Half Marathon, here I come!!!

*WARNING: The following is literally the ramblings of an over active mind, right after a cup of coffee. Be ADVISED.. it might not make any sense AT ALL!!!*

Okay.. so before I go off on how excited I am... I just want to say [for the record] that I am slightly disappointed. The 1/2 marathon I am doing on SATURDAY (!!!!!!) does not technically meet 1/2 marathon requirements. It happens to be .6 miles shorter than an official half. BAH!! I have decided that because it's my first and my goal is a pace... I won't miss running that extra .6 miles anyway. ;o) My goal is to run a pace of UNDER 10 minute miles. I have NEVER done this on a run longer than 10 miles but GEEZE!!! If I can do it for 10, I'm going to make this body do it for 12.5. I have thought about changing my goal to a slower pace, but in my heart my goal will always be to run it in 125 minutes SO.. that's what I'm going to declare it to be! ;o)

I am SO EXCITED to get out to Colorado and run this thing!!! I'm also EXCITED to get together with a few of the gals in the comp who happen to be in Colorado!! Last I heard there will be a total of 4 of us at the event.. entering in 3 different categories. YAY!!

I must admit that while I'm really excited, I am also apprehensive. I honestly don't really "get" the elation that people have when they finish these things... I mean, if you've trained properly than you've ran the distance before... so what makes it different when you get a fancy t-shirt to run? I hope to experience some great THRILL when I cross the line BUT... I think my body will be too busy hating me for me to be thrilled. I LOVE running 8 and 9 miles, those are my favorite runs... but when I run 11 and 12 miles, my body gets pissed! It seriously punishes me. I suppose I should be grateful it does what I tell it to, even when it doesn't like it! Mind over matter... ain't that the truth?

I'm also really excited that this run is sponsored by Heart Center of the Rockies. I really don't get overly personal on this blog BUT, my dad had a major heart attack at the ripe old age of 53 (and a weight of a whopping 185 lbs)! We are talking a quin bypass surgery that later resulted in a collapse of some of the grafts, which resulted in stenting, which resulted in a huge mess. Bottom line, I have GOT to take care of my body and my heart. Every doctor my dad has ever come in contact with has told him that his heart disease is genetic (as well as poor diet) and well, I want to be around for my kiddos. When I started my weight loss journey, my resting heart rate was between 110-120. Right this second, after a cup of coffee, my heart rate is 80. I know that running is a fantastic way to keep my heart healthy...

On another overly personal note: We will be moving out to the area this half marathon is in in the next couple of months! I'm very excited to scope out the town I have picked for my family to live in and to walk through some houses that could be my new home! YAY!! Can't wait to get to Colorado!!!

To answer your question

So.. Moi asked what exactly changed in me that made me decide that I was not okay with my weight. The answer seems incredibly complex and I'm not even sure if I know exactly what it was BUT... here is an attempt to answer your question!
In December I decided to join WLW . I had a previous client who founded this company and had mentioned it to me! (He managed to mention it without implying that I desperately needed to lose weight!) I got on and really didn't know what I hoped to accomplish from it! It wasn't until Nicholette mentioned she was doing a weight loss competition that I thought HEY.. I could totally do that!! I AM INCREDIBLY COMPETITIVE. AND... I am a SAHM who does not contribute financially to my family at all. I thought it would be a fantastic way to kill a few birds with one stone. I love the biggest loser and I knew I had enough to lose, to win some sweet moula!! (In my best Kip voice!)
I named my blog FINISH WHAT YOU START!! Because, I have never finished anything. Seriously.. I've started college like 6 times and only managed to finish one semester and that was before I had kids. I had "tried" to lose weight in the past but never wanted to do enough to actually see a change. I really wanted to prove to my DH that I could follow through with something. I realized when I started talking about the comp that my husband had absolutely no faith in my follow through abilities. I also understood that he was justified in his lack of faith. I chose the URL "thin for my boys" because I really wanted to save my boys from the embarrassment of having a "fat" mom! And my hubby from the embarrassment of having a "fat" wife!! If I could change the url I totally would... but.. I couldn't now. Regardless, I do not want to be thin for my boys anymore. I want to be HEALTHY for my boys [I have 4 sons and one hubby.. all included in the boys!] and thin for me!
I did not set out to lose 75 lbs. I just set out to win!! I set out to lose 14 lbs, 10 lbs, 8 lbs... whatever the goal was for the month. I never ACTUALLY thought about what it would mean to be thin... or to ever lose such a large amount of weight.. but I did think about how awesome it would be to win money, AND to prove to everyone who's faith in me had expired that I COULD DO IT!! I think above all else... I had to prove it to myself!
I remember when I got to 50 lbs lost... I looked back and thought of all the crazy things I had never even thought about that were now my reality.... you can read that post here! Now I'm at 75 lbs and holy geeze... who would have thought it was possible? I HONESTLY DIDN'T!!
I committed to finishing the competition when I started it and to finish strong. That was all I wanted to prove to myself. When I got to the end, "finish what you start" took on a whole new meaning.
Nothing is the same. What motivated me in the beginning is completely different from what motivates me now. I set out to prove it to myself. That I COULD START AND FINISH SOMETHING. Now... my motivation is honestly inspiring other people. I realized a while ago that I have a lot of blog stalkers. People who linger but never comment... who look to me to see that it can be done. I know that if I fail.. I fail all of these people who believe in me... and hopefully are starting to believe in themselves because of my trials/failures and successes.
So.. in answer to that first question: What changed is ME! I stopped giving up on myself. I stopped making excuses and FINALLY put value in myself.
And last but not least...
I Stopped "trying" and resolved to DO IT!!

Thank you October!

October has come and gone and it has been very good to me!! [I think the threat worked!]. This month I have focused on eating 5-6 healthy meals a day AND drinking lots of water. I have NOT counted calories, or really tracked what I've eaten BUT... I've been very careful to eat healthy and am getting closer to having a completely "CLEAN" diet!! I've also been training for my half marathon NEXT WEEKEND!! WAHOO!!! I'm excited to report I'm down 8 lbs this month!! 6.13% YAY!!

Here are my before and afters. The befores are from the start of the comp so you are seeing 2 months of progress.

My plan for the future is to get some toning going on!! Bring on November!

Oh and one more pic cause Melissa just put it together for me and it's kind of wild to see!!
10 months.. no gimmicks.. If I can do it... ANYONE CAN!!

Alive... just barely!

So.. I was able to run my 9 miles on Saturday. It was the only running/exercise I did all week after fighting off that nasty bug... I actually ran it at a decent pace, finishing in 88:31!! YAY!! Unfortunately I was fooling myself if I thought I was cured of my ailment.

Today I went to the trainer who attempted to single handedly murder me. Seriously.. I missed last week cause I was sick so she really tried to stick it to me. Unfortunately, it was very obvious to both of us that I am still not near 100%. I would say I'm closer to 75%! I was incredibly weak today and suffering from shortness of breath which is really not something I deal with often. I still have some congestion in my head and chest. I'm definitely not loving this.

I JUST WANT TO BE BETTER!!! BLAH!

I also was talking to Lisa today about weight gain during the holiday season. She just wrote the cutest post about this topic... HERE's a link if you want to read it! ;o)

Anyway... I'm around... but wishing I were enjoying life a little more. Hope you are all doing fantastic as we enter the LAST WEEK before weigh in!! WOW!! I can't wait to see how you girls have done this month!!! :o)

Ya'll ready for this? ;)

Okay.. this morning while making my breakfast, I couldn't help thinking how beautiful my oatmeal looked. Then I started thinking about Jewel and all her lovely food pictures and I thought... hey I am going to take a picture of my pretty breakfast! So.. for your viewing enjoyment:

Lovely eh? That would be 1/3 cup oats with water.. no salt with raspberries and blueberries. 2 Egg whites fried with pepper and spray olive oil stuff. One cup of coffee with 3T sugar free creamer!! Umm... plus.. I can't taste anything today! BLAH!! Still looks yummy though right! ;o)

Oh and I wanted to share another picture. I woke up this morning and was delighted to see....

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Been sick.

Okay.. the last couple of days I've been knocked on my ass with a terrible cough/cold. Luckily it seems to be going away. I really don't have time to be sick right now! My 1/2 marathon is in less than 3 weeks!! WAHOO!!!

I've noticed a trend in my weight loss. I have a menu that I eat the last 10 days of the month. It is mostly veggies and lean proteins. I love it and hate it at the same time but as soon as I quit doing it.. I seem to quit losing weight. Turns out I also quit eating.

The menu forces me to eat every 2.5 to 3 hours. When I stop the menu I stop eating frequently and just try to squeeze my calories in to the day. Well.. I started paying attention to how often I am eating and WOW!! It's a huge difference. The weight comes off and stays off. (Regardless of what I'm eating as long as it's within my calories.. although I pretty much don't eat processed carbs AT ALL) I am hovering around 127. Totally can't complain. I can't wait to be up and eating again... I am sure this will make a huge difference. I've started reading Tosca Reno's The Clean Eating Diet and I'm loving it. It is actually basically what I have done to my diet and I know that eating this way is WHY I will not be gaining weight back! :o)

Family Pics!

Last October, for whatever reason, I got brave and did family pics. (For the first time in YEARS!!) The funny part is that doing the pics was actually my way of embracing my big self. I had finally just decided to accept the fact that I was a size 18 and bought my 2xl sweater from the Old Navy plus size section . I also got a Lane Bryant card around the same time. ;o) Anyway... I got new family pics last week and wanted to do a quick before/after post.

[Click on the pic to make it bigger.]

Top pic October 2008. Bottom pic October 2009.