#20Week2WineDine Virtual Cash Challenge

So our #WineDineC210KPrep couch to 10K is over and now it’s time to start our 20 week to Half Marathon Training here at Desperately Seeking Slender!

If you missed out on our couch to 10K, now is the perfect time for you to join us in this 20 week beginner to half marathon training schedule!

But guess what? THIS time I’m going to encourage you to participate by offering the participant with the best overall time improvement a $100 cash prize. But did you know that you don’t have to enter to participate?

It’s how we combine my dream of helping people on their weight loss journey with your desire to be the healthiest you can be! Did you ever think to yourself, no matter how much you wanted to get motivated, and get moving, and lose weight, “I could never do that.” Well, if you follow along with me, you and the other Slender Seekers out there will progress step by step until you can make it through a half marathon event, either privately or at some official event. You don’t have to do anything but keep up with this blog and keep pace with us. Believe me, I know that it’s hard to get started, impossible to get motivated and harder to maintain when the work gets really hard. I’ve been there. But you have me as your weight loss coach, I’m going to be there for you. In fact I’ve designed a 20 week training program to help you. All you have to do is follow it and you know that I’ll be here, every step of the way to help you. You can always contact me by email or on Facebook if you have any questions, concerns or obstacles that you need help finding a way past.

#20Week2WineDine Half Marathon Training Schedule ( Click on the Image to Enlarge )

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, and I encourage you to keep me posted on your personal progress through emails I can share with all the other Slender Seekers out there. Because here at #TeamSlenderSeekers we like to get out the pom poms and cheer each other on.

But what if you want to win $100 in cash? Here’s the details on the #20Week2WineDine Cash Challenge

The contest is intended to motivate those that have been affected by obesity to find the FUN in fitness and the emotional outlet that exercise provides. For this reason, if you want to formally enter the contest, you must have lost a significant amount of weight or be in the process of still losing weight in order to enter. For this contest we will define significant weight loss as 50 pounds or more. So if you’ve lost 50 pounds or more, are in the middle of losing a total of 50 pounds or more or have more than 50 pounds to lose you qualify for this contest! Any mode of weight loss is acceptable, you don’t have to be a bariatric patient like myself to enter.

To enter, send an email to pandora@desperatelyseekingslender.com including your Name, Address, Phone Number and selfie ( it must be a selfie ) of yourself (during your first run/jog/walk) along with a Screen Shot of a run during your first week of training 06/22/14- 06/28/14 in order to register your original time. Please also list your mode of exercise: walk, jog, interval run, or running.

To make it super easy, just copy and paste this into the email you send me:

Name:

Address:

Phone Number:

Mode of Exercise / Time of Intervals:

Attach Selfie and Photo or Screen Shot of first Challenge Run.

As an example my own personal entry might look something like this:

Name: Pandora Williams

Address: 999 Cloud Nine, Mile High NC, 99999

Phone Number: 999-999-9999

Mode of Exercise / Time of Intervals: Interval Running : 4 Minutes Running, 1 Minute Walking

Attach Selfie and Photo or Screen Shot of first Challenge Run: See Attached Photos

Acceptable Screen Shots include: Screen Shot of the run on a run tracker like IMapMyRun, RunKeeper or my personal favorite, Zombies, Run! 3. Or a photo of your distance monitoring apparatus such as a photo of the results on your Nike+ SportsWatch GPS or something similar. If the weather doesn’t permit you getting out there (I know it’s hot these days!) A screen shot of a treadmill walk/run will do too. Here is an example of a couple of screen shots that would be accepted.

If you are participating in the contest, you must submit screen shots of your long runs each week in order for me to be able to track your progress. Then sometime between 10/26/14 and 11/01/14, you must send a final selfie and screen shot of your run time in the same manner after completing the 14 mile run on week 18 (This gives you a week to do that last walk/run and get your time in if you don’t end up doing long runs on Saturday).

The entrant with the best overall percentage time improvement will win $100!

2^nd Place Prize will receive a Gift Basket from one of our Sponsors.

Entrants may, walk, jog, use interval running or consistent running, however if you enter with a straight walk time you MUST also finish with a straight walk time.

You must specify your mode of exercise with entry.

DSS Tip: Using Interval running instead of straight walking–even if those intervals are long durations of walking and very short durations of jogging–will give you a better chance of overall improvement time later. For example if you walk for 4 minutes and 30 seconds and jog for 30 seconds now. But by the end of the contest you walk for 1 minute and run for 1 minute, you’re overall time improvement will be greater.

I’d love to learn that more Slender Seekers are joining us at home in an unofficial capacity; I want to cheer you on because I KNOW YOU CAN DO THIS.

Best of luck to everyone! Let’s celebrate weight loss and our journey to a happy and healthy life by saying hello to your first Half Marathon!