Record breaker

Because I have been so inspired by a group of coworkers and their dedication to fitness, well, that and the fact that most of my pants no longer button, I decided to jump on the running bandwagon. It was my intention to jump into this with the heart of a champion, the strength of a fighter, you know the whole float like a butterfly, sting like a bee mentality. However, you know what they said about good intentions, it paved a road straight to somewhere and as hot as it has been I think I may have been running on the threshold.

I am about a month in and I haven't exactly been screaming I am the greatest, or swinging like the champ, instead I have been waddling, wheezing, and puffing out every move like an asthmatic Oompa Loompa. As delusional as I was before, I can tell you this has not been easy for a out of shape chunky runner wanna-be like me. It has been hard, hard work and there has been more than once that I have thought to myself forget this, I would rather be fat. For a while I even felt like I wasn't making any progress. Until this morning...

I realize this is extremely, extremely slow to you seasoned runners - I finally took my 16 minute, yes 16 minute mile and at 5:45 this a.m. I saw the number 12:58 mark my mile, I felt like Rocky on top of the stairs. Cue the music.

Although it has been a long process, I am glad I joined this train. It is a goal of mine to complete a 5k this fall. It might be a pipe dream, but I am going to keep wheezing my way through it and see what happens. As hard as it is, I really do feel better after my feeble attempts to run. I am thankful for my coworkers who have been so encouraging and have put up with my many questions and many complaints. I am inspired and hope I can be just like them one day and do five miles and live to tell about it.

So, here's to my quest to get skinny healthy. May I be able to keep the laces tied, the wheezing to a minimum and sweat through another mile tomorrow.