Story of the Shirts

My very first 5K was the Scottish Sprint right before the Scottish festival in 2010.  The truth was, I was completely freaked out.  I remember talking to my sister about how it was 3 whole miles. The longest distance I had ever run before that was the mile and a half in gym.  I was totally psyched out.  Greg was patient with me and stayed with me during the race.  Running hurt, so I walked a lot of it.  I did so bad, but I did it.  :)  It took us 45 minutes to finish a 5K, and there were only a handful of people behind us.  It felt good to get out, but I was a bit embarrassed.

A few weeks later Greg saw an advertisement for another 5K.  It was to honor a little boy who had been killed by a car.  I was very hesitant, remembering the experience of the Scottish Sprint, but decided to go for it.  I actually did a much better job that time, but still ended up walking to the car as fast as I could after I was finished so that I could cry.  Poor Greg, lol.  He stayed so positive throughout the whole thing, and I just bawled like a baby.  

It wasn't until March of the next year, and a good pair of running shoes later, that I finally had a good experience running a race.  Greg and I did the Rex Lee Run in March of 2011, and it was wonderful.  There really was just this positive excitement in the air around us, and ssooo many people there.  The funds for this run go to cancer research.  During the run, there were many people with pictures of loved ones who had passed on there shirts.  It just seemed different somehow. And then we were hooked.  We started talking about how amazing it would be if we could run a 10k, or even a half marathon one day.  

So what did we do?  We started training longer, ran a 10k in the freedom run, and began training for the Utah Valley Half marathon.  Now, it's a super long story, but basically Greg got to run his first half marathon, but registration was full for me.  So I signed up for the 5k, got the t shirt below, and ran my own half to my parent's house and back, and I loved it!  I ran my first official half marathon in September.  It was the Nebo Half, and it was all down hill.  Downhill is wonderful for biking, but not running!  I have never been more sore in my whole life.  My time was 2 hours and 20 minutes, my best time to date.  

I learned something from each of these runs.  1st: If you think you can't, and that it's too far, then it will be.  2nd: It's okay to cry, but be proud of the steps you took. 3rd: Have heart, and care about people.  4th: I am stronger than I thought I was. 5th: Make the best of your situation 6th: Anything is possible if you are determined enough. 7th: Buy good running shoes, or you will be sorry.  :)  

There comes a time when every inch of your body is screaming in pain, begging you to stop and rest.  Much like the craziness of real life.  There is just such great power gained when you use your will to over come, and convince your body and mind to work together.  

And in the end, it's all for something great - the knowledge that I did it, and got something great in return.  

This is now my weight loss extravaganza page/ Training of a Triathlete blog.  

I was just looking over some of the way old posts on this page, and it was very enlightening.  We are doing so much better then we were back then, but it was the start of our weight loss process.  Funny note - We found out that what we thought was about a mile was really only about 0.6 of a mile, so the numbers are a little off. lol.  

To start off let me introduce you to this Kathy.  This is me at my very highest weight. (I stole this pic from a friend on facebook, hope that's ok.) At this time we were literally eating whatever, and how much we wanted.  Pizza for dinner followed by a giant bowl of ice cream with reeses, and oreos on top almost every night.    

I realized that I had to do something a week or two before this pic was taken.  My clothes were not fitting well anymore. So I went to target, and had to buy size 18.  It just hit me that if I got any bigger, I would have to buy in the plus size category.  I was not ok with that.