Weight Loss Journey

Ive been struggling with my weight. That is an understatement. I've been "struggling" for about ten years. Pretty much as soon as I started college and realized that gym class and rec sports would no longer keep me in shape. Then there was college living. Dorm Rooms, Drinking, Fast Food. And then there was the big 2-1. 21. Which lasted until I was about 24. Binge drinking every weekend. Smoking. Dancing (drunkinly, not actually enough to burn off the alcohol that I'd consumed.) Hangover food. Regular Food. Then I met Lee and we got comfortable. TOO comfortable. Add in a move to a new town, stress (LOTS of STRESS), Planning a wedding and honeymoon, preparing for a new baby, having sed baby, buying a house, switching jobs.....it all adds up to ME. AT a current weight of: ??? Yeah right, did you really think I would spill those numbers? Anyway, I started feeling pretty poopy. I realized that I"m never going to feel better, or get back all that energy I had in my younger days if I didn't change. So I decided to do just that. Implement Change in my life. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to implement change a little at a time, and "Gradually" add more things into the mix to change. That didn't work for me. I was too lazy. I decided that If I was going to do it, it was going to have to be extreme!

Enter-Jenna Lawrence. Jenna is a Botetourt transplant stuck here in Hampton Roads with me. She feels my pain! Several months ago, she emailed me and asked me if I'd start jogging with her because she wanted to run a 10K. I would like to clarify that NEITHER of us had EVER been runners. EVER. And while I liked her excitement, I pretty much ignored the message until I could figure out what type of lame excuse I could give her NOT to do it. Then it hit me. Maybe I should do this. Its totally out of the box for me. I have no clue what I'm doing. Why not? Then I researched a little bit. A 10K definetly seemed like a ridiculous bit of a stretch for me. Then I saw online where one of my friends started using an app on her I-Phone to train for 5Ks called "Couch to 5K!" I'd actually heard about this several times but the thought of having an app on my phone intrigued me for some reason. So I wrote Jenna back a couple of weeks later and said "Hey, Here's a thought....."

So we hit the ground running! Well, more like hit the ground in general. We decided to meet three times a week at Mount Trashmore Park to run around the lake. Sounds doable enough. The first day was supposed to start us off pretty easy. Any normal runner probably would've laughed at that work-out. I will say though, if Jenna wasn't there struggling through it with me, I probably wouldn't still be doing it. The poor girl runs a good quarter of the mile ahead of me these days, and I'm surprised she still likes meeting me there and putting up with me and my snail pace run! Anyway, that first day I thought "this is only going to get harder. Then its going to get easier. I can do this!" Fast Forward to a couple of months later.. ITS STILL HARD. BUT I've pushed through bad shoes, a knee injury, a back injury, rain-lots of rain, pants that wont stay up while running, and little dogs that chase you. There's been so many days where I want to quit, throw up, pass out, etc. Everytime I think I need to stop and walk (when I really don't because its totally mental) I just thank God over and over in my head, for letting me be ABLE enough to actually run around that lake! Everyone said from the beginning that it would get easier. It still hasn't, but thats the beauty of it. I can now push my body to limits I didn't think possible, and believe it or not I'm starting to enjoy and look forward to running! I'm scheduled to run my first 5K in less than two weeks. I Still have 2 and a half weeks left of my Couch to 5K program. This is more of a practice 5K for me. Basically I'll be trying to finish without dying. And I'd like to not be the last person crossing the finish line, but hey if I am who cares? I'm giving myself permission to walk if I need to and not feel guilty. I have already signed up for several other 5K's throughout the coming year...about one a month so far! I really have no 5K goals...I didn't see my life going in the direction of running...and maybe it wont. I definetly don't have the body type of a runner, and no one says I have to do this forever. But for the time being, I'm enjoying it. Im getting in shape. And I'm being all Healthy and what not. Look out world....here I come! (maybe a little slower than the average human)