#startingtorun

[pearshapedlife-blog]

Running!

So I’ve decided today right now that I’m going to start running. Can I call it that yet?

Maybe fast walking but either way this will be the start of a day by day training ritual that I want to stick too! If I can’t change habits I have why not add a hobby that will benifit me!!

Maybe the river late tonight time it start with a job and see how I do?! What’s the worst that can happen right??? 🙈

8.30pm will be the time!!!

[beinghealthyishappy-blog]

Let's get started

Let's back track a little bit: My mother was at one time over one hundred pounds overweight, and by this time she had shed almost all of it by exercising and eating WELL(NOT less!!).

However, since I was a stubborn 17 year old, I refused to follow her example and continued to eat refined crap and sugary junk food every time I could, thinking she was just turning into a health nut granola eater and would get over it.

She had found her proper fit and here I was, youthful and going on eighteen years old watching my mother go out running and becoming happy with herself for the first time with a big plate of nachos in my lap...unable to wear shorts because I couldn't stand my thick legs and absolutely LIVING in baggy t-shirts that would hide my body.

So a little more about my history - I think I started this adventure right about when I started my job about 4 years ago. I landed a position at a boarding kennel for dogs and cats in 2010 and immediately was getting up at 6:00 AM to be at work for 7:00 and doing work I had never done before.

We had to walk, clean, feed, and clean some more and in addition, I was responsible for a lot of the grooming, aka vigorously brushing, washing, rinsing, and blow-drying dog after dog. 

I had never done so much physical activity on a day-to-day basis like that, and naturally, my family and friends started to notice that I was slowly losing weight just from getting a little activity at work.

Eventually I started to realize that I was just doing my thing - I hadn't started a diet, or a workout regimen, or even made a decision to shed some of the pounds that were making me miserable, but they were coming off nonetheless.

It took some time to be conscious of how these slow changes came from small habits forming. I realized that with just a little effort here and there, a small decision to eat the healthier choice, or go for a short walk instead of watching TV, I could fit into my clothes again!

So, in spring/summer of 2012, I think I started in earnest to go outside and walk a mile - sometimes more, sometimes less - a few times a week. No schedule, no plan, just my iPod and a little free time here and there.

I knew my mom and sisters were all runners and outwardly I pretended they were lame health nuts, when deep inside where even I couldn't see it, I admired their discipline and of course, the healthy bodies they had wrought.

Even though I wouldn't admit it to them at first, I started jogging(no more than 30 seconds at a time, with a stitch in my side and entirely out of breath) intermittently when I went for my walks. As I began to build stamina, I jogged a little more until I was no longer walking with jogging in between - I was actually running! It took WEEKS of slowly increasing distance, but I found myself going out three or four times a week to run about 2 miles. Go figure!

This is getting wordy but I wanted to post some background. I'm starting to wish I had documented all this from the beginning! If you read my wall of text, thank you and please come back! They'll get shorter, I promise ;)

[roadtodisney]

Oh my goodness, I'm running a marathon ...

A few years ago, way back in 2010, after the birth of our son Aaron, my husband started running. And I said I would never run. I hated to run. In high school I was one of the girls walking it - and we took so long we had to re walk it to get credit. But after he ran for a while, I started seeing how good he felt and how lousy I felt. And then I started seeing how I could walk with the baby jogger at these 5ks he was doing.

The people at races early on a Saturday morning are really awesome, and it became truly addicting. But I was sure I would never do more than walk a 5k. A funny thing happens when you start being able to run. Your body feels better. You can decide to get up and just run. It's freeing. And awesome.

So I ran / walked.

My first half marathon it was unexpectedly warm for Chicago. It was 80 and I had been running in 40 degree weather. I had the onset of the flu. My husband was just getting over it. We ran. I got halfway through and couldn't finish. He was the last one done.

The next half was the Disney Half in January 2013. I signed up and again felt sick, but I was determined. 3:30 later I had completed the run / walk. I found out upon our return that I was pregnant with our daughter. In January 2014 she was four months old and I completed the half in about the same amount of time.

Now I want to run. I have three kids. An 11 year old step son, a 3 1/2 year old, and a 7 month old, and I'm ready to take on the challenges I've set for myself. A marathon in October, and a marathon and a half in January 2015. After that who knows? One thing at a time!

This year our daughter will turn one, our sons 12 and 4, and the rest of life will continue. As I write this, Easter morning and video games, baby drool, and little boy questions surround me. I am excited. I am scared. I am 9 miles into my official training.

I am determined.

Happy Easter. And welcome to our journey. He is risen!

Thanks for joining us!