It has been a while since I have written in my blog... call it laziness. Fortunately, this laziness isn't one that causes weight gain like a lack of physical activity laziness will do. It just has been difficult for me to come up with topics to write about. However this all changed for me on Saturday, July 28, 2012.
As you have read, I began a journey to take back my life and health on November 13, 2011. I started this journey weighing in at a lofty 274lbs. As a 5'7" woman, this made me morbidly obese. So what does it mean to be morbidly obese... it simply means that you have a much higher body fat percentage and that your BMI is above 40. I qualified on both accounts. As a morbidly obese individual, I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs in my house without being completely out of breathe. Doing laundry in my house, a feat that requires me to go from the 2nd floor to the basement and then from the basement to the 2nd floor, was something that I dreaded, hated and caused me feelings of sadness (sadness because I could "see" what my lack of taking care of myself was doing).
When I began my weight loss journey, I focused on my food choices for 6 weeks. I didn't exercise at all, instead I was trying to learn how to eat and what to eat. Learning about nutrition, portion sizes, when to eat, etc., was something that I felt was equally important to exercise and also something that I knew that I was failing at. I thought that if I could "master" my eating first, then I could add in exercise afterwards. After the new year, I joined a gym and began to workout every day... yes 7 days a week. I was doing the elliptical and walking on the treadmill on opposite days. Occasionally I would add in the stair machine but that was difficult at times (because of my size) so I focused on the other 2.
I was introduced to a new friend at the gym by a friend that I had known quite a while. This new friend, Amy, had lost 100lbs herself, so she understood where I was coming from and where I wanted to get too. Amy expressed to me very early on that (and I quote), "running melts the fat away" - and I know I have written about this before. Honestly... that's all needed to hear. Running = fat leaving my butt, thighs, chins, belly, etc.
I began my running quest by downloading a Couch 2 5K (C25K) app on my iPhone. There are a lot of great C25K apps out there, just make sure it is one that provides plenty of time for you to build up to the 5K. The app I downloaded had me going from couch potato (well more like a couch big ass Idaho baking potato) to running the length of a 5K in 7 1/2 weeks. I have to provide a disclaimer too... I WAS NEVER A RUNNER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! In school I would do anything to avoid running, or physical activity of any kind. Anyway, the C25K program breaks down each week, building on the amount of time you run and shortening the amount of time you recover after each run. I honestly thought that I would be repeating weeks as they went along, because again, I never did a physical activity like running before. As the weeks passed, I completed each one without every repeating. Feeling stronger, more confident and knowing that I had more endurance was awesome. At the end of the 7 1/2 weeks, I completed the program and "ran" my first 5K... of course it was on the treadmill and not in a race!
Soon I decided that I needed to challenge myself more. I began to work on increasing my speed and also the length that I was running. While doing this, I signed up to run a 10K on September 30, 2012. My husband told me that he thought it would be very important for me to "run" a 5K race before I was running the 10K. I understood where he was coming from, and so I signed up for the Turtle Trot on July 28, 2012. Disclaimer here... I considered that I had already "run" a 5K, in fact I was "running" a 5K several times a week. My running schedule had me running 4-5 days a week and each one of those was me racking up 3+ miles. But to appease my hubby, I signed up to run an official 5K.
The day of the Turtle Trot could not have been better. The weather was cooler, for a July morning, and the rain held off. I had the pleasure of running this race with 2 great friends and running partners (1 of whom it was her first race too). The horn sounded and the race began. The course was very flat, and this is almost impossible in Western Pennsylvania, and only had 1 minor hill. Off we went. Stacy (my running buddy) and I set out on a rather quick pace, according to the running app that I use. We hit the 1 mile marker and we were just over an 11 minute pace. Continuing to run, my family appeared at the the 1.5 mile marker and this definitely fueled my run. Seeing how happy my youngest daughter was for both Stacy and I really helped to keep me going. We looped around and headed back int he direction that we came from. Passing by the family once again brought a smile to my face and resolve that nothing was taking me down. Soon we were at the 2 mile marker and down the little hill in the course. Picking up speed, I realized that I was getting ahead of Stacy. She encouraged me to go on... running at my own pace... and that she'd see me at the finish line. This is exactly what I did. Picking up speed, I hit the 3 mile mark and could see the finish line. Talk about motivation! I hit the finish line at 33:41 and couldn't have been more proud of myself. Yes, I completed my first official race, but more importantly I went from morbidly obese to running 3.1 miles in front of my family and friends. I did something that I never thought possible 8 months, 2 weeks and 1 day earlier.
It is important to dream big because this allows you to aim high and achieve more. I will be the first to tell you that I never dreamed of being a runner. I couldn't ever have thought that my body would cooperate with me and allow me to do what I have done. The next challenge is the 10K on September 30th. I am looking forward to this race... doubling the mileage that I have already completed. I will say that I am working hard to prepare for this next race. I have been averaging over 6.2 miles on my long run days. This past week my oldest daughter challenged me to run 7 miles... and I can't ever turn down a challenge. I ran 7.22 miles in an hour and 25 minutes. Who knows, maybe in May it will be half marathon time for me. Dreaming big. Believe in yourself. Test your limits. Challenge everything you believed about yourself. Those are all the mottoes that I live by now.
