DERFWADS UNITE! Mrs. G’s 5K Project

**Updates are at the bottom of the page**

I’m pretty sure that this ass burro CAN run…

The question is, can I????

20 years ago, I went from a totally non-runner to a half-hearted jogger. This was only because my husband really wanted his young bride to try his beloved sport. For the record, I was terrible at it. Oh, he tried to make it better by giving me pointers about how to hold my arms, point my feet — good tips, all.
But I hated it.

married for a year and managing the weight

Still, I was in decent shape (that particular shape being still decently slender), as proved by this photo taken 19-1/2 years ago.

Fast forward to 14+ years ago: I started running because I wanted to. I ran 2 miles, 3 days per week; usually I did this with 2 toddlers in the jogging stroller! Determined? Who, me??
I ran a 5K (Seattle’s Firecracker 5000).
I ran what I thought to be a 10K (Tacoma’s Sound-to-Narrows) that I now realize was 12K.
I ran in Spokane’s 12K Bloomsday Race, part of the annual Lilac Festival. Way back in 1994, I ran every single step of Bloomsday. I was still passing people near the finish line. I was so proud of myself! (Yes, I’m still glorying in that; why do you ask?)

That summer, I looked like this. Not skinny, but healthy and in-shape. I could run, I could dance, I could keep up with my 2 little boys (and carry them both at the same time!)

Umm….that was 15 years ago.

Fast forward a few more years, and you get to this healthy specimen!

Otherwise known as the summer I could haul 100 pounds of kid with me on a bike ride

I am so glad my neighbor took that photograph! I’d like to look like that again.

I tend to put on weight when we move. As an Army familiy, moving happens every few years. It’s probably a result of emotional eating — getting the family settled into a new place, not having friends– same old story. Still, one year after that awesome-looking woman above? I could still hike with my family, and I didn’t look too bad:

hiking in New Mexico, summer 1998

Nevermind the fact that the scanner makes everything show up in mirror image!

It's not just about my butt

What I do mind is that I now look like this…

Those vacation photos were pretty horrifying this year.

I wanna change. I wanna be different. I wanna be HEALTHY!!

DERFWADS UNITE!!
Mrs. G’s 5K Project has begun!
Here is a useful Couch-to-5K Running Plan.

Check back here for updates.

Dateline: 07 August 2008, week ONE

I can’t remember what I did for the whole week. Probably not much. I’ve been spending most of my time being Mom’s Taxi Service: summer school, band camp, beach patrol, swim lessons, plus the usual errands. I walked with SuperDad for 25 minutes last night. Yes, I initiated this exercise! Go figure. And then I came home and took 2 Aleve.
What I failed to mention at the start of this project is my 4+ year battle with plantar fasciitis (which is most painful in my arches, so I can’t be helped by some of the usual treatments) and my osteoarthritic knee.
[Yeah, yeah, whine and complain] I’m just sayin’, this is what I am dealing with.
‘Nuff of that. Carry on, Derfwads!

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Update #2: Now with photos! (August 20th)

As promised, here are some current photos. Maybe knowing these are posted will inspire me to exercise more!?

This is the donkey ass burro butt shot. As opposed to buckshot (although I’m a pretty big target for that, too).

The shorts I’m wearing are ones that I could actually squeeze up over my hips but you won’t catch me going anywhere in them. They used to fit. They WILL fit again!!!

I took this picture myself, with a bit of contortion and some help from the mirror.

Here is the really BIG problem:

It actually looks kind of small in this picture. It’s not. Some of the problem stems from the hysterectomy I had nearly 8 years ago. I actually had toned muscles under a protective layer of blubber (and 50 fewer pounds). I faithfully dragged myself to aerobic kickboxing several nights each week. I walked and yes, even jogged! This abruptly curtailed with a 5-day hospital stay and a 7-inch vertical scar on my abdomen. It was 3 months before I had healthy color back in my face and nearly a year before I felt like myself again. Myself, that is, minus any stomach tone whatsoever.

I’m not sure what was cut/severed/damaged (although certainly some nerve endings are in that catagory) but I have had disheartening results with crunches. I don’t think I can even DO a sit-up anymore.

But as Rafiki says in The Lion King, “It is time.” Time to get back on the exercise ball (literally) and crunch away.

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Update #3: August 27

I think I’m really good at whining and complaining and making excuses.
I think I’m not so good at action.

This is a terrible character flaw to face in myself.

What do y’all do to MOTIVATE yourselves??

update #4 – September 10th

I haven’t gained, despite stress eating lately. And I guess that could be considered good news.
Butt, I haven’t lost, either.

Today I have done a lot of trotting up and down the stairs. It feels good, so I’m guessing it is the right thing to be doing.

update#4

This is actually the addition of story photos above (also posted on my home page on Wednesday, September 10th).

update for 9/16/08:

I finally went back to Curves this week…well, does going on both Monday and Tuesday count? I was dressed to go today, but the weather was SO beautiful…so I moved about the yard and garden for an hour, pulling weeds. It was exercise AND it made the place look better.

update for Wednesday, October 1st:

My mother was here last weekend.  That is just the latest stress in a long line of stresses…and I am a consummate stress eater.   Someone PLEASE motivate me!!

Back in the Game:  Friday, 24 October 2008

I’ve spent a few weeks mulling over the situation, and this week it all came to a head: either get serious with the diet and exercise, or give up. It was beginning to look like giving up. Because seriously? I’m not running a 5K in the next 3 years anytime soon. I think my feet and knees are twice as old as the rest of me and they can barely take care of themselves, let alone the extra weight I ask them to bear.

This morning I went to the gym for the first time in weeks.  I ended up doing a lot of stretching - the muscles were pretty tight – and of course I worked out some, too.  I’m sure it made zero difference to my belly or backside.  I came home, ate a bowl of healthy oatmeal and sipped some green tea.  Then I burst into tears confessed to my dh how very frustrated I am about my weight.  Frankly, as petrified as I am of much as I don’t like surgery, I’m about ready to beg for it.

Luckily, SuperDad is also a super husband.  He let me cry it out vent and come to a decision on my own:  TODAY – NOW – I am starting a new eating plan.  I don’t say diet.  Diet is just ‘die’ with a ‘t’ on the end.  Diet also connotates something that has a beginning and an end.  Thus, I have begun a new eating plan.
I’ll be the first to admit I am not easy to work with when it comes to food.  I resist anything difficult and I often resist anything new (unless it has to do with chocolate).  Weight Watchers?  UGH!!  All that adding up of points or writing things down, not to mention having to weigh-in at a meeting.  The best luck -call it success if you want- that I have had was when I followed Atkins.  This was back in the spring/summer of 2003 when I actually lost 32 pounds without feeling too deprived (now there’s a minor miracle).  I also learned I am a total sugar addict.  There’s the rub:  I am an addict.  I started having a bit of sugar here, a bit of sugar there.  A slice of bread.  A piece of cake.  Pretty soon I was back to mainlining the stuff.  Sweet!

I was so much more energetic when I wasn’t consuming sugar (once I got through the withdrawal headaches).  Lately, I’ve been falling asleep every afternoon… although that could also be related to lack of sleep… sleep… Zzzzzz….

Anyhoo, I’m not going to be counting calories.  I’m not going to be writing down every nibble of food or drink that passes my lips.  I am going to be eating plenty of vegetables, drinking lots of water, consuming proteins, and limiting my “breads and grains” to old fashioned oatmeal.  I know it’s going to be tough.My German heritage makes me a sucker for bread, potatoes, and beer. Ich liebe die Kartoffeln. But something’s gotta give, and I really need want it to be the fat that gives up and goes away.