Jingle All The Way

Thanks to the Arthritis Foundation adding bells to our goody bags, we jingled all the way to the finish line of this 5k!  There were jingles all over the place!  Jingles and presents and Santa hats and Elves...even Buddy the Elf...and Rudolph and Santa...oh and Santa and Mrs. Claus...and lots and lots of red white and green!  My son who ran with me even commented that this was a fun 5k!  Kudos to the Arthritis Foundation and the people of Evansville making this event a success.  

My son told me, "You better win!"  I looked at him and said, "Have I ever told you that you better win?"  He smiled and he said, "In my book...finishing is winning."  And he's right!  We are winners!!!  He then told me... see you at the finish line!  He did great for his first 5k run.  His final time was 37 minutes 40 seconds; 396 out of over 465 runners.  (I forget the total number of runners!)  He was 14 out of 16 in his age group.  Seriously, this is a HUGE accomplishment for him and I am sooo proud!  And yes, I ran.  I ran the best I could... interval running, basically, but running nevertheless.  I finished in 43 minutes 6 seconds and 435th out of all the runners.  I wasn't even the last in my age group!  This is 12-15 minutes ahead of my best time walking.  WooHoo!  I still can't say I enjoyed the running part, but I know that it meant a lot to my son.  He even mentioned how he didn't like running cross country, but did it anyway.  That is the exact reason I KNEW I needed to run with him.  I am an example for him...I can't tell him to do one thing and then I do something different. 

Other thoughts as I was running... this particular race is for the Arthritis Foundation.  There are a ton of people who would love to be out running, but because of a crippling disease, they can't.  I am blessed and I should not complain about running.  Then, there were these two people that I couldn't help but be inspired by.  The guy would run to a "marker" and stop and wait...cheering on the girl as she'd run to that spot.  They'd then walk a bit and he'd do it again.  Talk about inspiring!  He was her motivation...and mine!  THAT was awesome support!!!  And speaking of support, CME and our oldest came down to cheer us on...taking pictures along the way.  It's good to see smiling faces and to hear your family cheer you on as you run for the finish line.  I am so incredibly blessed!  

Here's a glance of our morning... <insert jingle bells sounds as you scroll through!>

Some style in Evansville... yes!

Sheriff Hum-V blocking traffic

I wonder if Santa asked him if he'd been good!

The best part of this costume...the harness with jingle bells.

This granny elf left us in her dust!  Way to go!!!

The crowd in front of me...

The crowd behind me.

The Grinch made several appearances too!

The smile means it was the start of the race.

That's my boy!

Run!!!

Sprinting to the finish line.

The finish line is in sight!

Almost there!

We did it!

Jingles...all the way.

Smiling because it's over!

My extra jingles.

Love that he ran with me!

Checking his time...

Checking my time.

T-shirts!  And love his smile!

What a team!

Jingle Bell Run!

________________________________________________
"I praise you [God] because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." ~Psalm 139:14

Hello December!

I can't believe it's December already.  Really, I can't!  A full week into the month already and I don't even know how the past 7 months have gone by so quickly.  I can only imagine how quickly this month is going to go considering how busy it will be.  I need to consciously choose to slow down and enjoy the CHRISTmas season, otherwise it will blow past me almost unnoticed...

Anyway, let me see if I can give a few quick updates.  (Okay, so this may not be quick...we will see!)

After the sports bra mishap, I did go buy a new one.  Tried it out this week and I can say that "the girls" didn't even try to escape.  That'll teach 'em!  I also must admit that I am not liking the running thing at all.  I think I used the word "loathe" in describing it to Missy.  For any of you who are runners...good for you!  I still plan on jogging to the best of my ability on Saturday - my son deserves my effort especially since we really had to encourage him to run cross country.  Please pray that I go into it with a positive mind and not dreading it and grudgingly doing it like I'm thinking as I type this.

I also purchased new underwear.  (Sorry if that's TMI too!)  I really didn't know what size to get, so I guessed.  When I got home, I pulled them out of the package and looked at them with the 'there is no way I'll ever fit into those!' look.  CME and I cracked up!!  Now, their elasticity helps, I'm sure, but they fit! They fit well, actually.  And they are a fraction of the pair I pulled out from the dresser to compare them with.  Honest!!  If I didn't think that guys read this blog, I'd probably even post a picture of the comparison...but that's way out of my comfort zone for mixed company!

I had lunch this past week with a friend from my past.  We hadn't seen each other in a couple of years.  She had no idea I had gastric bypass surgery.  When she entered the restaurant, I had to get up to greet her because she had no idea who I was.  It was GREAT!  She is still the positive and encouraging friend that I knew back when.  We got to catch up on a lot and I was able to share how this journey is more than weight loss for me, but that it is a transformation inside and out that God is orchestrating.  She reminded me of something I said to her probably close to 20 years ago.  I had left a Weight Watchers meeting and told her one of the things that was shared: What I sneak and eat today, the world will see tomorrow.  I couldn't believe she remembered that, because I had obviously forgotten it over the years!  Regardless, she was so happy for me and so encouraging.  Love that lady!

Oh yeah, I had forgotten to blog about this experience, but since I want this blog to be about all aspects of this, I need to confess that some habits die hard.  A couple of weekends ago, I was home alone.  Working from home actually.  MULTIPLE times that day I found myself wandering into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator repeatedly; looking around and closing it.  Probably the sixth or seventh time I did that it hit me.  "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?  YOU'RE NOT HUNGRY!  GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN!"  Now the good thing is that we hadn't been to the grocery store yet and there was nothing healthy for me to snack on so I didn't eat anything.  That alone is a victory, but what if there had been something I could eat?  I would have been grazing...even if it's healthy food, grazing is NOT a healthy habit.  I had fallen prey to one of those "trigger" situations from my past.  Alone. Bored.  I am so grateful that I did finally realize the pattern.  It serves as a good reminder that I still don't have this whole thing conquered.  I will have to be aware at all times.  

Shrimp.  It's something that I never really ate.  It's now something I'm searching for when eating out.  CME and I had a date night and went to Applebee's.  I have decided that I really like their grilled jalapeno-lime shrimp from their Weight Watchers menu.  I didn't eat the rice (still don't like to fill up on rice when the other really yummy stuff is better for me anyway!) and had about 1/2 cup of the shrimp and the leftovers for lunch the next day.  I like shrimp.  Who'da thunk it?

Those are my updates for now.  Now, needing to put that whole "slow down and enjoy the season" thought into action because after all Jesus is the reason for the season and so deserves all my attention.  Hoping you can enjoy this CHRISTmas season as well!

________________________________________________
"I praise you [God] because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." ~Psalm 139:14

I Didn't See That Coming!

So a funny thing happened on the way to the forum...

No wait, that's not right...but a funny thing did happen!  My youngest son and I have signed up to do the Jingle Bell 5k on December 8.  However, my son doesn't want to walk it.  He wants to run.  I. have. never. run. a. day. in. my. life.  Even in gym class, I'd walk the laps.  Sure I'd run the bases for softball or dodge ball, but to run...as in any distance?  Nope.  Hasn't happened.  All that being said, if my son wants to run, then by golly we're going to run.  Right?

Tonight, he and I headed to the YMCA so we could practice running.  I figured I'd let him "school me" on what needs to be done since he ran cross country this fall.  And I figured it would give him an extra boost of encouragement.  He had us start by walking a couple of laps, then we stretched.  Next, he told me that we'd jog two laps and walk a lap and continue that pattern for 30 minutes.  (Sounds like he knew what he was doing, huh?)  So, this non-runner started to jog.  One lap.  Two laps.  Okay...now I can walk.  By this time my son is way ahead of me, which is fine.  And then it was time to jog again.  I take off, upping my pace just slightly when half way around the track I noticed something didn't seem right.  No really...it didn't seem right at all.  I checked and Oh. My. Goodness!  I had literally jogged right out of my sports bra!!!!!  

No, I am not kidding.  The "girls" had decided to run free.  I don't know if it's the fact that I'm new to the whole sports bra thing that kind of causes a uni-boob anyway or if I'm not wearing the right size or didn't have it securely in place.  Nonetheless I cannot even begin to tell you how glad I am that there was absolutely no one around me on the track when this realization hit me!  As nonchalantly as I could, I quickly folded my arms across my now sagging...well...yeah....and hurried down the stairs and into the locker room where I "fixed" the situation.  I will say that I was not embarrassed enough to quit.  I went back to the track and jogged a few more laps.  I did continue to check on the girls, and they must have learned their lesson as they didn't try to escape any more!  

So there you have it folks.  The ugly truth.  The funny truth.  The embarrassing truth.  I definitely didn't see this coming!

________________________________________________
"I praise you [God] because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." ~Psalm 139:14