Tiger Run - Proud mommy brag!

There was a 5k in my town today - the Tiger Run. My oldest son, who is 7 years old, has been wanting to do a race. So I asked him if he wanted to do it with me & he said yes! He was very excited about it and said he hoped to get 'a paper with a number on it' (bib). He did indeed get a bib and he even got to chose his number (either 14 or 15 because those were the next 2 numbers up for grabs). He chose 14 and I got 15. We hung around the parking lot for a few minutes and stretched.




Then we walked down to the starting line and  after waiting a few minutes we finally heard "GO!" and everyone took off! We ran through the school parking lot and then out onto the main street - we were going so fast that I had to tell my son to slow down a little because I didn't want him getting burnt out too fast.  
Our first mile time was 10:41!! That's about my 'normal, when it's not too hot' pace so I was surprised that he was able to keep up with me. Or maybe I was keeping up with him??We ran through a few neighborhoods and some people were sitting outside watching, cheering us on! They loved seeing my son and kept telling him "keep up the good work." "you're doing great" etc.
We kept up with 4:1 run/walk intervals. Every time we walked, this guy would pass us, then he would stop to walk just as we started to run and we'd pass him. It went back and forth like that for a few times and then the very last time, he came up to pass us and said "now it's your turn to pass me one last time & beat me." and then our last run interval started and we did just that! passed right by him and headed back into the schools parking lot and onto the track towards the finish line!

Once we reached the track, I allowed my son to run a little bit ahead of me because he wanted to 'beat' me and finish first! Our second and third mile times were 11:04 and 11:16.  My son finished at 33:24 and I finished at 33:34 with an overall pace of 11:00

We made our way towards water & hot dogs and then we were informed that there would be medals for the top 3 finishers in each age group. My son was one of the only 2 kids that ran, and he finished before the other kid so I knew he was going to get a first place medal. I was so excited for him!

They announced all the other age group medals first and then finally, they announced his name for 1st place for 10 & under. He ran right up to get his medal and then proudly showed it off!

Will run 4 Ice Cream on National Ice Cream day!!

This morning, I set out to run 6.2 miles (a 10k) and earn my "Will run 4 ice cream" medal, unbeknownst to me that it was National Ice Cream day!

After I ran 6.2 miles, IN THE RAIN (boy did that feel good after all the heat lately), I enjoyed a yummy home made brownie ice cream sundae

What a great way to spend this national holiday! lol

Then & WOW!

My family recently got back from a family vacation. Here is a picture of me and my 3 kiddos on a ride... it reminded me that I had a similar picture of me & my oldest on the same ride from 3 years ago.

2010 - a month after I had my daughter at about 230 pounds. Don't think I could have fit 3 kids in that ride with me then. And now - 2013 at 140 pounds with 3 kiddos on the ride with me.

GOAL!!!!!!!

I want to scream it from the rooftops!
I just hit my goal weight!!
Sometimes I never thought I would see the day. I'm not going to lie, it hasn't been easy, especially the last few pounds, but hard work & dedication finally paid off!
I started off as 280 pounds, I lost 140 and am now 140 pounds - that's HALF of my original body weight!
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And I know this "after" picture isn't me at 140, but it's the closest I have right now..

Friday night runs

My mom, who is going to be 50 in August (shhhh, don't tell anyone!) is running the Glass Slipper challenge with me at Disney World in February. She started joining me for runs on Friday nights. It's my short run day, so we do 3 miles. Running with her is awesome - I really enjoy having someone there to run with, it makes the time go by so much faster. She runs a tad slower than me, but she keeps up a very steady pace, which is great. I stick with her and overall it helps me to keep my pace more steady... which is one thing I'm horrible at doing when I'm alone. I tend to start off faster and slow down over time. But her & I tend to run our first mile slower and then increase our speed each mile.
Hopefully she'll be able to join me on some longer runs soon

Stars & Sparks - My first virtual race!

I recently discovered the world of Virtual Races. What's a virtual race, you ask? Well, I'm glad you did. A virtual race is a 'race' that you do on your own time. You pay the sign up fee (usually between $20-$30) and then you walk or run the distance designated for the race and then you receive a medal in the mail. After the cost of medal & shipping, the 'host' of the virtual race donates the profit to the charity of their choice (usually specified at the time of sign up)

So after drooling over all the pretty medals in the Virtual Race group on Facebook, I decided that the Stars & Sparks 10k would be my first virtual race.... and not only my first virtual race, but my first medal ever!
I ran the 10 distance (6.2 miles) yesterday, June 30th and then my medal arrived today in the mail - how's that for timing!

Here I am showing off my hard earned bling! It's big & sparkly. I love it! And for me, a pace of 11:17 is pretty good, I was pleased with it!