C25K -or- Get Your Fat Behind Off The Couch and Run for Your Life

If any of you were wondering how I went from 250 lbs to this fantasy idea of running a half marathon, I'll tell you. I started a program called Couch to 5K, or C25K. It's a training program that will get you from couch shape to running shape in nine weeks. You can check it out at www.c25k.com. It has a printable workout program where it teaches you to slowly build your ability to run through three workouts a week over that nine week period.

I looked ridiculous during those nine weeks. I felt fat and slow and an embarrassment. I'd run late at night so no one would see. I chose my local high school track because it was easy to count distance that way. In the summer I'd run at nine at night when it was dark and sometimes the track lights weren't on. This didn't bother me because, well, have I mentioned it was dark? I didn't want people to think, "Oh look at that poor fat girl trying to get into shape." or " Wow, she bounces all over the place." I didn't start running for anyone but myself, but at that time other's opinions still affected me.

So I ran the straights and walked the curves. Ran the curves and walked the straights. Every day increasing what I could so I would meet that nine week mark. I had calf injuries, pulled muscles, was exhausted all the time, and through it all, I gained weight. I was so mad, that through my diet, which I'll get into another time, and all that embarrassing running I was doing was making me fatter. Until one day I woke up and ten pounds was gone. I don't know where it went, but I ain't complaining.

I remember running my first complete mile. It was early afternoon in the early summer. I had never even run a full lap at the track. So when I kept pushing myself and finally made it all the way around without stopping I said to myself, "Well Heidi, you did one. Do one more." And I did. Then three, then four and I still felt like I could keep going after that. I'd run my mile and started the walk home when I decided to call my sister. I cried on the phone with her as the emotions of what I had just accomplished flooded through me. I couldn't believe that I actually ran and not just down the street, or across the field, or to my car, I ran a whole mile.

The whole mentality of this is still very new to me. I sometimes have to remind myself that I can go into regular stores like The Gap or Down East Basics or Rue 21 and actually buy clothes there. I've been hitting up clearance sales at the big girls stores for so long, that it's hard for me to remember that I don't fit into that anymore. That I need to look in the smaller sizes. I sure hope this blog is helpful to more than just me. I know we all want to be heard on this earth, but for me, I feel like more people need to hear this. That this is possible for so many people who never thought they would run or loose weight or get in shape because they'd resolved their lives to what they knew best. The couch. I was and still am a couch lover. I miss those days where a Classic Coke on ice and a bag of Doritos graced my lap as I watched the Food Network. To me, that is luxury. However, I am also in love with the idea of my name being published in the paper and there being a time posted next to it on how hard I worked that day.

I encourage you to all start with something as small as walking more often, using the stairs if your knees are willing, and switching to Diet Coke - we can always work on the carbonation later.