Let her eat cake!

First, is this not the most beautiful cake you've ever seen? The icing is pale, pale pink. The top two layers were chocolate with a peanut butter mousse filling and the bottom layer was white filled with hazelnut mousse.

Yum!

As my daughter was snapping away, she said we needed a really good shot for the blog. Here's my favorite [I'm having trouble formatting this properly; apologies if it doesn't show up where it's supposed to!]:

Now it's back to business. In thirteen weeks it will be 2007. Realistically, I won't make my goal of losing all the weight I want to lose by January 1. That's no reason not to keep on keeping on, though.

The wedding and reception were not "event" goals. [The 'I need to lose 10 pounds before the class reunion' kind of goal.] Mr. Shrinking Knitter proposed in May, while I started my plan last January. But just because the party's over doesn't mean I can relax. Looking at the full-body shots shows me I have some … issues … that still need to be addressed.

But I didn't once feel self-conscious or shy about having my picture taken. That's a significant shift in attitude for this formerly fat lady.

My husband's son runs marathons, and currently is in training for the upcoming Columbus and New York races. While I was running 6.6 miles on party day, he was doing a long run which ended up being more than 15 miles. He's in fantastic shape, and is a big inspiration for me.

I found a novice training program for a half-marathon, which suggests that before you begin you need to be able to run three miles three or four times a week. I can probably do that, although I don't think I ever have. The first mile of my walk is up a long, steep hill, so three miles of continuous running would have to start at the end of the first mile. I've done it before, many times, but probably not three times in one week. So I'll start by running those three miles three times this week: today, Thursday and Sunday.

I'm assuming you can run or walk more than three miles, and I'll certainly do that. A training program isn't necessarily a weight-loss program; looking at the schedule I can definitely see I'll have to do more to continue shedding pounds. And whether I actually ever run a real half-marathon or not, it'll be motivating to have something to work toward. I'm already walking/running 5 and 10K distances regularly, so training for that distance doesn't offer quite the same challenge as a half does.

A note to Vickie, who asked in a comment yesterday about my 'sticking points.' I have purposely not mentioned any weight numbers, Vickie, and I'm really uncomfortable doing that now. Maybe when I reach my goal I'll be able to go back and analyze and actually share the details. I'm just not ready to do that yet.

Finally, don't be shy about requesting a CD! Just send your name and address to shrinkingknitter AT citynet DOT net with a subject line of 'blessing music.' I'd hate to toss all these CDs, and I promise I won't stalk you.