Monday Motivation - Kim

Morning peeps!  It's been a while since we have had a Monday Motivation Blogger.  We're switching things up today with a :sound the trumpets:  Bike Rider!  Woohoo!  We've had lots of runners-  but so far this is the first bike rider motivational story.  I met Kim two years ago.  She is friends with my friend Elizabeth (of the Shamrock Shuffle Motivation Monday- Elizabeth).  Since meeting her two years ago for Elizabeths first Shamrock Shuffle she has been a source of inspiration and motivation for me.  After meeting me briefly for all of two hours, she became a huge cheerleader of mine, training and then competing in my Triathlon and has been my go-go-go you can do it girl, ever since.  So, as soon as I heard she was doing the Tour de Cure, I knew it was my time to cheer for her! (well, in spirit anyway-  since she lives in New York and all)

Anyhow-  you don't need anymore of my wordiness gumming up her story- so without further ado, Kim!

Kim pictured on far right 

Up until two weekends ago, I had not been on a bike in about 14 years. So when a co-worker asked everyone in my office if they’d like to do a 30 mile bike race around Manhattan for the American Diabetes Association’s “Tour de Cure”, I had my reservations. Thankfully, the idea of cruising around the city on a nice summer day with friends and getting in a great workout, all the while raising money for a wonderful cause, trumped any hesitation I had in signing up. After all, riding a bike must be, well “just like riding a bike”. Right?

I’ll admit that I did not train as I probably should have for this event. I had every intention of renting a bike a weekend or two before the race, at the very least to just test my comfort level.  But, life got in the way and before I knew it, race day was here without once going for a test drive. Thankfully, I had been keeping up with other workouts in my day to day life that allowed me to survive race day.   

Roughly two and a half years ago, on my 30^th birthday, I made the decision that enough was enough. It was time to get in shape, lose weight, and starting living an active and healthier lifestyle. Despite some ups and downs and though not yet near my goal, I’ve stayed (for the most part) on track with my workouts and have made great strides in getting healthy. I run fairly often, have completed some road races (including a half marathon) and thanks to the help of an ex-Army Airborne Ranger who I’m lucky to call my trainer, I feel stronger and more fit than I have since high school.

Three years ago, I could never have kept up with my group on race day. Some of the people on my team had done these bikes races in the past. I mean, they even had the outfits and gear that just screamed “I’m a bike rider!”. The others who made up the group were almost ten years younger than me. But, turns out that did not matter. Ten miles into the race and halfway up a steep hill near the George Washington Bridge, my quads started to burn, I was gasping for air and sweat was pouring down my face. But then I thought to myself that these feelings – the pain, the desire to keep on pushing to just get this part over with - was the same feeling I’ve had a million times in the past two and a half years. It was the same feeling I have with my trainer when he makes me do what feels like a million squat jumps. It’s the same feeling I have when running, on my last mile and can see the finish line off in the distance. You have to just keep repeating “you’re almost there…!” and soon enough, I would be, the burn would go away, the hill turned to flat land and all I had to do was keep pedalling.

Race day turned out to be wonderful. We raised nearly $3800 as a group for a very important cause, had beautiful weather, and I saw parts of New York City that I otherwise never would have seen from that perspective. But most importantly, from a personal standpoint, we were able to cross the finish line as a team. I was right there with my group, no worse for wear than anyone else, as we cruised across the finish line and celebrated a job well done. 

Congrats to Kim and her whole Tour De Cure team!  Kim's fund raising website is still active.  If you would like to donate to her Tour DeCure fundraising site, raising funds for Diabetes, please click here  

Have you recently completed a race and would like to be a Monday Motivation featured writer?  Email me at millie at seemillietri.com and let me know!

Motivation Monday- Alex

Better late than never!  It is still *technically* Monday, even if it is Monday night!  But,  I am thrilled to be able to introduce you to our first ever MALE Guest Blogger.  Woohoo!  Alex is an almost-fifty (he said it, not me :)  )  year old from New Jersey who recently participated in Runapalooza, a relay Marathon on the Jersey Shore...So, lets all give a good fist pump (sorry- I couldn't resist)  for Alex's journey, in his own words.  


Technology be damned, I think that this is as good as its going to get today.  Sorry Alex-  I hope the spacing/formatting etc  doesn't show up all wonky when I post this!

Hi everyone, my name is Alex and I live in Wayne, N.J.  Millie is one of my good internet friends because of a forum we met on many (8 or 9?) years ago for reality TV.   I am quickly closing in on 50 years old (unbelievable) and have been mildly active throughout my life as I’ve always enjoyed bowling, golfing and skiing.   I started running about a year ago because I was getting married last June (to my beautiful wife Kim) so I wanted to look good for the big day.  Well, that and I wanted to golf better.  Golf is always an underlying motivator for me to do something if I think it will help me play better!  I was pushing my highest weight ever at that time – about 235-240.  Here is a picture of me from a bowling tournament I went to early last year (March, 2010).  I’m on the left.  Oh, and in case you were wondering – no, I was not hiding a bowling ball under my shirt!

I started slowly, doing about a mile a few times a week.  I figured it was better to run for 10-12 minutes than do nothing at all.  Because the runs were short, it wasn’t “too” painful and I didn’t quit, even though I really didn’t enjoy doing it.  After a couple months I increased to 1.8 miles and stayed at that distance for quite a long time.  It was during this time that I discovered Millie’s blog and I was blown away by her drive to participate in a triathlon.  I love that spirit.  I myself have never really wanted to run in a race or be in a triathlon.  Even though our goals differed, I mentioned to her often how motivated she made me feel through the compassion she expressed in her blog.  I felt her joy when she completed her triathlon last year - it was a fantastic moment for her!

By the way, I think I looked much better for the wedding.  I was down to about 220-225.  Here’s a picture of me and Kim the day we got married on the beach in the Dominican Republic – what a perfect day!  In addition, my golf handicap in 2010 went down to as low as 10.8, which is easily the best I ever have golfed in my life.  After we returned home from the wedding, Kim and I bought a real good used treadmill.  It turned out to be a great investment.  The winter in New Jersey was very bad with lots of snow so having this treadmill was instrumental in me continuing to run while the roads were ice and snow covered (for what seemed like forever!).

Last month (March, 2011) I got a call from my good friend John.  He and his wife Mary often run with the Jersey Shore Running Club – and they had an upcoming event that they have done for years where up to five people do a marathon relay called Runapalooza, each person running at least one leg and passing a baton.  Then there’s a huge party at the Asbury Park Convention Hall afterward with beer.  John wanted to know if I be interested.  I asked him when it was and how far I had to run.  He said it was on April 16^th and probably 3 or 4 miles.  I was regularly running my 2 miles on the treadmill and they had beer after, so I said sure, I could do it.  I like beer!  Then there were some email exchanges about if we had enough people to do the longer legs and it became uncertain if we could do it, so I offered to run one of the longer legs if I needed.  So on April 7^th (9 days before the event) we got confirmation that we were definitely doing the race, but John still didn’t know how long my leg would be.

Without knowing that and the event only 9 days away, I started running some longer runs just in case.  I did three miles on Friday, 4/8 and four miles on Monday, 4/11.   Then on the Tuesday before the event, I found out that he needed me to do the 4^th leg - which was 6.0 miles!  Good thing I had been training (barely) to go a little longer because I had never run anything over 4 miles in my life!   So the next morning I got up real early in the dark, drizzle and wind and ran 5 miles – and it wasn’t too bad!   Honestly, I couldn’t believe I was running such long distances (for me).  Not to mention I was down to about 215 pounds.  I was pretty certain I was ready for race day!

RACE DAY:  I was a little nervous about the whole thing that morning.  I just didn’t know what to expect.  Lots of people were running this event (there were over 400 teams) and I was used to running alone.  The slowest teams started at 8:00 am and the fastest as late as 10:00 am.  They do this so most of the teams finish around the same time.  Our team was a slower team (estimated 10 min. miles) so we started at 8:40 am.  We figured my leg would start around 11:30 am at transition point #3 in Manasquan.  Kim and I arrived down in the area of the race around 10 am so we were able to go to the transition point #2 (in Point Pleasant Beach) and see our team do a hand off there.  There were cars everywhere as teams rolled in with SUVs full of runners.   It was a cold and windy day, about 42 degrees and the wind was blowing at about 20-25 mph out of the northeast.  We walked up to the boardwalk and there were hundreds of people waiting for the runners and cheering them on.  We found my teammates and waited for Mary to finish the 2^nd leg – and pass the baton to another teammate (a different John).  Once the hand off was made, I knew it was about 45 minutes until my leg.   So we got back in the car and drove to Manasquan, which is about a 10-15 minute drive.  We passed John on the road on the way and beeped our horn at him, yelling encouragement!   

Once in Manasquan I got myself ready.  I stretched, ate a banana, drank some water and waited with the gang of people on the boardwalk.  I could feel my nerves jangling a little bit. I was thinking to myself “Can I really run six miles –am I physically ready – am I out of my mind”?  All those things that probably run through people’s heads their first time.  And then suddenly we could see John’s red jacket coming up the boardwalk!  It was time!  He came, passed me the baton – and I was off!  The running went fairly well overall.  I tried to settle into my pace but think I was running a little quicker than normal.  It was hard to stay calm with so many runners passing me by.  I was definitely one of the slower runners, although I did pass a few along the way so I wasn’t the slowest turtle on the course.  On my leg there were four stretches of boardwalk with some intermixed road running between them.  The toughest part of the whole run was the long stretch of boardwalk in Spring Lake.  It was towards the end of the run and probably about 2 miles long.  I thought I’d never make it to the end of that thing!  Along the way there would be small groups of people cheering the runners on.  The ocean was furiously pounding waves about 100 yards to my right.  When the running got tough I just looked out at the ocean and thought of how amazing this whole thing was and that I was really doing it!!  And I swear that during this part of the run I also thought of this blog, of Millie and her triathlon and all other people that have done something like this for the first time recently.  I also thought of my nephew Chris who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq in 2004, giving me the freedom to live in the beautiful country and do these great things.  So I just kept on running.   And before I knew it I was off of the Spring Lake boardwalk and only about ½ mile away from the transition, so my pace picked up a little knowing I was so close!!  I jumped up on the boardwalk in Belmar and could see the crowd.  I ran into the tunnel of people and there was my teammate Javier waiting for the handoff!  I did it – I ran the six miles non-stop in a race!  

Afterwards we headed up to Asbury Park and met up with our team at Convention Hall.   We finished in 4:19, which is just under ten minute miles, right on our estimated time.  We came in 351^st place out of 413 teams (you can see the results here – we were the Beach Bums).  By the way, check out that winning team – 2:13 – that team was made up of only TWO runners!!  Wow – I know I’ll never be that fast!  They weren’t gazelles as Millie calls them, they were cheetahs!  

Here’s a picture inside Convention Hall of me with teammates John and Mary.  The other John and Javier had already left before I realized we didn’t get a team picture.  Actually I will admit I did enjoy the entire experience much more than I thought I would.  Oh and yes, I had plenty of beer at the after party in Convention Hall.  I mean, that’s why I went, right?   I still don’t consider myself a runner and probably never will.  However I have decided I will never stop running so long as my legs will let me, so next year I’ll be in the Jersey Shore Marathon relay again.  I feel great and this experience has taught me that it’s never too late to start.  If anyone that reads this blog isn’t sure how they can possibly do it, I’ll tell you to just do a little bit and don’t stop.  It is much better to do something than nothing at all like I did for too many years!  It wasn’t too late for me and it isn’t for you either!  

Are you training for a race or did you recently complete one?  I'd love to have you share your inspiring story as a guest blogger on See Millie Tri.  Email me at Millie [at] See Millie Tri [dot] com and let me know when your race is.  I would love to share your success with everyone else!   

Motivation Monday- Tuesday Edition! - Elizabeth

Better late than never!  So, we’ll call this “Motivation Monday- Tuesday edition” Today's guest blogger is my friend Elizabeth.  She is a thirty-something Manager and Interior Designer who recently completed Chicago’s Shamrock Shuffle.   In her own words,  here is her inspiring story:

Thanks Millie for asking me to be your guest blogger!!

Yesterday, I participated in the Shamrock Shuffle for the second time. It is an 8K run that starts off the Chicago running season. There were about 34,000 people running in it. I started actively running about a year and a half ago. It was something I was never good at and wanted to overcome. So, I started off slow and had a goal. My goal was the Shamrock shuffle of 2010. I had a great support group the day of the race. I trained for it and was super nervous but I did well and finished. The shuffle of 2010 was SOOOO cold but this year’s shuffle was a couple weeks later in the year and the temperature were averaged in the 80’s. It was a beautiful day for a run! This year was a bit of a challenge for me because last year after the shuffle I began training for the Soldier Field 10 Mile race.  I was doing great with my training and was super excited and totally ready for the next challenge.  Then the worst thing could have happened… I discovered I fractured my right foot and was put in a boot for just about 6 months the week before the race. Talk about a total set back and disappointment.

So, my great achievement in running came to a fast stop. I continued to have a lot of trouble with the foot for several months after the boot came off. I started back running again in the end of January, slowly and not over doing it. I still do not have all my speed back that I had last year but week by week I am increasing my pace. I was not sure if I would be able to do the shuffle this year but I was very happy that I successfully completed the finish line. My foot did begin to hurt during the run. I am attributing it more to the adjustment of running outside and the really hot temperature.  I listened to my body and slowed down when I needed to.

It is such a great feeling to know that I have successfully completed 2 Shamrock shuffles. I hope to run it yearly and am going to add other runs to my summer agenda. My next goal will be to run the Newport, RI Half in October with some of my college friends. From this experience I have learned that you can achieve things in life even of you think you can’t. You have to be in the right state of mind and listen to your body.  It was great to be back outside running yesterday and the adrenalin and the excitement of the people and the crowd cheering all the runners on. Even after a big setback I am back in the game and ready for the 2011 running season!!

Are you training for a race or did you recently complete one?  I'd love to have you share your inspiring story as a guest blogger on See Millie Tri.  Email me at Millie [at] See Millie Tri [dot] com and let me know when your race is.  I would love to share your success with everyone else!  

Motivation Monday! - Lindsay

Morning all!  We made it to Monday already? So quickly-  blah.  Well at least a spot of sunshine in our Monday morning....   another installment of Motivation Monday!  Today's guest blogger is my friend Lindsay.  She is a thirty-something mother of three  who recently completed the Dallas Rock and Roll Half Marathon.   In her own words,  here is her inspiring story: I just wanted to start off this blog post by thanking Millie for this opportunity to write about this really amazing experience in my life. My name is Lindsay and I live in Texas with my husband James, and I am a stay at home mom to three children. Jared is my oldest, he is almost 9 years old. He was diagnosed with Autism when he was three. Lauren is 6 years old and practically a mini version of me with blond hair and blue eyes. Our third child is Brandon and he is just the sweetest, most laidback little guy. Long before starting my family, I struggled with my weight. One of my brother's favorite nicknames for me was Big Butt Jabba the Hut. It was horrifying when our entire high school caught on. It has been almost 15 years since I graduated high school, and to this day I feel the agony I felt in the hallway when I heard someone say it. During my junior year of high school, I started to cut back on what I was eating and as a joke, I tried out for my high school cheerleading squad. As my luck would have it, they picked me to be on the team. Due to all the practices, I got down to my lowest weight ever and my self esteem skyrocketed. Then I went to college, and didn't just gain the Freshman 15. I was so embarrassed and disgusted about the way I looked, that I actually covered all my mirrors in my dorm room with newspaper. And when that didn't help (along with some family issues), I transferred colleges. I arrived at Texas A&M University my Junior year. On the plane ride down, I decided that I was going to create a new life for myself. And I did. By the time I graduated, I was in better shape than I was in high school. I was lean and strong and was proud to be myself. Pretty soon after college, James and I started our family. I didn't really struggle much with the pregnancy weight loss with the first two, but after Brandon was a nightmare. I was eating the same foods and working out like I always had been, but nothing really was changing. (Okay, maybe I ate a few more Hershey Kisses or pints of ice cream than before!) So I joined Weight Watchers and hired a personal trainer. When I thought that the starvation from Weight Watchers was going to do me in, Sheila would wear me down in the gym. But it paid off, and I have been holding pretty steady at my goal weight since then. People will tell me, "Wow! You look so great after having three kids!" and let me tell you, that makes me feel good! Especially if it's from someone that knew me when I was Big Butt Jabba the Hut!!! So I'm pretty sure you were wondering why I mentioned Jared having Autism earlier. Life with a husband and three kids is really hectic. Add Autism in the mix and some days I find myself counting down the hours until bedtime. As blessed as I am to be able to stay at home with our three kids, sometimes I feel like I just don't have anything to offer this world. No goals, no promotions...just potty training, refereeing, cleaning scraped knees, and repeating the same requests over and over! At the end of January, my brother-in-law's partner flew to Houston to do the Houston Marathon. I had told Norm that I had thought about running the Houston Half, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to finish. He said I was already halfway there in training since I normally run 6 miles a day, at least 4, but usually 5 days a week. I looked up some training schedules and half marathons in the state. I found out that the Dallas Rock N Roll Marathon was two months out and I knew I'd have plenty of time to train. I was even more excited when I found out that it benefitted the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation. My grandmother, mother-in-law, and two good friends are breast cancer survivors, and I knew that if they could fight that battle, I could surely do this! And selfishly, I knew that I was going to have time outside of the house (especially on long run days) and away from the kids. Time that I didn't have to think about Jared's disability or doing mundane chores. I followed Hal Higdon's (free) half marathon training schedule and every week I posted on Facebook how my long runs went. I felt some sort of accountability posting, and I knew that people would rally behind me on them. I really didn't struggle until the 11 and 12 mile runs, but I just kept remembering why I was doing this in the first place and then all the doubt and pain would go away. I tell people that I became spiritually stronger during these long runs because I would literally pray out for strength when I'd run. I'd work out whatever issues I was struggling with and you would think that I would be exhausted after these runs, but I wasn't. Well, my legs were, but my heart and mind felt strong and I was a much better mom and wife. It also didn't hurt that I had Eminem, Rihanna, Beyonce, Ke$ha and a few other artists to jam to! Bright and early on March 27, my husband, the kids, and my in-laws went with me to Dallas to watch me run my first half marathon. Gotta love my mother-in-law for making signs for me with the kids! It was the most surreal experience. As far as you could see there were runners. As I'm standing there these other runners, I started to panic. OMG. We are about to run 13.1 miles. I have never run 13.1 miles before. What was I thinking signing up for this? Is it too late to get out of this corral? Why can't I just be happy that I'm a stay at home mom of three kids? Why do I have to be more than that? What on Earth am I trying to prove??? And then before I know it, I'm at the start line. The Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders are to my left. I can see my family up ahead waiting for me to cross the start line. And we're off! I passed my family and blew kisses, and then I got focused on what I had done during my training. I quickly found my pace and settled into it. The citizens of Dallas lined the ENTIRE course with hysterical signs, and they had bands and water stations strategically placed the entire course. This is me at mile 3 or 4. I probably could be running faster since I'm goofing off! I remembered what Millie's dad told me before the race...to run my OWN race. And I did. Just like in training, I got to Mile 11 and 12 and while my lungs felt fine, my legs began to burn. I noticed that I was falling behind on my pace and just at the right time I was passed by a woman with a shirt honoring someone that she had lost to breast cancer. And underneath it said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I dug my heels into the pavement and before I knew it, I was rounding the corner of the Cotton Bowl Stadium. I knew I was close when I heard the University of Texas Longhorn Band. I don't even have words to describe the feelings rushing through my body when I saw the finish line. I was super excited that one of the event photographers captured this picture of me trying to capture a picture of one of the most proud moments of my life (besides getting married and giving birth)! Crossing the finish line was one of the most amazing, overwhelming, and exciting feelings I've ever had. Even typing this a week later brings tears to my eyes. I am so incredibly proud of myself and the 14,000 other runners who faced their fears and finished the race too! During my training I paced at 10 minute miles. My ultimate goal was to finish, but I had hoped that I would finish with a 2:10 time. Out of those 14,000 runners, I finished in 4,013 place with a time of 2:06:42!  Not only did I meet both my goals, I finished faster than I thought I would! AND I beat Miss Texas 2011 by four minutes! I am so glad that I didn't give up on myself throughout my training. That on the days when I wanted to quit or had major negative self talk, I used it to empower me. How I fought for myself on those really tough days proved to me that I am not just some lame stay at home mom. I am an amazing, strong, resilient woman who can conquer anything I put my head and heart into. One final thought...I had no idea of the impact this was making on my kids. I ran into the kid's Physical Education teacher at Target midweek. She congratulated me on my run. Jared and Lauren were so proud of me that they told her when they saw her on Monday. Totally melted my heart. Thanks again Millie for letting me be a part of your Motivation Monday. I hope that my story inspires someone to try something they've always wanted to do, but been hesitant to do until this point. And if anyone wants to join me in September, I'll be running the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in Philadelphia!!! Are you training for a race or did you recently complete one?  I'd love to have you share your inspiring story as a guest blogger on See Millie Tri.  Email me at Millie [at] See Millie Tri [dot] com and let me know when your race is.  I would love to share your success with everyone else!

Motivation Monday- Catherine

Morning all!  I am back from my vacation, and will post more about the past weeks goings-on later.  But, as promised, another installment of Motivation for you on this Monday Morning.  Today's guest blogger is my cousin Catherine.  She is a twenty-something student who recently completed the Race to the Top of the Rock for MS.  In her own words,  here is her inspiring story:

I participated in The Climb to the Top in NYC on February 27^th. When Millie asked me to do a write-up on my experience, I was totally for it. Actually, she helped motivate myself during my training, since this was my first race I have done like this, so I was more than happy to share my experience.

I heard about the event when I was dropping off my dry cleaning one day back in October. As I was putting down my clothes, I saw a bunch of pamphlets that said, Climb to the Top for MS (multiple sclerosis). I reached for the pamphlet right away and started to read. The event was a challenge to climb to the  Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Plaza.  The first thing that came to mind was “hey, 69 flights, I can do that – right?” Then I thought of my grandfather who had MS, and I was like “I’m going to do this for him.”

So, the next day I signed  at the gym. In the pamphlet it said that if someone was able to complete a 5k, that they could easily climb 69 flights.  Since I was new to the gym, I got a free evaluation from a trainer. Now, I am back in school and my schedule is crazy, and I will admit, I am pathetically out of shape AND I made that perfectly clear to the trainer when he was asking me all these questions. Now I would consider myself to be an athletic by nature type of girl. I played sports my whole life, but I will admit that I am in no way the shape I was like 15 years ago, when I was at my peak.

Back to the trainer,  I also told him about the event and how I would like to have him help me think of a regime I could do every day that would get me into shape for my climb. To make a longer story short, my hour long evaluation, was an evaluation from HELL. You would think that a typical eval. would have you on the treadmill, to see how well you can do at different speeds and inclines, as well as some flexibility and balance tests. NO, that is not what I got. I got all lunge, squats, jump up on the box thing, sit-ups, push-ups, ALL back to back to back, with no rest and no water breaks. Ummm, let’s just say I had to stop it at minute 45 because I felt dizzy, lightheaded, and nauseous. The trainer wanted me to continue, but I couldn’t. I was like, “I know my body, and I doesn’t feel right”. 

He brought me upstairs and was like, “I’m confused. We didn’t do anything intense, so there shouldn’t have been a reason for you to feel like that. At this rate, I don’t think you’ll be able to do the event and to be honest, I don’t train people that do half-a**.” Now, when he said that, I was still feeling the effects of what I had just done, so, I all I could muster up and say was, “yeah.” I left the session completely confused and was like, “crap, am I going to be able to do this?, maybe he was right.”

I told a few of my friends what the trainer had said and they were like, ummmm, hold up, no one tells you what you can or cannot do. He handled that completely wrong,  A) a trainer is suppose to motivate you, not put you down, B) he didn’t even have me do a warm-up routine and C) he didn’t have me stretch after I was done with my evaluation. Let’s just say I couldn’t move for  at least 5 days, that’s how sore I was AND it wasn’t even a good sore from a good workout. Thanks to my friends I  finally began feeling like myself again, I realized I can do this!

So, on November 1^st I started on a regular walking/running routine. I wanted to run for at least a month to build up my stamina before I started on any type of muscular endurance training. I started off by speed walking for one week every day for 45 minutes to an hour. For my 2^nd week, I added for every 5 minutes I walked, I would run 1 minute. The 3^rd week, I would increase the time I ran each day, by two minutes. So, by the time the end of week 4 came, I was running at least 20 minutes, if not more, a day. Which, I was pretty impressed with. I was starting to feel like I was on the right track and could move onto working on building up my leg muscles.

Well, hello stair climber. I have done the stair climber a few times before and it is one good workout. I was feeling pretty confident and decided to start out climbing for 5 minutes and a normal pace. At first, I was like, I could get the hang of this, but once minute 2:30 came along, that was a different story. It was slowly getting harder and harder. I was determined to go to 5 minutes and I did. Once the machine stopped and my feet were on the floor, they felt like jelly!!!  In those 5 minutes I accomplished 27 flights of stairs. Which to be honest, I don’t know how that was possible, but I’d take it.

I started to rotate from my climbing to every other day at this point, but, would continue to run every day.  Now, I didn’t think it would happen, but I got a killer sinus infection, that put me back the first two weeks or so in January, plus my student teaching started and by the time I got back from school, I’d be exhausted. Needless to say, my training was then only done on the weekends. The good thing was that I had a lot of stairs in the building I was teaching at, so each day, on any break I had, I would climb the stairs. I think I estimated a good 12 flights per day, give or take a few.

The week before the event, I was starting to get the jitters. I was so afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to physically do the event, and that since my training was lessened, that my outcome would be horrible. I realized that since this was my first big race, that to finish it would be such an accomplishment, and let me tell you, it was!

I got up at 6am on February 27^th and headed into the city to Rockefeller Plaza. When I got the main concourse for check in, I was overwhelmed. The amount of people there doing this race, was amazing. There was over 1,000 people partaking, and 25% had MS. My time was called at 8:30 and I lined up. While I was in line, I started to talk to a few people, one person’s father had MS, while another’s sister had MS. There were also people there who had MS and were climbing. That’s when it hit me and the adrenaline came on. 8:40 came and we were told to start heading to the stairwell. People were cheering, it was amazing. We got to the stairwell, each person was called a minute apart from each other, so the stairwell wouldn’t get jammed. At 8:45 my climb started.

The first few flights weren’t bad, but once flight 10 came, I was like “holy cow, this is going to be interesting.” The first rest stop wasn’t until the 27^th flight, so I had a while until I got there. All I kept thinking was, “one step at a time, one step at a time.” I just kept climbing and climbing. I got to the 27 floor in 10 minutes. Had some water, caught my breath and continued on my journey. There were 2 more rest stops along the way. I would take a break here and there on the stairwell to catch  my breath, but would continue on. I realized that by using the banister to help pull my body up, was a great trick.

The second rest stop was at flight 40. I made it there in like 8 minutes. I was told one last rest stop was going to be at flight 55. So, I continued on. One of the great things about this event is that they had volunteers at every flight cheering you on. When you checked in you could put on a bib that says who you are climbing for. I put Grandpa in big letters. As I was on flight 52, one of the volunteers yelled “that’s right, keep going for Grandpa.” That is exactly what I did. I got to flight 55, had some water, really caught my breath and went for the last leg, 14 flights to go!! I pushed and pushed. With 3 flights to go, I tried my best to really race to the top. I got to the top and got outside on the observation deck and my mom was waiting right at the finish line, cheering me on. The view was spectacular and really defined what you just did. I completed the race 26:25. I couldn’t believe it!!  I doubted myself so much at first, and to see that I could finish it, was amazing. They said the average time for people was 30 minutes, so to have finished below that was awesome.

This was definitely one of the greatest moments of my life. If I have one thing to share, it is never give up. Millie told me that the first time you do a race, it is all about finishing it the first time and proving to yourself that you can do it, regardless of the time!! I cannot wait to do the race again next year and I m looking forward to doing some 5k’s along the way. I can’t wait to share my experience a year from now, if Millie will let me.

Are you training for a race or did you recently complete one?  I'd love to have you share your inspiring story as a guest blogger on See Millie Tri.  Email me at Millie [at] See Millie Tri [dot] com and let me know when your race is.  I would love to share your success with everyone else!  

Motivation Monday!

Photo From Picassa Web Albums

So, I've decided to start a new thing here at See Millie Tri.


Monday Morning Motivation!  

I want to use this new piece to demonstrate that no matter what your size, age, or ability, YOU are capbale of that 5k you've been considering, or the Aqua Bike that you're just not sure if you can complete..  perhaps you've done some 5ks or you've biked some and you want to foray into something else.  You can!  There are SO MANY people out there right now committing to running races for charity or their own personal satisfaction.  They took the first step.  They said-  ok, I'm doing this.  That first step is the hardest part.  Yes, the training is going to be hard, but once you get going, you'll be a steaming locomotive- destined for that finish line.  Today's motivator, is my friend Sarah.  Sarah is a mid-twenties professional, grad student, and soon to be bride.  With wedding day weight loss as her primary goal, Sarah decided to bite the bullet and sign up for her first 5k.  In her own words,  here is her experience...

I can’t remember a time where I haven’t been overweight. I was teased for being the fat kid growing up. As I got older, the teasing stopped. At least to my face…as far as I know. I started my weight loss journey in high school. My first try was the Atkins Diet. I lost weight. I felt great. But the second I got a carb in my mouth, it was over. Of course now we know that the Atkins Diet isn’t the best. In my early 20s, my best friend, Jeremy, and I started our own diet. And we lost weight. I was down about 40 pounds. I started dating! I got comfortable! The weight came back…with 10 more pounds of its friends.

In 2008, I ballooned to my highest. I joined Weight Watchers. I fell in love with Weight Watchers. I love 60 pounds. Then life got in the way. I had gained all but 13 of those pounds back. So…jump to January 12^th, 2011. I joined Weight Watchers for the second time in my life.  I’ve been doing great…I’m down 10 pounds. I plan to look fabulous at my June wedding :)

So when Mille asked me to write a guest entry on her blog…I was flattered. But why? Two weeks ago, I ran in my first 5k. Based on my history, it should not come as a surprise that the old me would not believe that the current me would have ran in a 5k. It was the “Save the Boobies – Steps for the Chest” 5k. I initially got involved in this when a co-worker pressured me in to signing up. This co-worker is a very good friend of mine. She is very much in to fitness, has run marathons and doesn’t have an extra ounce of fat on her body. “It’ll be fun!” she says. My response was “I’ll probably die.” I signed up for this 5k pretty closely to the time I joined Weight Watchers again. So, I hit the gym. I did not train like I should have for this 5k. I trained by using the elliptical, using the resistance training. I did not do any actual running to train…which seems kind of backward. Had I done that, I believe my time would have been better. But, despite my lack of running,  I had a great time. I actually got a high from it.

Since that 5k…I’ve been working very hard at the gym. I have even signed up for my next 5k on April 10^th – Broadway Bridge Run for Special Olympics in Kansas City. I’m very excited about it. My goal for this next 5k is to beat my time for my first 5k which was 43 minutes. This time, I have been going to the gym – about 4 times per week. I run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Right now, I run for as long as I can, take a 2 minute break and then back to running. I can run well over a mile now without stopping. My goal is to get to 2 miles before the race. For the first time, I’m very excited about getting in shape. Running in 5ks. Going to the gym.

 I’ve never been a runner. When I did Weight Watchers in 2008, I did start running in my neighborhood. But I was never running miles and miles at a time. So, this new training that I’ve been doing hasn’t been too bad. I’m still about 50 pounds overweight but can outrun some of the skinny bitches at the gym :) Right now, I’m not doing any workouts outside of my running training. After this next 5K, I plan to incorporate weights to tone-up.

The motivation for getting in shape is not for superficial reason. Sure, it feels good to look good. But my main motivation is my health. Heart disease is a big problem in my family. I really don’t want that to affect me. I want to be around a long time to share my life with my future-husband. And I want to be around for my future children.  If Millie will let me, I will write about my experience at my next 5k.

So-  what is it that YOU want to do this week to push yourself.   Even if it's not signing up for a race.  Maybe it's starting a workout routine, or even cutting out pop?  This week, take that first step towards a healthier you.