Feels good to be back!

It's been a while since I've posted anything on here, and I'm finally back. It was your inspiration over Christmas, V, that encouraged me to get back on here. That yes, someone was actually reading this! So here I am, back and ready to attack - and I feel like a new person these days!!

We all have that New Year's resolution to lose weight, eat better, exercise more...but how many people actually ever keep their resolution? It's March 5th now, are you still working on yours or has life gotten in the way? For many years, by this point in the year something had come up in my life and I had slowly fallen further away from my goal. This year I decided it was going to be different. For the last couple of years I have been trying so hard to become a healthier person, but there's been setbacks. I started out trying to get in shape a couple of years ago by running, and pushed myself too hard too fast (not realizing how out of shape I really was) and gave myself really bad shin splints and minor stress fractures. It took what felt like forever to recover from, probably at least a year. A long, discouraging year of pain and not being able to do the exercises I wanted to. Finally, sometime last spring the pain went away and I was able to start working out more routinely. But even at that I wasn't being as consistent as I could/should be. I signed up and trained for my first sprint triathlon, and while it was wonderful and exhilarating it still didn't fulfill my fitness 'needs'. So with the coming of this new year I made the decision to push myself further and harder than I have in the past, pick a few events (meaning more than one) and train for them. I knew if I picked a resolution that required lots of training it would hold me accountable all year long and keep me going. So my events this year (assuming all goes well and there are no injuries) start with the Bolder Boulder 10k in May. For some this might not seem like a huge run, but for me it's ginormous. Because I'm not a runner and am terrible at it. But I tell you what, I'm working at it as hard as I can and it feels wonderful. I've started with a 5k training and then will start the 10k training, finishing up with the training weeks just in time for the race. If the 10k goes well then my hope is that I can train for a half marathon. I've always said a half is so far out of my reach and something I will never do, but I feel like I am finally to the point where it's NOT so far out of my reach. So I'm going to go for it! And somewhere along the way over the summer I hope to do a sprint triathlon as well.

I've been on a continual journey to lose weight for the last 10 years of my life (ok, maybe not quite but it seems like it). I have felt like nothing works. But I finally am to the point where I feel like this running thing is actually working! Ryan always tells me that running is the best thing you can do for your body to get it in shape, well I've seen it work for people, firsthand, and I'm ready for it to work for me. I want to become a runner, so badly. I am finally to the point in my life though, that as much as I want the scale to go down, it's more important for me to be able to run 3, 6, or 12 miles than to be that certain size. Because I realize that if I can run those distances then my body will adapt and become what it is meant to become somewhere along the process. I was reading Women's Running magazine the other day and one of the writers says she always has women ask her what's the best way to get in shape and lose weight. You want to know her answer? 'Three simple words. Plan an event. Sign up for an event that is a distance further than you have done before, train for it, and the results will come." OK, I can do that, shoot I already am!!

In between my running days I've also been trying to get to a spinning class when I can, there's nothing better than walking away from the class, drenched, and knowing you pounded that last hour of your life! And my newest thing I've been trying to get into is yoga. I've been reading all over the place how much yoga helps running and how great it is for you. I did a video last night and felt amazing. I also have new access to a fitness club here in town that offers a wide variety of yoga classes that I hope to try...one of them being thermal yoga. It intimidates me so much; an hour and a half of 105 degree temps and insane sweating just makes me feel faint thinking about it. But I think it's that intimidation that intrigues me so much. So I'm gonna go for it! I'll keep you posted how it goes once I finally get the courage up to go!

So here's to New Year's resolutions that last the whole year, becoming a healthier and more fit person!! Next up, my new whole diet.