Round is a Shape

Round is a shape. Circles are round. Rings are round. Donuts are round. Cakes, candies, coke cans...all the good stuff is round. Why can't I be round and happy? Why can't we all just be in shape and that shape be round!?!? I happen to enjoy round things. Just not myself. Once upon a time in a land far far away, I thought I was a princess who could eat and eat and eat and maintain a perfect figure with no exercise at all I considered myself in shape. And that shape wasn't round. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't round.

Now though, the time has come when I have to admit something...I've had 4 kids and would rather snuggle on the couch with a good book Cody and a bottle glass of wine than exercise. Why you may ask?! Because that sh*t is hard work! Ha! And he's a pretty good snuggler. You're muscles get sore, you're tired and hungry and all the food looks and tastes soooooo good. Plus, who even knows where to start. Yoga? Isn't that for flexible hippies? Weight lifting? Uhm...yeah, I don't want to look like the hulk. Running? Dude! Have you ever been on a treadmill?!?!?! No really, seriously, EVER!? It's hard and who wants to run? Who wants to punish themselves like that!!!!!

Not me. Nope. I'll take a pass on that. Or so I thought. I really didn't like being round though. I could not have ran to the end of the driveway to save my life. I would have died from lack of oxygen. I knew coming to Malaysia though that we would have a gym at our apartment complex. And as much as I didn't want to have sore muscles and be tired and hungry and let's face it...I really didn't want to sweat for anything other than the "fun" of it any more than necessary, I told Cody I was going to use the gym when we got here. I was determined to change my shape from round to more oblong with some fluff in only the right places. Holy hell how was I going to do that though?

After we moved into our apartment and got settled in I began walking on the treadmill. Not too fast, not too slow, just getting up and moving. If only laying out in the sun burned calories...  Anyway, after a few weeks of walking, I downloaded the C25K app. It's supposed to teach you to run a 5K, in about 30 minutes. We'll see about that I thought to myself. But I put on my tennis shoes and off to the gym I went. Ready to embark on my first foray into running. Or walking really fast. Or wogging. I questioned my sanity at this point. Anyway, I was going to try. 

It. Was. Hard. Running for 1 minute that first week felt like I was trying to run 20 miles. I cursed...Myself, the treadmill, my genes, the weather, my water bottle, everything! Holy cow I thought, if its this hard for 1 minute, I'll never make it to the end of the app! It asks you to run for 25 minutes straight. No freakin' way! But I pushed through. I repeated some runs. I repeated some weeks but I did make it to the end of the app and can and have ran 25 minutes straight. I still can't cover 5K in 30 minutes, but it only takes me a few minutes longer to do it. My legs are short. That's my excuse  and I'm sticking to it. And I can run for 25-35 minutes straight now. It sucks doing it on the treadmill and after our visit home where I got to run outside I can't wait to get home and run outside again! In the rain, sun, snow...I don't care. I'll run through it all to stay off the treadmill. I also found that...I really enjoy running. Who said that? It's peaceful and I can think or listen to my music and just be in my own world. It makes me happy to be able to go run. Who is saying these things?!?!

So I've kept at it. Running 4, 5 or 6 days a week since this past April/May. I loved running the 5K races we did while we were home. I loved being outdoors running early in the morning. I've also started to incorporate some strength training and cross training into my workouts. Why you may ask? Remember this? 

Half marathon training. The thought of running a half marathon (13.1 miles) had crossed my mind before but it was a teeny, tiny little idea. I was more curious than anything. Could I even really do that? Ugh, I really don't know. But I ran 3 miles during those races at home. And a few months ago I couldn't run a minute. I toyed with the idea. Logged onto the website a few times to sign up for the half that I wanted to do and got scared changed my mind. Then one day, this happened before I could stop myself. 

Crap! I registered to run a half marathon! Panic set in! I counted months, weeks  and days until race day! How long did I have to prepare for this? What did I even need to do to prepare to run 13.1 freaking miles? Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t! I had 24 weeks to figure out how to run that distance. And survive. 24 weeks. That's a long time right? Both of the training plans I've looked into were between 12-14 weeks. I had double that time when I signed up. I'm taking the Thomas the Train route...I think I can, I think I can! My longest run to date is 7.2K or 4.47 miles. That I'm looking at as progress. I've slacked some in pushing it since we've been back here so this week, I'm getting it together. No more slacking. Must run and train according to schedule.

I'm going to run the Kentucky Derby Festival mini marathon and I'm going to survive it! Better yet, I'm going to enjoy every single second I'm running that 13.1 miles! 

And just so y'all can see...here is how sweaty Malaysia is! 

Holy crap I just ran 4 1/2 miles in hell! 

 Awwwww...after I sit down and guzzle a gallon of water I can smile!

 

And just because you couldn't really see how sweaty I was in the other 2 pictures...here's one more. Yucky! I'm literally dripping!


yes...that's all sweat. Every last drop of disgusting gross, why do I do this to myself sweat.
You're welcome. ;o)