Random thoughts during my first 10K

I did my first 10K yesterday. I started training in March after I did the Coogan's 5K. Until recently, I trained exclusively on the treadmill and I developed a level of endurance by doing so. Going in, I knew that I would be happy if I completed within an hour & a half but I was thrilled to learn that I completed in an hour & 26 minutes.

I'm on the hook for an hour and a half so random thoughts come into play.
Waiting to start: "I'm stuck in the slowpoke section & I can't see the starting line."
Beginning of race: "Where is the starting line?"
Starting line: "Let's do this."
1 mile mark: "OK. We're making progress."
2 mile mark: "There's the one-person cheering section & her dad."
Somewhere between the 2 & 3 mile mark: "Hey, there's my car."
3 mile mark: "We're getting there."
5K mark: "If this was a 5K event, I can get out of dodge."
Somewhere between to 5K mark & the 4 mile mark: "Aye, aye, aye."
4 mile mark: "I still have a way to go."
5 mile mark: "Almost there." I also saw a friend of mine drive out of the park shortly after this point; she finished 25 minutes before me.
Somewhere between the 5 mile & 6 mile mark: "Are we there yet?," "Why am I craving hot wings?," "There's Mister Softee."
Just past the 6 mile mark: "These last point two miles are killing me. I can't see the finish line."
Finish line: Feeling great & accomplished.

The camaraderie was awesome. I met all types of folks along the way. Considering the heat wave that plagued the area last week, I couldn't have asked for better weather. That's done & now I'm on a mission to knock out half-marathon training.

Validation

I notice a difference in my clothes and my measurements but when other people notice your changes, it's pretty exciting.

My Weight Watchers leader has been very encouraging in terms of my progress but when you hear "wow, you look great" from other folks, it feels great.

A few days ago, I ran into a couple of my neighbors and one of them told me to get out of my car because he "heard that [I] was thin." I asked him where he heard such a thing and he said on Facebook. So I stepped out of the car & told him that I was down 50 pounds. He's not the only one that's commented but it's just awesome to hear and it gives the inspiration to keep going.

I hate to shop but have to bite the bullet

I hate to shop. I don't know how the aversion to shopping developed...maybe it's bad memories of shopping with my mom growing up or general dissatisfaction with selection, prices, etc. The irony is that I have a considerable amount of clothes. My approach to shopping is that the less time I spend in a store, the happier I am which means that I tend to go to stores that group clothes by size or genre in a small area; with that said, I have minimal patience with department stores where I have to go rack to rack for an outfit. In recent years, most of my clothes have come from Walmart and Burlington Coat Factory because I can hit a few racks, find some clothes that I like in my size, try them on, pay for them and get out of dodge.

I am looking to lose a considerable amount of weight and recognize that I will need to buy a few "transition" wardrobes along to way. Doesn't change the fact that I hate to shop. I'm also not crazy about the fact that I need to buy clothes that I know I won't be able to wear for more than a few months. Whatever. Fortunately, I work from home (or wherever I happen to be at a given moment) so I don't have to keep an extensive "work" wardrobe so I can get by on shorts. I basically buy dress clothes on as as-needed basis since I gave away a lot of clothes because they are too big.

Tonight, I'm meeting up with a group of folks I haven't seen since last summer. A number of them keep in touch with me through Facebook but we don't see each other in person. I wanted to buy shorts that fit so I can show off my weight loss (they've heard about it on Facebook & Twitter) so I went to Old Navy last night. I was annoyed by the slim pickings of larger clothes (must be the given location or all the bigger folks shopped there before me) and since I'm in between sizes, I usually try an item in two sizes & pick from there. I couldn't find anything in a size 18 so I grabbed a size 16 and hoped for the best. I was thrilled to see that the shorts I tried on fit and what I mean by "fit" is that I was able to zip them up & have room in them. What an awesome feeling!

The Color Mob 5K NYC. Fun but a mess.

On Saturday, I participated in my fifth 5K. The Color Mob is a relatively informal event that doesn't issue D-Tags or have a timing system in place to measure one's progress so I used MapMyRun to get my results. I'm thrilled to say that my pace is faster than previous races so I'm pretty psyched about that.

I had somebody take my picture after I finished, posted it to Instagram and linked the photo to Facebook & Twitter. The responses to my picture have been positive.

Next Sunday, I tackle my first 10K.

New numbers 3-1/2 months later

I'm supposed to take my measurements on a monthly basis but that hasn't happened. I took some measurements yesterday & noticed the following changes:
Hips - 48 (down 1.5 inches since March)
Bust - 43.5 (down 3.5 inches since March)
Waist - 39.5 (down 3 inches since March)
Right thigh - 25.5 (down 2.5 inches since March)

50 down, 50 to go (give or take)

This post is a tad overdue but I was thrilled when I weighed in at Weight Watchers to see that I am down 50 pounds from my highest weight. As I mentioned in my blog description that losing 100 pounds isn't the end all & be all goal but I was striving to a better level of fitness and health.

I like the flexibility of Weight Watchers. I knew that I couldn't deal with the "restrictiveness" of other programs for an extensive period of time. Ideally, I would & should pre-plan my meals but life has a tendency to get in the way and that doesn't happen. Yes, I have gone to McDonald's, Burger King, Dunkin' Donuts, etc. and as long as I log in the point value of what I ate, it's all good.

Physically, I'm making strides. I'm doing a 5K tomorrow and a week from Sunday, I will be doing my first 10K. I am also starting half-marathon training and hope to be able to do the Philadelphia Half Marathon in November. There are a number of other races that I will be doing this year.

It's great to have experienced this weight loss but I hate shopping and it's come to the point that I need clothes. The problem with women's clothing is that you can be one size under one label but a different size under another label; in the words of Sweet Brown "ain't nobody got time for that." With that said, I consider shopping to be a chore but I'm beginning to feel ridiculous in loose-fitting clothes.