Blubber To Runner

“I tried and tried and tried and tried to make a way, but nothing happened till that day I prayed…”  ~MC Hammer

I pray.  A lot.  I get it – it ain’t for everyone.  People have a million different views on religion, and I am in no way able to adequately preach on why belief in a religion is right or wrong.  But what I do know is that reconnecting with my faith has been an important part of my change in the past few months, and it helps me try to bring some sense into my life.  I also get that having any type of conversation that involves religion in any way is a HUGE firestorm, so just bear with me for a few if you don’t mind… I’m not gonna preach – just make some points.

I’m a reasonable man, and it’s no different when I pray.  I don’t ask God for a million dollars, a brand new car, or that finally…

(cue music)

Anne Hathaway… *sigh*

(end music)

will realize that her one true love is me and I am here waiting for her to complete her magical journey of a beautiful life.  I ask for things like assistance, clarity, forgiveness… that kinda stuff.  When I pray, all I want is to hopefully gain whatever it is I am looking for through the things I do everyday, and to be open and realize these things when (and if) they present themself.

But here’s the rub:  praying for these things means NOTHING.  Absolutely nothing.  What means everything is what you do with yourself once these prayers are answered.

“My prayers have been answered!”  Just that phrase alone has an air of positivity associated with it.  In many cases though there’s nothing positive about it.  You can ask for clarity on a situation, for example, only to get back the worst possible scenario as your answer.  Your prayer was answered… just not the way you may have wanted it to be.

So what do you do?  For me, I am thankful that I was given the mind I have.  As messed up as it may be on some occasions, in times like this example – when you don’t get your desired result – you need to take a step back, process an entire situation, evaluate objectively and then move forward accordingly.  I speak too soon for sure – but that’s why my best friend is my best friend… he knows how I roll, lets me vomit all of my thoughts in his general direction and then, once on the table, I can rationalize.  I kind of piece together every single piece of information I have and go from there.  It’s therapeutic actually.

Again, it’s all about what you do when your prayers are answered.  You never know when that answer will come and, at least for me, you can never REALLY be prepared once it does.  But, as long as you open yourself up to the point that someday it WILL come, just by taking that step alone should give you a pretty good idea that ‘yeah, I’ll get through this… and even stronger than before.’

In closing… I think I’ve been lying to all of you.  My friend Liz told me when I started this journey – and this blog specifically (I’m paraphrasing here) – “Don’t lie… whatever you do don’t lie. People respond to the truth.”  I took that information very seriously – and I honestly believed I was following her advice to the letter in regards to that.  But, if I’m lying to myself, am I in turn lying to all of you as well?  To be honest I don’t know the answer.  And if you feel that I am, then I sincerely apologize… it was not my intention.  But, what I do know is this – I’m growing… as a son, brother, friend, man… and every time I gain insight into myself and how I conduct myself on a day-to-day basis it makes me stronger.  You may ask ‘where did you lie?’… I think that answer sits in my intentions.  I didn’t know it before… but I do now.  And I will continue to work on it.  Being honest with myself is without a doubt the biggest step, and I will do my best to not mislead anyone (myself included) from here on out. 

Like I said earlier, one of the things I pray for is clarity.  And when that path begins to clear, you start to see a whole lot more… of everything.

“What… in the HELL… was I thinking.”

Just in case you were curious as to what I thought after watching the Tough Mudder for 4 hours last Sunday… well, that was it.  My Mudder is approx. 330 days away… practically a year out.  I am in no way ready yet… but I will be.  Now, it looked tough on the website for sure.  I absolutely knew it was going to be something to challenge me mentally and physically.  But what I simply witnessed these people do, live and in person… well, there are a ton of words to describe what I felt:  awestruck, embarrassed, inspired, humbled, excited, terrified… I felt each of those at least once during the few hours we spent watching these machines disguised as humans tackle this course.

It was like Terminator training… seriously, it’s like they lined up a young John Connor and said “get ’em!” and these alpha dogs just take off and will do anything, with complete disregard to human life, to catch him at the finish line.  Seriously intimidating.  But – what I want to do with this blog is tell people exactly what I thought was great and where my areas of concern are (yes, I promise I did not take any negatives away from this… but my eyes were definitely opened to a few things I didn’t realize beforehand)

Let’s start with the glass half-empty…


AREAS OF CONCERN

*  People have NO idea what they are in for – About 30 minutes before the start of the first wave, Nancy (yes, La Diabla and I are still speaking after the Halloween race… and we are running again on Thanksgiving!  Click here if you wanna join us – it’s in Princeton) looks at me and says ‘did you hear what those girls just said?’  I did not… so she tells me:

“If we can’t complete this then we DEFINITELY can’t run a 5K.”

Let that marinate for a minute.  The Mudder we attended is, I believe, the longest course they have.  It was 12 miles long – about a mile short of a HALF MARATHON.  Now throw in 18 obstacles.  These girls think that a 3.2 mile run is more difficult than doing this.  The event starts out with a 1.2 mile run… and that’s before any obstacle whatsoever.  ARE YOU F**KIN’ KIDDING ME?!?!

And these girls were not alone.  There were clearly people that, once they took in what they were about to do, were terrified.  I mean, you could see the doubt in their faces.  Real, genuine fear.  And I will tell you this:  this race is less about physical endurance then it is about mental toughness.  There were a LOT of people not mentally ready for what they were about to do.  For everyone looking at possibly doing this with me in October, I suggest watching this video to gain an understanding.  I really want a lot of people to do this with me, but what I DON’T want is people to think they are gonna hop off the couch on Friday and make this happen on Saturday.  You need to be prepared – as much physically as you would be mentally.

*  It’s organized chaos – If you’re not gonna actually DO the Mudder w/ me and my friends that are doing it (Oliver and Scotty are definites, my bro, Joe and Heather all say they’re in – but until they pay the entry fee let’s chalk ’em up as “maybes” – along with some people still deciding whether fire and water obstacles are up their alley), I would love for you to come out and support us.  BUT, when you do, please note a few things:  there’s A LOT of walking (I would say Nancy and I walked about 3.5 – 4 miles yesterday looking at the various obstacles) and you’re in and out of the actual Mudder course (there really is no spectator sections per se) so you need to dress comfy and be aware of your surroundings at all times.

*  Don’t be the fat guy goading the Mudders on – First and foremost, I’m not referring to myself.  These Mudders completely intimidated me from the beginning… once I do it I will feel completely different but, for those few hours, I was scared as hell.  However, there was this one dude holding up a sign that he thought was funny… personally, I thought it could have been funny – but only if you were in great shape.  This guy?  Definitley not in great shape.  So… here is the sign in question:

Faces blurred :)… and he gave the sign to her.  Wonder why?

 Now, like I said, it has the potential to be funny.  Like, if Meb Keflezighi was watching this and holding it up?  VERY funny.  But a Zach Galifinakis look-alike?  Not really.  And the Mudders let him know it too – ‘put on some shorts, fat ass’… ‘I hope I see that dick after we’re done’… ‘I wish I wouldn’t get kicked out for accidentally running into his ass’ were just some of the comments I heard from runners as they passed him.  Now, whatever possessed him to have this sign is beyond me.  But… what I can tell you?  Many of the racers weren’t amused.  Lesson learned.

* Dress smart – You must wear shoes the whole time, and you NEED to wear gloves.  Both of these items WILL GET WET and will get wet very early on in the 2.5 – 3 hour event.  In other words – make sure you wear the smartest possible clothing and plan on never wearing it again.  I’ve already decided that these will be the shoes I’m wearing – Vibram Five Fingers.  They are perfect for this type of event, but you need to be ready b/c these don’t have the cushioning and support that your X-trainers have.  I’m gonna get mine after the holidays and start working with them then.  Also, I’m buying sleek work gloves from Home Depot – similar to these.  They’ll dry quickly and have great grip on them – and are durable as well!  Lastly, It’s compression gear for me… shorts, compression tee and that’s probably about it (unless we agree to a theme… just keep reading!).  This isn’t a fashion show (unless we agree to a theme… just keep reading!) and you’ll probably just throw your clothes out at the end… so don’t worry about rockin’ a cool outfit.  No ones cares.  Trust me.

POSITIVES

*  The pics may fool you, but this is FUN! – They don’t keep time for this event.  It’s all about challenging yourself, teamwork and camraderie.  That’s it.  And we’re doing this together… we’re gonna go as slow as the slowest person on our team goes (ie: me!).  It’s all about finishing.  And pretty much everyone knows that – complete strangers will be helping us, and we will be doing the same for them.  It’s just how it works – and it’s fantastic!

*  Seeing is believing – I can not tell you how happy I am that I was actually able to see one in-person.  All the pictures in the world can’t prepare you for what you see when it’s live.  There is pain.  Exhilaration.  Perseverance.  Anguish.  Disappointment.  It’s all there.  I was telling Nancy that I don’t know what I would do if I worked at this goal for 16 months only to twist my ankle going over a wall and get knocked out after a mile and a half.  I think I would be devastated.  But – the fact that I was able to take it in live really brought a ‘first person’ feel to what I’m doing, even though I wasn’t involved at all as a spectator.

* My team WILL have a theme… and it will be awesome – I already have the idea I would LOVE to do – Old School WWF Wrestlers.  Seriously, how fun would it be to have the Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Brutus The Barber Beefcake, Superfly Jimmy Snuka, Miss Elizabeth and the Macho Man all doing the Mudder?  I know what I wanna do (it will require a partner for the best effect), and my bro called dibs on The Ultimate Warrior… well, because he is built like The Ultimate Warrior, but I think we all could have a load of fun with that theme.  I’m open to anything, but we need to have one, because then we will get in the most pictures.  And isn’t the goal of this to be immortalized as Mudder celebrities?  🙂

*  No matter how scary it was… I’m not scared away –  While watching, I went through all the emotions I listed in the beginning and, as we were walking out… I will be very honest with all of you… I thought about not doing it.  My mind is still that of a 338 pound man so I simply can’t comprehend how I am gonna do this.  I was self-conscious the whole time I was there surrounded by essentially the entire cast of ‘300’.  But, as Nancy and I discussed it more and more… I really started to get fired up.  I remember it was a goal.  I’m not gonna do this next week… I have a YEAR to get ready for it.  Honsetly – if I can’t get prepared for this in that much time, I have much deeper issues than losing a few pounds and trying to get healthy.  For real.  I have friends committed to doing this not only for themselves but to support me and see me reach my goal – with more people to follow.  It’s gonna happen… I just need to refocus that fear into something a bit more positive – MOTIVATION.

Lastly, I wanna leave you with a few links:

Click here to ‘like’ the Tough Mudder Event Series page and see the professional pictures that were taken… WAY better than mine in this post.

Click here to get information on the Tough Mudder I will be doing (the Tough Mudder Mid-Atlantic) next October.  You should definitely join us… 🙂

Click here to friend me and/ or view all of my photos from the Mudder (all photos in this blog from the Mudder are ones I took.)

Click here for a first-person review of the Mudder I attended.

As always… thanks for reading 🙂

Recently, I hit a milestone.  I lost 50 pounds utilizing the Weight Watchers program.  It’s a BIG deal… and I totally get it.  The women at the meeting were all hugging me and congratulating me, it might as well have been graduation day for my parents they were so ecstatic, my friends couldn’t have been any nicer… it’s a huge accomplishment – one that I am very proud of.

But it’s not for everyone.

Weight loss programs are 100% subjective… it’s all based on what YOU think will work for YOU.  Just because Leona Lewis loses a few pounds doing a veggie and water detox doesn’t mean that it’s something that will work based on your attitude.  YES – weight loss is less about whatever program you choose and more about your attitude about weight loss in general.

We’ll touch on attitude in a minute but, since this has been successful for me, I thought I would tell you about one I tried that had a slightly less fulfilling effect on me… it ain’t all sunshine and roses!

The Cookie Diet.  Ahhh yes, many of my friends and family remember this one well – and cringe at the thought of me carrying my cookies into the bar.  I even had a waitress tell me that when I lost 15 pounds she’d let me do a ‘cookie shot’ off of her (use your imagination… it was fun).  You buy ‘cookies’, in daily packs, and each day you must eat all 6 of them… for me it was one at 8a, 10a, 12p, 2p, 4p, then ‘the sensible dinner’ (which would be 10 oz of protein and some roughage) with a final cookie at 8.  After consulting a physician before I started, I was also required to take a daily supplement for my vitamins to make sure I got everything I needed.  I lost 81 pounds in 3 months.  I did not mis-type that… I lost 81 pounds in 3 months… 36 in a month, 51 in 6 weeks, 81 in 12 weeks.  I thought I was gonna be the gahdamn poster child for this company… I was through the roof happy about what was going on.  All I had in my house was the cookies, diet soda, chicken, ground bison, and vegetables.  I was cruisin’ along, people were tellin’ me how great I looked, I was suggesting it to anyone who asked… I was on top of the world.

Until I woke up on the floor at the bottom of my stairs.

This is new to a lot of you, as I have not shared this with many people before pretty much due to sheer embarrassment.  Couple that with me notoriously keeping my personal life personal and ‘Viola!’ – that’s probably why you’re just hearing about it.  I passed out walking down the stairs in my house and woke up kind of sprawled up against the wall at the bottom of said stairs (those of you who were in my old house can probably picture it pretty well).  Well… I FREAKED OUT.  I had no idea what the hell just happened.  I’m all alone.  No family or friends that I felt I could call, so I called 911.  The paramedics came out, checked on me and, after determining that I was physically fine (ie no broken bones, neck issues, I wasn’t assaulted and lying about it, etc.) we hopped in the ambulance and headed over to get me checked out to figure out why I just ‘for no reason’, fainted.

Well, there most certainly WAS a reason.  To summarize, I basically didn’t have ANY of the nutrients I needed to have in order for my body function properly.  I wasn’t diligent on my daily multi-vitamin (I probably missed one to two a week) and totally got caught up in the weight loss number so I wasn’t eating as much as I was supposed to either during the day (snacks like carrots or celery were allowed anytime) or during my ‘sensible dinner’.  Diet soda was allowed – as much as I wanted – so I still wasn’t drinking any water and just went from Mountain Dew Code Red (gosh I miss them… I started salivating just thinking about how delicious they were) to Coke Zero.

But it wasn’t just me.  There is simply NO WAY that someone my size (I started just slightly under 320 lbs) should be doing a diet like this to lose a significant amount of weight.  Is this great for someone doing wedding dress prep with a month out?  I would say yes, it would be fine and healthy enough as long as you follow it to the letter.  But – for someone to just eat a cookie for months and months in order to lose a large amount of weight?  I kinda wish my doctor and I would have had a more personal relationship so that when I went in before I started it he coulda been like ‘Dude… eat a salad… WTF are you doing?!?!’

I lied about it for months… and the weight came back even worse than before and REALLY quick on top of that.  I was devastated.  I was never gonna get better.  I was resigned to the fact that my life was going to be lonely – but I’d still be a great tank in World of Warcraft!  After that, I did random things – South Beach, Juice Diet, Cabbage Diet… of course they all had the initial few days of ‘woo hoo!’ but then plateaued, which led me to stop them, because I’m way too results-driven – and they’re not effective for anything more than a few pounds quickly.

So the obvious question now becomes… “Dude, then why is Weight Watchers working for you now?”  Here’s the answer:

If you get your head right, other things will follow.

I’ve made no secret about the jumbled mess that goes on in my head.  I’m fully aware of it.  But being aware of it has led me to one thing – I need to make it better.  I mean think about it… you go to the gym to make your body look better, you diet to look and feel better… why wouldn’t you go to a ‘gym for your mind’ so to speak?  The reason that Weight Watchers has worked for me is because, for the first time in a REALLY long time, my mindset in achieving this goal is somewhat clear.  It’s realistic (some may disagree based on my goals being a 100-mile bike ride, the Tough Mudder and a half-marathon in Vegas next year), it’s possible, and I have the right attitude and plan in place to achieve what I want.

I’m convinced that this is why so many people are unsuccessful when they try to lose weight.  For so many it’s a diet, not a lifestyle change.  The minute they hit their target goal they’re ecstatic but then they go right back into their old habits and gain back 10% of what they lost almost immediately, which then deflates them and sends them back into a downward spiral all the way to square one.  They didn’t learn a thing.  It’s what happened to me… it’s what happened to a lot of people I know.  It’s just how it is.

On top of that… people have A LOT of other things weighing on their minds that cause weight gain.  A lot of people think “If I lose 20 pounds I’m gonna be so much happier!”  It took me a long time to learn this, but I firmly believe that it’s the exact opposite… you need to be HAPPY first, then you can lose the weight and have the right mindset in order to maintain it.  Losing weight isn’t gonna take away the majority of things that burden us each day.  Learning how to accept, manage and control those burdens will free your mind up enough to do those things that you want to… with increased positive results I might add!

I love therapy.  I hate therapy.  I am not embarrassed to tell people that I see a therapist.  I am humbled by the fact that a complete stranger can assist me in learning more about myself and help me understand how to deal with things.  And, just like with a diet, it’s certainly not for everyone.  But, before you spends hundreds – even thousands – of dollars on diets, programs, supplements, surgeries, etc. think about one thing:

“Am I mentally ready to handle changing my life FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE?”

If you don’t think about it that way – a total lifestyle change – you might as well just eat Mickey D’s because you’re throwin’ your money away.

I spent 4 hours talking to a close friend of mine a while back about therapy… does it help me, how does it help, why can’t you just do all of that on your own… the usual stuff.  He’s in a similar situation as I am so it was nice to have someone reach out to get an opinion – such a positive first step.  It was a great, productive conversation and I told him exactly what I thought, which may have been hard for him to hear at times.  Is he ready to see a therapist?  Probably not.  Does he need one?  In my opinion, it will certainly help.  But the only way to get your mind right is to accept the fact that you need to get your mind right.  He’ll get there… I’m confident.  You can even walk in skeptical (I told mine I didn’t believe it would help but I was willing to do anything).  All you have to do is know that you want to get help understanding how you tick.  Once you do that… everything else – diet, exercise, etc. – will all fall into place.

A few weeks ago, I put this out there:  Ask me anything, and I’ll answer your questions as best as I can… WITHIN REASON.  So, I’ve received a bunch and wanted to address a few of them as promised.  It’s no secret that I am a very straight-forward person, and some of these questions definitely came from people that are well aware of this fact.  So enjoy…  here we go!

Yes, this is actually MY freezer…

‘You look great… what are you doing to lose the weight so quickly?!?!’ – I’m doing a combination of a few things:  Weight Watchers, P90X and running predominately.  I’m also trying to be a little more specific in my diet as well… I’ve basically eliminated soda (which was an 8-10 can/ day habit before I started) as well as energy drinks (while many people would drink coffee, I was downing 2 AMP Energy Drinks a morning… I’m now a coffee guy), and I stock up on portioned items which, for me personally, help me manage the out-of-control eating – some people can eat 12 potato chips out of a bag and then put the bag away… me?  Not so much.  Weight Watchers, as with ALL weight loss programs, is going to work on a person-to-person basis.  For me, it is a great program because it allows me to eat anything if I choose and also teaches me portion control.  I still have a ways to go on the latter… but I’m working on it!

‘Do you really think people care so much that you need to blog about what you’re doing?’ – I personally LOVED this question.  The answer is ‘yes’ – and ‘no’.  The majority of the people that care about this the most live very far away from me, and this is a great way to let all of them know at one time how things are going.   Plus when I do have the opportunity to get some 1-on-1 time with them, it gives them the ability to understand what’s going on, and even help out when they can!  So, in that sense?  It’s a resounding ‘YES’.

Now, are there a bunch of people that think this is pompous?  Maybe… I don’t know.  But, as I’ve stated before, this is the tool that I use to hold myself accountable to anyone that cares about me.  I’m all alone in this… and all alone in VA.  That’s not a ‘woe is me’ statement, it’s just reality – a reality I created for certain reasons (which will certainly be discussed in a future post) and a reality I’ve chosen to continue.  So in order to keep myself honest I communicate this way to my family and friends since most of them, as I stated, are hundreds of miles away.  Therefore with THESE people – the people I only hear from when they need advice, a shoulder to cry on, a Friends and Family form, a ride, etc. –  ‘NO’, I don’t think they care… and, to be honest, this blog ain’t for them!

‘Boxers or Briefs?’ – Boxer Briefs… and I just bought my 1st pair of compression pants.  YOWZA!

‘Why the Mudder?’ – This one’s pretty easy… a few months before I started this, I was on one of my usual ‘time to get healthy!’ kicks and my buddy Will posts up on his FB page about this psycho endurance thingy he wants to do.  It immediately grabbed my attention… I was fascinated by it.  I was also grabbed by soda, Doritos, pizza and a myriad of other things so there was no way I’d ever actually DO it, but it sure looked cool.  Then, as things started to happen for me, I realized a) I needed some type of goal, and b) it needed to be a long-term goal… something I wouldn’t be done and over with in 2-3 months.  It all made sense to me right then.  I’ve been told that I need to notice signs more – to see what’s being given to me and pay attention to it.  THIS is why the Mudder was brought into my life… THIS is why it’s far enough away that I will have time to prepare for it in a healthy manner… and THIS is why I chose to do the Mudder.

‘When/ where do you run?’ – During the week, I run on the W&OD trail near my house.  Weekends I drive into DC and hit the National Mall just to change it up a bit.  I’m an early riser, so normally for me I’m done no later than 7:30a, weekday or weekend.  Sometimes I’ll change it up to an early evening run but, for the most part, it’s a morning run.

‘Aren’t you going a bit overboard with all of this?’ – Hmmm… this one’s kinda tough for me to answer.  Part of me thinks that maybe I am… but, on the other hand, if I were a finely tuned athlete going from running marathons to triathlon training instead of a morbidly obese man going from running to McDonald’s to running the Mudder would the feeling be different?  See – for just about everyone in my life right now, I am a completely different person.  So much so that I get blown off when I start talking about running a race, or I see eyes rolling when the next question about my Weight Watchers points comes up.  They’re tired of hearing it!  But – this is someone that everyone is gonna have to get used to if they want me around, because this isn’t a fad… this isn’t going away – EVER.  I’m done being the guy I became when I moved down here… it’s time to grow up, take responsibility for my life and my health and be happy and proud of what I’m doing.  I’m still working on finding the happy, but I’m damn proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish thus far.

‘When are you running a race again?’ – As of this posting I am committed to running a 5K Turkey Trot in Princeton and a Hangover 5K in Westfield on New Years Day.  After that, I have tentative trips planned to the Outer Banks for a St. Patrick’s Day 8K, back to DC in April for the Cherry Blossom 10-miler (or the 5K if we don’t get accepted into the 10-miler), a 100-mile bike ride from Union County to LBI in June as well as The Spartan Race (think Tough Mudder Light) also in June.  Definitely lofty goals.  But, for me, I’m just trying to keep my plate as full as possible… small goals keep my motivation constantly on high as opposed to thinking ‘Pfft… the Mudder’s next October… I can take this week off.’

OK – I’m gonna stop here for now.  I did receive a few more that I didn’t touch on because I am debating whether they should either be answered in short form like these were, given an entire blog to address, or not even touched on at all.  Nonetheless, I appreciate so many people sending me inquiries and taking an interest.  If anyone has anything else they would like to know… send it my way and I’ll continue to answer what I can.

Thanks again!

Hey everyone!  Just a quick blog to kinda tell you about a cool thing going on all over the country this coming Sunday.  November 7th is the 12th Annual World Run Day.  This day, in a nutshell, is essentially the worlds largest race and takes place here in hundreds of locations all over this country because it’s wherever YOU decide you would like to run that day!

It’s a pretty neat concept… you pay the entry fee, you let them know where you would like to run, then you select a charity that you would like to donate to along with an amount.  Then all you have to do is… just do it!

There’s no pressure in the amount you donate or who you donate to… hell, to be honest, there’s no policing that you actually donate in the first place… but it’s just a really great way to enjoy the world which is running the way you want to run it.

I’m writing this blog to let people know that I’m gonna be running at 7am on Sunday, November 7th at the National Mall in DC… and I would L O V E some company if you’re up for it!  I’m gonna do 4 casual miles (that’s one and a half times around the mall)… no timekeeping, just smooth and relaxed.  Also, I will be donating $50 to the American Cancer Society on behalf of my participation in World Run Day.

So listen – if you wanna ‘officially’ run for World Run Day sign up here – you get the all important t-shirt (yaayyy!), plus you can download a bib to wear with the number you want and you’ll be able to make a difference by donating to the charity of your choice.  And hey – if you sign up and wanna join me Sunday AM, hit me up on the ol’ Facebook or the Twitter and I’ll see ya there!  If not, make sure you get out and run… maybe it will start a trend and you can start doing some of these 5K’s with me!

** UPDATE 11/7/10… I completed my run this AM, 4 miles in 57 minutes.  It was a gorgeous (and bitterly cold) morning in DC.  First time I ran 4 miles consecutively so that was cool… also cool were my ears and hands – yikes!  Time for some winter running gear! **

WORLD RUN DAY TEAM PHOTO – Who else did you expect… it’s 6am on a Sunday morning!