~Melanie

I first met sweet and sassy ultra-athlete Sarah Stanley a couple of months ago in California (photo on the left, Sarah on the right) and she told me she was training to run a 100 mile race.

Yes, 100 miles.

At one time.

So what’s it like to run that far? Besides crazy?  (But trust me, she doesn’t seem the least bit crazy…)

If you read her blog, Sarah Stanley Inspired, you’ll realize that she is all about Sarah Stanley The Inspiration.  That’s right; she’s not doing it for money. Or for athletic prowess. Or even on a wild bet. No, Sarah’s running to inspire others.

So read on in Sarah’s own words as she describes her 100 mile journey in her updates from her phone (via Twitter) during her run. Yes, that’s right, she tweeted live while she raced.

(If you aren't tech-savvy, Twitter is a social media tool where you can talk in real time
with followers/friends from your computer or your phone, the catch being you can only use
140 characters or less in each update. 
Sarah used the hashtag #100miles which I edited out for ease of reading.)

-15min till start of #100miles! Eek!

-I can’t even begin to tell you what I am feeling as I get ready to run – 102 is going to rock #100miles today!

-25min into #100Miles clear, crisp morning. Hill right now. I can’t believe I am doing this! Woohoo!

-Little fast, 40min for 4miles. Feeling good, right calf an issue tho.

-Another hill. Mile 5! 53min.

-Been climbing over a mile. Still going up! Will climb over 2k feet on the way out. Fun times!

-I want to take this chance to thank Verizon. You guys rock! I won’t have reception the whole time but a lot of it! #100miles

-Beautiful out here! Can’t wait to see @grshane at mile 17! Inside legs are already chafing! Ouch!

-Feeling strangely great about #100miles ! I know I WILL kick butt today! W00t!

-The trees+woods are getting a lot of visitors!

-YAY! Downhill + some flat course! Mile 9.5ish

-http://twitpic.com/eugxz [note: this refers to Sarah's photo of the ten mile marker; shown on the left]- One more zero & I will be thrilled! under 2hrs!

-There is no shade out here! Ultra tan baby!

-http://twitpic.com/euory [note: this refers to Sarah's photo of the road; shown on the right] – Part of the trail, top of hill is aid station! Mile 16, 3hrs in

-Just rolled through mile 20 aid station.

-Pringle aid station down. This is getting tough eek! Send some inspiration my way.

To say I am about dead is an understatement. The heat is slowing everyone down. 30miles in 6:30ish. Its over 90. On I go!

-Hey friends, need some encouragement. PLEASE! This is tough! Looking forward to the night just for shade!

- Its me. Not much to say other OMG!  —[note: sarah's referring to the photo of her; on left]

-Thank you all! Why am I doing this? One word: 2 inspire you. I’m just trying to not die!

–Give me the courage to keep it up. The strength to finish. The joy of crossing the finish line! #100miles 7.5hrs into it!

I would like to sit in a cruise ship size tub of ice w/ an ice cold adult bev. Let me say the heat is frying me!

-Almost 8hrs into(including stops at aid stations) really looking forward to the chilly air tonight. Yes I am

-Let state this before I start to lose it I could never do this w/out @grshane thank you, thank you, thank you my friend!

-At Mile 37 aid station trying to get some food down. Not easy. Changing up some things on the way out.

-On the trail again. EMT & @grshane held me back in order to get food+fluids down. Wearing camel back now.

-I feel like a piece of toast. Only the toast has been in the toaster for 9 hours.

-Oh my! Male leader just passed me. I am at mile 40+ he is at mile 60? I think? In 9.5hrs

-Almost half way! Baby (yes talking to myself has begun) you can do this.

-Good girl (to self). @grshane will be happy to know I got a GU down+water.

-No, I am just making it up. Hell yes I am running #100miles Friends tell her! RT @willowstream @sarahstanley Are you really doing 100 miles?

-Mile markers r messed up. I have 42+,but just passed 40mile aid station. I made every1 lol when I exhaled powder all over my face!

-Let me just state 4 the record that my feet are killing me. Not good. I have another 45+miles to go! #100miles thx 4 ALL the love!so neededabout

-11hours into #100miles run 45miles ish. Let’s pray I can pick the pace up heading home!

-50 down hard part is behind me can’t wait for my shower at the end.

-OMG! 52miles was the turn around! It was VERY tough 40-53miles. Now the sun has gone now & I am kicking butt! Just left 55!

-This is by far the toughest thing I have EVER done. IT IS not easy but I am SO thankful for you all!

-I really can’t believe my legs are letting me run. Duck tape rocks, btw. Banana dipped in salt do no! Come on baby break 24hrs!

-I owe my 2nd wind to you! RT @grshane: Second wind for @sarahstanley. Almost beat me to the aid station.

-I can’t wait to finish! Let me say I am in love w/ the dusk. The sun took EVERYTHING out of me!

-People!YES, I will RUN #100miles till I cross the finish line! No sleep! Been running for 13hrs now. Passed mile 55 feeling good/strong

-Sorry friends, been running 14hrs. Oops! Getting dark+cool. Thank god! #100miles

-I can’t begin to tell you .5% how I feel right now. #100miles is a FREAKIN’ long way. I am on a 5mile hill climb now by myself:) w/ a

-I am running up this forever hill yes I am. Legs I love you!

-Oh, just an fyi no music:) #100miles

-Re: music. I didn’t get any shuffle or ipod donations so @grshane let me use his between miles 30-40. No music b4 or after.

-Where the hell is the moon? Its DARK out here! Just me+the trail.heard an owl tho!:) 8:43pm MST

-Mile 60 in 15hours. Just changed. Getting food down 4 the 1st time ALL day! Feeling good!

-Thank you ALL for your replies!!! #100miles getting it done! #fb

-Its really dark out here! Few stars & a sunk! Phew! Been running almost 17 hours now. Past mile 65+!

-Legs are feeling…..um, kinda tired+sore! Pressing on to mile 70! W00t! So proud of me! I can say that, right?:) #100miles

-I may be walking like a cowboy(or cowgirl) tomorrow:) just sayin’ AND 2 let u know its quite lonely out here!

-20 to go. Feeling strong.

-16 to go sub 24 in reach

-10.5 to go. Just want to be done.

-OMG!!! I am no longer a #100miles ultra virgin! 25hours! OMG!!!! Been up for 28hrs!

-I am in awe!!! It was a team effort to get me to the finish line. MANY thanks to @grshane!

-Body inventory check. OMG. Tops of feet bruised(bad), blisters on heels are outrageous, chafing on back, chest/ legs is OUCH.

-I can’t even begin to say how huge this is!!!! OMG! Think I placed 3rd in age group!

-The “burns” on my body are very painful, just saying. #100miles

-Only able 2 doze for 2hrs. Major pain. I am SO freakin’ proud of me#100miles in 25hrs is WOW for 1st time! Thx for ur @’s! keep em coming

-I proved many nay sayers wrong w/ my 1st attempt at #100miles by finishing in 25hours! YES! I ran for 25 straight hours!!! Up for over 28!

-Thank you to ALL who followed and @ me!!!! I hope you enjoyed my #100miles journey:) oh & btw, will be talking about this a lot:)

–& u know what? I NEVER lost my mental game. Kept expecting 2 see things & never did! Thx 2 @grshane 4 forcing fluids/food down me

-Taking applications for personal assistants. Could use one this week:) lol!

-I am feeling very emotional right now. But also joy, happiness, proudness(yeah, made up word:)) of what I did.

-Feeling rather sick. It was almost impossible for me to eat during the entire 25hr #100miles can’t even begin 2 tell u how I feel!:)

-Getting ready (ever so slowing) to go to awards+brunch!

Sarah placed 3rd in her age group and 34th overall with an official time of  24:58:03. Racing for twenty four hours straight! Isn’t she amazing?  I’m so grateful to have met her, she is truly a wonderful inspiration.

Sarah’s graciously agreed to do a Skype interview with Girlgetstrong and we’ll post it as a follow up article as soon as we can.  Have questions for Sarah?  Leave them in the comments and we’ll do our best to ask them for you. Don’t want to miss it? Sign up to receive our articles daily via email or rss.  In the meantime, visit Sarah’s gorgeous blog to view her story, videos, photos and updates and be sure to sign up for her newsletter.

Want to read more about the Lean Horse Ultra?  Here’s ultra-athlete Julie Berg’s story, with all the details.

The GGS crew are closing the office for Spring Break and will be away until March 24, 2010.  We have promised our families no computers or phones.  So we have some favorite encore posts until that time. 

~Happy Spring, from the GGS crew!

To give you some background information, eight years ago in late July 2001, I found myself alone one cold, dark and rainy Saturday morning.  My darling husband had finally lost his 12 year battle with a rare chronic disease.  We’d been together for 14 years when he suffered his fourth stroke, and died in my arms.  At the beginning, we’d only had three dates over two weeks before he got down on bent knee and proposed; we were soul mates from the start.

We were only married for 1 year before he was diagnosed with a very rare bone marrow disease, and it put paid to a lot of our dreams.  The medical merry-go-round started spinning us around and continued doing so for the next 12 years.  Our dreams of normal disappeared quickly, as did my hope for children.  I sacrificed having children for the sake of my sanity.  How could I do it all?  I was renovating a house, commuting up to 3 hours per day, studying at university, managing his health requirements, and NOT looking after me.

Without a support group, or family to lean on, I struggled to hold our world together.  Looking back now, it doesn’t seem real the things I did, but sometimes you’ve just got to get on and do, don’t you?  I slowly stopped looking in the full length mirror and before long the only mirror I looked in, really, was the one in my makeup bag when I sat on the train applying my makeup at 6.30am on my way to work.

The first twelve months after his departure was difficult, and I really didn’t care about me much at all.  But later, the day came that I had an epiphany.  I got real with myself.  I saw who I had become and I hated it. I’m 5ft 5” and I weighed 88kg (approx. 194lbs) and was at 44% body fat and I knew I had a big reason why to lose the weight.  Two and a half years later I stood on stage at my first competition in a sparkly bikini showing off the new body.  I had lost 25kgs (55lbs approx) and 28% body fat.  The nice people there even gave me a title – 2006 Sydney Women’s Natural Masters Physique Champion – and a trophy!

Unfortunately at the hands of my controlling, emotionally-abusive (now ex) boyfriend, incorrect habits overtook me again.  It’s taken me two years to heal his damage, as well my biomechanically dysfunctional hips.  I’ve made promises to some of the most incredible people I’ve met in this sport to come back.

I’m back into full training, dieting on whole natural foods, and supplementation (all natural and no chemicals).  GOAL – 2010 Australian Natural Women’s Masters Bodybuilding Championship.  I’m six weeks away from turning 50, and in the best state of my life!

I’d love to have you in my pit crew, and share my journey from here to centre stage with you, but only if you want to come along?

Laynie

Laynie@aanet.com.au

What keeps us going when we want to quit our workout?

Well, speaking for myself, I always want to quit running!  But I don’t because I know I’ll feel so good after if I just keep going, putting one foot in front of the other.  If I stop and walk, I know I’ll be mad at myself and as my poor husband can attest, being on the receiving end of my anger isn’t really nice, lol!

But what keeps you motivated?  Hit me with a comment below and tell me what keeps you going during your workout when all you want to do is quit.

And while you are thinking about it, here’s a great – and motivating – video from Ultra Marathoner David Goggins.  You don’t need to be an extreme athlete to benefit from what David says about motivation.

So what keeps you motivated?  Leave a comment and share!

We’re honored to have our friend Debbie write a guest post series for us about her health and weight loss journey.  Welcome back, Debbie, and thanks for sharing your story with us.

* * *

There comes a day when you decide that it is time to make some changes.  For me, today is that day.

I believe that I need to give everyone a little background knowledge to understand why things need to change.

I am 39 and weigh 255 pounds.

I am size is a 16 – 18, and have been working with a trainer for the past two years.  I have faced some major adversity along the way such as being diagnosed with a thyroid issue, gluten allergy, hormonal imbalance and when I had finally started to lose a bit of weight, this winter I broke my shoulder socket.  So adversity seems to be my middle name.

I cannot imagine what it would have been like had I not worked with my trainer for the past two years.  I think I would have been 300 pounds by now.

I was very obese and lost 85 pounds to have children ten years ago, but even then I was still a size 14 pant and size 10 top, but I weighed 185 (lowest as an adult ever).  When I was at my heaviest I was 260 and size 24.  So I was well on my way to trying to eat myself to death during my twenties.

After having children I have slowly been gaining weight so two years ago I wanted to do something about it and hired a trainer.  Well not everything went smoothly and the weight was not coming off so I went to see a naturopath to discuss my situation.

I think of my situation as very unique.  I have a team of people that work with my to try to help me work out all the kinks.  It has been 18 months of this and they are still puzzled as to why I have not lost any weight.  I think of myself as having my own Dr. House (without the attitude) trying to figure it out and they are still perplexed, but we are starting to make small progress.  Of course, the shoulder break has been the biggest setback as I cannot workout the same as I have been used to.

I understand that this journey is not one that will happen overnight and it is not easy.  I have worked very hard recently on all of my issues and my biggest obstacle was slowing down to allow my body to heal.  Now that I am in recovery and slowly regaining the strength in my shoulder, I need to make sure that I take care of the rest of my body.

Weekly I will update you on my progress and how things are going.  Plus I am having my measurements taken next week and I am finally not scared or ashamed to share.  I have struggled with my weight most of my adult life and it is time to stop cowering in the rabbit hole.  I am going to get healthy in my mind, sole and BODY if it is the last thing I do.

Where to start?  I am starting by writing down everything that I put into my mouth daily for 7 days and letting my trainer look over what I am eat to see if there is anything that I can change.  As well, I am going to implement the following changes within the next week:

1. Go to the gym 3 times during the week
2. Continue working on shoulder exercises twice a day
   1. Physiotherapy on shoulder twice a week
3. Cut down sugar by half
4. Only 2 cups of caffeine a day
5. Drink 10 glasses of water a day

On my path to healthiness, I need to start really looking at why I weigh 255 pounds.  I cannot believe after all I know and do, I weigh that much.  Somehow I have to find the reasons for it and start making more changes.  One reason I know that causes me to binge eat is drama.  I am an excellent listener and work with troubled youth so my job is surrounded by craziness most of the time.  I have learned not to ride the roller coaster that these youth are on but I am not always great at it.  I also have to not let people in my personal life do this as well.  I need to cut out other peoples’ drama out of my life!!!

What I have not done in the past and what I am going to start doing now is focus on what I have done.  I have been going to the gym regularly even when I broke my shoulder.  I have been making sure that I do what is necessary to get my range of motion back as soon as humanly possible.  I am taking as much time to make sure that I am taken care of and daily I am writing down five positive things I have done in the day to make my life healthier.

So please join me on the journey and I promise to be as open and honest about my path to healthiness as I can.  Hopefully you can join in on your own journey and we can keep track of how you are doing too.

Yours,

Debbie

Yet more reinforcement that weight loss and fitness comes from eating right and working out and dedication.  Fellow Vancouver girl and one of the getfitchicks, Stacey shares her inspiring story on weight loss and working out.

Congratulations Stacey, you are also the lucky recipient of Greens+ Extra Energy and a bottle of Proteins+ courtesy of Genuine Health as our GGS Girl of the month for February.

A few years ago I was a very unhappy fat girl.

And when I say fat I mean FAT – I was 5’4″ and weighing in at 264 pounds.  Not exactly what you would call healthy!

Despite the extra weight I loved being active and was a regular gym visitor and skiier.  After a few years of yo-yo dieting I decided to take a step and hire a personal trainer – best move I could have ever made.

Devin at Kalev Training (www.kalevtraining.com) got me on a program and became my main motivator.  Even still it wasn’t until a few months into the process that Devin put me through fitness testing and I REALLY turned a corner.

I’m a competitive person at heart and and soon as I got my fitness test results I decided I want to not just beat them next time, I wanted to blow them out of the water.

Three months later when we tested again I did – I was down 36 pounds and my cardio and strength showed huge improvements.

That was just the tip of the iceberg.  For the next year I continued to train hard and eat right.

The results?

I have now reached my goal weight (128 pounds) – I lost 134 pounds total which is more than I currently weight!

And even better – I’ve discovered a TON of activities that I love to do.  I love trail running and did my first half marathon on the trail in October – next up will be a full!

I started rock climbing and it’s quickly becomming a passion and I’m getting ready for my first backcountry ski trip.  All things I never could have done a year and a half ago.

Huge thanks go out to Devin (who I still train with only now we’re training for races and activities rather than weight loss) and the support system I’ve had with family and friends.

Stacey blogs about her adventures at www.getfitchicks.com.

~Do you have a fitness or weight loss story to share?  Send it to melanie(at)girlgetstrong(dot)com, along with your photos.