I ran me a Marathon today!

Okay, so it wasn't really a marathon, it was just 1km, but it the words of my darling husband ... "you ran a PB today".  Love how he has gotten into the olympic speak already!

Week 8 and it was time to do the dreaded 1km time trial, amongst other various measuring tools, both exercise and tape measure.

So lets recap.  Right at the start of 12wbt I did the time trial with some of the Warrnambool & Surrounds 12wbt girls.  I was PATHETIC!  Hear that?  PA-THE-TIC!   The girls took off and I think I managed probably 100 metres, if that, before I had to walk.  I did the run-walk-run thing and their cheers of encouragement had me running over the line in 8 minutes 24 seconds.

At week 4 I smashed that time (ha!) by 1 second, doing it in 8 minutes 23 seconds.

So here I was today, week 8, and I was up early and off.  I've marked the 1km around a big block from our house, so I am using that as a measure.  And of course it started raining half way into the run.  No matter.  I knew I was going better, I just felt it.  My walks between my runs had gotten less. And I did it, a personal best time of ...

7 MINUTES 54 SECONDS!  

Woo hoo!  Well I didn't run home to cheers, well maybe they were in my head, and Molly was sitting in the driveway and she hooted and hollared in dog speak I'm sure.  Mike was still in bed so no cheers from him.  I was pretty darn pleased with myself for sure.

Don't worry about the 0 calories burnt, I didn't have my heart rate strap on, I was just using my heart rate monitor as a stop watch.

And this my friends is the look of exhaustion.  Looking a bit dazed too!  Not the best shot, but hey, I'm putting it out there warts and all.

Not only that, the dreaded wall sit, I have had so much trouble with this.  But I just know I'm getting stronger.

Start of 12wbt = 11 seconds (pathetic!)

Week 4 = 15 seconds (only marginally better than pathetic)

Week 8 = wait for it = 1 MINUTE AND 2 SECONDS.

More rapturous applause went off in my head.  Mike was even there to witness it.  He was so funny, he kept screaming at me "hold on, hold on, you can dooooooo it".   Hmmm, there may be a job for him as a personal trainer yet.

I've got to say, it's so good having his support, he is my greatest cheerleader in this program and I love it.

Weigh in day and a Milestone!

Well a milestone for me.
I'M IN DOUBLE DIGITS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is it okay that I scream that out?

So that is now a loss of 9.3 kg officially since 12wbt season began.

But a whopping 13.6 kg since I signed up at the beginning of May and began the 4 weeks pre-season. 

I am so happy right now, I can't even begin to tell you.

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love my bestie

And yes I know she will be reading this too!

We had a nice long chat on the phone last night.  She is doing her own weight loss program and she has become a great support to me, she even text messages me on a Wednesday weigh in to see how I went.  See, we don't see each other very often at all, I live in Victoria, she lives in Tassie.  We only see each other between visits when we email or message a photo through, or facetime a phone call.

So last night we were having a nice long chat about the trials and tribulations of sticking with our respective programs and keeping on track.  And she urged me when I got off the phone to go through my wardrobe and start trying on clothes, something I have actually avoided (lest I be disappointed).   Apart from the size 16 jeans I had to resurrect from the deep dark recesses of my drawers because my size 18 ones were just about falling off me.   If they got any lower I'd be looking like a rapper!

I have clothes in my drawers that still had their tags on them mind you.  I'm a great buyer of clothes that "look" about right, only to realise when I get home that I obviously have a very distorted view of my body.  Oh and not to mention the mail order internet purchases that it ended up being too much of a bother to return.   Clothes that arms were too tight, hips were too narrow, that kind of thing.

So after the phone call I tried on clothes.  I was pleasantly surprised that time after time there were clothes in my wardrobe that I had long since given up on ... AND THEY FITTED !   Well not everything of course, heck I have clothes in every size made.  Clothes that fit, clothes that I'd grown out of, clothes that never fitted, clothes that I didn't have a chance in hell of fitting into but they were too good a bargain and you never know ... one day!

Thanks Sonia, it was a great motivator for me to do that.  I owe you one mate.

Soooooo close !

Oh it was so close today.  I was hoping against hope I might just inch my way into the double digits, but it was not meant to be.  100.2.  So close and yet so far.  12.1 kg lost, never to be found again if I have my way.  That's 26 pounds, yep I'm an old fashioned kind of girl, it sounds so much better in pounds.

Mike told me tonight how proud he was of me, I even had him in watching me weigh in because I was hoping against hope.  He gave me a hug and told me don't worry, it will happen next week.  I can't tell you the freedom the fact that I finally fessed up to him how much I weigh and what a weight it has been from my shoulders because he is 100 percent by my side with this program.

I even made salad tonight for dinner.  Probably one of the coldest days we've had here, the hail didn't even melt for hours, and yet he suffered through salad with me.  Actually it was quite delicious and in the warm cosiness by the wood fire, it was yum.

Next week.  Wednesday.  I am promising myself those elusive double digits will be mine.

The fact I lost .8 this past week was a good loss.  I went away on a girls weekend away.  We were meant to go just over a month ago and I just didn't feel strong enough with my willpower, I had had the car accident only a week prior, and I made up a lame excuse not to go.  I wasn't quite expecting my friends to cancel the whole weekend away, cause if one of us couldn't go, then none of us would go.  I was just a bit embarrassed by this, but know I'm lucky to have such friends.

When we rescheduled for last weekend, the house re-booked, the plans made, I must admit I did feel stronger.  I was ready to make good choices when eating out.  And you know, I even had a dessert on Saturday night.   And enjoyed every last mouthful.  I think that is one of the keys for me.  To enjoy my food and not feel guilty.  What a wasted emotion that would have been otherwise.

And you know what, there was no pressure to eat or drink, I think I shortchanged my friends on that score worrying if I would be pressured into it.  OMG, how old am I?  I'm sounding like a school girl instead of a 47 year old woman.  But it was all good, and a good loss.

My word for this week is going to be perseverence.   I want to get this printed on an exercise t-shirt, I think it would be quite cool.

Onward and upward.  I hope your weigh in was a good one and looking foward to the week ahead.

This made me smile today ...

The fact I lost .6 today so that takes me to even stevens 101kg.  I wonder if I can get into the magical double digits at next weigh in.  Cross fingers.

The other thing that made me smile was this morning at the gym.  I was on the treadmill, doing a run/walk/run  before heading off to work, and the door opened and an elderly gentleman walked in, obviously a member as he had a swipe card.  I would hazard a guess he was in his mid to late 60's, heck he could have even been in his early 70's, I'm not a good judge of age.  But he was elderly.  He went off to the change rooms and came back with his long sleeved button up shirt, tracksuit pants and runners and up he got onto a treadmill.

I've been running at level 8 and walking anywhere around 5.5 up to 6 depending on what stage of the workout I'm in.  I swear he was walking around level 2.  No more than a stroll really.  But you know what ... he was doing it.  He didn't care about the fit young things that were all around him, he wasn't out for a perve because he could have picked any treadmill but he got one up the front on his own, no one around him, he was just walking as fast as he could.  And inwardly I was cheering him on as if he was running the last leg of the Olympic marathon.

Bravo to the anonymous gentleman, you give me heart.

I don't handle upheaval very well

Let's see, in the last few weeks and days...

I had a car accident a month ago and my car still isn't repaired, they are waiting on parts from Japan!

We are getting bathroom renovations done, which has now moved onto the toilet and laundry.  I have a washing machine and dryer sitting in my dining room, nothing is where it should be, and I can't wait for it all to be finished.

And my credit card was cancelled on the weekend, when the kind people at Visa rang me and told me that Western Union was trying to take a sizeable amount from it.

All of the above one after another has sent me into a mild spin out.

Last night we had a supper after a meeting at Mike's club to which partners were invited and I indulged on a couple of little saveloys and a party pie, which I promptly dipped in sauce.  As I was eating them instead of the sandwiches that were on the table, I felt so guilty but I couldn't help it.  And I finished it off with a piece of lemon slice.  It was like my hands had a life of their own.

I know I need to be stronger, and this just goes to show me I have a lot of work on my head space to do, let alone my weight and my body.

I am a digital scrapbooker, I scrapbook our lives.   Sometimes it's for pure pleasure, sometimes it's because I want to tell a story, sometimes it's therapeutic.   This one was so that I remembered because I never want to forget where I started.  I was sick of the sight of myself.

I don't want to go back to this place again.

You can click on the layout if you want a closer read of the journalling.

Email from Mish

Yes okay I know that our stats that we load onto 12wbt would probably go into a data base, and some calculation behind the scenes would be made, and a formula would bring forth names, and a circular email sent out to the applicable people.

But just for a moment let me live with the fantasy that Michelle Bridges actually took personal note of my statistics and wrote to me.

Okay?

I was thrilled to receive this in my email tonight.

Mike keeps hugging me to see how much further he can wrap his arms around me, he's as excited at my transformation as I am.  And he's so proud.  Which just gives me a warm all over glow.

I'm becoming pathetic I know, but I can't help but walk around with a big smile on my face.

Tomorrow is weigh in day.  I'm a compulsive every day weigher, I know I shouldn't but I do.  I like to know how I'm tracking throughout the week, that things are "working".  Except after last weigh in, the next day I went up 100grams and I've stayed there all week, even with the exercise, the eating well, the Saturday session with the girls.  I know we fluctuate throughout the week and I shouldn't get too stuck on the fact I've not budged but lets just hope that since today and tomorrow that I get a good loss, the culmination of the whole week overnight :-)

Until tomorrow.   Keep the faith.