Galloway training?

A few days ago, I decided to dust off the old Wii U and do some of the games on the Wii Fit U. I didn't realize it had been SO long since I had used it until I got on the balance board and it registered my weight. It had been something like 15 or 16 months since I last used it, so it was pretty sobering to see the change:

When you weigh in the scale every day or every week, it's easy to look at a gain of 1-2 pounds and not panic. It just seems like no big deal--a weight fluctuation, which is totally normal. But when you see +25.1, you realize all those little "fluctuations" really added up in a big way. Then, to rub salt in my wounds, my Mii got fatter right in front of my eyes... hahaha!

I did the step aerobics, which is probably my favorite game/exercise. I bought a step attachment from Amazon that raises the height of the balance board to make the step aerobics more difficult. It was actually a pretty good workout! I did the advanced workout for about 30 minutes, and probably would have done it longer if the kids hadn't gotten home from school (when they get home, it's instant chaos in the house). I'm going to start doing the Wii Fit U again, mostly just for a fun way to stay active. I'd forgotten how much fun it was!

Today, Jerry was off work, so we took Joey for a walk to the lake. He loves the water, so we let him off his leash and he swam for a while (when he "swims", he really just leaps through the water like a deer, only he's not at all graceful).

It was pretty hot outside, and I must say, even though it sucks that I can't run right now, I am glad to not run when it's hot!

I go to another physical therapy appointment next week, and I've been trying to think of a plan to talk to the PT about for marathon training. I'm going to see if he approves of starting training in mid-June, and I'll plan to do Jeff Galloway's method. The Galloway method of training is to run/walk in a particular ratio. For me, it would likely be three or four minutes of running followed by one minute of walking (and then repeat) for the total duration of the run. If three minutes is too hard on my leg, then I may have to shorten the running part a little.

From Jeff Galloway's site, which explains it much better

ETA: Someone commented that those numbers have changed for 2015, so I dug around the site and found the new ratios:

Since my PT told me that I would have to do a run/walk program to get back into running, I figured I'd ask if I could start training that way. As the training progresses, and my leg heals, maybe I'll be able to run more and walk less... we'll see. The only problem is, Jeff Galloway's marathon training plan is 30 weeks long! I was planning to start my training 18 weeks out (mid June). If I move ahead in the schedule, it would be too hard on my leg (a 12 mile long run right off the bat). So, I'll just ask at my appointment next week and see what he thinks.

Anyone train for a marathon using the Galloway method? Do you feel like it prepared you for the marathon well?

Today was another solid day on Weight Watchers... Day 9! (I'm hoping to beat my best streak from the past year, which was only 24 days).

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Accountability

Today was Day 8 of being 100% back on track with Weight Watchers--no extra bites of food here, no heavy-handed portions there, no "well, I'll just eat this now and get back on track tomorrow"'s, etc. It's been a long time since I had a week as committed as I was this week, and I feel really good.

Over the weekend, someone broke into our garage, and stole my iPod out of the Jeep. I'm so bummed! It was just an iPod Nano, but it's what I used to listen to music in the car and podcasts while out for a walk. I'm not going to replace it, so I'll just try to get used to using my phone, even though it's pretty big (the Nano was really small).

We were supposed to have a big thunderstorm last night, but all we got were some sprinkles and heavy clouds--and then our power went out. I never understand that! We can have major storms come through and still have electricity, but then a gentle breeze will knock it out for a few hours. I'm always tempted to eat in those situations, because there's nothing else to do--it was too dark to see much of anything, and my phone was almost dead. But, I stayed on plan, and didn't use the power outage as an excuse to eat.

This morning, I had my Weight Watchers meeting. My weight was only down a smidge, but that may be because I was wearing really light clothes (yoga pants) last week, and heavier jeans today. Also, I weighed in on Friday last week, so it's only been five days between weigh-ins at Weight Watchers. Anyway, I logged another loss, regardless, so I'm happy with that!

At our meeting today, we talked about accountability. Glenda had asked us to write down what "accountable" meant to us. It was hard for me to put into words, but I wrote:

It reminded me of back in 2009, when I first started Weight Watchers. I specifically remember measuring out one cup of spaghetti noodles, and I made it a little more heaping than it should have been. Just before I dumped it onto my plate, I thought, "Who am I really kidding? Does anyone in the world (other than me) really care if I have an actual cup or a heaping cup? No. The only person who is going to care about the consequences is me. What good is lying to myself?!" So I re-measured out my spaghetti, giving myself a proper cup.

Would that extra little bit of spaghetti be devastating in the long run? Heck no. But it was the accountability that I was after. I wanted to be completely honest with myself from the very first day. If I wasn't losing weight, I wanted to know why. And likewise, if I was losing a lot, I wanted to know why.

My main focus, though, was this: I wanted to be 100% sure that I was doing everything in my power to reach my goal--I wanted to follow the plan so that I knew that no matter what the scale said, I was doing my best. I didn't want to look back after a year and say, "I could have done this better", or "I should have done that instead". I just wanted to look back and say, "I did everything I could, and this is the result."

This past week, I did my best. There isn't anything I wish I'd done differently, actually. That mentality makes it easier when I don't see a big loss on the scale. I know I did my best, so it is what it is.

Our homework for next week is to write a situation in which we feel confident--it could be a place, an outfit, a person, or something else. This is a hard one for me, because confidence is not my strongest suit. It's kind of interesting, actually, that my confidence goes hand-in-hand with my weight. When I was at my goal weight, I felt very confident in most situations; now, I don't feel that way at all. I'll have to think about it this week!

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Wins for Warriors Detroit 9K (volunteer) race report

I hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend! I am going to postpone the Motivational Monday again, because today was the Wins for Warriors race in Detroit (and I still haven't figured out the stupid Photos app).

I woke up at 4:30 this morning to get ready and leave at 6:00. I was told to report to the volunteer tent behind Comerica Park at 7:00. I was nervous to drive there by myself, because I don't ever drive in downtown Detroit alone--it's unfamiliar to me, and I am notorious for getting lost in unfamiliar areas. Thankfully, Thomas taught me how to use Google Maps (which I'm still learning), and that gave me perfect directions! (I know, welcome to the 21st century, Katie...)

I went to the volunteer tent, where I was told I would be on the Riverwalk at mile 3.5 for a water station. I love the Detroit riverwalk, and was really excited when I learned that's where I would be. The problem is, it was nearly two miles away from Comerica, so it would be a long walk to get there. There was plenty of time to spare, though.

I had won a Tigers sweatshirt in a sweepstakes, so I picked up that (it's awesome!) and brought it back to my car, and then I started walking to my water station (following the directions on Google Maps). It was kind of eerie walking through the city when it was so quiet--there weren't any people or cars around at that time of morning.

Once I got to the water station, there was a lot of waiting around for the supplies to be delivered. It was such a pretty view, though!

The riverwalk has a really cool photo gallery on the sidewalk. There are photos of different areas of Michigan that all sorts of people took and submitted.

Once the supplies arrived, we set up cones to mark the course, and filled a ton of cups with water.

One of the volunteers had this, so I finally got my selfie with Justin Verlander ;)

The first runner came through, and it was a while before the second runner came through (this was a small race, about 300 people). After he went through, a minute or two later, we heard him yell, "Which way?" because he had made a wrong turn. I decided to go down to where it was a little confusing and direct runners instead of handing out water, because I didn't want anyone else to make that wrong turn.

It was fun standing there, because I got to watch all the runners go by, and cheer for people, and take some pictures. There were a couple of readers who recognized me, which is so fun. Nathan stopped and chatted with me for a few minutes before moving on (he was running it as a "fun run" rather than aiming for a certain goal). I saw Kendall (Nathan's girlfriend), who was running her farthest distance to date. There were a lot of walkers, which surprised me--if I had known there would be so many people walking, I would have opted to do that! But it ended up working out for the best that I volunteered instead...

We were told that there was one more person on the course, who was walking with the sweeper (a "sweeper" is a volunteer that "sweeps" the course by keeping every other runner in front of him/her; they stay at the very back of the pack to make sure that nobody gets left on the course). We cheered and gave them water when they came through. The person walking with the sweeper was a 15-year old boy named Daron. (Edit: I spelled his name wrong yesterday when I posted this--I just corrected it. Sorry, Daron!)

After Daron and the sweeper, Beth, passed through the water station, we started moving the table and supplies to the car of one of the volunteers. It had just started raining a little, so I decided to get a ride back instead of walk. As we were walking to the car, however, something told me that I should go back and walk the rest of the race with Daron and Beth.

I walked as fast as I could to catch up, and I asked if I could join them. They said sure, and we started chatting. I learned that Beth is quite the runner--she's done several 100-milers! She's also an Ironman (and a speedy one at that). Daron said his boss convinced him to sign up for the race, but he didn't know how far 9K was when he signed up. This was his very first race, and it was 5.6 miles!

It was tough for him, so I encouraged him the best that I could. He still had two miles to go, and at that point, it was already the farthest he'd ever walked before. It was interesting to be at the very back of the pack. I've been *near* the back before, but never last... and today, I got to experience that. We had a police escort the whole way (the Detroit police were AWESOME--they were really encouraging to Daron and never pushed us to go faster or showed impatience at all). The volunteers were still on the course, and they were fantastic as well--it was really heartwarming to see them root for Daron to finish.

Daron did awesome--he never complained, even though the race was really difficult for him, and he stayed in good spirits the whole time. When we finally saw Comerica Park, and the finish line, it was a relief for him! Right as we were walking past the stadium exit, a bunch of Team RWB members were walking out, and they spotted us walking toward the finish line. They started cheering really loudly for Daron, which was so cool!

I told Daron I was going to go ahead to the finish line so I could get a picture of him as he crossed. Beth continued to walk with him, and I went just past the finish line. Daron started running toward the very end, and he proudly crossed the finish line with several volunteers there cheering. Being as emotional as I am, I naturally got all choked up watching him finish. I know what a HUGE feat this race was for him!

We went inside the stadium for a lap of the ball field, and so Daron could receive his medal. There were several volunteers still there, too, and they cheered loudly for him. We took some photos (we got to go in the dugouts!) and then headed out. I thanked the race coordinators (I had met them at the game on Saturday), and got Daron's phone number so that I could text him the pictures I'd taken. Then I headed home.

With his boss

I felt SO GOOD after the race, and I didn't even run :) I think most things happen for a reason, and my volunteering today was one of those things. I got to witness an incredibly inspirational teen complete his first race--how awesome is that?!

I told Daron I would send him the link to this blog post, so feel free to leave him a congratulatory comment if you'd like :)

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VIP Tigers game!

Yesterday was amazing! I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was ridiculously excited to receive the invitation to the Tigers game and VIP reception for the Wins for Warriors race.

First, Jerry and I went to Nathan's house for lunch before heading to Detroit. I've only been to my brother's house once, and that was right after he moved in--it's been a while! He told us we could bring Joey, and Joey could stay at his house with Bailey while we went to the game. When we got there, the dogs played in the yard while Nathan grilled chicken and we chatted.

Nathan made grilled chicken Caesar salad wraps, which were amazing. After lunch, we drove to Detroit. We were instructed to get our tickets and go up to the suite at 2:30, and we got there at 1:30, so we decided to go to Cheli's for a drink. I just had diet Coke, because I've been really doing well at sticking with counting all my Points and staying on track. If I decided to have a beer, I wanted it to be at the game.

Once we picked up our tickets, we made our way through Comerica Park to our suite--which should have been easy, but it was pretty much a maze of elevators and winding through different areas. When we got to the suite, we were the first ones there, other than the people who organized the reception. We made introductions, and then went outside to watch batting practice. 

The suite was awesome! It was actually two suites that had a partition, but they took the partition down so it was one large room. There were several tables and counter top stools that faced the field. There was a large spread of food--everything from hot dogs and hamburgers to soft pretzel sticks to a chicken-bacon-cheese-ranch-entree that looked fantastic. Lots of water, soda, and beer, too. Of all the weeks to get back on track with Weight Watchers! ;)

At around 3:15, Justin Verlander made an appearance. He thanked everyone for the work they'd done for Wins for Warriors (most of the people there helped put the fundraiser/race together; we were only there because we were the top fundraisers). He came around the room and shook hands with everyone to make introductions. We were told we couldn't do individual pictures or autographs, because of a time crunch, so I wasn't able to take a pic with him.

After he left, we went outside and sat down for the game. Sitting in front of a suite is SO NICE. It was totally shaded, and we had a perfect view of the field. If there is one thing I can't stand about going to baseball games, it's sitting in the sun--I burn really easily, and I hate getting sweaty and sticky--so sitting in the shade was awesome.

It kind of looks like Nathan has horns in this picture!

The game wasn't too exciting. The most exciting thing to happen was actually when Houston made a triple play--I've never seen a triple play in major league baseball, so to be there for that was fun (too bad it wasn't the Tigers who did it, though!). The Tigers ended up losing 3-2.

I had been planning to eat a hamburger later in the game, but by the time I went to get one, they were gone. So I was absolutely starving by the time the game got over! I hadn't eaten anything since the wrap at Nathan's at noon, and the game got over at 7:00. It took us forever to get out of Detroit. What is usually a 40-ish minute drive ended up taking us nearly two hours, due to all the traffic getting out of the city. We dropped off Nathan and picked up Joey, and then stopped at Subway so I could grab a sub for dinner (at 9:00 pm). I even had enough points for a glass of wine when I got home! 

I'm really proud of the way I handled the game. It was tempting to pig out, with all the free food and drinks, but I did what works for me, and I feel good about it. The VIP reception was amazing, and I am thrilled that I was invited to take part in it. Tomorrow is the Wins for Warriors race, and I'll be volunteering somewhere on the race course--fun! :)

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