The Most Amazing Race of My Life

Sorry I didn't blog on Thursday or Friday. By the time I got home Thursday night I was so overwhelmed and elated that I just needed to veg. Got to Green Bluff a little after six. Went and found my cousin Heather and her family. It was good to have them there. Met up with Vincent (my trainer) a little bit later and introduced him and his wife to Heather and her family. I was getting so nervous. About 20 minutes to 7:00 Heather decided that she was going to run the race with us. I was so excited. It was one thing to have her there cheering me on and everything, but it meant the world to me that she would run with me. The race started out kind of slow. A lot of people were walking it. We started out jogging at a slow pace. I jogged/walked the race and I finished with a time of 56:03. My trainer wanted to finish in 40 minutes but he's crazy like that. I was really happy with my time. My goal was to finish under and hour. There is no words or feeling that describes how I felt after crossing the finish line. It was a tough race. It was really hilly and there was one hill that went on forever. I am glad I did it though. My dream came true and it was so amazing. Just think if you would have asked me 7 0r 8 months ago if I would run in a race or have any desire to run in a race I would have told you to go fly a kite. I had no desire what so ever to run, let alone run a race. As we were running, Heather asked Vincent how long he's been a trainer and he answered her and then turned around and informed me that he was retiring on August 1st. You should have seen the look I gave him. I was pissed. First of all, telling me as I am running a tough race is not the time to be telling me. 2nd with that said, when were you going to tell me this information? I am still not happy about this. I haven't had a chance to talk to him about it, but he's got a lot of explaining to do. Anyway off my soapbox now. I got to about the 3 mile marker and wanted to give up so bad. I was tired, cranky, and hot. I just wanted it to be over. Heather was a little ways ahead of me and she would turn around and look for me and then say "Come on Karen, you can do it". Vincent was encouraging me to continue and getting frustrated with me because all I wanted to do was walk. He went as far to say "Do you want me to give up on you?" I didn't want to disappoint him so I continued on. I was allowing my head to get in the way and those negative thoughts to take over. Then we came around the corner and up the last hill and then I saw Heather's kids and Husband. Boy were they a sight to see. It was so good to see them. I only had a little bit to go to get to the finish line. Heather slowed down and I caught up to her and we crossed the finish line together. Over all it was a fantastic time. Heather is in training right now to do a 1/2 marathon in May of 2013. She informed me at the race that I was going to run it with her. Yikes, talk about overwhelmed and scared. I'm not sure I'm fully ready for that. Anyone want to do it with us?

Cherry Pickers Trot-6.4K (4 miles) Run

Hey family and friends. Well it's been 2 weeks since I left the Resort in Utah and headed home. It has been so good to be home in my own place, sleeping in my own bed and being with my own animals and family. Things have been going pretty well. I have been struggling with staying on my program and being motivated to continue. I took the first week off from exercising when I got home just to chill and get acclimated back into my life. So I gained a few pounds over the first week or so. Last Saturday I decided that I needed to kick it back into gear and I needed some accountability so I went and joined Weight Watchers. I am so glad I did. This week has been pretty good food and exercise wise. Been staying pretty close to 1500 calories a day. We shall see on Saturday if this has been successful or not. So when I got home I went to see my trainer at my gym to say hi and to tell him how much I missed him while I was gone. I walked into the gym and walked up to the desk where he was sitting and the first thing he said to me was, want to do a triathlon? I started laughing and said I haven't even done a 5K yet. He then proceeded to ask me if I wanted to do a 5K. I said yes that I have wanted to do one for a while. He said ok then lets do the Cherry Pickers Trot in Green Bluff on July 19th. I said ok not realizing that it was only 3 weeks away. So I committed to do the race. So this Thursday at 7pm I will being running/walking a 6.4K race. I am so excited but so nervous. My dream of doing a race is finally coming true. So in preparation for Thursday I was promptly informed when I arrived at the gym this morning that I would be running/walking 4 miles on the treadmill. I wanted so badly to turn around and run out the gym door and not turn around. The first thing out of my mouth was that my knee had been bothering me. All the negative thoughts and feelings started to take over. Well my trainer wouldn't take no for an answer and so I headed over to the treadmill and started walking/running. There were so many times that I just wanted to hit the stop button and say I can't do this, but I pushed through it. I finished the 4 miles in 51 minutes. I was so proud of myself and so was my trainer. He said now you are ready for Thursday and you are going to kill it. The hard part is done. So now I'm back on track and ready to kick this last 15-30 pounds in it's butt. Life is good. I am feeling so blessed and so grateful for all that I have done and accomplished. I just need to believe in myself and believe that this is the way it's going to be for the rest of my life. Last week I skyped with Essara and we had a good session. It was so good to talk to her. I miss her so much. I will post after my race on Thursday and let you know how it went. Take care my family and friends. May God bless you and keep you safe.