And the Winners ARE…..

To heck with American Idol and Dancing with the Stars!  We have the winners of our first ever Fab Fatties Challenge!  WOO HOO!  This past week has been so much fun and so inspiring.  We have had so many people tell us that we inspire them but the truth is you all inspire us 1000 times more 🙂  When we threw this challenge out there we had no idea that so many of you would respond and participate the way that you all did.  There were a lot of miles covered ladies!  For all of you who have been asking…YES we will be doing another challenge!  We will announce it on Tuesday May 26th so keep watching!

The 2 winners were chosen by covering the mile minimum (FYI they both covered more.)  They also had to submit a short story of what the challenge did for them.  This was not an easy task we had fantastic stories and experiences to choose from and to us everyone that participated is a winner.  We use twitter id’s quite a bit so if you are not on twitter, get on and follow these FABULOUS Friends of ours!  Along with the winners we wanted to share a few things that some of the other participants sent us so please enjoy the inspiration they have shared and use it to stay motivated this week!

Winner of the 50+ Bike Miles…seventy_eight!!!!!

 

I am @seventy_eight on twitter and here is my story.

 

At the start of the challenge the most I had ever done on a bike was about 20 minutes and I wasn’t really sure what my potential would be for this. I feel like up until now I have always set myself challenges and never had the power to finish them properly. I decided that this time would be different. The support I got from you and everyone else was amazing – I loved taking photos of the display of the bike because it meant I had to be honest with myself.

 

When I started to get close to 50 miles I knew I had to step it up to keep it challenging. I chose 78 miles because I knew it would take an extra push (and oh my goodness it did) and the number 78 has been important to me on my journey. I am so pleased I got to 78 miles. This week has been tough (hectic at work, couple of big social events and have had my little heart broken too) and the fact I did it this week is testament to how strong I am getting now.

 

Thank you so very much for organizing this and showing me that if I dare to dream I might just be able to achieve that little bit more than I thought I would.

seventy_eight  Thank you for inspiring us!  You are absolutely amazing 78 miles! WOW! 

Winner of the Run/Walk 15 Miles…Kathy!!!!

I ran (and sometimes walked) 22 miles this week. That is about normal for me, but your challenge came at just the right time to give me the inspiration I needed. I have a strained right hip abductor muscle. It happened at the gym, on a resistance machine that I have been doing for a while, but not as regularly as I should. It’s funny, because that machine seems easy to do compared to many of the machines. I had just run a race a few days before, and I guess I just overdid it. Anyway, my hip was sore, and I was feeling old. I started to think that I might be too old to be running. Many of my non-running friends and relatives are always telling me that I am ruining my knees or my hips by running. Just as I was thinking that maybe they were right, your challenge came along. So instead of giving up, I did all the research I could on the hip muscle strain. Most people think it is better to keep moving on a strain if you don’t overdo it. So I kept going, iced a lot, took some ibuprofen, and even tried substituting spanks under shorts for compression shorts. Now my hip is better, so thanks! I have a 10 mile race this Saturday that I didn’t have to give up on.

Biking 50 miles sounds a lot harder to me than running 22 miles. I was thinking more about biking because of you and the nice weather we’re finally having here. So I bought a bike helmet! I haven’t actually ridden the bike yet – it is hanging on hooks on the garage ceiling! But I’m going to get it down soon and start biking more. I know it is good cross training for running, and I will probably stay healthier if I mix up the exercise more. So thanks for the inspiration there too!

Kathy @KKirkscey on twitter.   Thank you so much for being a Fabulous Friend you are so motivating to us!

More fabulous friends who did an AMAZING job!

Our official Cheerleader Terri @tee_tee on twitter she got injured and had to stop but still has a ton of heart!)

Ok…so I didn’t really get to participate except for two days.  Good news it encouraged me to get in 3.5 miles when I was able to.  What a motivator this was for so many people.  Although I had to stand on the sidelines, as the official cheerleader, it is tremendous to see people perform!!  Everyone did a great job!   A huge thanks to you two gals for putting this all together.  Sign me up for the next one! 

Our Fab Friend @foodiemcbody on twitter WAY TO GO!

I completed (Tues-Tues) 21 miles of combined walking and running this week.  I learned to listen to my body this week. I had some aches and pains so I really tried to walk when it hurt, but I never stopped.  At this point I feel great and ready to do another 5k run on May 30th!!
You two are wonderful support for each other and such a great example of what real Community means.
oxoxo

Fab Friend @DietGirlMel on twitter

Wish I could tell you I did all 15 miles, or more, but I didn’t. 😦 I only did 13.66. Still WAY more then I would have done on a treadmill in one week though. I think the hardest part of all this for me was that I’ve always opted to take the easy route, and use the elliptical. Not because I have any kind of knee problems, but it’s really just easier. But doing this challenged me, and though I didn’t do all 15 miles, I’m really proud of myself. I always seem to wuss out after about twenty or so minutes, but I was forced to challenge myself and keep going, and push myself as hard as I could. Doesn’t happen too much when it comes to my cardio. So thanks a bunch for doing this! I hope you do it again because next time I won’t disappoint you!  **FYI No Way could anyone dissapoint us you ROCK! xo FabFatties

@ladaun on twitter AKA Shannon’s Mom

I did it!-almost.   I am lacking just under a mile!   ** Mom, you are an inspiration to me thanks for participating! -S

Fabulous Friend @DebraMazda on twitter  ** If you have not seen what this Fabulous woman does, visit her site! 
The challenge helped me in that I got to meet some great women who not only allowed me to motivate them but more so they motivated and inspired me with their energy, commitment and enthusiasm. I felt a tremendous sense of community and sisterhood from women coming together with a common goal to move into better health/fitness. I also knew that this challenge would tap into larger, plus size women and allow them to understand that they could be an athlete without being a size 2 or 4. I have always beleived that ”FITNESS COMES IN MANY SIZES” and this challenge has helped my vision to certainly become a reality. I want to give fabfatties a special thanks, because of this challenge I think that more women have begun to move and breathe. Here is a picture of my Hannah, who did the 50 mile challenge with me by running and power walking to keep me motivated. My thoughts and feelings are on  my website: www.debramazda.com
“FITNESS COMES IN MANY SIZES”

Debra is the top one on the left!

Hannah, Debra's running partner!