Press Conference

As I mentioned earlier, we had a press conference today at Neyland Stadium.  Here is a little lookbook of the photos I was able to get.

Standing at the checkerboard

Me and Jason Altman (director of the marathon)

So stoked about Peyton's locker room

The team with Stewart Ellington, Carly Wall, and Kathy Wolski

My wonderful 2150 shoes checking out Neyland's turf.

Meeting the Main Marathon Man

Today, I had the opportunity to attend a press conference at Neyland Stadium that focused on the marathon.  I was so blessed to meet the mayor of Knoxville, the president/CEO of Covenant Health, and Stewart Ellington!  When it comes to road racing, I am somewhat of a nerd and actually follow certain people who tend to lead the front of the pack.  Stewart has won the Knoxville Marathon not once, but twice.  That is such an incredible feat and I was starstruck to actually get to meet him today.  I braved up and asked for a photo with him and it was probably one of the best moments of 2011.  The best thing is that he is so humble and so ordinary.  When I think of marathon winners, I think of these arrogant people who know they are superb runners and just want to brag.  But Stewart was so encouraging and really gave me some confidence about the race on Sunday.  It was such a blessing to have met him today.

Me and Stewart.

Snapshots

Love my gloves :)

Kickboxing, Kelsey style.

Notice the intense concentration.

My daily inspirations: Chris O'Hearn and Chip Gibson

News and Naples

Today has been the most blessed day ever.  Not only did I have a fabulous day at school (which included getting a 94 on my Western Civ exam), and shopping with two of my best friends, but I was on the news!  Yes, the Biggest Winner team was on Live at Five at Four today.  Yeehaw.  Following that, we went upstairs for a photoshoot, then it was off to our special treat: Naples!

Don't worry, Barbara Foster made special arrangements with the chef, so everything we ate was super healthy.  I got to sit across from Phil Bevins, the physical therapist for Parkwest Therapy Center.  He really offered some helpful insights and put my mind at ease from the nerves I had.  Dinner was delicious and afterwards, Tonya and Missy presented us with superlative awards.  The awards ranged from "Pam the Blam Award" to "The Tractor Pull Award".  My award was "Looking Good Award" since I always dress cute and have the smile of a beauty queen.  We even got personalized trophies with an appropriate icon and had our names on them.  So neat! We are 5 days away from marathon day and it is so incredibly exciting!

Kelly, Kelsey, and Chelsea

I'm the newest anchor at WBIR

 The team on the set of Live at Five at Four

Me and Foxxy taking over the job of Russell Biven and Beth Haynes

The team with our trophies.

My trophy

Close up of my award :)

I was a little pumped about getting a trophy, if you can't already tell.

Oh yeah!

Happy Sunday y'all!  Some of you guys may know this, but two goals on my fitness goals list were to 1. complete a 5k while running the entire time, and 2. to complete a 5k in under 30 minutes.  These goals did not have to occur together, they just had to happen.  Yesterday I participated in the Greenways 5k.  Missy and the team (along with myself) shot off the starting gun and then I hopped in line and actually did the race too.  The course was along one of my favorite places to run at so I was hoping to accomplish at least one goal.  Well, guess what.  I crossed the finish line in 30:44, barely missing my goal time, BUT I ran the whole entire time.  Go me!!  Also, I was second in the Athena division and 3rd in my age division.  Yeah, I'm cool. 

After the race, I headed downtown to stuff marathon goody bags for about six hours.  I met so many wonderful people, including a fellow blogger, Kim Emert.  Kim will be running her very first half this Sunday and I could not be more proud.  Go Kim!  Such a great day overall and could not feel more blessed.  Race day is offically one week away. 

Some of the team about to shoot the starting gun.

My friend Ashley, Missy Kane (with dog Rocky), and myself post race.

Newspaper Girl

Hey readers!  Today, I was the main article in the "Get Active" section of the Knoxville News Sentinel.  Read it to learn more about my story.  Here is the link:

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/mar/25/half-marathon-training-leads-to37-pound-weight-los/

Eli Young Band

Okay, this post has nothing to do with weight loss, but I still wanted to share with you.  Last night, me and two of my closest friends went to a charity concert at the Cotton Eye Joe. It was only 5 bucks to get in and one of the bands currently has a number one single on the country music charts.  So we got all dressed up and went.  It was such a good time, and we got really close for the Eli Young Band.  John Jones, the bass player even threw us a guitar pick (which I gave to Chandler).  After hearing the second band play their popular song, we just went to the back and played darts and stuff.  Low and behold if we didn't start seeing members of the Eli Young band.  We all took individual photos with them and to our surprise they were extremely nice and down to earth.  Great night with the ladies and it was good to actually go out and not focus on training for a bit. :)

With my sweet EYB guitar pick

Chandler and myself.

Chris Thompson, the drummer of EYB.  (So cute)

I'm Baaack

Hello faithful readers.  My apologies for not posting in so long.  I have been one busy bee.  Guess what!  The marathon is now 11 days away.  That alone is such a scary thought, but I am so looking forward to showing off all my progress and crossing that finish line in record time.  My body is a little sore right now due to my bravery in attempting new classes at the gym.  I recently tried Body Step and Body Pump which worked muscles that I still did not know that I had.  I also had a photo shoot this past week at the gym for my upcoming article in the Knoxville News Sentinel.  I'll be sure to post the article when it is published.  The next 11 days are packed to the brim, and I have countless things to attend to. 

I hope you all are working hard to achieve your goals and live your dreams.  I promise I will post more this week and give you much needed updates on my marathon life.  Loves!

Cades Cove Run

The weather could not have been more perfect today, so the Knoxville Track Club and myself took advantage of it and headed to Cades Cove for a training run.  We were blessed both by the weather and the surroundings.  I was within an arms reach of deer countless times.  The pictures speak for themselves.

Team member Scott Bolin and myself.

Before heading onto Hyatt Lane

Missy and myself.

Gorgeous view off Hyatt Lane

Go me!

Little hill over on Hyatt

"Are you ready to die"

Yesterday was back to the grind after a weekend of bad eating.  I woke up real early to watch myself on Missy Kane's tv show, then it was up to Chesnut for hill repeats.  Great way to start a morning.  Then it was off to the gym to see Chris and Chip.  Chris really put me at ease since I arrived feeling pretty awful about my weekend, and then it was gym time!  After telling Chip about my wretched weekend of eating badly, it was a unanimous decision between the two of us that our workout was going to be very intense.  He straight up told me it was going to be torture, and believe me when I say that it was hardcore.  Chip even carried apple juice in his pocket in case I got lightheaded from burning too many calories.  Yeah, I was ready to die.  But the workout was so incredibly worth it and I left feeling great. 

This morning was kickboxing with Stephanie which really kicked my butt, then I went for my final session with the lovely Barbara Foster.  They took my picture today, then printed it out and compared today's pictures with the photos they took the day I began this journey.  The change was so immense.  Not only did my actual physical appearance change, but the clothes I was wearing.  I began this process wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and today I was proud to wear cute workout shorts and a fitted shirt.  Go me.  My final meeting today was a bittersweet reminder that this process is coming to an end.  But I do not look at marathon day as the end, but rather the beginning to the rest of my life.  So pumped!!

Barbara holding 5 pounds of fat!  I have lost 6 of what she is holding!

Shoutout

My mother just informed me that a wonderful woman at our church, who just happens to be my former JV teacher reads my blog on a regular basis.  So this is a little shoutout to you, Angela Wilson.  Thanks so much for reading!

Women Today Expo

What a busy week it has been!  I know it has been a little bit since my last post, but this week has been full of papers and tests since I am on Spring Break next week.  Yesterday, I spent the day at the Women Today Expo at the Knoxville Convention Center.  I spent the first half of the day working at the Covenant Health booth handing out free prizes and checking women's blood pressure.  Then for the afternoon, Missy Kane and my fellow female team members took the spotlight on the conversation stage.  We shared our stories with so many women and told them our "secrets" to weight loss.  Being able to share my story and inspire other women was truly a blessing and am so grateful for such a public platform to pay it forward.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow at 7am on PBS to see me and Missy Kane sweat it out through some low impact kickboxing.  We now have 28 days left until the big marathon day.  I'm getting a little nervous and trying my hardest to lose the last little bit of weight in order to hit my goal by race day.  I'm not going to lie, the past couple of days have been rough as far as eating goes.  I have not made healthy choices as far as food goes, and the scale reflects that.  But tomorrow, its back to the grind and hopefully Chip will have mercy on my soul.