Well time is limited right now, but I said I was starting this today so here it goes.
I have a couple of lovely friends who are doing this and we all agreed to "kick" each other from time to time.
But the suggestion to do something like this actually came from someone on one of the BL challenges and I felt it was time for three biggies:
a) consistency
b) accountability
c) persistence, so here goes.
First of all - what does the title mean? I should say that I am not 360 lbs now, but I was nearly that when I first put myself on the start line of a major half marathon - it was Disney, 2006, my first venture with Joints in Motion.
Looking back, I must have been nuts. I have battled with an eating disorder since I was seven years of age, first threatened with a "starvation diet" if I did not give up my treats and "reduce, and lose some weight" - this while I was being fed pie and ice cream for breakfast!
I was once told I would not be given a nighttime snack, breakfast and lunch the next day for eating a five cent chocolate bar! That was a parent that said that - and my grandmother went behind his back and fed me anyway.
But I learned to sneak eat very early and at the age of 53 still do - as recently as yesterday!
I binged and purged all through college, just binged and did not purge in law school (gaining 100 lbs in three years) and it just went from bad to worse.
I have struggled to find the "magic solution" ever since.
In May, 2004, I was so weak I could not walk around a store without sitting. I was worried that my already weak knees (I am only 5 feet, two inches tall) would fail me and the day would come when I could not get up let alone walk.
I saw a newspaper column called "The Bright Spot", featuring a lady as big as I was, with so many health issues I could not list them all and she was training to do a half marathon in Disney, 2006 with The Arthritis Society's Joints in Motion.
Now I am a Disney nut and this intrigued me. I contacted JIM and expected to be told that I would need to get in shape - but, instead, I was embraced warmly by the running community and entered the event.
I did not know I would need to walk a mile (and it is, I clocked it on my Garmin) to even get to the start line. By the time we got going, I had already been on my feet nearly two hours. It took all I had not to go back to the holding area, sit down and watch the screens, I sooo did not want to start.
But I did. I saw a lady with a cane. She was going slower than my turtle trot but she had a race no on her shirt. I doubt she went much farther than the start line, but she started. So did I.
I was swept at the second mile.
There is much more (and many wonderful things happened to me afterwards) to this story, I wrote about it years ago in the Penguin Runners list.
I have tried, and failed to conquer this goal since - but the dream has never died in my heart. I love Disney, it is a very special place for me, and I want my Donald - and more!
So this is my journey, I am starting again, from scratch, forgetting the numerous 5ks,four five milers and two 10ks I have already done. Accepting that, while I have lost 40 pounds or so, I still have a lot farther to go - now with significant arthritis in my right knee. The knee is still pretty flexible, because I have kept walking on it - I was right to feel that if I had not started walking I probably would not have been able to.
But I am starting from the very beginning, following a beginner's program, and going forward.
For today I will:
a) journal my food and stay within my calorie allowance (the caloric equivalent of the WW points I would be allowed at my weight level);
b) walk 25 minutes and do 25 minutes of weights (essential therapy for my arthritic knee).
For the next thirty days, I will:
a) Ban chocolate bars from my diet (except for my WW treats)
b) Write here every day.
c) Read my friends' journals every day and comment when I can. I hope they will do the same for me.
What does 70 and 7 mean? The number seven has followed my life for some reason. I have had offices in suites 407 and 1700. I have had office addresses at 7071 and 177. I live on 17 Seventh Street. I have sevens in my cell and office nos.
It is approximately 70 weeks from now until when I anticipate the Disney, 2013 to be. And, if I conquer it, it will be seven years from my first attempt.
And today is September 7th - seven days sinc I returned to work from vacation.
So lets begin...
Be well and have a magical day folks... Thanks for reading this far. Please come back again.
Linda
I have a couple of lovely friends who are doing this and we all agreed to "kick" each other from time to time.
But the suggestion to do something like this actually came from someone on one of the BL challenges and I felt it was time for three biggies:
a) consistency
b) accountability
c) persistence, so here goes.
First of all - what does the title mean? I should say that I am not 360 lbs now, but I was nearly that when I first put myself on the start line of a major half marathon - it was Disney, 2006, my first venture with Joints in Motion.
Looking back, I must have been nuts. I have battled with an eating disorder since I was seven years of age, first threatened with a "starvation diet" if I did not give up my treats and "reduce, and lose some weight" - this while I was being fed pie and ice cream for breakfast!
I was once told I would not be given a nighttime snack, breakfast and lunch the next day for eating a five cent chocolate bar! That was a parent that said that - and my grandmother went behind his back and fed me anyway.
But I learned to sneak eat very early and at the age of 53 still do - as recently as yesterday!
I binged and purged all through college, just binged and did not purge in law school (gaining 100 lbs in three years) and it just went from bad to worse.
I have struggled to find the "magic solution" ever since.
In May, 2004, I was so weak I could not walk around a store without sitting. I was worried that my already weak knees (I am only 5 feet, two inches tall) would fail me and the day would come when I could not get up let alone walk.
I saw a newspaper column called "The Bright Spot", featuring a lady as big as I was, with so many health issues I could not list them all and she was training to do a half marathon in Disney, 2006 with The Arthritis Society's Joints in Motion.
Now I am a Disney nut and this intrigued me. I contacted JIM and expected to be told that I would need to get in shape - but, instead, I was embraced warmly by the running community and entered the event.
I did not know I would need to walk a mile (and it is, I clocked it on my Garmin) to even get to the start line. By the time we got going, I had already been on my feet nearly two hours. It took all I had not to go back to the holding area, sit down and watch the screens, I sooo did not want to start.
But I did. I saw a lady with a cane. She was going slower than my turtle trot but she had a race no on her shirt. I doubt she went much farther than the start line, but she started. So did I.
I was swept at the second mile.
There is much more (and many wonderful things happened to me afterwards) to this story, I wrote about it years ago in the Penguin Runners list.
I have tried, and failed to conquer this goal since - but the dream has never died in my heart. I love Disney, it is a very special place for me, and I want my Donald - and more!
So this is my journey, I am starting again, from scratch, forgetting the numerous 5ks,four five milers and two 10ks I have already done. Accepting that, while I have lost 40 pounds or so, I still have a lot farther to go - now with significant arthritis in my right knee. The knee is still pretty flexible, because I have kept walking on it - I was right to feel that if I had not started walking I probably would not have been able to.
But I am starting from the very beginning, following a beginner's program, and going forward.
For today I will:
a) journal my food and stay within my calorie allowance (the caloric equivalent of the WW points I would be allowed at my weight level);
b) walk 25 minutes and do 25 minutes of weights (essential therapy for my arthritic knee).
For the next thirty days, I will:
a) Ban chocolate bars from my diet (except for my WW treats)
b) Write here every day.
c) Read my friends' journals every day and comment when I can. I hope they will do the same for me.
What does 70 and 7 mean? The number seven has followed my life for some reason. I have had offices in suites 407 and 1700. I have had office addresses at 7071 and 177. I live on 17 Seventh Street. I have sevens in my cell and office nos.
It is approximately 70 weeks from now until when I anticipate the Disney, 2013 to be. And, if I conquer it, it will be seven years from my first attempt.
And today is September 7th - seven days sinc I returned to work from vacation.
So lets begin...
Be well and have a magical day folks... Thanks for reading this far. Please come back again.
Linda