Damn

I'm fat. I know it. I'm pretty honest about it. I've never been skinny so I don't really have anything to compare it to. Recently I have made the decision to try to lose some pounds. I have no visions of appearing on the cover of Life and Style in a bikini , I just would like to be able to-for once- turn left instead of right when I walk into Fashion Bug. I gave up the cookie dough. I have been working out. Drinking less diet coke and more water (water is gross, no fizz). I've lost some pounds. I actually have surprised myself with my success so far. On top of my diet and exercise regime my sister Michelle and I have been walking together. We usually have a kid or three with us. Pushing a stroller seems to give one more of a work-out. Since we were doing so well walking we decided to take our show on the road and signed up for our very first 5k. Last Saturday's dam run at Lake Sara.

The first step was figuring out how far 5K was. 3.1 miles. We were pretty sure we had been walking at least 10 miles most nights, but decided to walk a little farther the night before as part of our training. After our training walk we hopped in my rental van to measure our route. To our disappointment it was 3 miles exactly. 3 miles was longer than we thought.

We carbo loaded on tortillas that night at chips and sauce.

The morning of the 5k it was raining, but aint nothing gonna break our stride. We headed to Lake Sara, parked and made our way into the sign up area. We both immediately realized we were out of our element. A lot of professional looking people doing stretches and stuff. It was a good thing I did not bring my diet coke in with me (I said I cut down, I did not give it up). Only bottles of water were being consumed. Not a pretty silver and red can in sight.

We made it to sign up (since Michelle usually shaves a few years off of her age, I had signed her up as 29 years old, later I realized that a competitive walk is not the time to lie about ones age) and got our numbers. Once again we were clueless as to how to affix the numbers to ourselves. Most of the other women in attendance were not members in good standing of the well endowed club as Michelle and I are. We finally got our number placed in acceptable area and headed for the starting line.

Before the race
We were amazed at the crowd

The back of the t-shirt each participant received.

Dam run!

Ok, part of the reason we did it was to say damn as much as possible.

Ever seen Vegas Vacation? Chevy Chase at the Hoover dam?

Get your dam souvenirs...

Awaiting the starting gun.

There was no starting gun.

That was a disappointment.

And we were off......

Only a quarter mile in.

To early to ask for oxygen?

Water break.

Since I watch to much TV I was worried that,like a Seinfeld episode, my cup

would be filled with hot coffee.

It was ok to throw your cup on the ground.

I asked.

Someone was going to pick them up.

I'm glad that was not my job.

I hope whoever had to do that got a free t-shirt.

Michelle rehydrates.

My suggestion for next year--provide fountain sodas.

I think more people would do it if there was free fountain sodas.

You know I am right, look how many people buy Polar Pops.

Dam we were hot.

A lady walking behind us saw me attempting to take our picture and offered to take one for us.

I gave her the camera and she and her partners got ahead of us and snapped this

action shot.

Michelle was pretty sure that she was not nice.

They just wanted to get ahead of us.

dam, I think she was right.
~~~~

The finish line was in site.

I was hoping the Chariots of Fire theme would be playing as we crossed.

There were people lined up cheering as we made our way to the end.

We both gave them our best Miss America wave.

We made it!

We finished.

Not such a bad time.

I would say two minutes could be taken off due to time spent taking pictures.



After we crossed the finish line we were both given medals.

You may be shocked to know that Michelle or I neither one are very sporty.

We are very good at watching Newton Eagle football and I like to think of myself as a

fairly proficient badminton player, but neither of us had ever gotten any type of award for physical activity so this medal was kind of a big deal.

We would like to thank God for making this possible.

Our families. Most of all our fans. Without them we do this for nothing.

~~~~~~~~

THIS IS FOR ALL THE FAT GIRLS!!!!!!!

On top of the shirt and medal we were also given a huggie (koozy in Ashley speak) filled with a

free bottle of water! This day just kept getting better.

~~~~~~

Our kids all modeled the medals that their Mother's had won.

~~~~~~~~~

Michelle is signing us up for our next 5K walk.

I'm in as long as we get a medal and a t-shirt.