Hello! Have You Met My Friend, Gayle?

I have been working my butt off... Literally! I started a journey to a healthier lifestyle and weight loss back in July but got distracted and derailed, a lot! But by mid/late fall I found my groove and have been so on top of it that I am actually losing weight during the holidays!!
That's right friends...I am down a total of 41.5 pounds and I am feeling pretty freaking awesome! And to think, this is only half way to my goal. I mentioned before I want to be under 200 pounds before the new year and I have 8 pounds and a little less than 2 weeks to get there. AND I WILL GET THERE!!
I also signed up for my third half marathon. This time I plan to run all 13 miles and hope to finish somewhere between 2 hours 30 minutes - 2 hours 45 minutes. And in January, I will sign up for my first sprint distance triathlon as part of the Memphis in May festivities.

I am so incredibly proud of myself. A lot of things have happened since the fall. While not all of it has been good, it did force me to find myself. And I love who I am and have become. Every path is laid before us and we are meant to travel them for whatever reasons...good or bad. And each path takes us to a place we were meant to go. My journey hasn't been easy but I am grateful I found the courage to start it.


I am so proud of myself for sticking with my goals and working hard to achieve them. And I have to thank all of you for the encouragement every step of the way.



There is a quote I found and want to share...

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."

It's Been Awhile

Well, two and a half months is certainly a long time. Lots of things have happened some bad and some good. So, I'm only gonna talk about the good. Late October I got back on track with my healthy habits. I started logging my consumed foods, kept portions in check, got back on my exercise routine in and out of the gym. From July-September I lost about 14lbs. Since the first week of November til now I have lost another 23lbs bringing my total loss to 37lbs.

I am feeling so much better about myself and can finally see the results of my hard work. I also got back on my half marathon training (only did 4 weeks of hard core training and cross training when it should have been 12 weeks) and completed my second half marathon yesterday. My first one was in December 2009 and it took me 3 hours and 24 minutes to do all 13.1 miles. This year, I wanted to make sure my time was better with the hope of going under 3 hours. But since I flaked out on half my training, I bettered my time but missed going under. This year's time was 3 hours 4 minutes. Shaved off 20 minutes. So I signed up to do another half marathon in March. Now that I found my inner jogger (not quite feeling like a runner yet), I plan to stick my training schedule that starts next week. I will get under 3 hours!

I have set a few goals awhile back, like wanting to lose at least 100lbs in a year. I also wanted to set a smaller goal for now. I want to be under 200lbs before the new year starts. So I have 12.5lbs to go in 4 weeks. I believe I will make it. And I have to say it feels really good to have that self confidence back and to believe in myself. To get me in the right mind set of a new year, new me....I made a dramatic change by cutting off about 10" of hair. Yep! Went back to short...really short. I love it and I think I'm ready for the next phase of my life to start!

I really appreciate all of you that take the time to follow my boring little blog that is clearly all about me, but I really get so much motivation from your responses that allow me to keep going when fear stands in my way. Thanks for that extra push to get past it and on my way to a better healthier me. And one day, I hope I have inspired someone else to do the same.