If found, pick up and drag across the finish line.

Slow and steady.

See Above for my newest running tools. Aside from my new socks & shoes, I downloaded iSmoothRun on my iPhone and I bought a Polar FT60 Heart Rate Monitor. Now, the HRM doesn't sync to my phone which is a major bummer BUT it does sync automatically to the treadmills at the gym which was unexpected and very cool. My treadmill runs have been much more successful than my road runs and I need to figure out how to get it more balanced. Obviously half marathons are run outside and on the road, not on a treadmill.


I feel like the treadmill is my friend in some ways and my foe in others. I stay really well hydrated when I'm on the treadmill and my speed is much more consistent. I've set my iSmoothRun to give me nutrition and hydration reminders so that helps me a lot when I'm off the treadmill but it's a lot harder because I have to find a place on my body to carry water and food. When I'm off the treadmill, I feel like my warm ups are more consistent and my legs aren't as stiff and sore mid run. But on the treadmill, my feet say cooler. Today on my run, my feet were on fire by the third mile. The rest of my body felt fine but my feet were just burning up. It wasn't even super hot here today so I'm really frustrated.

But other than frustration about my feet, my heart rate monitor helps me so much. I can run for longer, my body feels better, and my splits are more consistent. I'm running a lot slower than I want to be running but I'm able run for 60 minutes straight (approx. 5 miles). And to think, back in January I was struggling to run 60 seconds straight. I always say that I appreciate and celebrate small victories but this isn't small to me, it is HUGE.

There is something else that is huge and I think it is worth mentioning. Obviously, this blog started as my weight loss journey and I've done a few blogs where I've talked about how I view myself. Well, I'm doing it again and it's because I would like to share the picture below that I have titled, "The Journey of a Shirt".

The Journey of a Shirt

My Aunt Brenda gave me this shirt for my 21st Birthday (far left picture is the day of receipt). Four months prior to my 21st Birthday, I did Weight Watchers and I recently found my diet journal from that time. For being a college student, I ate really well but had some serious body image issues. When I started the diet log, I weighed 150 pounds and my goal was to lose 10 pounds. By the time I hit my birthday, I had lost 13 pounds. (Don't worry, my trip to Vegas and my new found ability to legally purchase alcohol added at least six pounds back onto my body.) Something I remember about this time of my life was that I looked back at my pictures from my Vegas trip and I was really upset with how I looked. I thought I was huge and I was really unhappy. All I could think was, "I just lost a ton of weight and I still look heavy." I look at the pictures now and think about how stupid I was to berate myself.

Many washes and wears later, I was still squeezing into this shirt. In 2009, almost two years to the day (middle picture), I wore this shirt for an "engagement" photo. This was the picture that made me realize how out of control things had gotten for me. I was so upset when I saw this picture that I cried. I was even more upset when my then fiance decided to display this photo on his work computer screen. To say I was mortified is an understatement.

A lot can change in three years (far right picture) and it has changed. The shirt has officially come out of retirement and surprisingly, I felt better in it today than I did on the first day I wore it. This is mostly because I feel so much more comfortable in my own skin. I mean, I went outside of my house wearing stretchy, spandexy running pants today and felt really good about it. I got honked at by a truck driver and my mind instantly thought, "yep, these pants work for me" rather than thinking, "shit... I must really look like an idiot." I walked into Target and picked up a size MEDIUM dress from the Juniors Department and it FIT and I felt GOOD in it. (And I bought it, if you wanted to know!) And you want to know something? I weigh 25 pounds more today than I did on my 21st Birthday. I'm just smarter, wiser, healthier, and happier than I was back then. Is it age or the fact that I've overcome obstacles that I never imagined I could overcome? It's probably a mixture of both.

I've overcome my fear of the scale, my fear of the gym, and the preconceived notion that I'd never be able to run more than five steps without fainting. I've even managed to come up with a balance between reading and exercising (gasp!). Who would have thought? :)