Christy

January 29, 2001

Dear Christy,

Grab a cup of coffee before you read this letter, because right now, as you write this letter, it’s cold and rainy and you’re enjoying a cup of coffee. Mia’s napping and the house is quiet…..

Congratulations on an awesome year. Two thousand and ten was really your year, and I’m so proud of everything you accomplished!

The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans has become an amazing place. The support you’ve given and received, and the connections you’ve made over the past year are something you should really be proud of. You’ve touched so many people and changed the way people look at weight-loss and fitness, and the site continues to grow and touch more people than you can imagine!

I’m proud to say that you FINALLY reached your weight-loss goal, too. Yes, you finally did it! WOOHOOO! I know you struggled to get here, but just wait until you see your rock hard abs, girl. You’ll be really impressed with your HOT self, and realize that all the hard work was SO worth it. You are lean and mean now, hooker. Okay, not really mean, but you know what I’m saying.

About that first 1/2 marathon, you ROCKED it girl. I know you had your doubts and you were nervous about being able to keep up with training because of the whole ‘training with a jogging stroller’ issue, but you did it! Not only did you kick ass with the training, but you kicked ass with the fundraising. Your personal fundraising exceeded your goals, and the corporate sponsorships were more than you could hope for! Team Shrinking Jeans really made a huge difference in the lives of so many people touched by blood cancers.

When you arrived in San Diego in early June, you were met by all of your Sisters and it was such an emotional time. The whole weekend was, really. You had all done this together and were about to complete your goal. Running 13.1 miles. As you ran, you looked back on how far you had come, and you looked ahead to where you wanted to go next. As you crossed the finish line, you were a hot mess, but YOU DID IT, and you did way better than you thought you would. I’m so proud of you for not giving up and for following through with your goal.

Also, you had an amazing time with your hookers that weekend. Just wait and see! You cemented the friendships with all these wonderful ladies, and the friendships will last a lifetime.

After the 1/2, you didn’t stop there! Remember that other goal that’s in the back of you mind right now? The goal of running a 5K with BJ? Well, you’re going to do that to. You’ll train with BJ over the summer, and the 2 of you will run a 5K together, and when you cross the finish line, it’s the best day of your life. Well, close the best day. You will be so proud of how BJ does. He’s amazing, that boy of ours. And that 5k? It will be a turning point in his life as well. It will only be the start for him. He’s working on developing a lifetime love of running, and it’s all because of you!

What about Mia, you might be asking? Well, she’s 3 now. HOLY COW. I know you’re asking, ‘when did that happen!?’ Well, she’s growing into a fine little girl. A little girl who loves to workout and oh how badly she wants to run. She’s ready to bust out of that jogging stroller and hit the ground running! She’s learning so much from you. You are totally achieving your goals of instilling a love for healthy living in your kids. ROCK ON!

I know you’re sitting there right now, pondering whether or not to register for that Disney 1/2 marathon….Well, you just finished FINISHED it, girl. WOOOOHOOOOO! You rocked it, too. You totally blew you first 1/2 marathon time out of the water, and having your friends AND family there when you crossed the finish line was just the icing on the cake. You’re going big places, girl. BIG!

There are so many other wonderful things that are going to happen this year. So many victories. You will have the most amazing year. I do want to tell you one thing though. Slow down. Enjoy each of those victories. Soak them in, and OWN them, because you worked hard for them. You need to acknowledge each setback, too, because there will be a couple. You’ll get past them though, trust me, and as you get past them you’ll grow so much.

So right now, finish up that coffee, fill up your water bottle and get moving. Two thousand and eleven is looking to be an even busier year! Lots of races to run and people to inspire. There’s no stopping you.

Love,
Christy

p.s. Go fill up your water bottle now!

On Satruday, I ran in the Sisterhood Virtual EA SPORTS Active 5K! All of us who participated in the run, decided to blog about today, so make sure and check the out the Sisterhood so you can read everyone else’s posts. I’m sure there are some amazing stories.

Prior to the run, I diligently mapped out our route, trying to make sure we didn’t have too many hills to climb, a feat considering I live in the Hill Country. With the route set, Brian dropped Amanda, April and I off at the starting point. We laughed while we warmed up and were soon on our way.

I have to say I was more than  little nervous because my training wasn’t exactly what I wanted it to be. Five weeks ago I started, barely able to run 3 minutes without keeling over and dying, was sidetracked by the H1N1 virus, and managed to get myself to the point of running about 20 minutes (a little over 1.5 miles) non-stop this past week. My goal for the 5K was lofty. I wanted to run the whole thing without stopping and I was DETERMINED to push myself.

As Amanda, April, and I set out, our spirits were high! I mean, come on, we were totally hot in our stripy socks and bad-to-the-bone sweatbands. Total HOTNESS.

I’m happy to report I made it then entire way without stopping running. The most amazing thing is I never even felt like I needed to stop and walk. I was on a serious runner’s high – yes, I’ve come to realize they do exist, and WOW!!! As we ran, Amanda, April and I chatted, took in the amazing beauty, dodged a few motorcyclists, and trudged up one kick-ass hill. Or maybe it was an ass-kicking hill. At one point on the kick-ass hill, I felt like I was barely moving, but in fact, I was still putting one foot in front of the other. I kept thinking about Kirsten and her recent Nike Women’s half marathon. When she hit the big hill in her run, she told me that she thought of the Sisterhood and how much we had supported her in her training, and that we kept her going on that hill. Well, Kirsten, YOU kept me going. I knew that if you could conquer your half marathon and that  hill, I could conquer mine. When I reached the top, I pumped my fists in the air and picked up my pace. I was home free after that.

The rest of our run consisted of beautiful views, descending grades, and a little shade. Once the finish was in site, we all sprinted to the finish and celebrated our victory!! It was so amazing. Amanda and I finished in 36 1/2 minutes and April came in about 20 seconds after us. Not bad at all for my first 5K.

Here are some pictures (we didn’t take many) from before and after our run!

Before:

After:

Aren’t we HAWT?!!!

I’m not the type of person who fishes for compliments. I do what I do here at the Sisterhood because I love it. It fulfills me. It makes me happy to know I’m providing motivation for someone else. I’ve even made some really wonderful friends here. Friends I cannot imagine my life without!

April is one of those friends, and she wrote a poem about the Sisterhood! It’s posted on her blog, but with her permission I’m going to repost it here. Right now! It’s words like hers that make all the hard work we put into this site so much more worth it.

Thank you so much April, for being a wonderful friend, Sister and motivator.

And you know what? April is going to start posting here at the Sisterhood! Be sure to look for her first post on Thursday!!

And without further ado:

The Sisterhood

Tonight Lisa and I went to my favorite store in the whole wide world – Target. Yeah, I love me some Target. Especially Super Target where I can buy my son a toothbrush, my daughter’s entire summer wardrobe, some avacados, and a few really awesome shirts that fit. Oh, did I mention shoes, too? Thank GOD I had Lisa, my fashion consultant with me, or I might have ended up with some more solid color, v-neck, 100% cotton t-shirts in a rainbow of fruit flavors and pair of yoga pants. Seriously, that’s pretty much all I wear. Sometimes jeans. And tennis shoes. It’s my uniform.

I’ve reached a point in my weight loss where it’s time to move down a size in clothing. The problem is I still see myself as fat. I don’t see a skinny girl in the mirror. Maybe it’s because I’m wearing clothes that are too big, too baggy, cut poorly? Who knows.

So tonight, Lisa started pulling things off the racks in sizes I was sure wouldn’t fit and patterns that I was convinced would look hideous on me. Did I mention they were not 100% cotton? And some might require tanks underneath because they were sheer? Shyeah. That’s what I was saying. So after standing in the juniors sections (I know, I’m 33 years old for pete’s sake) aguring about whether a medium would fit, Lisa finally roughed me up and threw me in the dressing room with an armfull of clothes. Okay, so I made part of that up. It was only half an armfull of clothes, because Target was closing in 10 minutes.

So after trying on several tops, I came to realization that I am shrinking, I am not fat, I can wear a medium, and I can actually pull off a non v-neck, patterned shirt quite well. I would have never figured this out if it hadn’t been for Lisa cheering me on and telling me how skinny I looked. Thanks girl, I love you!!!

Yipppeeeee!

*********Husband, if you’re reading this, it contains an anniversary present spoiler, so please close your browser now. Thanks. Love you *****************

One of my favorite things to do when Lisa and I get together (besides eat!) is scrapbook. It’s fun, therapeutic, relaxing and productive! I have some wonderful memories that have been creatively (and lovingly) documented. Right now I’m working on an album for my husband. It contains photos from all of the vacations we took before we became parents. Cuz, yeah, we all know what happens to fun, spontaneous travel when we have kids, right? But I digress.

We took SO MANY trips. SO MANY. And it’s kinda scary to look back over the last, oh, 11 years and see my weight fluctuate. I started out in the 140s and then ballooned up to the 190s and then back down and then back up and….oh, you get the point. I’m actually a little horrified by some of the pictures. I was really overweight. Okay, fat. I was fat. Ugh. All I can think about is the fact that my overweight-ness will be forever documented in scrapbooks that will one day belong to my children. Will they look at them and say, “sheesh, who’s that fat chick?” or “wow, what happened to mom?” What I really hope they realize is that I worked hard and lost the weight and became healthy so I could live a more fulfilling and longer life with and for them. I also did it to set a good example for them. I want them to be healthy, but how can I expect that out of them when I’m not?

As horrible as it is to see all those fat pictures, it’s also amazing to look at the trip back down. Back down the scales, that is. Slowly but surely, I’ve come down, down, down, and am now about 10 pounds away from the weight I was when I met my husband. I’m really looking forward to the future scrapbooks. The ones where I’m the smokin’ hot mama that I know lives somewhere inside me!

p.s. I was supposed to post some recipes today and I just didn’t get around to it! Sorry! I promise we’ll make up for it this week! It’s going to be an exciting week with the announcement of the winner of the Looking Fine for Valentine’s Challenge, the new challenge and some other great stuff!!

Yesterday was a very stressful day. All I wanted to do was eat. Luckily my visitor, Amanda (also a Sister!) helped me stay on track! She’s such a good influence. When we all sat down for dinner, she made a plate for me with reasonable portions. It was perfect. I wonder if I can convince her to stay here all the time and keep me on track!?

Today we plan to take a hike. Literally. The weather is beautiful and the sun is shining. I’ll also get to put my Kelty Kids backpack to good use! Exercise and eating right, all with good friends. Who could ask for more?