My Story: one year on MFP & my first half Marathon (lots of pics!)

This is a combination of a celebration of my first year using MFP and the completion of my first half marathon!
I joined MFP in late January, weighing in at 177. A few months prior to this, I was 183. My highest weight was from my late teens to early twenties, when I was probably around 210, but I stopped weighing myself when I hit 195 (I didn’t stop gaining though…).



I'm actually wearing a maternity dress in one of those... while not pregnant....

I had gotten down to 157 in the summer of 2011. I had a pretty active job working at a dog kennel, and I’d work out twice a day. I was eating around 1200- 1500 calories, but was easily buring 1,000 a day, probably more on the days I worked. I was tired and grumpy, but I dropped about 40 lbs in about 4 months.
During that summer, I was able to do something I had never been able to do: I jogged for 5 minutes straight. Not even a week after this accomplishment, I was in a very bad car accident. My best friend passed away that night and I was rushed to the hospital. I had 4 broken bones in my neck, 2 in my leg and had to stay in the hospital for a month. At first they weren’t sure if I’d ever be able to walk again. I was in a wheelchair for about 3 months after, and spent the next 6-7 months in physical therapy, attempting to get full use and range of motion back from my injuries. When I told my physical therapist I wanted to get to that point I was at before my accident- able to jog, even just for 5 minutes, he told me he wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to run again.

Shortly after I fully recovered, I moved to Texas from New York to do some national service work. It was a rough move- my boyfriend cheated on me and eventually we broke up, which left me feeling incredibly alone. I had never been so far away from home. I didn't know anyone in the city. The job I was doing required me to work 50-60 hours a week in a high needs high school, which was both physically and emotionally draining. The grief, the loneliness and the pressures I was experiencing were all too much for me to deal with. I had so many emotional issues to work through; I didn’t focus on my weight. I barely even noticed that in my first year of living in Texas, I gained 23 pounds, weighing in at 183.

The next year I moved to new city that I loved, found a new job that while still challenging, allowed me a lot more time for self care. I started my weight loss journey in late August, but I struggled to find out what would work for me. I had got down to 177 when I joined MFP in January. I tried the 1200 calories thing for the first few weeks and fluctuated between succeeding on some days and overeating on others. It just wasn’t for me. I started to learn more about TDEE and BMR. I decided that with my lifestyle, I could eat and exercise in a very structured manner Monday- Friday, but the weekends were my fun time with my friends and boyfriend, and it was a lot harder to exercise and count calories. So I found what worked for me- eating a higher deficit on the week days and not really worrying on the weekends. I exercised 5 times a week and at first, at about 1600- 1700 calories on the weekdays, and tried to mentally count my calories on Saturday and Sunday and try not to exceed my maintenance (keeping in mind some extra calories from exercise throughout the week). This worked really well FOR ME! I adjusted my calories throughout my journey as my weight went down, but also as my activity level went up. I set my original goal weight for 160, and once I achieved that I set it to 157, which was my lowest recorded weight since I was a kid. Once I reached that I set it to 149, just because I really wanted to be in the 140s. I’m currently weighing in between 151- 153 lbs. I think I’m over focusing on the scale and would love to focus more on strength training and getting my body to look the way I want.

This shows me around my biggest (pant size 14-16) to my smallest (a comfy 6).

I started trying to run around this time last year- starting off doing interval training on the treadmill. I registered for my first 5K- the Color Run in May 2014. I kept up with my running, transitioning to from the treadmill to outside. I ran my first 5K in under 30 minutes (somewhere around 28 mins?) which was my goal. After I completed that, I felt unstoppable. I kept up with my running, doing 4 mile runs, then 4.5 mile runs and so on. In August I registered for the Austin Half Marathon in February, leaving myself time to train. I upped my millage at steady pace and continuously set goals for myself. Once I completed a few 6.6 mile runs at around 1 hour, I set a goal to finish my half marathon under 2 hours. A lot of people on the MFP message boards told me this was not a good idea- it was too aggressive and I should really just focus on finishing. This was good advice. It helped me to reconsider my goals, be realistic and it helped me understand just how hard this was really going to be. Sure, I could run HALF of a half marathon, but I still needed to tack on those 6.5 miles. After some careful reconsideration, I set my goal to finish between 2:15 and 2:20. I continued to run 5 times a week- 2 long runs and a few short runs in between, paired with some mild strength training and plenty of stretching. I watched my average pace decrease from 9:45 per mile to as low as 8:50 per mile on some long runs. I trained extremely hard and dedicated a lot of time, effort, stress, tears, sweat and blood to this. With 4 weeks left before the race, I decided, against the advice of some people, to make my goal time 2 hours. My long run times were predicted a finishing time of 2: 02, which might not seem like too much time to shed off during race day, but it took me months to get my 10 mile run from 1:30 to 1:28. I switched my time on my registration and on race day, this past Sunday, I wedged myself between those who were running at a 8:45 per mile pace and those running a 9:07 per mile pace.
Between miles 8-10, I had never felt so dejected. I was doing some math in my head using the numbers given to me by the running app I was using to keep my pace and I was pretty sure it was going to be impossible for me to finish in 2 hours. I started to walk up this huge hill between mile 10 and 11, until someone on the sidelines cheering all of us looked me dead in the eye and said “Don’t stop running now!” And I didn’t. I started running again, grabbed some water and some Gatorade and decided to finish strong, whether or not I met the goal I set out to achieve. I ran because finishing a half marathon after being told I might never run again is amazing, whether it’s in 3 hours or 2. I rounded the corner near the finish line and saw my parents, who had traveled from NY to Austin to cheer me on and I gave my last burst of energy to get myself across the finish line.
My official time? 1:59:29.09.
I finished 2117 out of 8837, placing in the top 24% of all runners, 743 out of 5120 women, placing in the top 14.5% of my gender, and 101/ 774 in the female 20-24 group, placing in to top 13% in my division.
I did it. I could barely stand. I was about to piss my pants. I was starving and thirsty and sweaty and uncomfortable and in tears… But I did it. Even if I only had 30 seconds to spare, I finished in less than 2 hours.