Good new, good laughs, and plenty of excitement! Answered Prayers continued: I made it to phase 3!!

Ok, so I got the news from KDUV at the end of last week…and boy am I ready! When I was talking to LJ I said: “IT’S ON!!!!!,” and told him that he was talking to the winner! (I sure hope I didn’t blow his ear drums out :P ). He said he’d talked to the other contestants and warned me I had some formidable competition… again I shrieked “IT’S ON!!!”

I took some time over the weekend to check out everyone’s blogs, and what I found most surprising was that there were only two other men, aside from me, in this competition. I figured it would be more evenly split. From what I read my favorite was Shelly, from my Visalia team. She was tracking what she ate for the day and did a calorie count, and at the same time she had a great sense of humor I laughed when I read her “holy rusted metal batman!” comment. I am glad to have her on my team because I know her ability to be honest with herself and everyone else like that, and her comedic way of viewing things will help her go far. As I was reading blogs I noticed the mention of orientation rules…which I knew nothing about, so after contacting KDUV, we learned that the email had been sent to a different address …wherever it went, it didn’t get to me : O (Fiddle sticks, these rules I just got ruined my plan to wear baggy clothes and fill the pockets with sand bags….hmmm onto plan B eat a lot before weigh in…just kidding). SO! Its competition time, which means that my couch potato Haagen-daz-in-one-and-remote-in-the-other life is over …ITS ON!!!

I have jumped on the wagon before when six years ago I joined the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training, which is one of the world’s largest endurance sports training programs in the US . I joined, at the time, because I had just been diagnosed with diabetes and I knew I had to do something about my health. Today if you were to ask me why I am a part of Team, its not because of me, but because of my honorees- people living today with some kind of blood cancer- I train for them, to help them have a better quality of life, and to help doctors have the funding they need for life saving research. Helping others is why I kept coming back over the past six years, but as soon as the season ended, I would go right back to my old ways. Since I was training with the idea of helping others, when the season ended I found myself without a good reason to get out of bed early end exercise, or to say no to that great looking doughnut. But I really want this time to be different. I wanted the opportunity to work with a trainer and to learn employ the will power I know I have, in order to take care of my body and learn to be a healthier person. God has allowed me to have this opportunity, so I am not going to waste what he has given me during the competition or after.