The Starting Line

I'm a married mother of one (two counting my furry baby).  I'm a nurse.  I specialize in caring for people...and yet I really don't know how to take care of myself.  At 32 years of age, I am in the worst physical shape of my life, and I have realized if I don't do something, and soon, I am resigning myself to a life of poor health and unhappiness.  Because right now, I am unhappy - about the way I look and the way I feel. 

I graduated from nursing school in May of 2009 - during the 3 years it took to complete my degree, I put off exercising, pulled all-nighters, and paid little attention to what I was eating.  I figured once I had completed my degree, I could focus on myself.  But, life had other plans for me - in August of 2009, I learned that I was pregnant with my first child.  And unfortunately, it was not an easy pregnancy.  I was working in my first RN position, and with the stress that brought, combined with the ill effects of my pregnancy, I was in no shape to be exercising.  Focus on myself? Nope - I had to focus on my patients and my pregnancy, and I expended all of my energy just trying to make through a typical work day.  I worked M-F, 9 to 5, with an hour commute each way. My position was that of  visiting nurse - so I spent my days sitting in traffic, driving to appointments, and pulling off the road in between the latter and the former to either get sick (my "morning sickness" lasted throughout my pregnancy, and was not confined to the morning), or hit a drive-thru. 

When I got home at night my "exercise routine" consisted of dropping onto the couch, and picking up the phone to call for take-out.  I was very committed to this routine - I did it every day for 9 months.  Unfortunately, it now shows.

So, what to do now?  I need to commit to a new routine - I need to get off my couch, lose the numbers to my favorite take-out spots, and start making better choices, so I can feel better about myself.  The day before yesterday, the book "Run Your Butt Off:  A Breakthrough Plan to Lose Weight and Start Running (No Experience Necessary)" arrived in the mail.  I had ordered it from Amazon after I noticed a friend (who has an amazing weight loss story of her own) "Liked" it on Facebook.  I've read through it, and what it has to say makes sense (to me anyway).  The writers support not "dieting" but making lifestyle changes to achieve weight loss goals.  It also talks about taking small, slow steps toward becoming a successful runner.  My most recent attempt at a 5K resulted in a 36:24 finish - it was a hard run, and I realize that the extra pounds that I'm carrying weighed me down.  Having read this book, what do I now envision for myself?  A lighter me, who floats across a finish line after running a 5K in 30 minutes.  This blog will tell my story as I do my best to reach that finish line.

Me, at the Fritty 5K finish - March 20, 2011