My Journey Thus Far

Last year my daughter Jessi decided to get married in Hawaii.  I refused to go to a tropical climate approaching a weight that no one except the men in my family had ever weighed.  All that and the fact I am the shortest person in my family over the age of seven!  I procrastinated until the last day of March and then headed to Weight Watchers.  By August I had lost a total of 24 lbs, not a great feat, but well enough.  

At that point I needed to start exercising, so I took up the challenge of running a 5K.  As I walk all day long at work I thought it would be easy.  I was wrong.  I found a program that would help me learn to run, and set about following it.  Walk 1 minute, run 30 seconds.  After 30 seconds I thought I would die!  How could running be so hard?  Must have been the streets around my house.  (I live in an area that is all uphill, even the downhill.)  My first 5K was the Hot Chocolate downtown Albuquerque.  Running for chocolate has to be easy.  Three miles then chocolate, no problem.  I did it, nearly 45 minutes, but I did it.  So I signed up for the Duke City 5K in October.  Did that one too, even improved slightly.  Then I joined a gym so I could run on a treadmill during the winter months. 

Well, during the winter months I procrastinated again.  Ran some, sat on the couch more.  When the weather improved I headed out again.  Armed with new apps on my phone, some music and a little motivation I started to run some more.  A trip to California and running with Kristi showed me I could break through the 3 minute barrier and run a bit longer.  A trip to Virginia and I ran with Jessi, she literally ran circles around me!  Still with all that I only lost 5 lbs from November to May.  

So here it is July.  I ran one 5K in June, the Cherry Garcia in 43:40, got another coming next Sunday, the Chunky Monkey, more ice cream....best motivation in the world.  I am keeping to my diet.  Protein shakes, fruit, vegetables, chicken, salads.  Low fat, no sweets and I am still 10 lbs from my goal.  One week I gain, the next I lose, then gain, then lose.  The graph shows a steady downward trend, but how many years do I have to do this before I get to where I need to be and level off?  

I am 40 lbs lighter than I was when I started.  I should be happy about that, and I am, but.............