Victories only please.....

I can hardly believe its been two weeks since I've been here, and an interesting couple of weeks it has been.  Much has happened, but I won't bore you with the details.....just the victories!

A spontaneous 4 day getaway with my honey to celebrate our 17th anniversary and to visit dear friends was really great! Nutrition challenges arose the first couple of days because we ate every meal in a restaurant & we were in a celebratory mode so some emotional eating for sure. Victories were: I didn't order the fried chicken that kept passing by on the server's trays; we packed some healthy snacks that were life-savers; I did my 1 hour aerobic workout at the B&B near the banks of the Ohio -- beautiful but HILLY! Old me would have said "let's go back to sleep"; new me said "I'll be back in an hour, honey!"  Once we arrived at our friends home though, the nutrition challenges were no more! They were so kind and supportive to plan meals that fit into our choices, they even invited my honey to prepare his quinoa concoction for dinner--and they loved it! yay!!! 

Our Danny had knee surgery 3 days later so our challenges there were planning meals for a 3 yr old and 9 yr old over the weekend. I have a new respect for you BTWGer moms trying to manage all this with kiddos in mind. We got through it, but it was a little rough on the choices. OH but wait...we're only talking about victories here so.....my honey blessed me with 3 hrs to step away from the kiddos to go to our BTWG Saturday workout/meeting.  And might I say.....those were the most amazing 3 hours I've had in awhile! Some of my teammates labeled it a 'breakthrough' workout. All I know is I ended up in tears at the end of the final mile walk/run, which came after a mile trail walk/run that brought up my fear of falling and then intervals up and down a long slow hill that almost kicked my butt. Almost, but it didn't! I know by calling out names I'm at risk of missing somone or embarrassing others but for this one time, I hit some milestones on Saturday that were quite emotional for me that I don't believe I would have accomplished on my own so....I'm taking the risk. Nicole, Kyle, Carrie, Sonia, Kelly, Sherri, Jenna, Joe -- your tips about breathing; your cheering and encouragement as I pushed up that hill; your return to finish with me when I lagged behind on the 1st mile, your smiling cheering faces as Pam and I emerged from the trail.  Blew my socks off!  And then there's Pam. She wasn't even going to work out with us on Saturday but .... she adopted me during intervals, passed along some wisdom and training tips, moved through that last mile around the lake with me that, by the way, we did in silence. Talk about powerful! Whoa....thank you Pam! I learned that I CAN do it, I CAN get thru it without falling, I CAN if I don't give up! Wow...all I can say is WOW. And this 'no man left behind' phylosophy? I gotta say...I am still overwhelmed & humbled by it 4 days later.

I have such a long way to go, but I am soo excited about how far I've come in such a short time!  I think for this post, I will leave it at that! FEELING BLESSED!!!

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! (Eccl 4:9-10)