SO HERE I AM AGAIN..............

So here I am again, weighing in for what feels like the first time.  I know I have been missing in action for several months, and for a while there I was being asked why I was not posting by some of you, but I gave up.  Today I looked back at my last post thinking it was after the 2nd FULL marathon I had ran(yes I ran TWO marathons), and to my surprise and embarrassment, I quit blogging months before I thought I actually had.  My last post was November 15, 2013.  We are about to hit October 2014 and what do I have to show for it?  20 lbs.  You see, I completed my 1st marathon in November of last year and it was HORRIBLE & AWESOME!!!!

Now let me explain.  It is the end of November and the wonderful state of Texas has a warm spell hit and race date temps rise to 90 degrees, meaning we started the race in the upper 70's and probably close to 90% humidity.  Starting out, the race was going great, then came time for the full marathoners to split off from everyone else.  Well, we must have been the minority of the race, and therefore we were not given much support as there were very few watering stations, lack of crowd support, direct sunlight on 90% of the course,  which all added up to a very poor race experience.  Without going on and on and on, which I could, let me explain why the race was awesome.

Previously I also mentioned that "Preparation is Key", and that is exactly why this race was awesome for me.  You see, even though I had some bad training experiences, I also had some very good ones.  Actually many more good than bad.  I firmly believe that if I had not trained properly, I would have quit the race and just given up.  However, I kept pushing forward.  I hate to admit this and I will not mention the persons name, but one thing that got me through this race was seeing an experienced marathoner struggling worse than I was.  You see, this person I had trained with a couple of times since I joined the running club I was involved with, and he has ran many marathons as well as completed at least one Ironman and he was behind me. All of that being said, if I had not caught a glimpse of him struggling, I probably would have quit and just chocked it up to the fact that I am not built to run marathons.  Instead, I kept pressing on and COMPLETED.  This race took me 5 hours 46 minutes 1 second to complete.  When I crossed the finish line, I walk through the finishers coral and out to my wife and the first thing that came out of my mouth was, "I am ready to run another when it is not so hot."

Update to be continued...

9/29/14 STATS
11/15/13 Weight: 223.4 lbs
Current Weight: 243.2 lbs
lbs Lost: +20 lbs GAINED
Journey195 lbs Lost: -3.2 lbs
Journey195 % Lost: -1.33%
Journey195 Starting Weight July 2013: 240 lbs
Heaviest Weight 2007: 285 lbs
Overall lbs Lost: 41.8 lbs
Overall % Lost: 14.67%