Monday, May 1, 2017

WTF happened to Re-Dan-imation?!

For those of you that have followed me previously, you might be thinking..."WTF?!" or "Where has the blog been?!" Well......it's been on a bit of a hiatus, just like my fitness goals.  Be prepared...this post is a little all over the place. As a reminder...anything in orange is a clickable link to visit a website or previous blog post you may not have read.


Let's get caught up shall we?  The last blog post I wrote about the Drumstick Dash (click here to read it) was the last post I wrote in general.  At that point, I was down to writing about 1 post per month on average.  That is not where I wanted this to be at that point.  To be honest, I was hoping to have reached my weight goal by this point in my Re-Dan-imation efforts.  To put it mildly, I haven't even come close.  The only thing I have come close to is my original starting weight.  I never reached it though...thank goodness.  Here's what did happen.

Last summer I was pumped about having finished my first half marathon in May.  Mrs. Re-Dan-imation and myself were making another run at IVF which resulted in an extended stay in the hospital (you can read about that experience here).  Going into the hospital that morning I weighed in at 264.3 lbs.  That was 30 pounds lighter than my starting weight.  I felt great about myself, but even at this point I hadn't been running much and was 7 pounds higher than my lowest weight.  After waiting a couple months for the Mrs. to completely heal we tried implanting a fertilized embryo, this time that had been genetically tested as was considered healthy and viable with no abnormalities.  The pregnancy test two weeks later revealed the news we didn't want to hear.  No pregnancy.  For those of you that donated to our GoFundMe account, this means that yes we did try again, but sadly no it didn't take.  We are still unbelievably grateful for those of you that gave in an effort to help. We will never be able to repay you for your gifts, thoughts, and prayers.

The last event I had run in was the Run(317) Broad Ripple event (which you can read about here).  I had registered for a Run(317) 3 race series originally.  The second race in the series was turned into an untimed fun-run because of extremely high temps and I skipped this race.  I then skipped the second half marathon I had signed up for followed by skipping another Run(317) race.  As we move on to October I did run The Great Pumpkin Run (read the recap here) as I had signed up with a large group of people to participate in this race and didn't want to let them down.  I had never run off road and was discouraged by the fact that I walked about 1/3rd of that race.  I "re-focused" my efforts and ran the Drumstick Dash on Thanksgiving and was proud of myself for running the race in negative splits until I saw my time was still slower than the previous year.


At this point I started to get a little down on myself.  The weather was beginning to turn, the holidays were near, and large meals were a necessity.  The treadmill we had purchased less than a year ago was sitting vacant, and the recliner was always full.  In the back of my mind I was always thinking "why don't you just get on the treadmill to watch that video?"  But, I didn't.
Although, it doesn't quite look like this.  It was sitting there empty just waiting to be used.

Wanna know the worst part?  It was around this time that people were telling me about reaching their weight goal or talking to me about really getting interested in running.  I sat there and was truly happy for them and willing to talk to them about strategies and which races to run.  I felt like a con man.  I FEEL like a con man.  I feel like a food addict.  I feel like a failure.  But you know something...I also feel like a fit person on the inside.  I feel like I know the right decisions to make.  I feel like I can do it.  And THAT is why I am back to the blog.

In my blog about the Drumstick Dash, I created a short video (watch it below) to entice people to join me in the race next year. I decided making videos is something I was interested in so I spent the next few months watching YouTube videos about video creation and live streaming and will begin a broadcasting club at my elementary in the fall after managing to find a way to purchase the necessary equipment on a slim budget.  This is how much of my time was spent in that recliner.  Watching YouTube videos while I could have been watching the same things and at least walking on the treadmill.

In April, I was again responsible for chairing the Frankfort Jaycees Spaghetti Run and I felt like a liar again as I touted running to my community members even though I hadn't done it in a while myself. The run went well.  We timed the race ourselves and were even asked by another community organization to time one of their races.  So I guess there is always a silver lining.

So, let's get back to today.  Today is May 1, 2017.  The 500 festival Mini Marathon is this weekend and I didn't even sign up for it.  The Run(317) series is coming back around and I didn't sign up for that either.  BUT...today is the day to get back at it.  Spring is a revitalizing time for everything in Indiana.  It might as well be mine.  Today I will be registering for the Mill Race Half Marathon that is held on September 23, 2017 in Columbus, IN.  I will also be signing up for the 2017 Drumstick Dash and will again begin my fund-racing campaign for that race that provides so much good through Wheeler Mission.  I also applied to the be named as a Drumstick Dash Ambassador...cross your fingers...I'll let everybody know what I find out.

Since it has come to my attention that I NEED a goal and a plan or I won't stick to either, I will set them right now.

Goal #1: Participate in the Mill Race Half Marathon (It would be pretty sweet to win the Cummins Diesel they give away at the after party).

Goal #2: Set a Half Marathon PR by at least 12 minutes and 5 seconds (finish in under 3 hours)

Goal #3: Surpass my previous low weight of 259 lbs. before Labor Day.

Goal #4: Raise over $1,000 for Wheeler Mission through Fund-Racing page (found here).

Plan: Use MyFitnessPal DAILY with fidelity to monitor daily caloric intake. Complete training program for Mill Race Half using Under Armour Run Trainer Run/Walk training program (missing 0 long runs)

I will continue to blog, although I have a new goal for that as well.  I will NOT be forcing myself to complete one blog post every week as I sometimes felt as though they were being forced and I wasn't sharing anything valuable.  If I have something to share every week, I will.  If I don't...I won't.  I will talk again to all of you soon.  Until next time... Food...Feet...Water...Repeat.




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