Posts Tagged ‘Run University’

This is an exciting weigh in. I lost 8 lbs this week, which brings my weight down to 482 lbs, and a milestone has been reached: 150 lbs lost!!!!!! ONE HUNDRED FIFTY POUNDS!!!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!! Not only have I lost 150 lbs, I am halfway there to the 300 lb challenge.

Thank You

Without YOU I would not have been able to lose this much weight. I couldn’t do it on my own. So first I must thank all of my readers and commenters. I love all of you!!!

Also, I thank all of my friends and family here in Birmingham, AL that have been there for me. I am so blessed. All of the support that I get does not go unnoticed.

I want to specifically call out these few people that really helped me bounce back this year:

• Hal Craig – Dude, I love having someone to talk to in town that understands what I’m going through. I thank you and Meghan for sacrificing your time to help me. You helped me make the video back in December, you went to Nashville with me, and you are there when I need someone to talk to. Thank you so much!!!!
• Holland Striplin, It was so much fun going through casting in Nashville for the Biggest Loser. I met so many wonderful people that I  still keep in touch with. Thank you for inviting me to the casting call.
• Danny Haralson, Thank you so much for walking with me every week. Also thank you for helping me break through the mental roadblocks!!! I have been doing so well since March because of your help!!!

Quick update about foot

My foot has gotten worse so I setup an appointment with a podiatrist.

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Checkout and enter my giveaway This giveaway ends on Wednesday, May9th, 2010 at 9pm CST.

Below I am re-posting parts of a blog post that Danny posted last week. After that I’ll give you an update on where I’ve been the past few days (at work).

Here’s a very inspiring and motivating experience from Danny’s last marathon:

Re-posted with permission from Run Coach Danny Harralson’s Run University Blog.  Link to original post: What a great day to be out here…..

In the Book of Dan it is written: If you offer to run with someone, then you must run with that person. So the morning of [the] St. Louis [marathon] I said to Micki [Danny's wife], “Do you want me to run with you?” (okay – I knew the answer, she’d dropped hints like Hansel and Gretel dropped breadcrumbs), and she said yes. Which was cool, I felt good, but I had no aspirations and I may as well help her along (she has a bad hamstring) and enjoy the day, so WE did!

Now, I have a boat load of material from St. Louis, like, who EVER suggested to spectators that cow bells were a good idea – talk about annoying!Anyway, that stuff will have to wait because during the marathon I learned all over again about the joy of running.

St. Louis (the marathon) really is beautiful, but it is hilly. This is NOT a PR course; there are many L O N G inclines. As we all know if an incline goes on long enough it becomes a hill – not many people know that Kilimanjaro started as an incline in India.

Anyway, after we ran through the Anheuser-Busch Brewery (yes, I kissed a column when we entered (too many runners to kneel) and yes, I had an organism) we closed in on mile 14 or so.

Going up ANOTHER incline we passed the last place wheelchair athlete; slowly, deliberately turning the wheels of the chair people passing left and right. As we ran by we clapped, shouted encouragement and pushed on kind of in our own run-world.

On the other side of the hill (one of not too many downhills) we hear in a loud sing-song voice, “Wheelchair on the left” and whoosh! It was by us…wait?! That wasn’t some kick-ass voice, it was – damn! It was like my mother’s!!!

Guess what? Another hill, so we passed the wheelchair athlete again and I had to know the source of the sing-song voice so I edged closer, paid attention this time and said, “The downhills are a lot more fun, huh?” I saw the most wonderful smile and this lady’s voice answered, “Oh yes, but isn’t it just a great day to be out here?”

People, I came to find out her name is Virginia and she is SEVENTY THREE YEARS YOUNG! Screeching halt, yes, you read right! 73 AND a wheelchair competitor!

For the next few miles we see-sawed on the uphills and downhills with bits and pieces of short conversations and I really deep inside didn’t want to get too far away – she was making me stronger.

Micki had to walk a few of the steeper or longer inclines (got to have hamstrings to climb hills) and we saw St. Louis, Forest Park, and University City up close and personal.

We passed again on a hill, actually the last time; she had turned around and was pushing herself up backwards. Someone asked if she wanted a push, “Oh, no, I’m just using different muscles.”

We walked with her a bit and she said as we crested the hill, “You know i feel sorry for all those people sitting at home on the couch just doing nothing, looking at the idiot box.” SHE feels sorry……whadda woman!

We crossed the finish line and ignored the usual admonishments to “keep moving” because we had to see Virginia finish. She was hours behind the other wheel chairs and not many paid much attention when she crossed. I mean, she had on a helmet and sunglasses (this was one cool lady!) so you had to look…study, to realize that she wasn’t young (chronologically).

She pulled up to us, I’m surprised she didn’t pop a wheelie, and said “thanks for all the encouragement.” She thanked ME?

You could tell she wasn’t the type who really wanted a fuss made over her, so we both thanked her ’cause she encouraged us and she kind of smiled, “What a great day to be out here.”

What a great day to be out here; think about that the next time you dread a run. We are so, so blessed to be able to do what we do. And we do it because we WANT to!

And there there are days like St. Louis when it starts out good and by meeting and sharing the day with someone like Virginia I hit the jackpot of runs!

When I got up that morning I had no idea the day would be so special – here’s hoping there is a Virginia in one of your days, soon.

—– End of Danny’s Post —–

When I read Danny’s post last week, I knew it was going to be on my next Motivation Monday post.

I’ve learned too in the few races that I’ve walked in, you never know what you’re going to see at a race to motivate you. Hey, think about this too: You never know when YOU are going to motivate others. Sure, you might be slower, but still, if your like me (morbidly obese), the other competitors know how hard your having to work to move your body on that course.

Update

Well, I posted my weight last Wednesday (which I am pleased with the loss) and I didn’t post anything else untill today. For some weird reason, I was extremely busy at work. By the time I got home in the evenings, I was too pooped to post.

Well, I got good news about the Country Music Marathon: I got the press pass. Which is awesome. I won’t have to push, shove, and maneuver around spectators. I am so excited about this race. Well, I’m also excited about going on another road trip. I had so much fun in Nashville the last time I was there.

The only bummer is I’m going by myself. Danny and a lot of Birmingham peeps will be up there. I hope some of them want to go hang out on Broadway Street Saturday night. Who knows, I may be too tired to do anything on Saturday night… Nah!!!!

My buddy Steve is loaning me one of his cameras and I’ve rented a 100-400mm Canon zoom and a 11-16mm Tokina zoom. Those two combined with my camera and 24-70 Canon zoom will provide an abundant range for photos. I was tempted to rent a fisheye, but there’s only so many shots that can be taken with one.

Friday I’ll meet up with Dan, the PR director for the Rock N’ Roll marathons, and pick up the pass.

Have a great Monday, and I’ll be posting tomorrow.

This morning I worked out with my new trainer Danny Haralson with Run University. It was a simple confidence-building ten minute walk on a treadmill and a couple of light-weight dumbbell exercises. It really did feel good afterward, physically and emotionally. I did good.

Coach Danny finishing up his workout. He's running in a half marathon in Mississippi tomorrow. Good Luck!!

February twentieth was the one year anniversary for whoatemyblog.com. There have been a lot of emotional and physical ups and downs, but no regrets. I have met a lot of wonderful people and lost one hundred pounds as a result of blogging. Honestly, I feel that this blog is my greatest accomplishment. I’ve laid everything out for everyone to see and I am eternally grateful to all who have read and commented on my posts.

Low Self Confidence

I am sure that most of you have noticed that I allow the scale to determine how self confident I am. If I lose ten pounds, I am ecstatic and can take on the world. If I gain ten pounds, it’s time to call it quits and I cannot do anything right. It is so bad during my downers that I doubt everything that I do, including my job.

Fitness Together

I really appreciate Jack Eyer and Donnie Warnock at Fitness Together at Patton Creek Shopping Center in Hoover, Alabama. We were doing a little trading of services. I would help them with their computers/website and they would train me. In the past few weeks, I have been too busy in the early afternoons to go workout with Donnie. Also, Donnie has been moved out to another FT location that is inconvenient for me to travel to twice a week.

Danny Haralson

I am going to start training with Danny Haralson, a local running coach. He’s best known for his couch to 5k program here in Birmingham, Alabama. Danny approached me last week about trading out services. I’ll take over his website, create a facebook page, a twitter account, and take pictures at various Run University events. Actually, I have been looking for a hobby, something that I love doing that won’t cost me anything, and it found me. Let me clarify, I don’t normally build websites because I’m not a programmer nor a designer, however I really look forward the social interactions and covering RU events.

Our First Meeting

Danny and I met on Monday to discuss what I will be doing. Here’s Danny’s plan:

• We are going to start slow to strengthen connective tissues and to build confidence. We are not aiming for instant results. He said that initially I may not lose any weight the first few weeks. So, starting out this first week I will walk a total of ten minutes every other day. Five minutes out, and five minutes back. As time goes by, Danny is going to increase my walking time, frequency, and speed. Eventually we will include weight training for upper body strength. Also, what’s going to happen is I will slowly adjust to walking long distances. Danny said that eventually I won’t walk less than 3 miles because I’ll feel that anything less won’t be worth walking.
• I will no longer look at future goals for confidence. I am going to look at past accomplishments.  So, in the future when my self-confidence is low, I can look back at what all I have accomplished.
• I will miss walking one day, but the next day is a do-over. There won’t be any consecutive days without exercise.
• Danny wants me to find a picture of what I eventually want to look like. Make three copies of it and post in my bedroom, kitchen, and office.
• While walking I am to tell myself that “I’m doing a good job”, and when completed, I am to tell myself  “well done”. Also, when going to bed I am to tell myself that “I did good today”.
• As we move along, we are going to come up with goals because we always must have goals.
• Right now we are going to focus on self-confidence and walking. Down the road we will get into nutrition. (pun)
• Danny and I will meet once a week. Also, If I’m feeling down or need to talk, I can call him or send him an email.
• Danny’s is a BIG believer in rewards. So, if I’ve done well for the week, there’s no issue with having a slice or two of pizza and a couple of beers. It’s all about moderation on the rewards.

Danny will be sending me an email detailing my plan. I will post more info once I receive it. I look forward to our training.