Weekend Warrior Update & Others

Weekend Warrior Challenge Goals (I know this is over, but I'm keeping it going for myself in order to try to stay on track over the weekends. It's kinda like what Kimberley's doing now that the Perfect 10 is over):

1. Create a healthy recipe for Beef Jerky. Is this cheating? (Success. I came up with a recipe that uses agave nectar instead of sugar--Steve, you might be able to eat this!--but it still needs a little work. But it's certainly healthier than normal beef jerky.)
2. Run in the St. Patrick's Day Dash. And complete it in under 40:00. (Success! See Below).
3. Limit myself to 2,400 Calories on Saturday & Sunday. I sucked this up last week, so I'd like to make sure I succeed this weekend. (Success? I averaged 2,393 Calories, though Sunday was bigger. I'll take it.)

The St. Patrick's Day Dash 2010
This race was pretty fun! I actually ran the whole way. I didn't think I'd be able to, but somehow I did. I didn't even feel tired. Which leads me to think that I'll be able to do a 10k no problem...and maybe one day a 1/2 marathon! I kept a really steady pace. I didn't push myself harder and I didn't let up. I didn't slow down going up hills and I didn't run down those same hills on the way back. This was my first organized run, and I found myself motivated to push harder than usual. I didn't want to rush ahead and burn myself out, but I did want to just pass other people. So, that's what I did. And here are the initial race results:

• Overall place: 2393 out of 7830
• Division place: 251 out of 534
• Gender place: 1530 out of 3495
• Time: 35:21
• Pace: 9:19

Not bad!! Of course, I don't have pictures. Why? Because we didn't have a camera with us...and we were also almost late to the race (now I know what you went through, Josie!). In fact, I had to run about a quarter mile or so to even make it to the race to start running. Talk about a warm-up!

Progress Pictures
I realized that is has been about 2 months since my last progress pictures. So, I had Anna take another round for me.

Of course, my first thought was, "Boy, I sure stand crooked, huh?" My second thought was, "Wow!" I'm happy with my profile...now I just want my love handles to disappear. I guess time may take care of that. And I feel really blessed that I'm not dealing with too much loose skin (except for my butt, but I'm never showing those pictures, so...). What a difference a year makes. I'll be posting some more comparison pictures in the next few days. Just for fun.

Speaking of the difference a year makes, I'm coming up on the anniversary of my decision. It has almost been 52 weeks since I read about Tyler's blog on Consumerist and put some hard thought into it and decided to stop killing myself (not sure why it was taht tough of a decision...). And how am I going to celebrate the anniversary? Well, Anna, my dad, my brother, and his fiancee will be traveling to Italy, but that's more of a coincidence. Really, I'm planning on adding another feature to my journey. And I'm really excited to work on it. It'll be a huge challenge--a change almost as big as this last year has been. Stick around, and you'll see it in a couple of weeks. It'll probably take that long to get everything together.

Up through Monday:
12 minutes on elliptical
12 minutes on stair stepper
12 minutes on exercise bike
1 set of planks (60 second front plank; 60 second back plank; 30 second side plank on each side)
150 situps
75 push ups
ran/walked 10 miles
prayed daily
read the bible daily
date with Anna

Weekly Calorie Count:
Saturday: 2,225 Calories
Sunday: 2,560 Calories
Monday: 2,190 Calories
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:

Daily Average: 2,325 Calories.

Want to watch me twEAT? Check it out here.