I Was Running (in Forrest Gump voice)!

I'm not what you'd really call an "active person". I don't "regularly exercise". I don't raise my heartbeat past its resting rate unless Mike comes home in his uniform. I am, I'll say it, fat and lazy. But not anymore.

It's crazy how many consequences we, as humans, need to see before we begin to think, "huh, maybe I should do something about that". For example the surgeon who spends his days removing lung cancer takes his breaks to smoke like a chimney, or the alcoholic who watches Intervention episodes and says, "Man, those guys are idiots!" Neither sees a correlation to the problem in their own lives, only in others.

Well, this is how I've been about my weight. I've been watching Biggest Loser for probably 6 seasons, cheered them on with success as each overweight person slimmed down on live TV and gave their families the greatest thing they've ever had in their lives...themselves.

I try things all the time to loose weight and quit weeks and most often days later because that's just what I do. But I have to keep going. I have to keep trying. I can't let the weight issue win with me because, well, I just won't let it, and because I owe my family more. I owe mySELF more.

One angle I haven't really tried much is exercise because I've NEVER found something I like. I always hear that...to find something you like, but that would have to involve other people and food in order to keep me interested. I can find a friend to exercise with sometimes, but I hear eating while exercising is frowned upon.

Well, I think I just may have found something I like. At least for almost 4 weeks I've liked it. And that's why I'm blogging about it. Because I want people to know I've started and to ask me about it (and therefore keep me accountable) and also because it makes for a good story, to read about a fat girl who runs.

The other day I experienced, for the first time in my LIFE, going beyond my goal and I was so proud of my accomplishment that I immediately wrote the following e-mail to my girlfriends Lindsay and Laura, who also are fairly new to running. Here is that e-mail:

So, there I was, me, my cut-off sweats and my mini-van headed for the gym. I'm not one for goals, or really pushing myself, but have been proud to make it there twice to three times a week to run 60 to 90 second intervals every 2-3 minutes. But I was ready to push. I'm done being the fat girl that doesn't try. So I said to myself, "Self, why don't you just run that first interval and try to keep going past that first 90 seconds and see what happens. In fact, why don't you try to go FOUR minutes without stopping?" I knew I probably wouldn't make it, but I thought it sounded fun.
I sucked in my stomach and handed the hot guy at the desk my keys. I gave him the "It's me, Darbi the Runner" nod." Last time I was in there and dropped of my kids at the child care center they said, "Hi! Are you guys new?" Shut up. We've been going here two years...every three months. But now I'm Darbi the Runner. Everyone will know it.
So I found the treadmill of my choice, plugged in my earphones, turned on Days of our Lives, warmed up and started to run. And guess what? I ran for 10 MINUTES, yes I did!! 10 MINUTES!!! And I think I probably could have gone farther but I was starting to cry and wanted to hurry and get home and tell Mike. =-) When I DID get home to tell him, I started to cry again. He said, "What?!" and I just stood there. I told him the news. He said, "Goll, by the look on your face I thought you filled our van with Haiti orphans or something." =-) Nope, just that run. It was amazing. I've never done that in my LIFE. Not even in PE because my mom always wrote me a note. Yep, I was that girl.
So, I'm headed toward the 5 K in March and I can't wait. It'll be hard but awesome and I just can't wait. Maybe I'll even pass some people!

Back to the blog: I know I can't have this high forever, and the percentages of success are against me as far as weight loss go, but if I'm going to die early I want to make sure it isn't from something I've done to my body. That just doesn't seem right. I want to have as much time with my grandkids as is humanly possible. I want to give my kids and my Mike the most and the best of me that their can be. Those are just some of the reasons I'm going to run.

I'm off to the gym right now. I hope it's as fun as it was last time, but I know it won't be every time. I'm just glad I wrote this down so that down the road if I'm not "into it" or have a bad day, I can remember I'm Darbi the Runner and sometimes I just plain kick bottom.