The Marathon and Mii

I'd like to introduce myself as a long time friend of Katie. We were friends in high school--back when we joked about the ice cream diet in which I mysteriously lost weight while eating more ice cream. The truth is, high schoolers gain and lose weight for all kinds of reasons and it was probably just a crazy coincidence. Also, I never really cared about my weight until after a few years of marriage I realized I had gained about 15 pounds. It was sad to step onto the WiiFit board and see my Mii inflate like a balloon to reflect my weight. Too many of us know what that looks like. My initial goal was to be in the normal range with my BMI number. That is when I started running.

In June 2009 I hooked up with a couple friends from church (Juliette and Aubrie). They were training to run a half-marathon and I decided to train with them even though I had no intentions to run the race. I had lots of excuses for not planning on running the race, but the biggest one was that I wasn't sure I could do it. However, when August 1st came around, I had completed all the training and they offered me a ride. It would have been pointless to say no. So we ran that half-marathon and I felt great! Nine miles into the race we started talking about training for a full marathon. Then Juliette and I ran the Leavenworth Oktoberfest Marathon on October 3rd! (See photo below.) This has been one of the crowning achievements of my life so far. The best part (besides receiving a totally sweet zip-up hoodie and a finisher's medal) was that I lost 13 pounds in the training process.

So I still haven't reached my goal weight, but I'm feeling so much healthier and like I can do anything I want to. I'm so excited to get to write for this blog; I will probably check it more often than Facebook! Some things I plan to discuss are: resources I used in my training, running gear that I like (and perhaps some I dislike), general tips about training for a race, and updates about my own running and weight loss status. As of today I am happy to announce that I have at least achieved the normal BMI rating with a weight of 140. My goal weight is 135, my weight back in high school, but I wonder if my optimum weight is supposed to be lower. In any case, I will keep up my running and keep you all posted.