Faster 5K

After some slow going weight loss-wise, I have broken through and reached that 120 lbs gone that I've been chasing (since last October when I hit 115). I credit the breakthrough to switching to a higher carbohydrate diet (although whole grains as much as possible). Although this sounds weird, I think it worked because I am training a lot in preparation for 2 big races in April and May. Typical weeks have been 17-20 miles, some of it hard and some of it in long chunks (10+ miles). My body is burning a fuel burning machine! Below are some more of my wife's scrapbook pages. You'll see she scrapbooks a lot, and is quite good at it. One is of me in the local St. Patrick's Day 5K. I set a PR of 31:00. This was my first race at a sub-10:00/mile pace (09:59 ;-) and shattered my previous 5K PR of 35:45. We also took a family vacation to Arkansas to see my wife's family this month. I had to include the scrapbook page from the zoo because I can't believe that I look almost skinny in that picture! In addition to getting to show off the new me to Shawn's family, I have had a nice victory recently. Several people at work have commented to me recently that "you look really good" or "you're still losing weight aren't you". Even though the weight hasn't been flying off, I do look and feel a lot better. But it's really cool when others notice!

Bring on L

I hit 2 milestones in November. First, I have kept up my running. I am running 3-4 days a week, 12-15 miles total and ran my first 10K (6.2 mile) race this month. Below is one of my wife's scrapbook pages of me running. The second milestone was even more unthinkable. I went out to get a new dress shirt to wear when I took my wife out for her birthday (and to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of maintaining her 70 lb weight loss - she still looks great, and still is supportive and inspiring). I tried a few shirts on and they were all too big on me. So I went back to the rack and pulled off a size L. It fit! I'm sure I wore some size L shirts while in college, but I really didn't remember the last time I had bought one. I have gone from size XXXL to size L shirts. Size 48 to size 34 pants. I'm flirting with 120 lbs gone too. Wow! I have far exceeded any expectations I had when I joined Weight Watchers. We didn't cut our own tree this year so my "annual tree cutting picture" isn't to be. I have included a picture of me and Sandis near Christmas though. I'm sure I'm wondering what size L clothing I'll be getting from Santa.

I can run?

This picture is not well focused, I apologize for that. It is the first picture I have of myself running though, so I had to include it. Farther down the page I comment how I did not see myself ever running much. I re-affirmed that in July while coming down off Mt. Sherman while talking with one of my climbing buddies. But here is proof that I was wrong! This picture is of me with my daughter Sandis running in the 1 mile fun run before the 5K Colorado Run. The Colorado Run was my first 5K (3.1 Miles) ever. I finished in a fairly slow 38:00, but most importantly I finished. And I was soon after addicted to the road. I am at 115 lbs lost now, the weight is still coming off slowly but again I feel better, look better, and my clothes continue to fit better.

14'ers

The first picture is me with my daughters Sandis and Stella (up top) after a family camping trip. The second picture is me on top of Mount Sherman at 14,036 ft. This is the first 14,000 foot mountain (14'er) I have ever summitted. 1.5 years prior this feat was unfathomable (and unreachable) to me. My weight loss has slowed, I'm at 110 lbs lost at the beginning of August after having hit 100 lbs in April. But I continue to feel better, am much more active outdoors, and my clothes continue to fit better. I have so much energy I can hardly find enough stuff to do to use it up. Some weight loss plateaus are simply our bodies "reconfiguring" themselves, I think.

100 Down

This was taken at the CSU spring football scrimmage, right after I hit 100 lbs lost. My Weight Watchers leader informed me I was the first of her meeting attendees to ever make it to 100 lbs lost. I believe she was as proud as I was! My forays into jogging last fall haven't been kept up through the winter, but I have picked up my walking, both in pace and distance. I'm walking up to 15 miles a week now and am working on doing it at a quick pace. I have plans to walk in the Bolder Boulder 10K run/walk on Memorial Day with a group of people from work.