Erik and I discovered from our first ultrasound that we were actually about a week pregnant when we completed our first Halfathon!! Now that we are at 18 weeks and almost half way through the pregnancy it seems like we just completed the race 3 weeks ago.
Our hope is to do another race after the baby is born… though we may sneak a very short one in on Thanksgiving Day (2 weeks before the baby is due) if the Dr. will allow… don’t worry mom it is just 1 or 3 miles- Nothing I don’t do every day walking around Walmart grocery shopping.
Me stretching out before the race
Erik putting on his number
Was awesome on “Race Eve”. Thank you all for your encouraging words yesterday it means so much to us.
I’ll send pictures as soon as the sun comes out…
Among the many questions Erik and I are asking ourselves as we head down I-10 towards Tampa! It is a beautiful day for a drive & The weather is to be beautiful tomorrow too. I’ll keep everyone posted with pictures along the way, please pray for our health, safety, & that we would grow even closer together in the Lord as we embark upon this adventure!
I just checked out the information for the Halfathon in De Soto St. Park this weekend!
COURSE MAP
As I looked at this arial map I started to feel butterflies in my sotmache like I did as an athlete before a big game. My only consolation is that I have been training very hard with Erik and we can and WILL FINISH THIS RACE!
It has been a little less than a year since we decided to attempt this challenge. Now the weekend is upon us to apply all of our hard work! Please, Pray For US :)
This past week I have started using a new app on my iPhone that helps me keep track of my nutrition, calories, and progress! It is amazing how just being aware of what you are putting into your body can drastically change What you eat!
If you need help keeping track of what you are eating or the amount of calories you are consuming I highly recommend MyNetDiary on any of your mobile devices that have apps!
One of my goals for training for the Halfathon has been to make it easier on my joints by shedding some LBS. How many of us know that is not easy some times!? Over the last year God has been training in me a greater measure of the fruit of the spirit called Self-Control.
“The fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, and Self- Control against such things there is no law.”
-Galatians 5:22-23
The starting place for overcoming any obstacle in your life is always spiritual! The truth is that many years of a wrong understanding of who we are, or just plain laziness is the usual culprit for most of the bad habits we have and want to change about ourselves. Overcoming the spiritual issues at the root of our bad habits will give us the ability to change our lives for the long hall… if we neglect the root issue we will modify our behaviors usually only for a short time.
Prayer is invaluable! Stop right now and ask God to help you identify the root issues underneath the habits that produce bad results in your life. He knows everything about you (even what you don’t know) and he loves you anyway!
Grasping your need of God is the first key to get through the times in your life when you feel like you are doing all you know to do and nothing is changing. I liken this to an experience I had over the last two weeks trying to shed my lbs for the Halfathon.
The first 5 lbs came off in a week, then for the last three weeks of portion control, consistent exercise, and maintaining a good attitude there were NO results! NONE! Being a former collage athlete I understand that there is a weight plateau. You tend to see drastic results in the beginning, then those fast changing results taper off and “plateau” for an extended period of time.
If you are like me at all this is the time where you just want to quit because you do not see any reward for you hard work and self-control! I am happy to say that through prayer and the encouragement of my Godly friends I have shed another 5 lbs!
My encouragement to you this morning is to STICK WITH IT! Persevere through the difficult times, and Pray over your mind and heart. Discouragement is a SPIRITUAL attack that can be overcome by praying to Jesus and listening for his kind words of love and approval over your heart.
May Love of Christ Jesus uplift your spirit today that you will walk in the Fruit of a Righteous life :)
For some reason I felt way better after the 10 mile walk this weekend than the 9 mile walk last. I was surprised because it was only one more mile than last weekend but I was not as tight, my feet didn’t hurt as bad, and I actually had energy for the rest of the day! We are 5 Sundays away from the race and 3.1 miles away from reaching the distance of the Halfathon during our training.
We just finished our 5 miles in 1.15! That is about a 15 min. pace
The Band-Aids and petroleum jelly worked awesome! So far we are on track for a great race :)
