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| Just in case you forgot (and how could you), this is my gal Beverly! |
Next, I want to give a shout out to my gal Beverly who wrote an awesome article about me in the Running Room magazine. She is truly an amazing woman and friend and I'm so touched that she took the time to write such a great article about me and our friendship. You can read the article here. Sadly, Beverly's going to be out of commission for a couple months starting the beginning of December for medical reasons, but I can't wait until February when she'll be back in full force to start training for The Bay with me. Have I mentioned before what a great running partner and friend she is?
I had a day of firsts today. Today was the first time since I began my lifestyle change that I had a gain on the scale. I gained 2.5 pounds. I wasn't feeling too bad about it, and Dr. Stephen was actually pleased. I gained 2.5 pounds of water, and lost 1/2 a pound of fat. He determined that the water gain was because I'm on my period. Then he looked at my body fat percentage and talked to me about going on maintenance even though I haven't reached my desired BMI. My BMI is 27 and it should be 25 to be considered in the healthy range.
According to Dr. Stephen, since my body fat percentage is 4 percent below what they want it to be, I'm likely never going to reach my BMI because it will not take into account the muscle I have gained from running. My body fat dropped another 1.5 percent even though my weight went up. This conversation made me nervous. It took me out of my comfort zone. Dr. Stephen told me that he didn't think I needed to lose more weight. Today was the first time in my life that a medical professional has told me that I should stop losing weight. Although he wanted me to agree to go on maintenance today, I came up with a compromise. I said I would continue to follow phase 2 and some of the maintenance phase of the diet for one more month. Wherever the scale and my body fat percentage is next month is where I will stay. Dr. Stephen agreed to my compromise.
Then he took my blood pressure which was normal (125 over 80) and said I had the pulse of an athlete. He called me an athlete! He was impressed with the running and said that he could tell by my pulse that I was in great shape. I have NEVER been in great shape. Between my pulse and the muscle definition on my legs that he commented on, I actually left my appointment with the 2.5 pound gain feeling like a million bucks. In one more month (5 weeks actually, I snuck an extra week in before my next visit...shhhhhhhh) I will be on maintenance. To make myself feel even better, I went into the Gap right after my appointment and tried on a pair of size 10 jeans that fit me with room to spare! Didn't buy them though. I'll find a similar pair at a thrift shop and pay $7.99 for them because I'm cheap like that!
Tonight was my first Half Marathon clinic. There were about 30 participants there! Big clinic. We had a talk about the Running Room stuff to begin with. It was my 5th time hearing it...but it never gets old. Carol is a great instructor and I'm so excited she's teaching it with another woman named Kelsey. My two former running gals are in the clinic with me. Tanya and Dawn. I guess that makes them my current running gals again:)
Tonight was the first time that I ran 5k with a 6:34 pace. I was all nervous that I would be at the back because a lot of the clinic participants are serious runners who take the clinic over and over again just so they have people to run with. But I was right in the middle. We ran down Cootes Drive then turned around and ran back up. Running down was a breeze because it's downhill, running back up is a tad bit more challenging. But I kicked my own ass and ran my fastest 5k ever. I can't wait to see what my pace will be at the end of the clinic. Once I start doing speed work and hills, I think my running is going to improve dramatically. Stay tuned!