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My First 5K in Review

Start of the 5K This weekend I accomplished a major goal in my life by participating and finishing my first ever 5K.

I participated in the Susan G. Kormen Race for the Cure this past weekend in Birmingham and enjoyed it more then I thought it would - but in the same breath I must say it was harder then I thought it would be. I also learned a few things I wanted to share:

Never ever switch to new ear buds the day of your first (or any for that matter) 5K Race. I switched to my new custom ear mold Etymotic ear buds and they were useless (another blog post coming on them). They failed to stay in my ears causing me to run for the first time in my life without any music and having to listen to myself running which was not pleasant.
Running in a group of people is tough. At the conclusion of my first mile I noticed my pace was extremely quick (for me). This caused me to tire more quickly and slow my overall pace. I ended up walking 4 times total and finished in or around 32 minutes. But…
I have no idea if I finished at 32 minutes. Due to the ear buds issue I mentioned above my time got screwed up on my iPhone App and when I finished there was no method for me to check in at the finish line. My mom informed me that I finished at that time as she saw a small clock that read that at the finish line. I have been told there are better electronic ways to track a start/finish to a race and hopefully the next race I participate in will have a better tracking system.

Overall the race was awesome and has inspired me to do it again, this time running the entire thing.

Lifestyle Update - Feeling Good

Without a doubt its been too long since my last update on my lifestyle change that I started at the first of the year.

I am happy too report that as of Sunday I weighed in at 275 which gives me a total weight lost of 86 pounds. I am feeling great and the transformation in my overall appearance is wonderful.

I am 25 pounds away from my goal which is proving to be a huge challenge for me too achieve. I have hit the plateau that everyone told me I would hit - and I have tried to switch up my exercise routine to help with this.

I previously spoke about the desire to start the couch to 5K program and I finally stopped making excuses and started the program in August. Its been tough - OK the hardest thing I have ever done in my life! I have never been a runner and I am challenged with just running for a few minutes, let alone an entire 3.1 miles.

But, with encouragement from Jenny and my friends and family I have been pushing through it. Hopefully next month I will be able to achieve a 3.1 mile run.

The picture on this post was taken in Kentucky (at Churchhill Downs to be exact) at the end of July when I was around 280.

More to come on this as I have about 3 1/2 months to hit my goal of 250.

Thanks again to everyone for the encouragement - it really has made this entire process easier.