Fitness
New stuff
People at work have been telling me I’m an inspiration. Not gonna lie. It feels really good.
I don’t know if I mentioned this or not but my friend and co-worker Julie is my inspiration in the weight loss/fitness game. Last year we both decided we were going to run the Wharf to Wharf 10K in July. I think we had like five months to train and we both got very excited and gung ho. We both started the Couch 25K program independent of each other and after a while I got discouraged with my lack of ability to run and decided I would just walk the darn thing. Julie kept training and ended up running most of the race with her sister. I walked it and finished in just under 2 hours. Jewels finished in under an hour and a half if I remember right. I was very proud of her and kinda disappointed in myself for not keeping with the training like she did.
After the race we both lost a bit of focus and she and I both gained a bit of weight.
Julie regained her motivation while I floundered and she has lost over 50 pounds. She has gone from a size 18 to a size 10. She rocks!!
The reason I tell you this story is because not only is she my inspiration, she is responsible for saving me tons of money as I go through my own weight loss journey now.
In an effort to purge herself of all her “fat clothes” since she knows that she will never ever let herself get that big again, she is giving them to me! I’m not talking a couple of pairs of jeans here, I’m talking about a full wardrobe of shirts, jeans, sweats, capris, dresses and track suits. In sizes 18 to 14 so I have will not have to keep buying clothes as I shrink! How awesome is that??
How is this significant to today’s story?
Because this morning I put on a pair of 16 capri’s with a 14/16 size tee shirt and they FIT! SIXTEEN!!!! I can’t even remember the time I was a size 16! I think I was in my early 20’s and it was when I was on my way back up in weight. Wow. Now, I’m not officially a sixteen because I have some jeans of hers that are a sixteen that are not even close to fitting but I do in fact, now fit into a pair of 16 pants that didn’t fit a month ago. I am over the moon!!
I’m paying people to make me run?
So I did this really silly thing a couple of months ago and signed up to run a ten K at the end of July.
It’s called the Wharf to Wharf and it is a run that goes from Santa Cruz to Capitola. Six miles along the beach with 40 bands playing along the way. Rob has run it twice. This year will be his second year as one of the “bands”.
So I have another two months or so to get my butt in gear. I have started to do walk/runs at work…very short duration on the running part and I think I might be able to pull this off.
Yesterday Paula and I finished a five K walk in 53 minutes. That is about 13 minutes less than the last one we did together so all this walking I’ve been doing on my lunch hours have been paying off I think. Not to mention that I feel better and look better even if I haven’t lost a terrific amount of weight from it.
My size 20’s are getting loose and my 22’s are falling off me. I keep them around for the bloated days of the month but even then they have to be secured with a tight belt. 🙂 It’s a good feeling.
Diet has mostly just been low calorie/low fat. Except on the weekends…I’ve still yet to be able to curb that on the weekends.
Progress Update…sort of
So we had a fabulous time in LA and I walked a ton! I didn’t watch my diet however…and while I didn’t go HOG wild, I did eat a lot of stuff I shouldn’t have. I could give you the old: “Hey I was on vacation!” excuse but I don’t even fool myself with that one. I did the crime and the scale showed me I would do the time.
This morning however, it was back down to 244 so that was cool.
I skipped walking for three days after I got back because my blisters had blisters and boy did I ever feel that break on Tuesday when I started walking again. I could only force myself to do 20 minutes and I didn’t do anything else when I got home either. My calves and shins were BURNING!
20 more minutes on Wednesday and then yesterday I walked half the loop for a 30 minute walk. I plan to repeat that again today.
Last night when I got home I also dusted off the gazelle and did 25 minutes on that bad boy. As Rob pointed out, it was MUCH easier to do than it used to be since I’ve been walking so much.
Tomorrow I am heading out to Fleet Feet to get my running shoes. Mel at work has recommended them and Jewels just went and got hers a week or so ago. She says they are fabulous and soooo comfy. I guess they measure your feet and watch you walk barefoot and analyze your feet or some such stuff to make sure we have the absolute best shoes for our feet. They are quite expensive but when it comes to this, you get what you pay for I’m sure. And I’m sick of the stupid blisters I keep getting on my two little toes of my left foot.
I have yet to start running. I figure I have lots of time and I have to master the whole walking thing first. 
Time will tell but I am still planning on giving the 10 K my best shot!
Watch me Go!
Depression be damned. I have worked out every day since my last post and I’m feeling good. I’ve bumped up my daily walks during lunch from 15 minutes when I started to 30 minutes as of today.
Now brace yourselves…I made a commitment today. One that I told my husband would never happen. But I made a commitment with my friend Jewels that we would run a 10 k in July together.
That gives me 5 months to prepare and train. It is a course that my husband has done twice and he thinks is quite do-able for me.
And I can’t help it…I’m EXCITED about the damn thing!! Jewels and I are stoked and are already planning our training sessions together. Our friend Mel is going to help us as she is an avid runner.
I may be setting myself up for failure but I’ll never know unless I try right???