Kelly's blog: Thanksgiving and turkey trot

The holiday season is here and life sure does get busy fast! We hosted Thanksgiving for 17 people in our new house last week and it went really well. I am proud to report that I did not gain ANY weight during Thanksgiving....I actually lost 2 pounds from last Wednesday to this Wednesday! I was not perfect with my eating but I will say that I did practice portion control. I only had one plate of food and picked my favorite pie in small pieces. With left overs I also practiced good portion control. I think what also helped was that I kept running through the week as well as standing and running around all day cooking (and NOT sampling!) :)

I did my first race on Thanksgiving day with Jacob as well as my mother-in-law Joni, my sister-in-laws Abby and Briana and her husband Matt. We got up early and braved the cold weather and had an amazing time. I felt so great afterwards and so proud for accomplishing all I have these last few months. It was a two mile run called the turkey trot and I was truly inspired to continue to do runs and set my goals higher and higher. There were 509 people that ran and I came in 305th and ran it in 22:27 :) I can't believe two hundred people finished behind me! This is the girl that was always last running the mile in school and cried whenever the fitness test rolled around and we had to run that mile because I knew I would finish last and would be so embarrassed....not anymore :)

I was so inspired last year by the Trinidad to Clam Beach run down in Humboldt and set a goal that day to run the 5 and 3/4th mile race next year.... so I signed up for the race in February! I have a big goal to work toward but I'm excited for the challenge since it really keeps me motivated.

Running has truly been such a great therapy for me. I can't believe I can now run over 4 miles! The other day I wanted to run the four miles to the gym, so I did! Then I did strength training with Jacob who met me there. I am capable of so much, but it's so easy for our minds to talk us out of doing more. I just keep feeding off this motivation I re-found a while ago, and the more I accomplish, the better I feel. Life is good and full of adventures and excitement! :)