Thursday, March 28, 2013

The Color Me Rad 5k

So, if you're my Facebook friend (which I can't imagine anyone who reads this isn't), I'm sure you've seen the pictures from the "race" this past Saturday. My dear new friend (and Ph.D. student from the lab) Christina and I decided a little over a month ago to run the Color Me Rad 5K supporting the Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital here in Jackson. (This is the place where they cured an infant of HIV, folks!) As this was my 2nd 5k, and Christina's first, we decided to just do the Couch to 5K to prepare ourselves. And let me tell you guys, waking up at 6:30 AM, working 'til 5ish then having to have the energy to go run is difficult. But we did it, and Saturday came quickly. We drug my wonderful boyfriend, Mike, along (so he could take pictures, of course...), parked forever away, then put on our "tail-feathers" and sunglasses and got ready to go!


As we walked up, colored corn starch was flying everywhere, and excitement was in the air. Also, people. People everywhere. So, we eventually push our way to the start line and we're off!

We ran and ran, color flying everywhere, through some really pretty neighborhoods, and finally crossed through the hot pink finish line. It was a spectacularly fantastic experience!


Then, photographer Mike, took a million and one pictures.


So I'll close out for the evening by saying, that if you're looking for an incredibly fun race (as in, most of the people were walking) to participate in, look no further than the Color Me Rad 5K! 3.1 miles is definitely doable, and I promise, if I can run a 5K, absolutely anyone can. So get out there and run - the hardest steps are the ones out the door. And for one of my favorite running quotes, "No matter how fast you're going, you're always lapping the people on the couch."

Now, I've gotta get back to cleaning my room.....*sigh*

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Let me tell you a story....

It's a glorious tale, involving whales and sushi and engineering.......

Once upon a time, there was a girl, losing weight like a champ. Then one day, she turned 21.....


Then, with the help of some "friends," she pretty much quit caring about fitting back into that little green dress. She started working at a local restaurant, where CocaCola was free and fried rice was abundant. Then, before she knew it, she was in her senior year of college! It was an incredible year, full of "Ambulatory Infusion Pumps" for Senior Design, late nights with fraternity brothers (Yeah Theta Tau!), constant stress and no time. As senior year passed, she didn't care too much. School work, waitressing, and good times were more important than eating right and working out. Then.....

She graduated, and on that day, a big, black whale stood on the front grass in front of the ABE building.....


Since she had decided to attend graduate school at Mississippi State in Biomedical Engineering (while doing research down in Jackson), she decided to stay in the glorious Starkvegas over the summer and make some more money waitressing.

On a hot, hot day in July, she realized that she was consuming probably 2000 calories alone from fresh, cold Coca-Colas, and that was the last one she had.

A few weeks later, she moved in with two amazing friends, and they all decided to go all in together to get into shape. The weight came off, a 5k was ran, and before she knew it, it was time to move to Jackson.


Down 46 pounds, weighting a few pounds less than she did at the end of her freshman year in college, she finally has the gall to pick up the blog again.

So here we go, on this glorious journey together two years later, to keep going this time, to not give up, to know it's for real this time, to fit into the little green dress!