| |
Me and Dean Karnazes Ultramarathon Man! Whidbey Island Marathon Expo April 14, 2007 (212lbs).
With Dean Karnazes at the North Face Speaker Series in Olympia, WA November 2010 (255 pounds).
What I did on my 40th birthday. February 2012 (275 pounds).
I have 17 pics in my gallery
Awards
|
|
Peeling Back the Layers of Me
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
Between August 2005 and April 2006, I had lost 60 pounds. I was exercising 6 days a week and eating very well. A colleague and I were having a discussion about exercise over lunch one day and she suggested I try to run a marathon. At first I was like, "Um, how long is that?" When I found out it was 26.2 ...
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
Between August 2005 and April 2006, I had lost 60 pounds. I was exercising 6 days a week and eating very well. A colleague and I were having a discussion about exercise over lunch one day and she suggested I try to run a marathon. At first I was like, "Um, how long is that?" When I found out it was 26.2 miles, I said, "No way!" She and a couple of other teachers had run/walked the Portland Marathon in 2004. She kept telling me I could do it, and it was just simply mind over matter. She said lots of people say a marathon is impossible, but once she did it, she realized that it wasn't. She thought I was fit enough to try it.
That was a sort of bug she planted in my ear. I was walking frequently but it wasn't a challenge to me anymore, and I was in the habit of working out on various cardio equipment for 2 hours on Sundays. I started doing a lot of research on it, downloaded training plans and started intervals of 30 seconds running to 5 minutes walking. I found that trying to run for more than that was a new challenge that started to motivate me. Somewhere in there I found Rookie Runners and they kept me pumped to keep going. By the time the PDX rolled around in October 2006 I was running 2 minutes, walking 2. I finished that marathon in just under 7 hours, but not before running a half marathon in June during my training (3:15) just to see if I could. I loved the marathon so much I didn't want to lose ground, so I sighed up for the Seattle Half Marathon in November 2006 and couldn't stop myself from signing up for more. In 2006-2007 I ran a total of 1 full and 9 half marathons. My half marathon PR got down to 2:52 in May 2007 where I was running continuously only walking through the water stops.
Unfortunately, I found much of the weight I lost 5 years ago, and I am continuing the weight loss journey. I did run a half marathon on my 40th birthday last year (nowhere close to my PR, but I did it). I have a long race wish list for 2013, so stay tuned to see how I do.
7/3/06 Firecracker 5K 41:05 (212lbs)
7/9/06 Seafair Half Marathon 3:14:39 (212lbs)
10/1/06 Portland Marathon 6:57:18 (212lbs)
11/26/06 Seattle Half Marathon 3:16:11 (212lbs)
3/17/07 Shamrock Shuffle Half Marathon 2:54:35 (212lbs)
4/15/07 Whidbey Island Half Marathon 2:57:59 (212lbs)
5/13/07 Kirkland Half Marathon 2:52:59 (212lbs)
7/3/07 Firecracker 5K 40:14
7/8/07 Seafair Half Marathon 3:03:44
10/7/07 Royal Victoria Half Marathon 3:24:57 (235lbs)
5/18/08 Capital City Half Marathon 3:33:46 (258lbs)
6/29/08 Seafair Half Marathon 4:15:34 (255lbs)
9/11/11 Iron Girl Seattle 5K 50:48 (268lbs)
2/26/12 Tri-Cities Half Marathon 3:48:18 (275lbs)
5/5/13 BMO Vancouver Half Marathon 3:28:17 (254lbs)
5/19/13 Portland Rock n Roll Half Marathon 3:24:15 (254lbs)
For my daily struggles, visit my blog.
SparkFriends
SparkTeams
|
My Ticker:
| current weight: 254.3 |
 |
|
|
|
Interact with LAYERS_OF_ME
|
Recent Blogs:
| |
Profile
Member Since: 1/26/2006
SparkPoints: 43,690
Fitness Minutes: 14,101
My Goals:
Height: 5' 11"
Highest Weight: 288 on 7/13/12
Goal weight: 175
Body fat:
44.3% in August 2011
My Program:
I track calories using spark. I try to exercise at least 6 days per week including weight training with cross training 3x/wk, running 3x/wk. I set short term goals and reward myself with things that pamper me.
Personal Information:
Mom, teacher, geek, friend, lover, loser... and marathon runner!
Other Information:
We must do the things we think we cannot do.
-Eleanor Roosevelt
Profile Image
|
|
|
