Extreme Makeover- Life Edition

I have a confession to make, I love watching EM- Weight Loss Edition.  I love to see these people transform their lives by losing a huge amount of weight over a year and changing their life.   We do not become overweight in a year and the thought that you can make a decision to change your life so drastically is amazing.  It also helps to remind me that even though I did not lose hundreds of pounds, I too made that decision, lost a lot of weight and regained my life, a happier, healthier life. 

The decision to start was in a way the easy part, one photo that showed me what the world saw and I refused too.  

I had no idea that day, June 1, 2009, that I would be starting one of the hardest things I would ever do and the most rewarding.  On May 30, 2010, I was 70 lbs lighter and walking a half marathon for the first time, both unthinkable a year before.  

I remember every km of that first half marathon, I cried the whole last km, tears of joy that I had done it!  

Looking forward a year seems like such a long period of time but it goes by in a flash and if you do not pay attention you will blink and miss it.  Fast forward 2 more years, the weight is still gone, well except for a few pounds (about 5) and I am training to run my first half marathon.  I have done several 5K and 10K races, even an 8K race in a kilt, I have run in +40 and -30, in the sun, in the rain, the snow and the hail.

Running is not natural to me, I have to work at it daily, commit to it and get it done, no excuses.  When we make a big decision, making it is can be the easy part, showing up; every day is the hard part.  There is no easy pill, no fairy God-mother that can do the km and hard work for us, it’s all up to us...it’s our life.