My favorite line in Forrest Gump is "Now you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows. From that day on, if I was ever going somewhere, I was running!". If you have known me for over a year, you may know that I took up running a little over a year ago. I went from being completely inactive to running 6 plus miles. Along the way I lost about 65 lbs. On Thanksgiving Day I ran a 10K. It was a great day for me. Soon after winter set in, and my running began to wane.
In March of 2010 my father gave me his treadmill. I had gone to a doctors appointment with with him where I learned a bit too much about his medical history. The next day I decided to start living a bit healthier. I asked to use his treadmill and began to walk. I started to walk for 30 minutes everyday. I also began to change my diet. I stopped drinking everything except for water. Soda is one of my biggest problems. I could drink a 3 liter of cheap soda in one afternoon. Unfortunately everything you drink has sugar and calories. I figured even if I drank diet soda, I would overdo it. Fruit juice wasn't much better. The key is serving sizes. What I realized is since water has not calories or sugar, I could drink as much as possible.
Food has always been very important to me. I believe in eating till you can't eat anymore. When I was younger and needed a snack I could eat a bag of saltines or Ritz crackers. I've been known to eat a stack of white bread each slice dipped in orange soda. In recent years I had begun to eat more and more snack food. My biggest problem was my eating schedule. For many years I would not eat a single thing until after 4pm. When I would eat I would get the meatiest fattiest fried thing I could find. I recall ordering two separate meals and appetizers from the carry out. I once ordered. sweet and sour pork, beef and broccoli, a dozen crab Rangoon, and onion rings. The average person would save some for later. I would sit and eat everything and wash it down with a ton of soda. When I decided to start eating better I quickly realized that to loose weight I would have to eat more. Instead of eating once a day I began to eat 4 to 6 times a day. I ate breakfast lunch and dinner and snacks in between. This helped with my gorging. I was never starving. The constant water intake also helped with my eating. Sometimes dehydration feels like hunger. I reduced my bread and rice intake. I made it a point to eat multigrain bread. I also eliminated most condiments. Especially oil based products such as mayo and Italian dressing.
After walking on my treadmill for about a month I began to jog on the treadmill. I was still over 300 lbs. I never realized that the treadmill had a weight limit. About 2 weeks after I began jogging, the platform cracked. A week after that it completely broke. I had to get rid of the treadmill. I figured since the treadmill was no more, I could run outside. Big mistake. Jogging on a treadmill and running in hilly Bladensburg are too different animals. I tried to run a mile one Saturday morning. After the first hill I was gasping for air, and had cramps in every muscle below my knees. I kept it up. After about a week I got a membership at the community center gym. They had all kinds of weight equipment and heavy duty treadmills an elliptical and bikes. I was in heaven. I started working out 7 days a week. The pounds were flying off.
I ran and worked out all summer. I even got a running partner. After we moved to Hyattsville I realized there was bigger community center gym down the street from our new place. By September for my 31st birthday I was down to 257 lbs from 321 lbs. I decided to sign up for a 10k on Thanksgiving day. We trained as much as we could even though it was fall. Running that 10K was the most challenging thing I had ever done. I had two objectives. First, was to finish and secondly, was to keep running. It took me and hour, but I did it. After that, winter came. It was my first season of athletics, so I didn't realized how the winter would ruin my will to exercise. My weekly mileage suffered in December. I attempted to run in January. When I did run I did it on the treadmill at the gym. I really missed street running. I ran in 30 degree weather with blustery winds. Once I got warmed up, it felt like a summer day.
I think the last time I went to the gym was in late February. By this time I was drinking soda again and beer more regularly. I stopped eating on a schedule. I was eating anything and everything again. I used the winter as an excuse. Lucky for me my fellow athletes all concurred that winter killed regular exercise and fomented weight gain. It made me feel like I wasn't doing anything wrong. The problem was that I had no idea when and how I was going to start my regimen again. As the spring slowly arrived, I kept saying that I was waiting for the perfect day. It never came. Sometimes it was raining or cold so I would dissuade myself.
A few days ago, my running partner, Marco posted something on my Facebook page. He told me to let him know when I was ready to go for a run. I realized it was time. If anyone could get me back on the road it would be him. Yesterday we met up at The Comcast Center. After not regularly exercising for over 3 months, starting with step drills, maybe wasn't the best idea. We did half the steps and proceeded to go on a 3 mile jog. I surprisingly felt pretty good. I never felt any strains or cramps. I was having trouble catching my breath on the steps. Once we hit the trail it felt like old times. My heart rate calmed down. I started feeling my old rhythm coming back. Marco kept giving me words of encouragement and reminding of muscle memory. My body will acclimate faster then when I first began running. The problem was that I hadn't been keeping up with my nutrition. By the mile and a half mark, I was drained. I was hydrated but have burned off all of my energy. I could feel every muscle in my body in need of nutrients.
By the time I got home, I was feeling pretty sore. Getting up for work today wasn't so bad. I figured the worst had passed. It wasn't until after work that my legs really began to hurt. I figure they were healing. Marco suggested to stretch as much as I could. It actually help a lot. I want to be able to run tomorrow. I'm so ready to get back to my old self. Running 5 miles for fun. Maybe start hitting the gym again. I actually enjoyed being "thin" I've been overweight most of my life and when people began to notice the change it was great. Now that I stuck my toe in the pool, I plan to dive in. This time I will have to plan for the off season to continue being active. I will also maintain my nutritional routine through the holidays. This may sound crazy but I'm even considering starting a plant strong diet. I'll see what season two has in store for me. I'll keep you posted.
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