Back to Basics

On January 1, 2011, I was completely out of shape, thirty(ish) pounds overweight, and completely miserable with myself. That morning, I trekked up Mount Scott in Lawton, Oklahoma and then back down again. When I finished, I felt this huge surge of excitement and accomplishment. It was a monumental day for me (and all my fluffiness), and now when I look back on it I realize that the mountain was not only a physical obstacle that I overcame, but a mental one.

As I drove the hour-long ride back to my house with the music cranked up and a huge smile on my face, I felt like I could do anything. I tried to think of something that I wanted to do but never had the motivation to try. I wanted to challenge myself and become a better me.....and that is the moment I decided that I was going to become a runner.

The first time I went to the track, I couldn't even make it one lap without hyperventilating. Honestly, it was embarrassing. Totally. Freaking. Embarrassing. I wanted to give up right then and there, and I even walked back to my car for a good hissy fit. After a few moments of feeling sorry for my fluffy self, I thought back to how happy I had been just a few days ago when I was driving home from Mount Scott. I wanted to feel that again, and so I went back out on the track and gave it all I had. Granted, it wasn't much--I never made it a full lap running that day. But, at least I was out there trying.

Fast forward to June 2011. I ran my first 5k in my hometown of Tomah, Wisconsin. I don't remember my exact time, but it was somewhere around 32 minutes. I had lost about 15 pounds by that time and was feeling great. By October of that year, I had lost a whopping total of 33 pounds. I hadn't been that healthy for years, and I was on cloud nine.

In November of that year, my grandfather was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. There wasn't much they could do for him at that point, so I traveled back to Wisconsin for the holidays so I could say goodbye to him. When he passed away on January 1, 2012, I decided I wanted to do something in his memory and also to help cancer research. And so, with only about two months to train, I joined the DetermiNation Team of the American Cancer Society to run the Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach in March 2012. By race day, I had raised over $1200 and was completely pumped for my first half marathon. I even completed the Dolphin Challenge, which is an 8k on Saturday and then the half marathon on Sunday. My half marathon time was 2 hours, 24 minutes.

I also ran a 10k in March 2012 at Fort Eustis, VA. I don't know what my time was, but I did learn a very valuable lesson that rainy morning: I should never run on an empty stomach. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I threw up every drop of water and sports drink I had consumed on the course. Talk about embarrassing...lesson learned!!

I kept hearing about the Color Me Rad 5k series, and the Rad crew came to Virginia Beach in April 2012. My son and I signed up, and it was a blast. I will never forget this race--my husband had just left for a 9 month deployment in Afghanistan, and I needed something to lift my spirits. Again, it was a rainy day (why is it always raining during my races??) but even that couldn't ruin the sheer joy of throwing paint at complete strangers and getting away with it. This run is not timed, so nobody was taking it too seriously and everybody just wanted to have a good time. One of my favorite runs ever!

    

In October 2012, my son and I ran in the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon in Hampton, Virginia. It was cold and rainy--not just a sprinkling rain, but a downpour. Nonetheless, we powered through and finished around 2 hours, 20 minutes. I was so soaked and cold at the end that I didn't even finish a full beer at the after party. Such a disgrace! My cheesehead friends in Wisconsin would be devastated to hear this.

Shortly after that half marathon, my thyroid disease went haywire. I quickly gained back about half of the weight I had lost. My motivation for running (and doing much of anything else) vanished completely. Being a military spouse, it is hard to find a new doctor every two years when we move who will actually listen to my symptoms and take me seriously. I was born without a thyroid gland, so I have dealt with this disease my entire life. However, some doctors will only look at the results of my blood test and not listen to what I am telling them is happening. So, my so-called endocrinologist "specialist" refused to make any alterations to my medication because my thyroid levels appeared normal. I continued to gain weight, and I am now right back where I was at the beginning of 2011. Time to start again from scratch and hope that my training will somehow tell my thyroid disease to eat dirt.

And so, it is Back to Basics for this.....

~Fluffy Girl~