I'm Baaaaaaack!!!

I hadn’t run since last Saturday’s Chick-Fil-A Fall Stampede 5K because my running partner is sick and I’ve had scheduling difficulties, plus I’ve been feeling under the weather – not quite sick but like my body is trying to get there. 

Until this morning!  I went out about 6:45, as soon as it was light, and made it my goal to run each mile in 12-1/2 minutes or less.  I’ve done that before but not in a long time and have been right at 13 minutes per mile for at least the last 6 weeks, as long as I’ve been keeping a log.  So, 1 mile at 12-1/2 minutes means I should be at the half-mile mark at 6:15.  I could tell I was starting out running faster than usual, and I got to the half-mile mark at 5:something.  Woo hoo!  At one mile I was at 11:52, more than 30 seconds ahead of pace!  Thank You, God! 

I should be at the 2-mile mark at 25:00.  I was there at 24:29.  Thank You again, God! 

I should be at the 3-mile mark at 37:30.  Actually, there isn’t a mark at 3 miles, just 3.1, and I was there at 39:15!  I haven’t been under 40 minutes in a month!  God, I don’t know how You made this getting-older, almost-sick body go faster, but You did!  Thank You! 

I did remember to move my arms forward because my running partner told me, “Where your arms go, your legs will follow.”  I was aware of someone else’s advice to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth instead of in and out through my mouth, but I just can’t do that yet.  I’ll practice it when I walk, but when I run, I need to get as much oxygen in as I can right now. 

I feel really good.  Yes, I am tired and I feel a little bit of soreness in my hip joints.  No, not soreness, just awareness that my hips connect my legs to my trunk.  But it’s a good tired and a good awareness!  Ahhhh!!!  I’m baaaaaaack!!!

My First Long Run (well, sort of)

I’ve been wanting to do a long run for a few weeks.  I always run 3.1 miles and have started going a little bit farther most times, but probably haven’t gotten farther than 1/10 of a mile beyond 3.1.  Nothing wrong with that.  It’s how I got to 3.1 miles.  I just felt the need to see how far I could go if I didn’t set limits.  My plan was to run as far as I could but remember that I had to go all the way back. 

This morning I drove to the closest spot to my house where I could get on the Pinellas Trail – Park Street and Bay Pines Blvd. 

 

I started by going up the stairs.  It’s hard to see them, but they’re under the third lit traffic light in this picture.  Nothing like a good flight of stairs to start your workout!  J  The trail then had to go down, of course, which was fun.  It continued across the water where I had a gentle breeze.  Ahhh!!!  So refreshing compared to running in what feels like 100% humidity for the last five months. 

I continued running and listening to music.  I seemed to be making slow progress because when I looked at my watch it said I had been running for about 12 minutes but I wasn’t to the song I usually hear at the 1-mile mark.  Uh oh.  Why was I running slower this morning?  Oh.  Maybe it was the Five Guys burger I had last night.  Ugh.  L  I won’t be doing that again for a long time, if ever.  And if I do, I’ll try to remember to order a little burger, which has only one patty. 

Anyway, I kept plugging along.  I had no way of really measuring distance on the trail.  They should put mile markers on the trail.  They could start at the north end and put markers every mile and start at the south end and put markers every mile in the other direction.  I should suggest that to the county. 

After a while I came to the overpass/hill at Seminole Blvd.

 

Whee!  Downhill is fun! 

Chugging along, enjoying my music, remembering to pick my feet up.  Almost done!  I could see another overpass/hill coming up, but 40 minutes was also coming up, which is how long it takes me to run 3.1 miles.  I couldn’t quit at the bottom of the hill, so when I hit 40 minutes I continued running.  I got to the bottom of the hill at 41:20 and then walked up it.  This was the one at 113^th Street.  I walked across then down the other side, turned around, and did it again.  HA!  I WILL conquer hills even if I have start out by walking them! 

I walked back to the car, 3.1 miles away.  I ended up going 6.2 miles plus two and a half overpasses/hills in 1 hour and 47 minutes.  That’s twice as far as I’ve ever gone and I ran half the way. 

It didn’t turn out exactly like I’d envisioned with me pushing myself to run, but I just couldn’t see running up another overpass/hill at the end of my usual run.  Maybe next time. 

I definitely put $2 in my workout jar today instead of just $1.  J 

 

That piggy’s getting fat!  And I’m not! 

In related news, I was hungry for lunch today but everything I thought of to make sounded blah.  I know!  Little bits of ice cream on Teddy Grahams!  Um…are you kidding, Michele!  That’s ridiculous!  Then the words of a Hawk Nelson song popped into my head, “They look at us like we’re ridiculous.  Maybe it’s all because of crazy love.”  Oh, yeah.  Jesus loves me with crazy love.  And I’m about to show how much I love Him by putting ice cream on Teddy Grahams for lunch.  I rinsed the ice cream down the drain.  Ups and downs but always moving forward. 

Throwing Food Away

Sometimes after we leave the beach my daughter and I go to Candy Kitchen on Madeira Beach.  They have the best birthday cake ice cream!  They make their own ice cream and for this one they make the cake, frost it, and decorate it, then mix it into the ice cream.  Oh yeah! 

I got some last night, but only one scoop.  I was enjoying the ice cream without one bit of guilt on my way home and had one bite left in the cup and one on the spoon when I passed this sign:

 

I thought, “You do satisfy, Jesus.  And so does this ice cream.  Of course, You satisfy me more.”  He said, “Do I satisfy you enough for you to give up the last bite of it?”  Of course He does!  So I did, and I did it gladly!

For lunch yesterday we went to Cracker Barrel and I got brown rice with mushrooms as one of my sides.  I brought it and some of my other food home and was eating it for a late supper last night.  Something happened as it sat in the fridge because it was very salty - too salty for me to eat.  In fact, that was my thought as I took a couple bites.  God said, "So why are you still eating it?"  I immediately got up and threw it away. 

There's freedom in being able to throw away food that doesn't benefit me.  Of course I'm not wasteful, but it's okay to occasionally throw something away, especially if God prompts me too!

Come Run With Me!

I ran at Philippe Park this morning. 

It’s a very popular park with runners and walkers, I found out.  I had no way to measure distance, so I just ran for 40 minutes, which is about how long it takes me to do 3.1 miles.  I warmed up for a short time and then decided to tackle the hill first so I would be fresh when I did it. 

Once I got to the top of the hill and did a little victory dance (not really), I ran down the stone steps. 

Then along the seawall (baywall?)

for quite a distance.  When I got to the end I doubled back and ran uphill (a different one and not as steep) again.  I then headed down a road that ends in a loop but turned around before I got all the way because it was boring.  Who needs flat same old-same old when there are hills to run?!  I’m not sure of my route after that.  I just knew I needed to keep running for 40 minutes.  I think I did the hill again then down the steps again, then something else, then up the steps

Then down the hill. 

After 40 minutes I felt better than I usually do after a run because I did something different this time.  I don’t need change all the time (in fact, I fight change that's just for the sake of change), but I do like it occasionally if it’s for a good reason.  It’s about a 15-mile drive from my house to this park so I won’t be doing this very often, but it’s nice to know there’s a pretty place to get some hills into my workout.  And this park has so many draws – woods, water, hills, flat areas.  Love it!   

I took some videos of going up the hill and up and down the steps, but they were taking a very long time to upload so I decided to leave them out.  Here are some other pictures of the park: 

Looking downhill with people for perspective.

Distant view of beautiful tree

Left side of same tree

Right side of same tree

Thank You, God, for the beauty of Your creation and how You meet our wants as well as our needs.  

I Keep Learning

I thought I was hungry, so I took a bowl of beans and rice out of the fridge to heat up.  As I walked to the microwave I took a bite of ham that was sitting on top of the rice.  I immediately knew that what I was feeling was not physical hunger so I put the bowl back in the fridge and am eating nothing. 

I don’t need it.  I thought I did in order to keep working this evening and to fuel my run in the morning, but I guess I don’t.  God is still teaching me how to deny myself. 

I think my lack of progress in increasing my running time is directly related to my weight loss being at a standstill.  If I could lose another good amount of weight, I might get faster.  Over the last couple weeks I noticed that the Olympic runners were almost all super thin.  Don’t get the wrong idea!  I’m not going to starve myself or take any supplements nor am I saying anyone should do that to get a certain look.  It’s just an observation I had.  I hope their leanness is a result of good nutrition and training.  I’m not training for the Olympics.  Maybe realizing that bite of ham was not what I needed is God telling me to trust Him with fueling my body.  Maybe I don’t need to eat as much as I think I do.  Maybe I’ll eat a little bit after I wake up and before I run in the morning.  Maybe not.  We’ll see.  I just know I don’t need anything tonight, and I realized it before I ate the entire bowl of beans and rice. 

I am a runner. I am a distance runner. I endure.

I watched the Olympic men's marathon Sunday morning. Even though they were running about the same pace as the sprinters, they kept it up for more than two hours, not just for a few seconds or a few minutes. And their feet definitely didn't seem to move as fast or as high as the sprinters. I can't figure that out.

Anyway, even though I liked watching the shorter races, I absolutely identified with the marathoners this morning. I don't know if I'll ever run one myself, but it's certainly a possibility. I'll be 43 next month and I'm obese, but I'm running and I enjoy it. That's the important thing. I'm slowly increasing the distance I run and improving my pace at the same time I increase the distance. I am a runner. I am a distance runner. I endure.

Three Years and Counting

Today is three years since I started The Lord’s Table, the online Bible study that has helped me lose 81 pounds and was the biggest catalyst in changing the way I think about food. 

I had already started losing weight without realizing it.  One day I just became aware of the fact that for a couple months I hadn’t been eating as much food and had lost some weight.  I was clueless as to why I wasn’t eating as much but happy to have the loss, of course!  Later that year, I was boasting to a friend about my self-control in having McDonald’s for breakfast only 2 days out of 3. 

He told me about The Lord’s Table at www.SettingCaptivesFree.com.  I looked at it for a few days, decided to sign up, and the rest is history!  Except that it’s not only history; it was just the beginning and even three years later it’s the present.  I’m not doing that specific study any longer, but the truths about God I learned in that course still figure prominently in my decisions today and will for the rest of my life. 

In a nutshell, I was fat and didn’t want to be but thought it was inevitable and linked to genetics.  Surely the effort I was making should count for something.  Not eating the last bite of a sandwich…once…a month…should result in weight loss.  I’M TRYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNGGGG!!!!!!

Ahem.  I think that red backpack was full of snacks and drinks in case we got lost in the corn maze. 

No, I wasn’t really trying, I discovered.  Through The Lord’s Table I learned that overeating is sin (which I repented of) and that I hadn’t been trusting God to give me what I need when I need it.  I had been getting it for myself.  Way too much of it (which I also repented of).   I’m typing this blog and eating lunch at the same time.  An hour and 15 minutes ago I had some leftover Smoked Mozzarella Chicken from Olive Garden, but I'm feeling hungry again.  I went to the fridge and got the leftover salad from Olive Garden.  I started to walk back into my office and heard God say, “You don’t need all of that.”  I went back into the kitchen, got a small bowl, and put about a third of the salad into it.  That’s what I’m eating now.  I call this feeling like Gideon.  In Judges 7, Gideon starts out with 32,000 warriors under his command, but God starts whittling his army down until he gets to 300 and then God says He will give Gideon victory over his enemies with just the 300 soldiers. 

Ummm…God?  I had 32,000 calories at my disposal.  [Figuratively, of course.  Stay with me; it’ll make sense in a minute.]  You’re telling me to eat just 300?  How can I possibly sustain myself on just 300 calories???  God answers, “You won’t.  I’ll sustain you.  I’ll cause your enemies to fight among themselves and I’ll give you the victory.”  My enemies, the world’s wisdom when it comes to weight loss, often contradict themselves.  A study comes out claiming that this food is the key to permanent weight loss.  Soon another study comes out debunking the previous one and claiming that this rare supplement found only in a 1-square mile area of the Andes Mountains is the key to permanent weight loss.  You know how it goes.  Situps are the key to a flat tummy!  No, planks are the key to a flat tummy!  No, lift weights so that you build muscle and burn fat even when you’re resting!  Sure, there’s a little bit of truth in all those claims, but do you see how they’re fighting against each other?  Some foods are good for weight loss when they’re substituted in place of another food, planks are fine (I do them regularly), and strength training does build muscle so that I burn fat even when resting.  That’s why men generally lose weight faster than women; they have more muscle that’s constantly burning fat.  Sometimes I start thinking that a new revelation (or an old one packaged in a new way) will be my key, so I start researching it, but then I find contradictory information.  I start researching that and find something that contradicts them both.  It’s ridiculous! 

So how do I make sense of it all?  This past Sunday I re-read one of my favorite weight loss Scriptures, Colossians 2:20-23.  “You have died with Christ and He has set you free from…this world.  So why do you keep on following rules of the world such as, ‘Don’t handle, don’t eat, don’t touch!’  Such rules are mere human teaching…These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, humility, and severe bodily discipline, but they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person’s evil thoughts and desires.”  The world's methods work only on the outside, or rather, only on the body.  God's method gets to the heart of the matter.  "Are you going to trust Me, the One who made you, about what's best for you?  Are you going to obey Me when I tell you to do something?"

So the end of chapter 2 tells us what NOT to do, but are we TO do?  Keep reading in chapter 3.  “…set your sights on the realities of Heaven…let Heaven fill your thoughts.  Don’t think only about things here on Earth.” 

That’s what I did 35 minutes ago when I heard God tell me to eat only part of the salad and I obeyed. 

In the three years since starting The Lord’s Table, I’ve lost 81 pounds. 

I had lost 90 by this past January, but I’ve gained back 9.  I’d like to skip that part and just let you think it’s been all loss with no gains or plateaus but that would be deceiving you.  There have been a couple gains, this 9 pounds being the biggest one, and plenty of plateaus.  It’s been slow going, but that’s okay.  I recently realized why the weight loss has slowed.  For the past 1-1/2 years I’ve been concentrating on fitness, not just weight loss.  I started running (yes, running!) and love it!  You’d think that would help me lose more weight, but actually the days I run I’m VERY hungry.  I don’t overeat or gorge myself, but I do eat more on those days than on nonrunning days.  I’m trying to curb that.  (See Colossians 3:1-3 above.)  I think that if I stopped running I could consistently eat less and possibly lose weight faster, but I don’t want to stop running.  I enjoy it too much to stop!  I enjoy the increased fitness and challenging my body and my mind.  I’m constantly learning new things and tweaking what I do, though, so we’ll see.  I am conscious of the tendency to eat more on running days and am reining it in. 

So, to summarize, three years ago GOD, the past 1095 days GOD, today GOD, and tomorrow GOD. 

Simple as that.