First 5k

I know that I am not a skinny chick (well yet anyway.) I have struggled with my fluffy volume of a body for the last half of my life. When I was in high school I was in the school beauty pagent "Jr.Miss." At the time I didn't think I was FAT, I had self doubts about myself but overall I thought I was ok. Well, the gal that was doing the costumes told me that I was to fat for the outfits that they had selected for one of the numbers. That they were going to have to take two costumes and sew them together to make the one costume for me. I'm sure she meant well when she told me these things, but it didn't help my self talk. It obviously made an impact on me since I still remember it so vividly. I even remember were we were when we had the conversation. However, I didn't really start gaining a lot of weight until I opened up about the assault a few years later. Food then became (and still is) a drug to me.

This is me at the Jr.Miss pageant thing. My mom made that dress! I loved it!

So it may be a little random that I decided to run my first 5k for my 35th birthday. I wanted to do something memorable that I had never done before and this is what I thought would be fun...lol..I have so much to learn....

Ok granted I did not run the entire thing, I think I ran about half of it and quickly walked the rest. The race was sponsored by the Biggest Loser show .I love Biggest Loser! I tend to watch it with a big bag of chocolate as I lay on my bed. I know I know...not the inspiration that the show really intended. I did not prepare as much as I wanted to. I have a bazillion excuses for why I didn't run as much as I should have, but they are all excuses. I let other things become a priority for the hard work necessary to run the complete 5k. I hope to try again in November.


When the race started there was a lot of energy! It felt like electricity was pulsing through the crowd. It was wet, cold, windy, and not very pleasant conditions for running a 5k, but that didn't stop the crowd from getting really excited.

If you look closely you can see all of the former contestants. The one in pink is Sarah Nitta and she still in the competition. I met her briefly after the race and she was so sweet and nice. She looked great!

Note to self: I naively assumed that since we were all going to be running a race, exercising, and getting all sweaty (in the rain no less!)that people would be dressed comfortably and most likely what one would exercise in. Nope. WRONG! Please remember that I have never participated in a race nor have I ever watched a race so I had no idea what I was getting into. The people were completely decked out! Some had tutus on, some had crazy hair, I ran behind a gal for a while that had this bright pink jacket with tons of sequins on it that said "Think Pink!" It was insane!! I showed up very low key, very little make-up, no costume, and ready to go!...I did not realize that the 5k was an excuse to party with your exercising buddies. Too fun!

The most profound moment during the race was when I saw my family waiting for me at the top of the hill. They jumped up and down, cheered, and gave me a boost of happy energy. As soon as I saw them I immediately started running again even though I thought I had ran the last little bit out of me. My family got me through the most difficult part of the race, when I wanted to walk-really-really-slow-to-the-car-in-the-parking-lot-that-we-were-running-in, they were there to remind me what my goal was.

Cory joined me for the last lap of the race. He had Mark in his arms and was walking...while I was running. I guess I'm not that fast of a runner..lol..but I loved having him with me while I bobbed along. Maybe I can get him to run with me in November (or maybe I can get that old man from the race who was pushing his wife in a wheelchair and sailed past me.....no really that happened.)

There were some of the Biggest Loser previous cast there running with us. They gave us all high 5's and yelled "you can do it!" whenever they would run past us. I was able to get Ada's and Adam's autograph on my wet shirt (very awkward moment....please sign my wet sweaty shirt!!).


Anyway, I had a blast and I hope to do something like this again. My journey with my weight continues. I know my family will be there for me when I feel like I can't reach my goals or want to quit, just like they were there for me at the race.
Thanks everyone!
Have a happy day!