After the mini, I kind of slacked off. And then we got extremely busy at work. So, I haven't made time for a lot of exercise. Luckily, the last fill in my band has dimmed my appetite greatly. I'm down 5 pounds for the month already with a week more to go.

I was so excited to get back to the elliptical after the mini. All through my training I only walked and ran. My first time back on the ellptical I did 30 minutes and was just dripping the sweat. I was able to average 13:24 a mile on it.....something I can never do when I run.

I'm fired up to start logging the miles again. I went to North Carolina this weekend and just felt fabulous. Losing almost 30 pounds has done wonderful things to my self confidence. My friend Paula and I met two guys from Florida last year at the uptown Charlotte festival. Well, we met up with them again this weekend. We partied our assed off. I danced and flirted more weekend than I have in the last two years. We went to Coyote Ugly after the festval. That place was a real pit but lots of fun. The best thing is I spent hardly any money this weekend. My part of gas was $79, the hotel was $45 because we had two free nights and the guys paid for everything the two days spent around them. No...we didn't spend the night together. In fact we stayed in hotels 35 miles apart. We were staying at the $90 dollar a night Sleep-in and they were staying at the $250 a night Omni.

My endurance is great too. I went to the Nascar race and spent lots of time on my feet. Saturday night, we spent 9 hours at the festival either standing or dancing. Last year, I was exhausted and spent most of the time sleeping on the way back home. This year we partied more than usual and I jumped out of bed ready to take on the day. I even tried my hardest to workout on Saturday morning. I headed to the fitness room right away. Darn, everything was broke. The TV didn't work, the resistance on the recumbent bike was broke, the stepper's battery was dead and the only light bulb in the room was flickering. But I didn't give up I went back to the room, put my swimsuit on and swam laps.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone.

226 pounds this morning. I seen that number right after the race last week but I was dehydrated. Today, I thnk it is "real".

I booked a summer vacation. Yeah. 4 days by myself with sun, sand, lots of reading and hopefully a little alcohol. Pure relaxation. Of course, I want to lose a little more weight by then. I leave Jume 22nd.

Today, I consumed 1235 calories and walked 4 miles.

Here goes my race report.

First I parked at least a mile away. There were people parking even farther away than me so I parked thinking I couldn’t get much closer without getting in a big jam. Found my corral and got in line at about 7:00. Time really went fast. I seen two runners dressed up as Ronald McDonald and the Hamburglar. Also seen a man carried what looked like a 4 month old baby on his back in a carrier. Later at the track I seen them again and the wife was carrying the baby in her arms. I couldn’t really hear the start of the race back in Corral Z but the crowd started moving a little after 7:30. Made it to the start line at 8:02. I expected that after all there were 35,000 particpants.

Mile 1- I jogged a good part of the first mile (my jog was some of the walker’s walk. I’m not blessed with long legs!) Time 15:29

Mile 2 – Again jogged for the most part. Took the time to get out the camera and take a picture of the elephants at the zoo. Time 15:54

Mile 3 – Fast walk for most of it with a couple burst of jogging around slower people. Time 15:57

Mile 4 – Again a good mix of jogging and walking. Time 16:35

Mile 5 – Slowing down now. Now, I’m down to walking in only. The sun is beating down and it feels humid. I also start feeling a twinge of pain in my left calf. It’s an odd pain and in the calf where I had my blood clot. Slightly worried but I plug on. I probably needed more stretching time. We entered the Speedway around 5.8 miles. Took the time to take lots of pictures. Time 17:31

Mile 6 -8 – These miles kicked my butt. It was now around 9:45 – 10:30ish. The sun was beating down on the black asphalt making it very uncomfortable to run. Stopped at the porta john which took about 5 minutes. I was never so happy to leave a race track. At some point at the track, my sock on my right foot stated slipping down to my heel causing a blister. I also develop what feels like a sinus headache. I think I should have ate more than a fiber bar and should have brought something to eat or a gel. I was also reminded that I hate Gatorade. Times: 18:45, 21:45, 18:16

Mile 9-12 – Just in survival mode now. I’m so happy that the bands and spectators are still on the side of the road cheering us on. As bad as I’m starting to feel, a smile never left my face. I’m doing this. I have a couple mantra’s going though my head to keep me going. I see a couple men that stopped at a carry out walking and drinking beer. I’m thinking a beer would make my hurl at this point. The last sip of Gatorade made my stomach roll. Luckily no need for another pit stop! Around mile 11, a man wearing full firefighter gear and carrying a oxygen tank on his back runs by. I’d be dying in that suit. Times: 19:07, 18:51, 19:05, 19:32

Mile 13 – This had to be the longest mile. I’m having visual depth perception problems because I can see the ¾, ½, and ¼ to go markers but it feels like they keeps getting farther away. I actually jog some of this mile because jogging feels better on my back than walking. But my walking is getting slower and slower so I don’t make up any time. I’m just glad that it likes like I’ll make the 4 hour time limit. Time: 20:19

Finish – Instead of speeding up, I slow down. Heck, with running though the finish, I’m just so excited that I made it. At the last minute a woman with an air cast on her left leg passes me. LOL!! End time: 3:58:47 according to my GPS. YEAH!!!

There’s lots of room for improvement. I think I’ll concentrate on training for some 5K’s. So, I can work on pure running. During training I could run 3/4 mile, walk ¼ mile for 4 miles. My training went out the window during the mini. I was just trying to dodge around people at the beginning of the race and at the end I was just in survival mode. Once I got half the banana and a cookie ate my headache went away. I recovered for about 45 minutes, bought a t-shirt and then trekked back to my car. I had this awful fear that my car would be broken into. The parking garage I parked in was deserted and didn’t look like there was any security. Yes, I’m a small town girl and hate the big city.

Luckily, not too much pain today. I have a small blister on my right heal and just some dull glute pain. (Painfully to sit on the toilet kind of pain.) I’m taking some ibuprofen. I heard a women talking about never wanting to do the mini again. Her friend said the mini was like having a kid…that day you swear you’ll never do it again. But some how the pain dulls and you find yourself signing up again. So, don’t ask me today but in 6 months I’ll probably sign up again. Thanks for listening. I know this is long but it’s my first race report!