The Flying Pig 5k 2009

Yesterday was one of the best days of 2009 for me. The 2008 Flying Pig 5k was the first event I ever entered and it changed my life forever. This year, I have been working to increase my walking speed and even add in some running. Have you seen my legs? Let's just say, they are pretty short so to cover the distance, I've got to really move them. In 2008 I finished the 3.2 miles in 1 hour 15 minutes. I was thrilled just to have finished. Yesterday, as I crossed the "Finish Swine" the clock read just over 58 minutes. My goal was to do it in under an hour since my two previous 5k times had been an 1 hr. 2 minutes. What a day!

I was thankful to have my training buddy/coach, Maura with me the whole way. She pushed me to run and helped me keep my walking pace fast. I must say that I surprised myself with my ability to run as far and as fast as I did--keep in mind the short legs and add to it about 60 more pounds than I would like to be carrying next year. This has been an amazing year for me. I have experienced so much personal growth and have found out some really neat things about myself along the way.

There were so many great things about yesterday. The first thing was that we had ten people representing Pink Princess Racing in this years Flying Pig. Maura, her daughter Mikayla and her sister-in-law, Rhonda, all ran the 10k event. Eric called them "The Three Ten-ers." My sister, Margaret and my step-sister, Laura walked the 5k with me and Maura. My niece, Cortney, Maura's daughters, Mikayla and Jessica and Maura's son, Tanner along with his friend, Joe, joined Rhonda in running the 5k. We all met or exceeded our personal goals for the day.

For several weeks I have been visualizing myself doing well in the race and beating my previous times. That morning I had prayed for extra angels to help me on my walk. One of the highlights of my walk came about the 1.5 mile mark. I was walking as fast as I could go and I looked down on the ground. There right in front of me was a leaf from a ginko tree. I looked up and there on the side of the road was a ginko tree just full of beautiful green fan-shaped leaves. I knew this was an answer to my prayer for angels to assist me. Years ago, I worked with a special friend, Debbie Brown, who is an angel in my life. She loves the outdoors and especially waking outdoors. She would frequently go for walks during her lunch break. In the spring she would bring me ginko leaves. "They are a symbol of good luck." she told me. I knew at that moment that my dear angel friend, Debbie was with me. This gave me an extra push to move on and finish what I had started.

Seeing Eric on the sidelines near the "Finish Swine" was another wonderful moment. Hearing him cheer me on, gave me the extra boost to run as I finished the race. His love and support has helped me as I have traveled this journey. I am thankful that I can count on him to help me and I look forward to being there for him on his first 5k.

After the race, we headed over to my Dad's house for our first annual post-race Pig Out. Bobbye had prepared homemade spaghetti sauce and we enjoyed a wonderful spaghetti dinner, complete with salad, garlic bread and ice cream for dessert. It was an awesome way to end the festivities of the day.

Have You Missed Me???

Today is a happy day for Eric...when he saw that I was sitting at the computer trying to log into my blog (and having a rough time doing so) he asked, "Are you going to post? Is the drought over? Has the silence been broken?" Well, I can't say that the silence will be all over. My time these days is limited and I confess that after sitting in front of a computer all day at work, I am not exactly interested in sitting in front of one when I get home.
So....Have you missed me? I won't bore you with all the details of my life since my last post, which was before Christmas. (A fact that Eric tossed out to me last week in a feeble attempt to get me back into blogging) I will say that I have been concentrating my efforts on my walking/running goals. I am proud to say that after the holidays, I really got down to business. Even though it was cold outside, I was walking the miles on the inside. In February, I set a goal to walk 100 miles. I didn't quite make it, but with some crunching the last week of the month I did manage to eek out 90 miles.
Of course the weight loss is going slow, but I feel better. In looking at my calendars from last year, I don't know what I weighed this time last year...(I was too frustrated to even step on the scale--another story for later). I am proud to say that I am down 26 pounds from my weight in August of last year, which is when I started weighing myself again. To me that is huge, though some days I wish it were more. Then I tell myself..."Sylvia, you aren't gaining and this is a good thing."
I am thankful for the spring. The past two weeks have been amazing. I have been able to get to the park and walk outside. I have even been running--slowly--but running. Maura has been such a good trainer--she is tough, but kind--forceful, in a nice way--She makes me want to do better and as any good trainer, she pushes me to do things I think I can't. The picture above is from one of our first times running. It felt great!
As we were at the park today, I was nursing a blister on my toe, so we didn't run until the end of our 2.5 mile walk. She made me run farther than I thought I could. As I was nearing our finish line she commented on how great I will feel when I am 20 pounds lighter. Now there is a mental picture!
I am thankful for her. I am thankful that we have set our goals to do this. The Flying Pig is our first event this year. I am walking/running the 5k. My long range goal is to be able to walk/run the Thanksgiving Day 10k. I can totally do it. What a blessing it is to have a healthy, strong body! I am thankful to Heavenly Father everyday for my body. Growing up as a fat kid, I never thought I would feel that way or do anything like this. Heavenly Father really will make our weaknesses into strengths if we will humble ourselves. I know this to be true--but that is a story for another post. Thanks for reading...I'll try to be better about posting because I know you care.