I grew up in a very small town in north central Iowa. The kind of place where everyone knows your business and if you're smart, you get out as fast as you can. In high school I was a cheerleader, member of the dance team, played a little softball, and on the track team. I was always in good shape from all the running and dancing I did. As soon as I graduated from high school, I moved to San Antonio for school. I was homesick and somewhat depressed. Soon, I became an exercise addict and was working out for about two hours a day and probably only consuming 1000 calories. I quickly went from 135lbs to 110. Since I am 5'7" I looks pretty disgusting and people frequently asked me if I was on drugs (I wasn't).
Then a lot of bad stuff happened in a very short period of time. My car got stolen right before Thanksgiving of my sophomore year in college and that was the last straw for my family. I got home for the holiday and applied to Iowa State University and was instantly accepted. After my last final, my dad was literally waiting outside my door to pack up and drive back to Iowa.
When I started ISU, I was still having a hard time and initially lost a few more pounds. However, due to the bitter cold weather I stopped exercising. Then I discovered hardcore partying. I partied at UTSA but nothing like I started doing at ISU. We drank almost every night for the semester, ate super dogs and Arby's, and I quickly put on all the weight I had lost and then some.
When my senior year rolled around I finally settled down a little bit and then I met my Princess. We dated for a short period of time and soon moved to Florida for flight training. About the same time, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and I was having a very hard time dealing with all of it. I lost about 15 lbs again. This time by not really eating.
Soon my mom was better and I graduated. I didn't have a plan so I decided to move to Florida. Living with two guys, I was cooking frequently and we ate out A LOT. I put on a lot of weight. I think the highest I got up to was 160lbs. I started watching what I was eating and cut wayyyy back on the beer and wine. I lost 5lbs. Then I decided to do Jillian Michaels' online training program. I wasn't very committed to it but still managed to lose 5 lbs.
Soon I decided that there were plenty of online resources that I could use for free. It would just take a little more determination. I went out and bought some weights and a stability ball. I started reading some fitness blogs and websites and bought some workout videos. Then I got an email from my supervisor about a 5k that was held by an Irish restaurant here in town the weekend before St. Patrick's day. I ignored it because I hadn't run in a couple months! I was still pretty out of shape. One of my coworkers talked me into registering and on race day I did MUCH BETTER than I anticipated. I actually jogged all but 4 blocks of the 3.1 miles, hangover included. It felt really good so later that weekend I registered for a 10k which I finished with a time of 1:02:34 on April 30, 2011. The time was about 10 minutes faster than I thought I would finish so I was pretty stoked. At this time, I am now considering the Des Moines Marathon on October 16, 2011. If I decide against it, I will probably run the half :)
I will primarily use this blog to write about my running experiences as well has day to day happenings. Feel free to follow my journey to losing 15 lbs before I go back to school and leave a bit of motivation. ♥
