Rosie's 50 Mile Run~My Day, My Race and I Did it My Way on 9.1.12

Often what we want is hidden beneath what we've settled for and in order to have something new, we have to expand our comfort zone to include the new thing.



Mission accomplished!!!  I did my 50 mile race yesterday to celebrate turning 45!!!  Completely  pumped up and on fire.  Why?  Well, read on and find out~

When I was a teenager, my weight fluctuated between 180-190 pounds while I alternated between starving myself and binging.  As a child I was always thin but I would overeat and not gain any weight and I ate just because-whether I was sad, happy, angry, stressed or bored.  By the time I was 20, I was married and had a daughter and my weight soared to 300 pounds during my pregnancy and remained there until March 2002.  After I had my daughter, I began exercising regularly- little did I know that my passion for fitness would begin even though I couldn't get my emotional/compulsive eating under control.  Exercise became a form of therapy and I immediately started to feel better.

I tried dieting excessively and used diet pills off and on for countless years.  Nothing worked.  I would lose weight, get comfortable and revert back to my old eating habits and essentially the weight would come back again, virtually overnight.  I could not understand what was happening to me.  I was not able to make the connection that I was eating excessively and I was completely “oblivious” that I was dealing with life by stuffing myself with food. 

I eventually  ended up going to counseling and the therapist helped me to identify the reasons that I was overweight and eating excessively but I still refused to do anything about my weight.  I continued to exercise but chose to remain clueless about my eating because it was easier for me to continue living with the way things were rather than to make an effort to change my life circumstances. 

I was overweight, depressed and gave up every time life pushed me.  I stopped dreaming and had no guts.  I felt that if I tried to do all the right things in life (be a good person, mother, wife, friend, employee etc.), I’d be safe and have a lot of friends who’d really like me and a family that loved me.  But the truth is, I let life beat me into submission.  Deep down inside I was terrified of taking risks.  I really wanted to be successful with losing weight and keeping it off, but my fear of failing was greater than the joy of succeeding.

I didn’t go after it because I wanted a safe and perfect life.  Anger, resentment, sadness, depression, disgust, and self-hatred are what I felt instead of the “joy” of a perfect life. 

A a light bulb went off in my head in March 2002 and I got tired of being sick and tired. I realized that I had been lying to my daughter about self care and pursuing goals. I truly expected her to do everything she wanted to and to accomplish her goals, but I wasn’t being a positive role model for her.  I immediately tossed out my scale and did some soul searching about the reasons that led to my uncontrollable eating.  I didn’t change what I was eating, but I cut back on the amount of food that I was eating and eventually scaled back on dining out and lost 100 pounds in 18 months.

I initially started running to torch the calories and lose weight but it turned out to be so much more.  Running has built my confidence, self-esteem and discipline.   And running in races has changed my life in a magical way-I discovered a part of me that I didn’t know existed!

The route- 121st Street to 8th Avenue to 128th for a 1 mile in the letter U because it's a 1/2 mile from my house and Ron was able to assist/crew for me.

Started at 0415 and was a wonderful 50 degrees!

Mile   9  bathroom, changed shirt, water, See's candy and ViSalus....feeling good

Mile 16  bathroom, water, trail mix, See's candy

Mile 21  Diet Coke~best tasting liquid known to mankind feeling super fit and legit!!

Mile 27  black rice, grilled chicken breast, cup of pudding, ViSalus hmmm, sitting        down feels pretty good

Mile 32  water, trail mix

Mile 35  bathroom, Visalus feeling a little grumpy-uummmmm, where's Ronald-

Mile 36  2 popcicles  (love you Ron xoxo)

Mile 40  pretzles, G2, trail mix

Mile 45 water, sugar free Red Bull, See's candy- God and my feet will not fail me

Mile 48 Ron joined me for the last 2 miles........yaaaaayyyyy!!!

Mile 50  Roasted, toasted and completely done.

Ended the day celebrating with friends ~quinoa, salmon, cake and beer. Lots of beer and cake today uuuuuuhhhh, Sunday also- cheers!!!!

The reason I do what I do is because I'll never question His plan for me and to continually challenge myself to reach new goals and I refuse to die an unlived life!!  And because my goal, vision, dream, wish and prayer is to continue to reach folks with my personal story and to help motivate people to pursue a healthier and active lifestyle.

The method...........ran/jogged the first 20 miles...............miles 21-30 run/walked............31-50........get it done the best way I can.....tip toe, jog, crawl, shuffle, skip, scoot, walk..........just kept moving forward.  It never matters how fast or slow I go so long as I go.


Sometimes we are so use to the way things are-no matter how bad they are that we are scared to change and just give up.  Instead, be a willing participant and get involved in saving your health and don’t ever, ever give up.  Keep the faith, RR