A year ago we were in Las Vegas at Scentsy Convention and they kicked off the Scentsy Wellness program called Committed. This program is not a diet; it's a plan for integrating meaningful habits into daily routine over time. Taking small steps to get on your way to living the life you've always dreamed of!
Over the past year Scentsy has been working to help consultants stay Committed! I am honored to be a part of a company that recognized a problem and decided to do something about it and help it's consultants in whatever ways they could. As a part of Committed they decided to kick off this year's Scentsy Family Reunion with the Scentsy Family Fun Run 5K. Of course I had to sign up as soon as I could! How could I miss out when they were combining two of my favorite things?
We arrived Tuesday night and headed to the convention center for the 5K registration pick-up where we were given bibs, pins, a t-shirt, and a map of the course. Pick-up was super fast and easy. This was the first year for doing it so it was pretty low key. After heading back to the hotel and getting some dinner we decided to walk to where the race was going to be held so we could see how far it was from the hotel and so we could get a feel for the area. It was a beautiful area and seeing it made me super excited for the race!
Wednesday morning the race was to start at 9 but there was a surprise guest coming at 8:30 to kick things off. Tim and I wanted to get something to eat so we got up pretty early so we would have time to get ready and let our breakfast settle. We walked about a half mile to the park where the race was being held and used the bathrooms right away before the lines got too crazy.
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| Tim ready for the race. |
We did a little light stretching and took some pictures as our group started to arrive. It was already pretty hot and humid so we were making sure to drink before the race too.
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| Stretching and making sure ear-buds were in place |
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| Tim and me at the Start/finish line |
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| The rest of our "team" that was participating in the 5K |
It wasn't long and they had us gather at the stage for the surprise guest to get things kicked- off. Marlo, the Scentsy Wellness Manager talked a little about the program and introduced the speaker...
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| Marlo |
Ali Vincent was there as the guest speaker!!! I love her and was super excited that she was there. If you don't know who she is, what rock are you living under? Just kidding:) She was the first female biggest loser!
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| Ali Vincent!!! |
She did a great job getting everyone pumped up and ready to run. She was very motivating and told a bit of her story! What an inspiration for all of us!!
After she was done speaking it was time to head to the starting line and get ready. Being that this was the first year for the race there was one thing that bothered me- they didn't bother to tell walkers to line up in the back! We noticed people around us in flip-flops and jean shorts that were obviously not going to run so we gradually made our way to the front of the group.
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| Just a couple of rows from the front of the line! |
We have never been that close to the start line before! It was pretty cool to be right up in the front!
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| Just about "go" time! |
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| The view behind us! |
The start wasn't huge- they just did a count-down and yelled "go" and we were off through the beautiful park! Everyone spread out pretty quickly on the wide sidewalks and we passed several people right away. I had my MotoActv watch and about a quarter mile in I told Tim and Matt (one of our team mates that was also running) that we were ahead of pace and that we were starting too fast. We backed off a little as we were running along the river on one side and a large wall to the zoo on the other side. Tim and I talked off and on and we were telling all the volunteers along the course thank you for being there. As we got farther along the trail the air was heavy! About 1.5 miles in I started to feel the heat! It wasn't long after that when we turned and crossed the river and headed back up along the other side. At points we were feeling some of the breeze but there wasn't much of one for most of the course. There weren't a lot of people in front of us but we weren't able to catch many of them that were! We circled back around the park and crossed the sidewalk where we could see right down the chute to the finish line- too bad we still had a half mile to go at that point! The course bumped out to get that last bit of the distance in there and then came back around. Along this area is where I started to get a side-ache! I made sure to take several deep breathes and it felt better. It wasn't long and we were heading down the chute towards the finish line! We started off too fast and I didn't have much of a kick left in me at that point! We finished in 27:09 (per my watch). We were very happy with that considering the heat and humidity!
We grabbed apples and water and kept moving for a little while around the park. We congratulated the winners and then were able to visit with Marlo for a while.
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| Tim, Me, and Marlo |
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| Matt (finished his first 5K right behind us!!), Tim, me, and Marlo |
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| Tim and me at the finish line |
Matt, Tim and I hung out in the shade for awhile stretching and drinking water. As we were waiting for all of our team who was walking to finish we also got a chance to say hi to Ali! I was so excited I could hardly stand it!!!
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| Me, Ali Vincent, and Tim |
In the end it was a great race! It was such a beautiful course and it was so wonderful to see people of all shapes and sizes getting out there and doing it together! What a great way to kick off Scentsy Family Reunion 2013!
That sounds like so much fun! I love all the colorful balloons at the start line! And Ali Vincent is awesome! I met her at a local 5K a few years ago and she was super nice! I, like you, was super excited to get a picture with her! I love The Biggest Loser! Congrats on a great finish in the heat!
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