My 1st Half-Marathon

OMG! Where do I begin? On Friday when I went to the Expo to pick up my race bib number a lady came up and started talking to me. We soon realized that we were both in Team in Training with LLS and we were both walking the half marathon. What a coincidence! We exchanged numbers and planned to hook up on race morning. Saturday evening I went to the carb-loaded inspiration dinner with all of the team members. Our team raised over $160,000 for cancer!!! Parents of first grader Hayley got up and told their story of how she went through chemo and how Team in Training helped make it so that her last chemo treatment was in March. She’s cancer free! (pic of Me and Coach Tina at the Dinner)
I went home less stressed than I felt all week and gathered up everything for race day. You guys saw the major list that I had to get ready. Once I had everything laid out I made a failed attempt to go to sleep.

You’ve heard me say over and over that I’m a night person. I paced around and finally got in the bed a little after 11 pm. I tossed and turned and tossed and turned. I was glad that the coach warned us that this was normal the day before a race. I don’t know what time I finally got to sleep.
At the inspiration dinner they said that they wanted the team to meet at 5:30 AM and walk to the starting line together so that there will be up “Sea of Purple Shirts.” I decided to be a team player and woke up a little bit before 5 AM. I forced myself to eat a muffin, as I had absolutely no appetite at that time of morning. Aside from avoiding alcohol, one of coach Tina’s final pieces of advice were to go to the bathroom before the race. Like “really go” like, number 2. I figured this would be no problem as I’m pretty regular (sorry probably too much information.) Anyway this morning my body was very confused, and had no clue how to function at 5 AM. I danced outside with Nyah I walked up and down the stairs nothing was making number two happen. I gave up and made it downtown around six o’clock, terrified that I would have to use the Porter potties. Luckily by the time I made to the host hotel my mind was awake and so was the rest of my body. Whew, thank God, porter potty avoided. I hooked up with the nice lady that I met the Expo via cell phone and we were off! Everything was groovy as I had driven the race path on Saturday after the dinner. That was until I tripped and fell over a pipe sticking up out of the street shortly before mile 2. I am “tangle-footed” as my Dad calls me, so I’ve learned not to fall on my face or my knees. I let my hands catch me, as my water bottle and new iPod went flying. Contrary to elementary school days all the other participants were genuinely concerned and helped me up. I was so worried about passing out and oddly enough falling had never occurred to me. About mile 4 I started to “feel it.” It was nearly 90 degrees already, nothing like my freezing cold training conditions for the last 4 months.

 When we got to mile 6 most of the walkers and runners had passed us and there was a small group of us walking together. Two of the ladies dropped out. I couldn’t believe it; I was finishing this race, if I had to limp across the finish line. At about mile 7 or 8 my personal cheerleaders waved signs with my name. My Mama, my Big Little sister and Auntie’s baby girl cheered for my little walk group. My other Little sister promised the pastor she would be at church and she text me throughout the race. They gave us all a moral boost. However, around mile 9, it started to get kind of grimy. It seemed that we would never get to Mile 10. Then we ran into Coach Tina, she walked with us almost all the way to the finish line. Everytime we said something negative like my feet hurt or I don’t think I can do this, she gave us something positive to focus on. At one point we started naming body parts that didn’t hurt, like my ear or my walk buddy said her tongue LOL! Soon thereafter, the blazing sun heated my silver earring to the point that it burned my neck. Coach said it was so hot that they shut down the rest of the marathon race. My heart went out to those people that trained and weren’t allowed to finish their race. There were so many ambulances and I saw several hurt people on the ground. The heat was getting to everybody and really slowing me down.
Around Mile 11 I started to get pretty crabby. And I told the ladies I was walking with, “Nice Carli is gone and I’m warning you that I have a bad attitude.” Just like the guys that I date, I give you fair warning if I’m about to flip the switch, since that’s typically not my character. One lady cheered “way to go!” And I think I rolled my eyes at her as I envied her standing on the sidelines. My coach said I guess she didn’t get the attitude disclaimer. LOL! I kept looking at my biblical scripture temporarily tattooed on my wrist that read “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I said it about 1 million times in my head, when nothing Christ-like wanted to come out of my mouth. Finally, as we approached mile 12 “Not Forgotten” a gospel song came on that helped push me through. My feet hurt so bad, it was beyond hot, and I was exhausted, I didn’t know how I could go any further. And then almost miraculously I saw the finish line. I actually started to get a little emotional which is totally not my style. I started thinking about all of the encouraging comments on Facebook & my blog and all the people that I would inspire as Roni inspired me. I decided to suck it up because I didn’t want to do the “ugly cry” in my finish line photo, and I was wearing eye makeup. As I got close to the finish line I saw my Dad, I waved at him and decided to run it on in, I dug deep and gave it every tiny bit that I had left. I ran across the finish line pumping my fists in the air to “Eye of the Tiger” which was playing over the loudspeaker. My homeboy with the video camera was nowhere in sight. I could have strangled him. I was a little disoriented and the volunteers had to tell me to get my metal and get something to eat. I hobbled my way over to the Team in Training tent. They gave me my 13.1 mile pin and finally I sat down. I decided to put away the crabby witch and be nice to my Dad and my homeboy that were nice enough to stand in the heat until I finished nearly an hour past my projected time. It took me a while to get back to feeling quasi-normal. They drove me to my car and we all went to Red Lobster for a victory dinner. I ate as many cheddar bay biscuits as I wanted and didn’t care about WW points. I felt that that was okay since I walked for nearly 5 hours and burned over 2000 calories. Thank you family and Running into Shape supporters for believing in me. Now, since I almost fell asleep in the bath tub, I think calling it a night.

Super Sweet 16

Today is my little sister’s Super Sweet 16th birthday.   I got up this morning with a to-do list much longer than I would have preferred for it to be.  But I guess I’ll back track, for the last week I felt kind of frustrated.  That’s why my blog was pretty quite, I guess I just felt stuck.  I almost canceled my Weight Watchers membership. I felt like the plan just wasn’t working for me.  But the truth of the matter is that I wasn’t working the plan….  My Little Sister asked me to go to vacation bible school and I’m glad I did, because I got a good word that I needed.  We talked about the Spiritual Armor of God.  Specifically, that day we discussed the Sword of the Spirit.  We talked about using God’s word as our offensive weapon (the sword).  God gave us all of the tools that we need to fight back.  Everyone has their own issue; my issue of course is struggling with the idea that I have to battle weight for the rest of my life.  I still haven’t fully accepted that I have to deal with this forever.  But, I left church feeling refreshed and renewed that God will help me fight my battle.   So, this morning I got up and went to the gym, I hadn’t been to the gym since last week when I went with my Shopping Cousin.   As I walked up the stairs to the indoor track, I got winded and out of breath.  Oh crap, I thought to myself, that can’t be a good sign.  I did some light stretches and turned on my Week 3 podcast.  Even though I didn’t exercise for more than a week, I refuse to go backwards.  If Week 3 killed me today, it was just going to kill me.  The first 90 second run was easy.  After the 3 minute run, it started to get a little tough, but I didn’t care, I kept pushing, as I thought back to the days where, I would look down and couldn’t see my lap over my stomach, or got out of breath bending over putting on my shoes.  I can’t go back there, it was just too miserable.  I also thought about Roni’s post called “Why I Keep Trying.” I pushed all the way through the whole running routine with no extra walks.  Every time I heard “Carli” say “ready for your next run?” I would say out loud, “Bring it on Baby, I got you, I’m ready!”  When I finished, I felt so proud, it was like I never missed a day.  Then it was time to get ready for the rest of the day.  I invited my new guy friend to the party, you know the guy that I mentioned before, let’s call him Mr. Man.  So, Mr. Man rode with me over my parent’s house while I helped my little sister get ready.  My Dad opened the door.  Oh boy, I thought to myself, this will be interesting.  Unfortunately, I had the leave Mr. Man downstairs by himself with Dad while I went up to help my little sister get dressed.  I said “Daddy be nice.”  To which my Father sternly replied “What does that mean?”   I tapped Mr. Man on the shoulder and said “Good Luck!”   He survived, even though I fed him to the wolves, LOL.  I later found out they talked about football and Lebron and other boy stuff.  …Anyway,  My little sister did it so big y’all.  She showed up fashionably late to her glow in the dark party. She had a grand entrance with an escort and even a balloon drop.  Can you believe it?!  She looked so fabulous!  That girl was rocking some HOT stilettos high heels, but you know they came off before the end of the night after all the dancing she did.  My Mama was so awesome to pull off the party of my sister’s dreams.  There were tons of overly-energetic teens dancing all night. Even us “old people” had such a great time!  After the party, we went to Uncle Bill’s pancake house, a local 24 restaurant, perfect for a late night meal.  Me and my Big Little Sister, and  Mr. Man chaperoned my little sister and the 16 friends and who joined her after party.  I told the hostess table for 20 people at 1 o’clock in the morning, she replied “are you serious?”  Yep, I told her we were there for the post-party meal.  Everyone had a ton of fun cracking jokes and hanging out, and I didn’t make it to bed until 4 A.M.!  My little sister said it was the best birthday ever!

And the Winner is….

And the Winner is….drum roll please……….Clara!  She won my Biggest Loser Give away.   I loved loved loved all of your quotes and tips.  I hadn’t heard most of them before.  I’m going to make a list of my favorite ones and post them on my wall.  Clara’s quote was from the Bible, how can you beat that?  “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”  Philippians 4:13.  Sometimes we feel like we are on the journey to fitness all by ourselves.  But it’s important to always remember that we are not.  There is something bigger than all of us, which can carry through all the good and the bad times.  Here are some of my top favorite runner up quotes from other contestants. 

• “Well done is better than well said.”
• “Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.”
•  “Finish what you started.”
• “Fall down 7 times, get up 8″

Thanks to everyone who entered! 

P.S. For the first time ever, I hoped and wished for rain.  When I woke up this morning my “everything” hurt.  That 3 mile walk (more like a jog) yesterday took a toll on me.  My friend’s co-worker couldn’t even wear her sassy high heels today! …My wish came true, it rained and boot camp class was canceled.  I’m sure that will make Tuesday’s class that much harder, but for now, I’m loving my day off to rest and recuperate.

Cupcakes & Twinkies & Cookies Oh My!

I went to the studio today, and my friend had cookies with icing, hostess cupcakes, Twinkies and Chinese Fried Rice.   I think he was testing me, But I passed!  I did not eat not one bite of that “Devil Food.”  I stayed focused and we finished weeks 5 and 7 of my Couch to the 5K podcasts.  Then I went to Bread Co grabbed some lunch and caught up on my bible reading assignments for the Get Fit 4 Christ Program.  After lunch and a very long reading session, I met with Lyle the personal trainer.  He had me start by warming up on the elliptical machine for 10 minutes.  Then we did circuit training with dumbbells.  He gave me 8 pound dumbbells in each hand!  I’ve never worked out with 8 pound weights.  It went really fast and reminded me of boot camp class, but at a faster pace.  He also threw some Sit ups, push ups and jumping jacks in the routine.  When it was time to do planks  (holding up your body with your upper body muscles) I said the very bad “C” word…(I Can’t).  He quickly corrected me, and said “you can” … And, I did.  After a good sweaty workout, I came home and touched up my resume and cover letter.  I have an interview tomorrow, so say a prayer, cross your fingers, or just run an extra lap for me!  LOL. 

What Did Carli Eat Today?

B- Bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Minute Maid Pomegrante Lemonade

L- Chicken Salad Sandwich

French Onion Soup w/ a Sourdough Roll 

An  Apple

S- Peanut Butter Crackers

D- Leftover Chili

S- Teddy Grahams

Get Fit 4 Christ.com

Lyle, the personal trainer/author, is Serious.  We’ve already had 2 assignments, and the program doesn’t officially start until Sunday!  Our 1^st homework assignment was to study 1^st Samuel 17: 1-51, the story of David & Goliath and create a blog.  I have to keep it real with y’all.  I not only had to Find my bible in my trunk, but I also had to really flip through to find the chapter.  Of course the blog part was easy.  The 2^nd Assignment was writing out our goals.  We have due dates and everything, I feel like I’m back in school…Me and the other winning contestants will be taking “Before Pictures” tomorrow at the fitness studio.  I want to be cute, but maybe I’ll just put on a little lip gloss and save the real fierceness for the “After” Photo Shoot.

This Morning I had a meeting because I’m on the Career Fair committee with the Black MBA Association…I know thats irony at it’s best…  Later this afternoon, my body felt so blah after not working out for 2 days, so I went to the gym and jogged to my week 6 podcast.  Notice I didn’t say “power-walked,” I actually did Day 1 of Week 6.  Whew!  When you don’t run, you loose it quick. The whole time I was saying “Carli, talk to me now…tell me my 8 minute run is over.”… I had 2 sucky songs that just didn’t flow and have to be changed, but Week 5 is in the final editing stages. Thanks for being patient.