I have wanted to write an update every day since my last entry, which was well over a month ago. So much has happened, and I will get into that.
But I first wanted to share some great news. My company has an annual Health Fair, where employees can come and get health screenings, talk with dietitians, eat healthy food, and learn some fun dances. It’s a really great time. Another special feature of the Fair is that they have an Essay Contest, where employees can discuss how the Wellness Program has impacted their lives. I decided that I would put my hat in the ring and write about my experiences.
So guess what, my essay won 1st Place! With that I won $125, a free gym membership and a free fitness class at PGW. There were 10 other entries and I never imagined that I would win the top prize. I’m so grateful!
This past Sunday, I ran my first race of 2013….the 9/11 Heroes Run 5K in Philadelphia. This event is coordinated by the Travis Manion Foundation, with over 50 races held across the country in honor of our fallen heroes and military veterans.
I coordinated this event with my Running Club at work and promoted participation through the entire company. We have previously been able to get a good turnout at the Clean Air Council 5K for Earth Day. But for the Heroes Run, I was only able to get 4 people to show up, including myself. Call it bad timing?
In any event, I was happy to take part, and very nervous. The last race I had was in November of 2012 for the Philly Half Marathon. And that was a terrible performance due to lack of training. So I didn’t really know if I’d be ready for primetime…
It was a beautiful day on Sunday. Much hotter than I anticipated since we had a bit of a cold snap the past couple of days. I was ready to get out the door (with my bf at my side) and then got a text that all our team T-shirts were accidentally left at work. So I immediately spazz out since things aren’t going to plan. I scramble to find another black top and ended up with this long-sleeved ensemble.
Heroes Run 5K 2013
I arrive at the beautiful Please Touch Museum around 8:20 or so, wondering when I will spot my teammates. The event wasn’t nearly as crowded as I expected, but that made things more comfortable. Music was blasting and I was able to pick up my bib with no problem.
I ran with one of my female friends, whose husband is one of my dearest running buddies at work. (He meanwhile ran ahead and finished in 22 minutes!) It was really great to have someone that I could run with and laugh with for once, while the course went on and on. The route was pretty straightforward, with a few curves and hills along the way. I really enjoyed myself, and was pleased to see myself pass a few people for once…haha.
I started to see the finish line and started sprinting! I haven’t had the energy to pick up the pace in SO long so it was refreshing! I was pretty dead when I finished though, and it took awhile to catch my breath…but I did it! First race of the year!
I ended up completing the 5K in 31:44.76, a 10:14 pace. This is by far, my personal worst 5K performance. But you know what, I’m really happy with my results! I have been averaging 11-minute miles, or slower, ever since I’ve returned to running post-injury. So this was an accomplishment for me.
Unfortunately, the morning before the race, my foot was killing me! Here we go again…and the pain was on the top of my foot, reminiscent of my stress fracture. I’ll write a separate post about the latest in my painful foot saga. But during the race, my feet felt relatively fine!
The Heroes Run was a good time and I’m happy to have supported the cause. What 5K races are you looking forward to?
First off, I’d like to thank everyone who has been reading and enjoying my blog. I’ve noticed a lot of page views since writing about my 6 pound weight loss, and the thought that I could inspire others to do the same is amazing!
On another note, I’m having some technical difficulties with the blog (comments not loading properly), so I’m using a simpler template for the time being until I find something pretty. I look at a lot of blogs and they have really great designs…so hopefully I’ll find something that’s simple, clean, and attractive.
I’ve wanted to write again for days now but it’s been a busy week. Monday was Labor Day and instead of taking a day off, I joined Black Girls Run for Boot Camp with Platoon Fitness! It was awesome: 30+ black women (most of which had already run 3-5 miles) doing squats, lunges, supermen, all kinds of sit ups, and adding in some jogs in between. It was brutal and my quads and glutes hurt for DAYS! I haven’t felt that kind of good pain in ages, so I LOVED every minute of it.
I had a couple of pictures but the Facebook Group was recently shut down…so I can’t grab them. I will once it returns. I am slowly liking BGR a little more, but it’s still hard to not already have a friend who’s involved. Sometimes I can be a little shy!
Despite the days of an aching body, I ran on Tuesday for about 2.7 miles, and while I actually felt really good, my foot didn’t. I had to call my doctor again and let her know that while my left foot has signficantly improved in pain, my right foot still hurts after running. I actually had to pull out my old ice pack for my arch…so that was unsettling.
My doc said I should talk to the sports medicine doc and see what he says, and in the meantime continue my “stretching” exercises for my foot. So here I am getting the runaround. My sports medicine doctor is not my favorite person…so I don’t really want to write a long message to him and get a blunt response as per usual. I’ve been dying to see a PODIATRIST but they seem to refuse to allow it. It’s really making me angry. I think they would know what’s wrong with my foot more so than the other two. Sigh.
In any event, for the first time since January, I am in training! On Saturday, October 19, I will be doing my first 10K at the Runner’s World Half and Festival. There will be a ton of activity on Saturday with a 5K, 10K, running seminars, and then the big Half Marathon is on Sunday.
The course sounds absolutely amazing. I have never run a race outside of Philadelphia, so I’ll actually have to take a drive to get there! I’m really hoping that I’m in good health to run my first 6.2 miler!
I am using Hal Higdon’s novice 10K training plan to get ready for the race! So far I have stuck to the plan, but I need to keep up with strength training and cross training. Yesterday, my boyfriend and I took a nice bike of about 10 miles, and today I need to do 40 minutes of cross training.
When I work with a training plan, I tend to perform very well in my races. It provides me with the discipline I tend to lack, and I add each workout to my Google calendar so that I get a reminder at the start of each day. I still track my runs on Runkeeper but have finally learned to turn OFF the audio cues so that I can just enjoy myself!
I’m very nervous about my upcoming 2 races, the first that I will have in 2013. This has been a very difficult year for me. I’m still fighting a lot of battles (don’t get me started on nutrition!), but running means so much to me and I will do whatever it takes to get healthy and strong again.
On Wednesday, after many delays, I finally had that follow-up visit with Danielle, my dietitian. And guess what, I have good news to share! From July 31 to August 28, I dropped 6 pounds!
I am so happy. This was NOT easy for me. I was on a 1500 calorie diet…that’s not much to work with! I had lots of temptation around me, but I had to learn to say NO.
I had a trip to NYC, a trip to Buffalo, my BIRTHDAY, and a house party all in the month of August.
When I got to the office, I got on a fancy scale where it gave a ton of numbers, such as weight, metabolic rate, % body fat, muscle mass, etc. Everything was in the right range. My fat was very low and my muscle mass was very high. Woo hoo!
We went over my food logs and while Danielle made some corrections on my calculations of portions, she said I did a great job. She just reminded me that other than veggies, never have more than 2 servings of a food group on one sitting. So I will definitely work on that!
Now I’m moved up to a 1900 calorie diet. I am SO relieved! I was not going to be able to hold on much longer. So my daily servings have increased:
4 breads
3 fruits
4+ veggies
3 dairy
6 meats/meat substitutes
<2 fats
While it may seem like “I’m done, I reached my target”…I still have to keep doing what I’m doing, keep logging my meals and make sure I’m in line with what I need to be healthy.
I just wanted to share my success! I have another month to see if I can maintain this healthy diet. I certainly don’t want to lose any more weight. I will be exercising a lot more because my favorite Boot Camp class is starting up next week and I just signed up for a 10K (more on that later)…so I will keep working with Danielle to stay on the right track!
