If I knew then...

I graduated from college almost ten years ago. WOW! Just typing that made me feel quite old. I think when you go to college at eighteen years old (seventeen in my case) and are forced to choose what you want to do for the rest of your life it does you a major disservice. How many people know what they really want to do at that age? Many people might but I was not one of them. Since I graduated, my life changed with the husband and children and all. I also developed a great love for exercise (running in particular), health and nutrition. Oh, I wish I had known that I would love this back then.

Now, I do have my personal training certification (which I haven’t really tried to use anywhere) and I would still like to become a certified running coach but these are all things that I choose now because of where I am now in my life. I want to be able to encourage and educate others on a topic that I love and that in some ways saved my life.

Now I am going to be extremely honest. I have had eating issues (shocking I know). I have a love/ hate relationship with food and I am not ashamed to admit that. I know that nutrition is very important to those training for anything from a 5K to a ultra marathon. Food fuels the body and to perform well, a healthy eating plan is needed. About 7 years ago, I hated how I looked and my life was a little out of control so I began controlling my eating. I “controlled” it so well that I was NEVER hungry. I ate just enough to make it through and my weight got extremely low. I never thought about what I was doing or how it was affecting those who loved me. One day while Dave was at a clinical at the hospital I seriously thought that I was having a heart attack because my weight was so low. I drove myself to the hospital and the doctor told me that I needed to GAIN. UGH!!!!! Now even if you know that you need to gain weight you do not want to see the numbers going up (you feel very out of control and control is the key remember). Well they wanted to me to go to a doctor and I did. You know what he told me to do- EXERCISE.

WHAT?!?!?!

I weight almost 90lbs, am never hungry, and you want me to exercise? Yes was the answer he told me, so I did. I found a husband and wife training team and began working out with them 3-4 days a week. We never discussed the fact that I was too thin. We just worked out and I started to be hungry. Those 2 people literally saved me. Exercise gave me something else to focus on. I could control my performance and I became a little healthier everyday. When Trainer M told me we should train for a triathlon I said ok. I didn’t really think that I would be able to but I would humor him. The training really gave me a purpose and it gave me something else that I had been lacking- Confidence in myself.
I finished that Triathlon and I believe that if I had fueled my body better I would have done better than I did.

Why am I telling you all this?

I thought it was time to put it all out there. My goal is to encourage. I want to help others love exercise (running, swimming, biking in particular) but really to just know that it is possible to make little changes and accomplish so much.
I truly love running and I want to be healthy. I wish I had known this then…what trouble I would have saved.

BUT…

….now I have 3 pairs of little eyes that watch my every move and want to be just like me. So I need to encourage them to eat right, to move, to play, and to make mistakes but to learn from them too.
I encourage you to try. Try to run a mile, to walk for 30 minutes. Just try it, you may like it- I know I do.
Happy Running.