So....Spartan Race...

Hello! I'm still alive!

I've come to a very eye-opening conclusion these last couple of months: I don't like blogging.

I mean, I don't hate blogging. I just don't like it enough to where I want to get on my blog every week and type something up. Half of the reason is because this is a Lap Band blog, and I haven't been paying much attention to my band lately. Another reason is because my life is horribly boring, and I've never felt the need to document it. The process of getting the Lap Band was very exciting, but my life has dulled down since then.

I haven't been focusing as much on my weight loss as I have been on training for 5k obstacle races and writing. I've even let school suffer, too. So, for like the 30th time in the last year, I've made the decision to get my damn priorities straight. Let's see if I can follow through this time. :)

I'm going to attempt to dedicate myself to blogging once a week. This summer should be interesting since I will start training for the Rock n Roll Marathon again in June. I also have another 5K Foam Fest coming up in October, and maybe another mud obstacle race a little later in the year.

If it weren't for these races, I wouldn't be working out. That is the absolute truth. I'm no gym rat, and my average time spent at the gym is about 1 day a week, but I've improved my stamina so much since January that I know I'm getting somewhere. I don't beat myself up because I'm not at the gym five days a week, working out until I throw up (and I know some people who do just that). I've already come to terms with that my weight loss/fitness goals are not a race. As long as I'm following a downward trend in weight and upward trend in fitness, I'm good. Even plateaus aren't necessarily a "bad" thing (especially since I've been on one since like, February).

That's probably why I haven't been dedicated to my weight loss as much. I mean, once you start thinking plateaus aren't bad and just accept it, you stop holding yourself accountable. I do need a new goal, though. Honestly, I'm a sucker for rewards and shit. I need something dangling in front of me on a stick, out of my reach until I accomplish something, or I just won't accomplish it. So, that's where these races come in.

Last year, I attempted the Rock n Roll Half Marathon. It was 13 miles. I only completed 5 miles.

In April of this year, I completed the 5K Foam Fest. It was fun, and I got my first medal!

Yesterday, I attempted the Spartan Sprint. The course is between 4.5 and 5 miles. I completed 3. This race was the absolute hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life. Our start time was 12:45pm, and it was around 90 degrees outside. We had a team of 9 people, all of different degrees of fitness. Here's our team (uploaded with permission):

Can you tell our team color was yellow? Hehe. I'm on the far left. Batman Girl and I stuck together as a team during the entire race. The really tall guy with the beard was the first to finish out of all us with a 1:58:00 time.

I was severely under prepared for this race. I wanted to quit around Mile 1. The trail was absolutely wicked, with steep climbs and falls and crazy hard obstacles. Batman Girl fell off a wall around Mile 1, twisting her ankle pretty bad. She managed to keep walking on it for two more miles before she couldn't take the pain anymore and we had to call for a medic at Mile 3. Honestly, though, if she hadn't of twisted her ankle, I have no idea if I would have been able to finish. We had already been out there for over 2 hours, and the hardest obstacles hadn't even come yet. It was blazing hot and I was on the verge of vomiting. If it hadn't of been for Batman Girl pressuring me to continue as far as I did, I would have quit after Mile 1. No joke.

So, I didn't get a medal for Spartan Race. I did get a shirt, though. And muddy.

I kept that nifty little headband with my number. That is my motivation. I went into this crazy depression about my weight-loss and fitness goals after I failed to complete Rock n Roll next year, but it won't happen this time. Rock n Roll is my next major marathon I'm training for, and believe me, I will finish it. Even if I have to drag my dying corpse over the finish line, I will finish it. After that, I will decide if I should attempt Spartan again. Next year's Spartan Race here in Texas is the Super Spartan, which is 8+ miles long. I would need some serious training to even consider signing up for it.

All in all, I'm super proud of everyone who finished. It was a glorious day, and I'm proud of myself. I'm still suffering from soreness and blisters, but it will be back to the gym tomorrow to start training for Rock n Roll in November.

As far as my weight loss goal, I am at 228.8 as of this morning. That means I've lost 43.2 pounds since my Lap Band surgery on June 15th, 2012. It's almost been a year. I know it's not a race and all, but jeez, I can do better than this. My next goal is to try and lost 15 pounds by my birthday in July. I want to lose a total of 30 more pounds and be down in Onederland by Rock n Roll in November. I've started a challenge with my boyfriend that we're going to start in June. Every payday, we'll compare how much body weight % we've each lost, and the loser has to do something for the loser. He wants video games. I want steak dinner. :D

Well, that's been my life in a nutshell for the last couple of months. Expect me back every week with at least something about what's going in my journey. I really do keep up with everyone's blog, I'm just a horrible lurker.

What are your summer plans/goals?