Run Fat Girl... Run!

When I started running two years ago, I tipped the scales close to 300lbs and daily life was enough exertion for me. There was no excitement in my life, nothing I was working towards and no challenge or discipline. But in two short years, much has changed. When I decided to start losing weight and getting fit, I accidentally came upon the epic adventure of my lifetime.


It all started with the friend who called me fat. We were enjoying a nice lunch after church when I felt the need to break in with a chorus of “whoa is me, I don’t have a boyfriend.” I had sung this tune once or twice before, I think. But my gracious friend let me finish, and then called me fat. Well, that’s not exactly how it happened. At first, she asked why I thought I didn’t have a boyfriend. I mentioned my weight. Then she said one of the riskiest things one friend can say to another: “You made you fat. The good news is that you can make you un-fat.” It could have been a disastrous ending to lunch, but instead, I acknowledged the truth in the statement. I made me fat. And so my journey began.

I started working out that weekend. I got some videos, did a little jazzersize in my basement, looked ridiculous, but starting feeling in control! At my weight, it didn’t take long to notice the pounds being shed.
Then one day, I was walking along a route with some friends. We were going to do the route daily for some exercise before work. I was told it was a mile in length. I don’t know how I got the idea in my head, but I decided that by week’s end, I would run the entire mile. Some of you are probably thinking ‘small potatoes’ while others are probably convinced this is the epic journey I referred to earlier. It definitely was an epic journey for me, at the time.

The first morning, I summoned all my energy and jogged… for all of about 30 seconds. Then I walked for 3 minutes, jogged again, and walked for longer, continuing this pattern for the entire mile. This was tough work!
But my endurance had already increased by the second morning, and before I knew it, I had jogged the first half of the mile! Without stopping! I was slow, and it was more like a shuffle, but I did it! And when I realized I was half-way through, I decided that I could do the other half as well; I might as well get it over and done with. That way, I could just relax and walk the next day. The second half of this mile was tough slugging, but I did indeed jog (shuffle) the entire mile on my second morning as a ‘jogger.’

That one act of bravery opened a whole new doorway for me in life. That was in May of 2008. In one year’s time, I would run my first half-marathon. I came in dead last, but I completed all 21.1 kilometers. I knew I’d need to continue motivating myself if I wanted the 70 pounds I had lost to stay off for good, so I also completed the Intact half-marathon in August of that year. (I like to tell people that I actually completed a full marathon, with a three-month break in the middle.)

With those behind me, my next goal seemed far away: a full marathon – yes, all 42.2 kilometers of it - in 2010. Not only did it seem far enough away that I could sit back and relax awhile (which I did) but the idea of completing a full marathon, for a woman with my, ahem, ‘athletic prowess’, still seemed an impossible task, even with the accomplishments behind me.

None-the-less, I kept my goal in mind, and this past May I signed on with the Leukemia Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training. The group chooses marathons held throughout the world, and assembles teams to fundraise for the cure, while training for a marathon. I was so focused on just doing a marathon that I forgot I could actually have fun and help others! I’ve been in training now for four months, and am preparing for the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. I’ve run more kilometers than I can count, I’ve run more hills than I’d like to remember, and I’ve raised over $4600 for the cause. I’ve been encouraged by my neighours on the trails around Wetaskiwin (Thank you! Feel free to wave or honk if you see me; I’ll be the sweaty one wearing a “Team in Training” t-shirt.) And my entire perspective on what is possible has been forever altered.

I always said ‘I don’t run.’ I guess I was wrong. Sometimes it’s nice to be wrong.
 
If you’d like to contribute to Ashley’s fundraising goals for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society of Canada, please visit http://tiny.cc/6zg2n. (It’s not a shameless plug if it’s for charity, right?)