My face is on HTP!!!

Just wanted to say hello to everyone landing over in my neck of the woods thanks to Caitlin's January Joiners piece. I found her blog back in March of 2011. I had started going to the gym in January and had hit a plateau and needed some new ideas and somehow landed on her blog. I had never been a runner before but as I read her posts I thought I might give it a try. Little by little I started pushing myself but I learned the right ways to increase speed and distance without hurting myself. I completed my first half marathon in November. My goal was to finish in less than 3 hours, I was AMAZED when I crossed the finish line in 2 hours 33 minutes!!!

A little more about me: I started losing weight after a major 70lb gain during nursing school. After I got out of school and started working the weight just started coming off. I was on my feet 5 days a week for at least 12 hours. Then I hit a plateau and my poor eating habits caught up with me. I am a major stress eater, so I was eating all the time and all the wrong foods. Through blogs like Caitlin's and others that I have listed on my page that I read almost daily I learned that other REAL, and NORMAL people got their lives in shape, ran races, and ate healthy.
It is something that has to be done day by day, and sometimes you fall off the wagon, you just cannot make that the excuse to stay off the wagon forever, just hop back on.
I am down approximately 75 pounds in 4 years, 35 of which I lost this year, not to mention becoming much stronger and much more cardiovascularly fit. This is a change anyone can make and if you are thinking of being a January joiner, be proud that you want to change your life. Keep yourself honest and take it one day at a time, things will not change overnight.

I made the granola bars last night and I really like them. I don't think that the husband cared for them too much. My only complaint is that they were REALLY messy. If I make them again I will probably decrease the amount of cocoa powder and add a dash of orange extract instead, but I am not a big chocolate person.

• 2 large overripe bananas
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup crunchy cereal I used cheap honey nut cheerios
  
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup(or any other sweetener you use) I used 1 tbsp brown rice syrup and 1 tbsp splenda
  
• 2 tbsp peanut butter or other nut or seed butter I used sunflower butter
  
• 2 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips I used carob chips
  
• 2 tbsp dried cranberries or other fruit I used raisins
  
• 2 – 4 tsp cocoa powder I used 2 tbsp and I still thought it was too chocolatey