Tonight I fell in love...

I fell in love all over again tonight.....

with Running.

I started tripping, jogging, having seizure like movements running in July of 2012.  I couldn't jog 20  seconds to save my life.  If I was being chased I would have totally gotten caught before I even started running!  At 280 lbs, running was pretty much a joke to me, something I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined myself doing.  I remember feeling like I was going to die the first time I decided to run on the track. I remember feeling very accomplished after I was able to run for 30 secs straight without stopping.  I also remember telling myself that I WILL run a 5k before I turn 30.  

I started the C25K program all by my lonesome and hit the ground running.  I struggled through the first week.  I struggled through the second, third and made it to the fourth week.  Then my sister wanted to start so I went back to the beginning again!  I noticed a significant difference when I started over.  I was able to get through the weeks a lot easier that I did before.  We made it to Week 3 and then Winter came along and it was too dark and too cold to run outside.  BOO!  My Running was cut off. And I started doing other things to work out, lose weight and get healthy.  But that little pest called running kept creeping up in my head and I found myself actually MISSING it!

When I am running I honestly don't think about anything.  I don't even need music, even though I normally listen to it. I take in my surroundings, I leave all my stress at home, I leave all my schedules, crazy baby tantrums, depression and bi-polar, mommy carpooling stuff all at home.  And I just run. I run until my legs feel like they are going to buckle, I take a break and I run again.  I am not fast. But I am running and I love it.

Let's skip all the way to the end of last month when I got my new baby!  My new treadmill! Since then I have made significant progress not only getting myself back to where I was, but improving!  

Can you believe that I, Steph the girl who has always been the big girl, the girl who never ran EVER, the girl who has 100 lbs to lose, would be running for 3 and 5 minutes straight at a 4 and 5mph speed!?

When I began I was walking a mile in about 35-40 minutes. Tonight I shaved 10 seconds off my previous PR and did a mile in 15:50, 9 of which I ran!  

To say that I am excited would be an understatement!  I CAN not wait to get back outside and show the road what I am made of!  I can't wait to kill the C25K and I also can't wait to join my Girl Jen in Nov in Chicago and run my official 5k!  

I pushed it this evening and went for my first walk/jog outside since before Winter but since it was a windy 39 degrees I didn't get very far very fast! But, I am ready!

Tonight marks the night that I fell in love with running all over again!  And I have come to the realization that I am a Runner.  

Until Next Time...

I need to get back on the Running Train....

Fat Girl Problems: My journey from fat girl to Runner Vol. 3

It's been a while since I have updated so I thought I would keep everyone in the loop!  As many of you know at the beginning of this month I started a 30 day challenge (Operation: LGN) with some online friends and we are nearing the end of our challenge!  Its a little bittersweet but we have decided to keep the group going so we will still be able to check in with each other and hold ourselves accountable!  With that being said, I wanted to share my "Before" picture that I took the day we started our challenge and a picture that I took tonight.  I was feeling some doubts that I was actually making progress but this picture just proves to me that my hard work is at least doing something!

I know its not much, but its MUCH more than I have ever been able to do before I started on this journey!  If you remember, I also started the C25K program about a week before we started our challenge.  I got to Week 4 of the 9 week program and then decided to start over at the beginning so that my sister could join me.  I have to say it was by far one of the best decisions I have made regarding my workouts!  When I first started I could barely jog 30 seconds let alone complete the entire day, we just finished our Week 1 and not only was I able to keep up with her (shes a skinny mini!) But I was able to complete it all!  I can't wait to see how far I get the farther we go in the program!  And it is just confirmation that I am actually making some progress towards my goal to become a runner!

Well, Ill end this since it is about 2am and I really should be sleeping but I was just too excited with my results to wait until tomorrow to share them with you!

I wish everyone a WONDERFUL Labor Day Weekend!  I personally plan to relax and spend time with my family, work out and eat healthier!

Until Next Time.....

I will.

Fat Girl Problems: My Journey from Fat Girl to Runner Vol.2

SO, I've started a workout log on the right sidebar of my blog.  I think I need it to hold myself accountable and to push me to try harder because I know that I can do it!  I've made some huge accomplishments this past week.  Firstly, I was able to pull both of my kids (Aprox. 60lbs) in the bike cart on my bike to my moms and back!  It was a total of 2.2 miles!  This is a HUGE accomplishment because the last time I tried to pull the bike cart Cady was around 2 years old and I couldn't do it.  I didn't even last 5 minutes let alone 2 miles!   To say that I was tired would be an understatement, but I was also ECSTATIC!  I have also been able to ride my bike (without kids) twice for 3 miles or more without stopping!  Tonight I pushed myself harder than ever and went 3.6 miles!  I should probably include that I have what is called a "Beach Cruiser" this is not your run of the mill mountain bike!  It is a cruiser, pedal brakes, no gears so to be able to pedal my fat ass is huge! 


The accomplishment I am most excited to share is that I entered into my second week of the Couch 2 5 K challenge!  Last week I wasn't even able to job through 60 full seconds.  I would go until about 40 seconds and have to stop.  Well, last night I went on my evening workout and changed my route a bit and I am proud to say that I was able to jog for the full 90 seconds EVERY time!  For those of you that don't know me, I am extremely overweight.  The last time I weighed myself (months ago) I was probably close to 280 so to say that I was able to jog for 90 seconds straight is HUGE.  I mean HUGE!  I have never been so proud of myself!  


I will end on a high note: I am feeling pretty good.  I am still tired a lot, I am still fat (lol) and I still don't eat as well as I should, but I feel better! 


Until Next Time....

Fat Girl Problems: My Journey from Fat Girl to Runner

If you have followed me from the beginning you will know that I am of the 'chubby' body type....well....more like 'Fat' and obese, but chubby sounds better! I have always been the 'Fat girl' and up until now I can honestly say I was kind of ok with that.  I have learned to just accept myself as being overweight and being known as the fat girl.  I often made jokes about it and I basically just dealt with it.  I figured that I met the love of my life while I was fat and he loves me just the way I am so it didn't really matter to me.  And, some how I had managed to keep myself pretty healthy internally!  I even shocked my Dr when she did all kinds of blood tests and everything came back normal and fine and not life threatening at all so I didn't really think it mattered what weight I was at.  Well, the time has come where I need to make some changes, like 100lbs worth of changes....  I need to do this not only for myself but for my kids and for Leif.  I don't want to be that fat girl anymore.  I want to be able to do things that other moms can physically that I can't. And more importantly with Cady getting older and going into Kindergarten where I plan on volunteering and getting involved in her school, I don't want to be an embarrassment to her.  I don't want her to not want to introduce me to her friends or the other moms because she is embarrassed of how I look.  I want to be accepted and not have to make jokes about my weight just to make myself feel better and sugar coat the fact that I am fat.  


With that being said, I have officially started the Couch25K program!


I have pretty much led a sedentary life with little to no physical activity other than chasing my kids around or shopping for hours (which can be tiring!) so this has been a shock to my system!  I have slowly started walking at the high school track down the road from my house, I started with about a mile and quickly moved onto 2 miles a couple times a week but I needed more.  I knew in my heart I could do more so after some research and reading some inspirational stories from other runners (That's you Jen!) :-)  I decided to take the plunge! 


The first day my sister and I got to the track ready to start things off with a bang!  We thought, jogging for 60 seconds, Hell, that's nothing!  BOY were we wrong!  She did better than I did because she is much for active than I am but I was pretty sure I was going to die after the first 30 seconds into the first jog!  I don't know how I finished it, but I did.  I will admit that I walked some of the time I was supposed to be jogging but I am proud of myself for actually getting through it and not quitting.  I came home that night and took the coldest shower I have ever taken and laid on the couch the rest of the night until I drug myself upstairs to bed!  The next day I was pretty sure that I broke my knee!  This girl could barely walk after all that jogging! (Fat Girl Problems!)  Well, I took a few days off to get my knee back in shape and guess what?!  Tonight I finished day 2! Again, I barely made it and was pretty sure that I was going to die more than once, BUT I DID!  And I lived to write this blog about it!  


I am going to continue to share my journey if you guys will help hold me accountable!  I have not done much to change my eating habits yet, but I have started drinking WAY more water than my bladder can handle so that will come in time!  Right now I just need you guys to help me keep on going.  I need you to remind me that there is light at the end of this fat girl tunnel and that I hopefully will come out being a little bit lighter on the scale and hopefully running my first 5k by the time I'm 30!  


Thank you all in advance! 


Until Next Time....