As a player (pre-referee days), I loved the sense of community I found in my DietBet games.
As a referee, I love the success stories I see every day. And for the players who struggle, know that I'm right there with you. I appreciate all that you share as I can definitely relate.
But I never anticipated the community I would find with my fellow referees. Not only do they come together for last minute work related things (like covering shifts because of sick pets, potentially scary medical appointments, and probably a bunch of other things), they are also amazing friends.
In addition to the other refs being hilarious and awesome people, many of us have similar struggles with weight. So in my book that equation is
- make me laugh + shared issues = you are stuck with me for life. In fact, I'm trying to get one ref to adopt me. It's still a work in progress though. She's probably changed her address and contact info on me.
They give me a lot to look up to...be it weight loss success, finding making the time to work out, or commiting to 10k races (to which I'm probably allergic).
My fellow refs are really helping me be a healthier person. These days, I haven't been rocking that area. But after a few days with the ref crew, I've signed up for a virtual race, a 5k race in May, and we are looking to organize a race to do together.
And that's no small feat. With refs all over the US and some in Canada (eh all the way!), busy personal lives and commitments, well we haven't quite figured it out yet.
I do know that I will be finishing 2016 strong and 2017 better be ready for me. And truly, I do owe this to you refs out there. Thank you for all of your support. You mean the world to me.