Hi All...I would like to give my little story. I started out about a year ago. (this is not an advertisement..) I bought Insanity to do at home. I was 225lbs and 28 yrs old. The heaviest of my life. I used to run in school and played ball all the time and was in decent shape until I got married and my wife had kids. I kinda just gave on me and started taking care of them. Always putting them ahead of my health, or that was my excuse anyways...lol...well long story short. I started Insanity and ran my first 5k in October.(not running any before this point, just trying to push myself a little)..36 mins and stopped a bunch. little Did I know I would fall in love with it. I made a goal with my wife that we would start running seriously in January 2013....We put together a group of about 15 runners in town and all ran on the 1st. since then we've logged around 400 miles each on this journey. And loved every minute of it. My 5k time is down to around 21 mins and 10k around 48 mins.I'm looking to do a half and possibly a full marathon before this year is out. Not only have my wife and I did this as a team but my kids are beginning to get on board. my son 4yo, won his first mile race with a time of 11 mins...my daughter 7yrs old, just ran a 5k with me and we made it in 45 mins. Seeing them begin to run and finishing these races has to be one of my top 3 "proud Daddy" memories...I love it....Oh btw..With my routine of running and working out at the house using Insanity, P90X, and some crossfit workouts I found online, I've lost a total of 76lbs and continue to run and honestly feel better and healthier than I've ever felt in my life...Its weird cause before I couldn't run around the softball bases, now if I don't get in about 3 to 4 miles a night, I'm going crazy..lol...I LOVE IT!!!. Look forward to the inspiration and being around like minded people. Here's a picture of my before and after. And our little family award shelf...
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My running story begins in February 2012. I was at my heaviest weight of 235 lbs. I had just joined Fitness World Gyms in Hartsville, SC the month prior & started making smarter choices about my food at that time as well. Although I had started to drop weight by using the elliptical, going to fitness classes, and by monitoring my caloric intake, I wanted to try something I had never done before. I wanted to challenge myself....I wanted to compete in a 5K race. I downloaded the Couch To 5K app so I could run the April 28, 2012 Carver C.A.P. 5K in Florence, SC. Starting out proved to be extremely difficult. I was obese even after having lost about 20 pounds at that point. I remember trying to run for 90 seconds was nearly impossible for me. I had aches and pains, but I persevered. Eventually I was able to run for those 90 seconds and even worked my way up to running for 5 minutes straight!! I was able to complete the Carver C.A.P. 5K with a time of 43 minutes, 34 seconds. I was not able to run the entire 3.1 miles, but that didn't bother me. Something happened to me that day; I realized that I COULD do something that I set my mind to IF I was willing to put in the hard work that it required. I didn't know that completing that 5K race would cause me to get bitten by the run bug :) It wasn't long after that race that I found out that Fitness World Gyms decided to start a run club. I signed up and made many new friends. By the end of 2012, I had completed 14 - 5K races and earned a PR of 36 minutes, 50 seconds at the Charlotte Turkey Trot 5K in Charlotte, NC on Thanksgiving Day. I also estimated that I ran/walked approximately 200 miles in 2012. So far the year 2013 has been very eventful for me. I have a new PR 35 minutes, 39 seconds for a 5K. I completed my first 10K at the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, SC with a chip time of 1 hour, 29 minutes, 38 seconds. I have also completed my first half marathon at the Run Like A Diva Half in Mrytle Beach, SC on April 28, 2013, one year to the day that I completed my very first 5K!!! My chip time for the half marathon was 3 hours, 14 minutes, 21 seconds. As of today, I am over halfway to completing my goal of running 400 miles this year. I am currently training for the inaugural Darlington Marathon that will take place in September in Darlington, SC. During the course of my journey I have lost 67 pounds, but in losing those 67 pounds I gained so much. I gained lots of friends, self-confidence, and a sense of pride in myself that I never though I would have. And that is my story......to be continued ;) My love of running came out of finding a way to survive. I was raised in total chaos and sickness, full of alcoholism, abuse and pain. I found running (innocently enough) while running away from my dad...and it worked. Running became my very own escape and I used it any chance I got. I started running track and cross country in the 6th grade and it carried me through highschool. I ran in college; but fell prey to my own addictions and waged a nasty battle trying to do everything in my power to outrun myself. I ended up in the hospital due to alcohol and eating disorders and very slowly began re-building my life. I was able to get healthy mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually by using my running as a healthy way to deal with life. I have now raised two beautiful children who are on their own and thriving and am re-married to an amazing man (who does not begin to understand my running...but loves me and supports me in it) Running is so personal to me. I run for me and for me alone. I am free when I run and I never feel more alive than when I am running. I am grateful every day that I can run because I tried so hard to destroy myself...it is an absolute miracle that I have no lasting health problems due to my past. My hope for every runner is that you run for you...and only you. Enjoy it, celebrate it, nuture it. It is yours and your alone. Thanks so much for letting me be a part of this wonderful community. I appreciate each and every one of you and every experience you have had. Richelle I received this message the other day on my Facebook page (copied by permission)
My daughter is a musician. We are a family of runners, (all 7 of us) who like all, were touched by the tragedy in Boston. In conjunction with her upcoming album release she'll be headed to Boston for a series of shows. We put together a video tribute - with a song not on the album - as a possible way to raise funds for One Fund Boston. The idea is to donate 100% of our itunes proceeds from the single to the Fund from now through Labor Day. (essentially the end of the tour) She'll be getting a bit of press so we thought we could incorporate this effort with any free media the tour might generate. We have not publicized this at all at this point. The video is on her site - but we've not promoted it. We wanted to get your feedback first. It, along with her story, can be found atwww.courtneyjonesmusic.com I was completely speechless. The video is amazing. I was touched that they would ask my opinion and that Courtney took the time to put all of this together...not to mention the absolutely amazing voice!! It was so cool to see some of those pics again, I received so many that I don't think I ever even got a chance to look at all of them. I got in touch with Andrew (Courtney's dad), to let him know I would certainly do whatever I can do to support this. Anything at all. That set the wheels in motion. Courtney's music team, including her producer - Boston's own Peter Malick - posted the video on YouTube, it can be found here -http://youtu.be/9ikjxTnyjoQ. Uploaded the single to iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/enemy-fire-single/id672743034?uo=4 and is featured on her website www.courtneyjonesmusic.com It's premiering here on the RunJunkees site and we'll be sharing it on our Facebook page. I hope you'll take a moment to visit and help support Courtney and her efforts here. Spread the word ! Flipping through my mental rolodex to the afternoon of February 24th 2012 standing on a scale in my doctors office watching in horror while the nurse continue to slide the weight on the scale higher and higher. The weight kept climbing like the thermometer on a summer afternoon. Two hundred pounds, two hundred and fifty, finally the mercury stopped at three hundred and eight pounds. I was mortified! Later that afternoon sitting on our couch depressed I made a life altering decision, I was not only going to lose weight but I would get myself into shape at age forty. The very next day I made a drastic change to my diet. I began to walk six miles a day five days a week and slowly things began to change for me. My body started feeling better. The digestive issues I had been having were suddenly gone. I began to have more energy and my walking began to speed up. Fast forward to an afternoon in late April as I returned from the local store where I had bought some fertilizer for our lawn. After lifting these extremely heavy bags from the car I happened to notice each bag weighed forty five pounds. Stepping back for a moment and standing there in amazement realizing I had lost forty five pounds at this point and lifting those bags of fertilizer really put what had happened to me in perspective. A week later several friends had begun to push me to run a 5K race. Now I had not run since playing high school lacrosse twenty two years prior. I was resisting all I could but my curiosity would eventually get to me. However we signed up as a family and had planned to walk it. Race day finally arrived and as we got there the half marathoners had begun to come in. The atmosphere was electrifying. I was so excited to be a part of what was going on but really having no clue what was going on. All I knew is that it felt good. As we stood waiting for the gun my wife looks at me and says “You know you want to run”. I politely replied no I’m going to walk, BANG, the gun goes off and the tightly packed crowd of runners begin to take off. My wife looks at me and says again “You know you want to run” and I looked back with a huge smile and I was off. About a mile into it I am feeling great as a gentle pat on my back gets my attention and woooosh, my thirteen year old son goes flying on by. With the finish line in sight and my adrenaline pumping I noticed all those half marathoners clapping and cheering as we crossed the finish line. Wow, what a sense of community I thought. Runners of all skill levels cheering and supporting one another. I was hooked! My first ever 5K race was now complete, finishing in 35:19.
Comparison pic July 4 2012 and July 4 2013
It all started in 2010 when I got laid off. My job was extremely stressful and I put in very long days which lead to unhealthy habits and massive weight gain. I was around 180 pounds when I started that job and around 260 when I left 3 years later. While being laid off I decided to join a gym. I spent a couple hours a day walking on the treadmill and gradually added some short runs interspersed in there. My goal was to run a 1/2 marathon and signed up for one in August. I started loving running so much that I signed up for an earlier one and ran my first 1/2 marathon (Red, White and Boom) on July 4, 2010 in 2:36. By the end of the summer I had lost over 60 pounds. In the meantime, I found a job and started nursing school. Working full-time and going to school full-time made it incredibly difficult for me to continue working out and I fell back into a sedentary lifestyle and gained all my weight back. I was very stressed out being in school and was very unhappy with my life. In 2012, I made a choice that I needed to take better care of myself if I was going to take care of patients so I started running again, but did so over my lunch break at work since this was the only free time I had. My bucket list always included a marathon but it seemed so out of reach for me. This time around I decided that I needed to set my sights on one and signed up for Grandma's marathon in Duluth MN. I continued running, going to school and working. I found that adding the running to my life reduced my stress so significantly that school was no longer something I loathed going to and actually found I was learning more and more easily. I was happier in life, wasn't as tired all the time, was getting sick less often and was losing the weight that had been holding me back. Finishing strong in 2013 On June 22nd, 2013, I ran my first full marathon. I ran it in 5 hours, 8 minutes and 32 seconds. A time I will never forget. I won't lie, it hurt like hell but it's not a bucket list item for me anymore, it's a personal goal for me to improve upon. I've already signed up for 2 more full-marathons because I know I can only improve from here. I've continued going to the Red, White and Boom 1/2 marathon every year. It was my first 1/2 marathon and it was their inaugural 1/2 marathon so it's something special to me. Last year it was reduced to a 5-miler because of extreme heat and humidity so I don't have a time comparison but I completed it this year with a PR of 2:20. Running for me is something that has kept me whole and sane. I didn't have any support when I first decided to run a marathon but when the people around me saw what a positive change it was having on me, they rallied around me. now I have people asking me how to start running, and I help them understand how to continue running. By Ashlyn Adams Romaine At age 42, in March of 2012, I started running with a group in my town following the Run for God program. It was started by someone who felt the call from God to do this. I actually missed the first meeting ... and wasn't so sure that I was sad about it. Day 2 ... I arrived ... we stretched, we warmed up, we talked. The program started with a 5 minute warm up walk -- then run for 60 seconds (aka 1 minute) and walk for 90 seconds for a TOTAL time of 20 minutes. I, who was about 5'4.5" and about 133 pounds kept thinking (and telling the timing people) that their watches were WRONG ... 60 seconds HAD to be up. And I was yelling it from the back of the pack. And as I was yelling, my thighs ... oh how they burned. Anyway, we progressed ... and we sweat ... and we didn't die. And I learned lessons along the way. And I learned about mantras. "No White Flags" became mine after reading about former New Orleans Saint Steve Gleason and his fight with ALS and how I just knew that he'd do anything to be able to WALK much less run. I didn't love running -- I didn't hate it either. My husband encouraged me to find something I might like better. I said "It's called Run for GOD ... GOD doesn't quit and neither will I". And we completed our goal 5k in early May. It started at 9 am ... that's LATE and HOT in south Louisiana. It took me more than 43 minutes ... and some walking ... but I did it. I finished. And I wasn't happy. I wanted to RUN the whole thing. I didn't consider myself a runner. The group kind of broke up during the summer with differing schedules and all. So I ran alone ... in the late evenings. And then fall came and WOW it was a little cooler. So I decided to sign up for an 8k Wounded Warrior Run sponsored by a local running store. I trained and trained. I worried and I worried. And on the ride to the start with a friend, I wanted to throw up. What had I done? The sponsoring store personnel told me that running, walking and even crawling were ALL acceptable modes of getting to the finish. Crawling? I can do that. And I made it! Without crawling and only walked .33 miles of the 5. It was for such an awesome cause -- a friend of mine texted me right before. "Your purpose for running is greater than ANY finishing time". And she was right. 10K around the corner ... I was ready ... and not nervous at all. It was going to be what it was going to be. And I finished ... in the back but that was ok. I was a runner running against ME! No one else. More 5ks. Let's see, there's a half in New Orleans in February. Friend to me: "let's do it"!! She was coming in from Seattle to do this on the anniversary of her mother-in-law's death -- a mother-in-law that she never met. Cancer sucks. Anyway, we trained distantly ... we motivated each other distantly. And on February 24, 2013, we ran our first half. She finished before I did -- I ended with horrid IT Band issues. But my purpose for running WAS greater than my finish time .. I was running for too many friends and family members who have been affected by cancer. So off to the chiropractor and the physical therapist. And they both firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. And now that on I'm on the road to recovery, I see that. I've met some wonderful people along the way ... I've found a running support system ... I've done more than I ever thought I could or would with this body that God gave me. One that works and moves when so many don't have that ability. Running has made me a healthier person ...I've lost a few pounds ... improved my cardiovascular health while lowering the risk of heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. Running has made me a more resiliant person ... I'm still learning to deal with disappointment and injury and the feelings that go with these things. Patience has never been my strong point but through this experience it's getting perhaps a little better. I'm so glad that I didn't quit ... and even today I keep plugging away. Afraid to take the "risk"??? Don't be ... the rewards way outweigh any risk and for me it's totally been a journey. A journey in learning about myself, about life and for me about giving Glory to God on every run. And never forget, the hardest part is lacing up your shoes and once you set out, you are lapping everyone still on the sofa!!! I don’t like my alarm…so annoying. Snooze. But I roll out of bed, into my shorts and trainers, and hit the pavement. After about 3 seconds, I feel great! What a great way to wake, clear my head, plan my day. I run with good tunes in my head, a smile on my face, and appreciate my life. It all started a few years ago, when I needed something short and sweet just in case I couldn’t get any real workout in during the day. I figured I’d at least have done something good for me. Now, I wouldn’t trade it for the world!!! I feel stronger. I’ve increased my endurance. I feel more alive throughout the day. Mentally, I am more on task. My whole day is more productive as I tend to be more energized and efficient. Speed isn’t my thing. “Slow and steady wins the race,” is how I roll. But the benefits are wonderful. It is a whole body workout… legs, glutes, abs, back, chest, shoulders, respiratory, cardio…all good. The run also sets me up for an awesome stretch afterwards because warm muscles are stretchable without fear of tearing. My early morning run is my sanity-feel good-prep for my day-me time. Best part of my day! Theresa Orange County, CA My name is Megan, I am 32 and this is my story: Have you ever been riding in your car, air conditioning on full blast, music blaring and seen one of those "crazy people" running down the road? All you think is, why are they running? You quickly glance in the rearview mirror. There has to be someone wielding a knife chasing them, but there is no one. So for the rest of your cool drive you are thinking how that runner must have a screw loose, running covered in sweat, looking uncomfortable, maybe a little miserable even and how you could NEVER do that. Heck your thighs rub together and belly jiggles just walking to the couch. I lovingly have referred to those as "chub rub" and "bingo wings" over the years and running was what you did, only if being chased and after being certain the person in pursuit didn't have a gun. All of this changed when I decided I was worth more than being the girl on the sidelines. I had friends who ran and talked about the elusive "runners high" and I was convinced this same high was found in a good chocolate milkshake. Needless to say, it wasn't. My weight and sloth like tendencies were proving that more and more each day. I joined Weight Watchers at 309lbs and when I hit 30 lbs down I decided to reward myself, not in the usual "binge on my favorite foods" way, but instead I saw a coupon for a 5k and went for it. This was not your everyday 5k. This was the Pretty Muddy Women's mud run in Oct. 2012. I convinced (maybe even conned) 3 friends to do it with me and cursed the whole way wondering what I was thinking. I cant even tell you the elation I felt crossing that finish line. I couldn't walk for the next 2 days but I was already wanting to do another race. I hadn't trained for that 5k. Hell, I hadn't even walked around my neighborhood. I knew that if I was ever going to do something like that again, I was going to need to get in better shape. So in December 2012, I joined a gym. I would walk my 20min miles and be bored. So I added in some jogging. Then I added spin class, then yoga, and weight lifting I was feeling stronger and looking better. I was only jogging 10-20 seconds at a time but, holy cow I was doing it!!! Then came the knee pain, the hip pain and the back pain. What!? I was losing weight and building muscles.How could this be happening? Then the blisters came. So I timidly entered the new running store across the street from the gym. I was nervous about it. Heavy people don't run and runners are an elite group of people. I felt I had no right to enter their inner sanctum. Boy was I wrong! The staff at Lucky Foot not only got me in the right shoes but they made me feel good about the steps I was taking. (Pun intended) In March 2013 I did my second 5k. With my father in law coaching me along, I completed it with my fastest pace ever, 13:41. Yes it is slow but I had never even done that in those mandatory gym class miles. I was dumbfounded. Plus, with the right shoes I didn't have any pain. I could conquer the world that day. Next up was the 10k in April. Of course I chose the 8th largest road race in the US (go big or go home right??) I was stoked, my 4 woman team from the pretty muddy was now 6 and we wore tutus! My goal was to finish it. Which I did in under 2 hours. Again it was slow, who cares, I was faster than those people sitting on the couch watching the race on TV. I got high fives from my friends from Lucky Foot at their tent. I got cheered on by the thousands of people out there. I was a rock star but was I a runner yet? Since then I have done another 5k and an 8k. I still walk most of it. We always wear our tutus. The team TuTu Many Races had 15 members at our last race. My goal is to do one race every month. I even have my sights set on maybe doing a half marathon in November. (Does this make me crazy??) I know I am slow but the short jogs have turned into minute runs. I was always saying I am a "runner" (notice the quotations). Until one day I read a quote that basically said if you just run one or two steps, you are a runner. I spoke to people I thought were "true runners" and they said I was a runner. They embraced me with open arms. They gave me advice, encouragement, and support. They told me I inspire THEM. What!?! (That made my brain explode.) I have people on Facebook tell me I inspire them too and ask to join my team. How can I inspire anyone? Since my newfound love of running I have found I am more excited to try new things to keep me active. Just last week I was in the Outer Banks on vacation. I ran almost every morning. I even did a quick beach run (which is extremely difficult,) but my biggest accomplishment was climbing the dunes at Jockeys Ridge. I have been to the Outer Banks the last 18 years and always thought there was no way I could (or would) do that. This year I said to myself, "you are a runner now, you can do anything" and so I climbed the first one with my husband. He looked at me and said "wanna do another?" And we did. There are no more limitations for me and I conquered something that I swore to myself I could not even attempt. I am still 267 lbs. I have a long way to go on my weight loss journey. The difference is now I have more of a sense of self. I know where I am going and how many steps it will take. I have new paths and trails to lead me there. I have made new friends along the way. I have joined Facebook groups to ask my questions and inspire me. I found that I there is a plethora of people to ask for support. I have, more than anything, found that runners aren't really an "elite group" like I originally thought. Runners are more than happy to show you how to find your way. They welcome you into their family like you have been there the whole time and I kinda think we have. A part of me always wanted to be a runner and it breaks out every time I jog to that next mailbox and decide to keep on to the next. It comes out one step at a time. But it always comes and it fights with the part of me that doesn't want to keep on. But... When my inner runner wins, I know that I AM A RUNNER and I can conquer anything and there will never be too many races, instead there will always be TuTu Many Races. By Lisa Talbot Lundrigan, MA Me and Dad after the 2013 Boston Marathon One day, out of the blue, my dad showed up. I was about 8 years old or so. He’d been there all along actually, living in the house with us, caught up in a gambling addiction that financially and emotionally decimated our family. But that is not the man I think of as my father. That man was living a lie, was overweight, was smoking, and was focused on feeding his addiction. That man hit rock bottom and began a twelve step recovery program. And the man who was born at that time decided that running would be part of his plan to change everything about his lifestyle. And so, this new man, who was still living in the body of a 35 year old overweight smoker, began a running program at our local track. My mother and I would go with him, joining in as he ran a lap, waiting while he smoked a cigarette, and then joining him again for the next lap. It was as simple as that. And over time, day after day, the cigarette breaks became fewer, the laps became bigger, and my dad, athletic and disciplined, emerged. In his first road race, even the town ambulance finished ahead of him. It didn’t matter. He kept running. In the running boom of the 70’s he found his passion, he found his truer self. He became the man I most admire. I spent my childhood and teens in the company of runners. Dad raced often. He marathoned twenty times; including six Boston Marathons. He achieved success as a runner, and remarkable success as a man. He rose to prominence in his profession. He became a leader in our community. He helped countless people at the beginning of their journey to be better versions of themselves. One of those people was me. A sweaty mess after my 10k, with my Dad and Son. In the early 90s, after having been overweight myself, I lost a significant amount of weight in mostly healthy ways before becoming caught up in the devastating disease of anorexia. I had no desire to follow in my father’s running footsteps at the time. In fact, he and I had become distant, our relationship strained by his divorce from my mother; a divorce that was likely inevitable and healthy for both of them in retrospect. Almost accidentally, I began running and I liked it. I was living in San Diego at the time, where nobody knew me as Ed Talbot’s daughter. I ran pre-dawn, just like him. I preferred longer distances, just like him. And miraculously, I found a path out of self-destruction in running, just like him. Running became important enough to me that I had to eat enough to continue to do it. And that, it turned out, was enough to keep me alive. After a couple of years I began fantasizing about running a marathon and turned to my dad, who was still in Massachusetts, for guidance. Conversations that began about a training plan turned into conversations about our lives and goals. After an overuse injury derailed my first marathon plan, I regrouped and set my sights on the 100th Boston Marathon, the people’s race. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to run my first ever marathon in Boston that year and my father was waiting for me at the finish line. As I hugged him I blurted out “I want to do it again!” And I have. I’ve run other marathons since then, including this year’s Boston. I’ve also had two perfectly healthy children in my 40s and I ran until the day they were each born. For the past twenty two years, running has been the most stable thing in my life; the thing that grounds and soothes me. I love watching new runners get caught up in the joy of the sport. I love that my kids know me as a person who gets up before the sun does to run. And I love that I am a part of a running community; that my solitary pre-dawn footsteps are connected with every one of your footsteps. And it all began with that overweight man on the track who one day decided that enough was enough. |
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