Our Navigation Pro

I didnt mention before what we learned on sunday, how could I forget?
Brian, our navigation pro, taught us how to use the compass and find our ways! something that I definitely needed orientation on. Brian, thank you so much for your time and patience, you're a really cool guy! Hope to see you again soon!

Amazing Sundays!!!

Just wanted to say thanks to Shane and Neil for Sunday...it was really fun doing the competition; I love competitions, they make me forget if I can get tried easily, if my legs hurt or if I can't hardly breathe anymore, all I am focused in the moment is to WIN WIN WIN...even though we DID NOT win on Sunday, I think it's was because we totally thought we were ahead of everyone...jajajjajaj isn't that funny....I wonder why we got that idea??? LOL, well that made us probably take it more easy, you know, we would stop and enjoy the pure air, taking deep inhales, and through some rocks in the lake..yeah right! jajajajja just kidding...there was no time for that!
But I'm definitely happy because we never got lost, I guess we learned to use the compass pretty well, and I for sure had a great partner! Partner, you rock!
Serenka definitely has a lot of resistance and a very smart person, with an amazing personality. I had a great time.
Now I can't wait to see what the guys have for us next! But in the meantime, my ankle is apparently better, so today I started running again in the mornings. I am so happy about this!!!

Well I got to sleep now....got to wake up at 6:00 for my run :) I will let you know how my week is going!

Ciao,

...a little update on myself...

Well, it's been a few tough weeks for a lot of us, but all I can say is that I have been chosen to be here for a reason; after I met Mer for the 1st time, I only spent time with her for a couple of hours on my 1st training, and yet she has in many ways changed my life most probably forever.

Ever since that day, I have been running 4-5 times a week, and I have been eating more carefully and more healthier, no diet, just a change of lifestyle. It's nice that while I'm running and I'm just about to leave it at that, I heard Meredith's voice, pushing me to keep going just as she did on my 1st training and of course I listened.

I have done my homework repeatedly, I haven't been able to go through it all 3x but it's hard to push yourself to the limits when your alone, but I know I can do better and I will. I feel really great, I have lost around 6-7 pounds already and my family and friends are seeing the results.

But the thing that makes me really happy is that after that day, I sat down and read Meredith's blog...It touched me so much, I don't think I have ever met someone like her, so dedicated, happy and with the urge to help others in need. That really got to me! After that, I promised myself to be as much as I can as she was; enjoy every second of my life with my family and friend as it were my last, help and care for one another and people in need. I will do something, and I will do it also for my children, to teach them the importance of sharing, helping and giving just as Mer did with Paige. That was something really awesome she was doing. I just loved it!

That day, I had a little talk with my oldest son Alan, he is 5 years old, and we talked about the paying it forward concept and I asked him if he would like to help someone? he said yes, I would like to help Ben (his best friend) tidy up his toys...so that week he did! It was really nice to see him all excited to help Ben; at the moment I can't do 52 weeks, but I will slowly be encouraging him to help others until maybe we can take it to another level.

As to another thing that really makes me happy is that I have inspired 4 people in this last 2 weeks to get up and start doing exercise and to take time for themselves; life is not all about work!...and they feel great which makes me feel even greater!
I bought my bike...nothing wow or anything, but I love it....I still haven't been able to ride it..I know I know..that's not a good thing at this point :( just a bit fearful I guess, but I will tomorrow morning I hope, I know I should have road it for 30 mins before our training tomorrow, but I got to be honest here, right? So I really hope tomorrow I can keep up with you guys!

I am very excited though to see everyone, to see Susie. You know, I have talked a lot about Mer, but Susie is a person just like Meredith, beautiful hearts.

Well, It was nice writing here again, will definitely be here more often; and as I said at the beginning, everything in life has a reason to be; Meredith has left, but she has given life to lots of other people.

Bless her soul!

Workout #1

All I can say is OUCH!!!! I can’t reach down, reach up, walk fast, running is out of the question, I can’t go up the stairs or down without feeling the WONDERFUL pain in all my muscles. So, yesterday Monday, when I woke up, I had to stay an extra hour in bed trying to figure out how I was going to stand up, jajajaja. Now I understand when Suzie said to me: “I will go easy on you with this one because I want you to be able to walk tomorrow". She wasn’t kidding! So I had no choice then to rest my body on Monday, and today I did my first workout, uhmm it was painful, but after the warm up, skipping for 5 mins my body wasn’t hurting as much, except for my arms, I confess that I couldn’t finish doing the pushups, I really couldn’t. I did it all, yupiiiii!!!
Right now, my body still hurts a lot, but I’m getting used to it I guess, it really is a wonderful pain because I know it’s the results of a good workout. I wonder if anyone else is in as much pain as I am? Well, let’s see how I wake up tomorrow.....

Take care,

J. :)

WHAT A SUNDAY!!

Wow! that was the hardest thing I have done in a long time; I felt soooooo out of shape, I mean at first I thought I had it, you know jumping the ropes...jajajaja I was like, this is easy....but after 5 mins I was literally dying..jejejeje,but all I kept repeating over and over in my head was: Do you want to look good? Well keep going then! That’s what basically made me finish, even though there were tough moments for me, when I really just couldn’t any more and just before I was about to quit, unexpectedly my team mate beside me would just say: "Come on Joyce, were almost finished" and that small detail, really helped me to get strength from underneath and continue.
I was really grateful for that; It was the perfect thing to say in the perfect moment. Even through Sunday was my first workout and my first day sharing with everyone, I felt very welcomed. I sensed all the teamwork and above all, I sensed the friendship. Thanks guys!!!!
And thanks Szerenka for your support!
Suzie and Meredith, in my books, your guys are way to cool :)

Meeting the team!!!

On Sunday I finally met the team! You know I didn't know what to expect, I wasn't sure if this was for real or what type of people I was going to be dealing with, but when I arrived I felt very good and then I knew it was for real...that’s when I started to get a little nervous, and starting thinking what have I gotten in too ??? jejeje but I calmed down because I know that all I got to do is give my 100% because I have a reason to be here. The guys from Race Day Rush (http://www.racedayrush.com/) are amazing, just very down to earth and easy going, for me that’s great! Susie and Meredith from Phat Chicks (phatchicks.ca) are such wonderful and fun people... I cant wait for them to put me in shape.

It was very exciting for me to meet all the other contestants....they all seem to be great people and I see we have lots in common...I am very much looking forward to getting to know all of the girls and hopefully create a nice relationship.

Just wanted to say, that’s again for this amazing opportunity.

J.

I GOT IN!!!

Hi everyone...I have be chosen to participate in a contest for RACE DAY RUSH !!! this is very exciting for me....so, how did this happen? Well, while looking on internet on ways to have a more balanced lifestyle, eating healthy and exercising, I bumped into this contest and I submitted my story and I got in. Therefore, I would like to share with everyone the story of my life:

Hi, my name is Joyce and I am 29 years old.I happened to see your ad regarding this race and I said to myself, this is exactly what I need. To do something drastic in my life. My background is from the Dominican Republic, but I was born an partly raised in Toronto. When I was younger in elementary school I was very active, I always participated in many sports. After a while we moved to the Dominican Republic; living there was great, that's were I met my wonderful husband and after almost 2 years we had our first child Alan.

One day while I was pregnant with Adrian, our house got on fire, we lost almost everything referring to the materials stuff, which to me is nothing, thank God nothing happened to any of us. That's when we decided to move to Canada for a new beginning, a better life. After Adrian was born, 6 months later, I was pregnant again with Alec. Oh boy things were getting busy and still are. As you can imagine, I have not had much time for me or to lose the baby weight I have gained one after another.

I am still young and I'm just very convinced that I really have to do something about it before it's too late, I really want to feel healthy and over all, I owe it to my children as well, I want to be healthy and active enough to do activities and sports together with them and really enjoy them as much as I can, as I want them to enjoy me. And I got to look good for my husband, jeje. As you see, I have plenty of determination and motivation. I hope my story is good enough to be able to participate and get in shape.Thanks for this opportunity.

See you soon,

J