2nd Week, Not a Bad Week

Not a Bad Week

Well this last week wasn't all bad but it wasn't all good either! I hate how sometimes life gets to you and you just don't have time for yourself anymore. And when you do, it's like at 11:00 p.m. at night and although your heart and soul have the desire to go run, you just can't go because of your work schedule! Yes life is a little tough, but it's been not a bad week.

In life you have to be positive even if you are down or feeling really low. That was me this last week. It was a hard week full of work and activities and family stuff coming up but I'm very proud of what I have accomplished even if I didn't get to hit the gym everyday like I wanted too!

So at the beginning of the week I went to see my sister late Monday afternoon. We spent some time together and I took her out for her birthday dinner because I knew I wouldn't be able to on her actual birthday. We went to a buffet! Yeah … bad idea! We basically stuffed our faces! It was good food but we totally regretted it after we ate! So we kept telling each other that we needed to go work out and do something to burn all the calories we had just eaten. So my beloved sister was like, “Let’s go biking!” I was like, “Where?” I, of course, had no idea where we would go biking and I certainly did not know if it was going to be hard or easy. But I thought to myself, “Well I gotta do it because I need to keep exercising and be an example to my blogger followers that I seem to have now. I can't let them down after my first post!” :)

Me on the bike ride

So I agreed to go on this bike trail! And can I just say! WOW! What a trail it was! Rachel is a pro! She had no problem on the bike ride. She has a desire to be a biker which I am totally supporting her in this desire just like she supports my older sister and me being runners! So you will never guess how long and how far we rode on Monday! We rode..........20 MILES in 2Hours and 9 minutes! Ya no jiving! (No jiving means no lie, learned that on my mission) Yeah I can't believe that we did it! Oh and I forgot to mention that it was super cold and super windy! It was beautiful scenery for biking though. There were beautiful hills, beautiful skies and just great fresh air to take into the lungs! 

Rachel and me hitting 20 Miles!

Rachel was so sweet and kept asking, “Are you doing okay? Do we need to turn around?” She was so awesome being encouraging too! She kept saying to me, “Emily you’re doing awesome! Keep going!” She even kept me updated on the how many miles we had gone. I kept going because I knew I was helping my sister accomplish her goal to ride 20 miles and I was also enjoying our time bike riding together!

But …when we had reached the 10 mile mark and it was time to turn around and go back … man I had such a hard time wanting to keep going! I wanted to give up. I just wanted Rachel to call her husband to come get us, even if that meant waking up there son to come get us! And I was for real! It just kept getting so much harder and harder! I don't know how I made it. I know it was because my dear sweet sister kept encouraging me to keep going. I know if she hadn’t been there I would have called someone to come pick me up! But I also know what else kept me going … it was knowing that I needed do it for me too. I needed to not give up! I knew if I gave up now, I might as well delete my blog and be a bum for the rest of my life and that I couldn't do. I knew this bike ride would help me to get in better shape and help me accomplish my dream goal! By the time we completed this 20 mile bike ride it was super late at night and super cold and windy. But even though my sister and I froze to death … it was so worth the journey and experience. It felt great to not only complete the ride but also to make my sister happy! So I am proud to say that I rode 20 miles on a bike outdoors! Thanks sis for the memorable evening and a good workout! Maybe, and I do say maybe, we should do it again! ;)

Well I have one other great accomplishment to brag about! You might remember in my first post I wrote about me running 2.5 miles. Well guess what I am up to now? It's so exciting!!! FOUR MILES!!!! I was running on the treadmill the day after that crazy bike ride and I just kept running because it felt so good! I just wanted to keep running! And when I checked the miles (because I had been watching TV and not paying attention to the numbers on the treadmill) I was shocked at how far I had gone and actually felt like I could run one more mile but then decided I had better not push it. I figured I had better take it easy because I have a good while to build up the strength to prepare myself for my dream!

Now with the good also comes the bad! The bad news is that I was not able to exercise every day like I had hoped to. But on a good note I have been active helping my sister out, going to work and being a dedicated CNA and Medtech, making about 9 dozen cookies for a dear friend’s recital, and just staying busy! So like my post title says “Not a Bad Week!” I accomplished two big things and stayed active!

There's always tomorrow to keep reaching for your goals. Never give up! Never quit! Just keep running!

My Story

This is my story! My name is Emily, I am 25 years old and I am overweight! I have been overweight all my life! And I have not been happy with myself all my life. I have always thought that I am not pretty and it's been hard growing up being overweight! 

 

Me and my siblings

Me and my Grandpa Cavalier

I struggle losing weight. I have tried lots of different things! I have joined Curves, I have bought work out videos, and I have eaten healthy and counted calories. And I must admit I have lost some weight but I never could keep it off. I was once in a competition at work to loose weight and I lost weight and got to the lowest weight ever in my life but I didn't keep it off long which was depressing.  It's because I love food. But during that journey in the competition I learned something … I learned I love to run. 

 

Before weight loss competition

After

I have always had this desire to run but I didn't know how to start running. I was way overweight and I couldn't breathe while I tried to run. But when I started to lose the weight I gave it a shot! I got up to running six miles a day! Now that is super big for a person like me who is heavy!

But sadly today I couldn't run six miles if I tried; I would most likely pass out! Now you may be asking why I quit running six miles a day. I actually have a very good answer for that … I left my normal life and everyday schedule to go serve the Lord and served an LDS Mission! 

 Texas Houston East Mission

August 2010 - February 2012

It was the best experience of my life! I tried to keep up the running but it was too hard with my companions. But I do remember at the beginning of my mission telling my mission companion “Everyone is a runner''! And it's so true! Anyone can be a runner if they choose to be!

It's like my older sister Melanie; she is a runner! She was overweight and she tried some of the same things I did and the weight would come off a little bit but come right back on! 

My sister Melanie - Christmas 2005

 That was until she decided to start running! And now she can run anything! She has even run a marathon! I'm so proud of my sister and I look up to her a lot! 

Melanie - 2013

Rock n' Roll Marathon, Seattle Washington

And to be honest, I am also very jealous that she can go run anytime of the day and just run as many miles as she wants and I can't. It's hard on my knees and my back and it's hard to breath. For some time now I have been telling myself, “One day I will be like my sister. One day!” But you know everyone says that, “One day I will start working out,” “One day I will do this craft,” “One day I will clean out the garage,” and “One day I will travel the world!” But that's not good enough! What about NOW! May that day be NOW!

And so that's what I am doing, I'm making my desire real by starting to run today! I'm tired of being the overweight girl. I'm tired of people making fat jokes about me. I'm tired of not being able to shop anywhere and wear the cute clothes in stores. I'm tired of not being able to date and I would love a guy to look at me and think I'm cute and not think wow, she is over overweight or heavy; I don't want to date her! So the time is now to change my life and RUN! RUN those pounds off and be beautiful and be happy with myself!

So what made me want to start today? I was shopping in Wal-Mart and I saw this bright neon shirt that said RUN! 

I just fell in love with it. So I bought it and made a goal to change my life today! I wrote my sister Melanie an e-mail asking for her advice to help me be where she is at today! She wrote me back a sweet and very encouraging of how excited she was for me to start this journey to RUN! She gave me tips and a chart of how I need to start running to build up to where she is at!

So today I can run 2.5 miles and that is awesome! Is it easy … well yes and no. When you start running you feel like you can run for miles but your body isn't used to it so pretty soon you feel like you want to give up and quit.  But you can't quit, you have to keep pressing forward to achieve your goal! And when I want to give up I always look at my shirt and I see the word RUN and that helps me to keep going. I then think of my sister Melanie and how I know she would be encouraging me to keep going just like she did during a 5k she and I did before my mission! 

 Melanie and Me - June 2010

Sounds to Narrows 5K - Tacoma, Washington

I know I can do this! I know I will reach my goal to be a runner! And one day I will run a marathon like my sister Melanie! But I have a long road ahead of me!

So I figured, why not write about this journey and about my experience of becoming a runner. Hopefully this will help me see how far I have come, help me be happy with life, and help me not be depressed about how I feel and look! And I think sharing my feelings will be much better than keeping them bottled up inside like I have done all my years growing up!

So here is to a new beginning and a new journey in my life! Let’s start to RUN!