Hop, Skip and Limp

Yes, I know, I know!  It has been some time since my last entry.  I’m sure you were wondering where in the world I was.  Much like the elusive Waldo I was about, you just had to look.

The past month or so has been a roller coaster.  Emotionally, physically, financially…I’ve been through the ringer and back again.  There were a few times the clouds were so dark I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to see the light or even if I wanted to.

The worst part is that my job is on the line thanks to unforeseen changes and I’m really worked up over it all.  I’m trying to remain faithful and trust that it will all work out.  I’ve been here since the beginning and I’ll stay to the bitter end but the uncertainty of when that end is coming, sooner or later, is extremely stressful.  A few health scares with my mother tossed in and you can imagine my dieting fell by the wayside. 

But enough on that!  I DID keep up my training for the 5K!  Yeah me!  In spite of having a knee that just wants to give me fits I managed to keep to schedule.  I just put on my Speed Walker persona and go for it!  I guess it is a good thing I am able to walk pretty fast.  I think it is due to a lifetime of trying to keep up with everyone.  I’m a shorty in a family of tall people.  Hahaaa  

Anywho….  This past Saturday was the 5K.  It was cold.  I was nervous to say the least.  I was also excited.  Twelve weeks ago who would have ever dreamed that I would be here, ready to participate in a 5K!???!  I had been babying my knee with rest, a brace and ibuprofen for a good week and I was as mentally prepared as possible.  So my friend, P, and I stretch and line up for the start.  Let me say here that we have the absolute BEST running mentor.  Not only has she been there for us since the start, but she came to the race to participate and encourage us!  START!  Off we go.  I started out doing our running intervals when about a 1/3 of the way in my knee buckles and I know I am pretty much done.  It was all I could do not to sit down right there and cry.  WHY!?!?!?  I had worked so hard, put so much of myself into this training only to have a blow out here?!??!!  AAARRRRGGGG!!!  This is where C, my running mentor, really showed herself to be FABULOUS.  She stayed right with me and told me not to give up.  P was concerned and slowed down some but I told her to go on.  She took back off and finished the race, having run her intervals, and I am SO PROUD OF HER!!!  YEAH P!  C and I power walked the remainder of the race.  I FINISHED!  WOO-HOO!  I may have been in agony and limping across the finish line but I finished.  I even did a little sprint there at the end.

What did I learn from this experience?  I’m NUTS!  No, really, I learned a lot about myself.  There were times during the twelve weeks of training that honestly, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.  When we started I could barely run 30 seconds without wanting a wheel chair and an oxygen mask.  Mix in my bum knee mixed in and a UTI that didn’t do me any favors.  But I STILL did my training.   Somewhere from within I dredged up the intestinal fortitude to press on.  I completed successfully something no one, not my family or friends, thought I would be able to do.  I might not have been the fastest, made the best time or had the most graceful appearance but I did something most of them wouldn’t or couldn’t. 

P and I ran that race with no one there to cheer us on save ourselves and our awesome mentor, C.  That part makes me sad.  However the two most important ones WERE there.  Us.  We committed to train and run this 5K and we did it!

Where do I go from here?  Remember what I said earlier about being nuts?  Somehow I have been convinced by P and myself to continue on.  We have continued our running nights. OK, so thanks to my trick knee I power walk but hey!  We have also committed to running/walking a fun run in December that is approximately 5 miles and possibly a 5K the weekend before that.  I know we can do it!

As far as my weight loss journey?  During all of my ups and downs the past month I really didn’t stay focused.  The good part is that I was able to maintain.  I went back for a weigh in on Monday with the mental commitment to start fresh on the new week and not let the past get me down.  I was down 1 lb for a grand total of 51.  It really got my week started off with a bang. 

The clouds are clearing and I am feeling better about myself than I have in weeks.  Yes, the other stresses are there, looming, but they will not have control.

I am WOMAN!  Hear me ROAR!!!!!!!!!!

Now where did I put my bottle of ibuprofen?????