Bib Collector Extraordinnaire

[Serendipityblah]

If you asked me a year ago to sign up for a 5K, I would have laughed in your face and went on a long spiel about how stupid it is to pay to run. Why would I ever pay to do something I hate? Running hurts. Running is hard. Running is miserable.

That mentality is how I ended up looking like this

for my engagement pictures in May of this year.

I got those pictures back and couldn't recognize that girl. How had I allowed myself to get that big? I'm in the Navy. I have a physical fitness test twice a year. That was the problem. I was part of the infamous "3 mile club." Which means I only ran 3 miles a year; 1.5 in April and 1.5 in October.

Something had to change.

I played tennis in High School, but there are no tennis courts within walking distance and I didn't want to have to drive somewhere to work out. So in the words of the great Forrest Gump; "I just started running."

Before I get too far into this let me introduce myself and my partner in crime.

I am Amanda. I'm 29... I will be 30 in seven short days. I had my freakout moment last year when I turned 29... the great "Snow Globe-pacalypse of 2013" We don't talk about it. (Although if prompted I will be glad to share )

I'm a huge Disney nut. I am engaged to a man who is not a huge Disney nut, but is rather a huge Amanda nut and will do anything to make me smile. His name is Chris. He is 35 going on 16.

We are planning our wedding at Disney World in May of 2015 (check out my planning journal on the wedding boards! /shamelessplug)

We really hope to do the Dopey Challenge in 2016. Although we might have to push it to 2017 for budgeting purposes.

Anyway back to the real topic here: RUNNING!

A Planet Fitness opened up in November 2013 right down the road from where we were living. So we joined. We did really good too... for about a month. We went every day. And by every day, I mean every day. Thanksgiving, we were there with bells on. We had a routine and we were hitting it hard. It was nice. It was fun. At that point we were taking vitamins, diet pills, protein shakes, anything bodybuilding.com sold we took.

The pounds were not melting off. I looked the same as I did the day I joined a month later. At least I felt the same. I might have looked great but I refused to take pictures because that scale was not going in the right direction.

So I quit. And since I quit, Chris quit too. We do absolutely everything together. He didn't want to go to the gym without me and I just couldn't get motivated.

Then instead of being steady, the scale started creeping up again. But I just couldn't get that motivation to go back to the gym. So I didn't. I put on my shoes (a pair of Nikes) and hit the pavement. I only did about a mile and a half and I'm sure it was almost 20 minutes for me to complete. But I was hooked. The next day I went out and bought my first pair of running shoes. Ravenna4 by Brooks. It was like running on air!

I've been running almost every day since then.

We've stopped with the supplements and are just eating better now. We realized weight loss is not about diets but rather lifestyle changes. I am 20 pounds down from where I was in May. I have about 15 more to go until I will be comfortable. But let me tell you running is the best, easiest way (for me) to stay motivated with losing weight. Which leads me to the reason running is so fun:

My newest obsession: RACES!

My name is Amanda and I am a race junkie. This is my report.

 

[Serendipityblah]

April 2014​

Color Me Rad​

DH surprised me with our very first 5K race. It was to be the Color Me Rad. I was nervous, scared, excited, a little mad at not being consulted beforehand... there were a lot of emotions going on in this body of mine.

So I did what I do best and set about stalking this race. I watched every video on YouTube, I read the entire website at least ten times. And only after doing all of that did I settle on one emotion: EXCITED!

I couldn't wait! I'd never heard of a color run before. Apparently it was a really popular thing though. But being new to the running community I was still learning. (Things like PR, LSD, and Garmin were still terms I had yet to come across. My assimilation was slow.)

The night before the run, in true Amanda and Chris fashion, we each drank a six pack of beer in celebration. Little did we know we were starting a race day ritual. I don't remember what kind of beer we had, I'm going to assume it was a Sam Adams seasonal though. I guess we will go with that.

It wasn't hard for us to get up the next morning. We are both military so waking up early is second nature to us. In fact, we didn't have to be awake until 0600 that morning so that was sleeping in for us. During the work week we wake up at 0400. The extra hours were nice.

We had laid out our race day clothes the night before and this is what I went looking like:

I should have tried running in that before the race. I know NOW that you aren't supposed to wear new things on race day. But I was a newbie. I was just excited that I actually fit into those shorts! And the tutu was soooo cute. Let me just reiterate what I learned from this.

NO. NEW. THINGS. ON. RACE. DAY.

The entire race was spent either pulling my shorts down because they were riding up, or twisting my tutu back to where it was supposed to be because it wanted to be on my front. Not a fun thing when running a 5K is not easy for you.

But we made our goal. We have the same goal every race and every race (so far) we have made it. Our goal isn't to PR every race (although I'm a firm believer that you should try.) Our goal is to never walk. Even if we slow down to a ten minute pace, we never walk. It sounds like an easy goal, but believe me there are times when I really really want to stop. I'm lucky in that Chris and I do everything together and we encourage each other to keep going. He tells me that I keep him going just as much as he keeps me going, but I don't really believe him. He is like a gazelle, while I'm more like... a sloth.

I don't know what our run time was for this race. The Color Me Rad isn't timed. And neither of us new about running apps where you can track your run. We know it was somewhere around 30 minutes give or take because we started at 0900 and when we finally thought to look at our phone to see what time it was it was a little after 0930.

That's my "I can't believe I just did that" face.

Running across that finish line was the greatest feeling. I was so bummed that no race photographer caught it. My very first 5K was done! I threw my hands in the air and cheered so loud.

Up next: Teal 5K Sexual Assault Awareness Run

 

[Serendipityblah]

When we decided to start running races, we meant it! After the Color Me Rad, we had the Teal Ribbon 5K only three days later! This race was great, not only because it was for sexual assault awareness but also because it was in the middle of the day. It was in the middle of a work day to be exact. Which meant I got to leave work early! Who knew that participating in a 5K was a valid excuse to miss work? I sure didn’t think my chief was going to let me go. I was floored when he did. It definitely helps that he used to run marathons and do triathlons, so he is supportive of the lifestyle.

I decided to wear a teal tank top and running pants with a teal line down the sides. It just so happened that my favorite color at the time was teal. That made it very easy to pick race day attire since I already owned it all. I completed my ensemble with my Color Me Rad headband. I love that thing.

I only have one picture of that race and it is an after picture. I didn’t know that this was going to become an obsession at the time so my photo chronicling leaves something to be desired.

A very tired smile and thumbs up. Our race time was around the 33 minute mark. Again, we never walked so it was a successful slow race.

Add another bib to the collection.

Next up: The Dirty Girl Mud Run