Some of you may have already read this, but this is where/how my journey all began.
Sunday February 7, 2010
WOW – I will always refer to this day as The Biggest Loser Day! It was truly AMAZING!!! I can honestly say that it was the single most motivating and inspiring day of my whole life. I am completely motivated and renewed about weight loss – my life will never be the same again as far as weight loss is concerned. It all started Friday on my way to work when I heard on the radio (96.3 KSCS) an interview with 3 of the BL contestants. They were in town to do a 5K and if you called in you could win a slot to run with them. I tried and tried and tried to get through, but was unable to. I immediately called Christy and she looked online to see if she could find ANYTHING about it. She found NOTHING except a talk radio station that would be talking to 3 BL contestants between 8:30 & 9 AM. Once again I tried and tried and tried to get through using both my work phone and my cell phone, but nothing…no win for Deb, but the last radio station said on air that you could go down to the Cotton Bowl to be a spectator and cheer them on. I called Christy again to tell her we could go down and watch and she was all in! We searched all day Friday for info about this 5K and literally found NOTHING – it was not advertised at all. So in true whirlwind fashion we just decided to show up and see what would happen. Sunday morning we met at my house around 7 and got to Fair Park about 8:30 and literally just drove around looking for and asking people where to go. We just happened upon this one guy who was putting out a “ BL3K" marker and he told us to go to the blue building next to the Cotton Bowl to check in. We were set – we parked the car and headed that way. We got to the building and were instructed to sign in and to sign releases to watch since “our likeness might” be on TV. The BL producers/workers also gave us each a number which we were told was like a "pass" to be onsite. I was BL 80, Christy BL 81 and Bev BL 82. So we hung around while they were getting everyone checked in and organized. While waiting we met Michelle Aguilar (Season 6 winner) and Tracey Yukich (Season 8 @ home winner) both are the Dallas area. Tracey lives in Allen and ended up talking to Christy and me for like 20 minutes and invited us to meet up with her for a workout sometime. We were completely star struck and THRILLED!!!
The producers welcomed everyone and started separating people in BL t-shirts from those of us who were numbered. The people in BL t-shirts were those who had won slots to run/walk with the contestants on the radio. After counting up how many people were on each team, the producers then called the numbered people over and thanked us for being there and said they wanted us to wait at the start/finish out on the field and cheer everyone on. We were told we would get t-shirts and/or some goodies for being there today. To give out the t-shirts the producers started calling the numbered people. During this time when they were giving out the t-shirts the producers came back over and said that they would need some “extras” and they would call us over by number when they were ready for us. I nearly flipped when they called our numbers. We went over to the t-shirt table and requested yellow t-shirts thinking we may only be getting t-shirts to be in the crowd. Christy wanted pink, but I said, “No, we have to all match.” So we got the yellow t-shirts – which I loved because it was so bright. As the girl at the table handed us our t-shirts she tells us to wear them over whatever we are wearing. And we happily did. So we are just hanging around waiting to be moved to the Cotton Bowl when a producer walks by and told us to move over with the people in the other yellow shirts that we would be running/walking with Yellow Team - we were so excited and like WHAT?!?!?!? So the producers take us all down to the middle of the field at the Cotton Bowl and we do a huge group warm up with some trainers from 24 Hr Fitness. From this point on pretty much EVERYTHING we do is being taped. Christy, Beverly and I were on the front row of the warm up and watched the camera man run/walk by us several times. After the warm up they split us up into our color groups again and we are told we will meet our contestants shortly. The Yellow team and the Gray team both still had two contestants so those groups were split in two. Soon we could see the contestants walking down the big entry way into the Cotton Bowl – it was so awesome and so exciting. Our contestant walked over to us and it was Mr. O'Neal Hampton Jr. He and his daughter Sunshine make up the yellow team this season (Season 9). O’Neal is a 50 yr old USPS Station Manager from Minneapolis, MN. He shared with us so many neat stories about himself like that he was a Green Berea and showed us scar where he had been shot. He also shared with us his story about how he and Sunshine were the only members of their family who were over weight. His starting weight on the BL was 389 lbs and as of that day he had lost approx. 120 lbs. He also shared with us that his weight was so severe that he could no longer bend over and put on his own socks and shoes prior joining the show and that he didn’t even know if they were actually going to let him on the show because of his knees. Both of his knees were bad and basically bone and bone and he would not be running the 5K, but walking and anyone wishing to run was welcome to. We of course opted to walk with O’Neal and support him. We walked the entire 5K and just talked and talked and talked. They were filming us the entire time too. We asked his so many questions about the ranch and about him and BL which he very kindly answered. After a while O’Neal began talking to all of us and asking us questions about our lives and our stories. There were so many amazing people there. A woman whose husband was a partial quadriplegic, she shared their challenges about how difficult it is for him to exercise, but that he was committed and with the help of crutches and braces he had been able to walk a mile recently. There was also a man who had broken his back twice walking with his mother who was poor physical health.
About the 2 – 2 ½ mile mark O’Neal’s daughter, Sunshine came back to finish the 5K w/her Dad. She was so incredibly sweet and talked to all of us and motivated us. She told us to “always remember how you feel right now, and then when you are having a bad day you can use this excitement and energy to push you through.” Shortly there after Alison Sweeney, the host, met up with us too. She greeted everyone and walked with O’Neal and Sunshine for a bit then started talking to me and asking me about my journey. At one point Alison and I were walking arm in arm. She was so encouraging and she told the me they wanted me for Season 10 (to which I immediately looked at the camera and said, "IS THAT ON TAPE?") and that she wanted me to twitter her progress reports and if I "fell off the wagon" she was going to come back to Dallas and slap me. She was HILARIOUS!
We were the last team to complete the 5K, but it was still amazing because when we turned the corner and headed down the hill to the field everyone was cheering and rooting for us. It was the most amazing thing. We had done it and I had with no trouble at all walked my very first 5K ever. Alison climbed up on the side of the host with the timer on it and thanked everyone for participating and announced that while we were all walking and talking, the contestants were challenged choose 1 member from their team that they were inspired by and wanted to award with a special prize. O'Neal was first and he said that he was motivated and inspired by talking to everyone on his team today, but he wanted to give the prize to was ME because he could see in my heart that I really wanted to change and he wanted to give me that opportunity. What was the prize? A 1 yr membership to 24 Hr Fitness and a 1 week, all inclusive stay at the Biggest Loser Resort @ Fitness Ridge in UT. I started crying, Christy and Beverly were crying. I walked up to O’Neal and hugged him and said that this was the beginning and that he was changing my life. He said he wanted me to keep in touch with him and let him know how I'm doing and said that he wanted to motivate me and encourage me in anyway he could.
They immediately pulled me aside and got my contact info and asked me to wait to be interviewed. OH – there were only 7 contestants there so they only gave away 7 of those prizes. While waiting I got to meet Sam & Koli (gray team), Daris (orange team), Ashley (pink team) and Michael (white team). They were ALL amazing and looked so good. I actually got to see Michael before the race and talk with him for a moment and give him a hug. After I had won my prize and he was on his way up to give his away he grabbed me and hugged me and said, “Congratulations! That’s so awesome!!!” Later when I went over to get my picture made with Michael and ask him to sign my t-shirt he grabbed me again and hugged me and said he was so happy that O'Neal gave the prize to me and then joked that he would need a date for the finale. We flirted a bit; he signed the back of my t-shirt and wrote "call me baby." We had our picture made then I slipped away and jotted down my number and email and gave it to him and told him he had no excuse not to call me. I told him that even if he didn't call me to be his finale date that he better call me and he said, "Oh I'll be calling you - I'm going to check up on you..." I did my interview w/the producer and literally can’t even remember what I said. We were told they would be contacting me with the info regarding my membership and to let me know when the episode would air. I don't know how much of "me" or "my story" will be in the episode, but they told me yesterday that it would air sometime in April.
Whew - my head is still spinning.
