 |
| Meet Betty |
I completely fell off of the running wagon. There are A LOT of excuses here and some actual reasons. But mostly excuses. I have gained a significant amount of weight - a little over 50 pounds at this point - due to some medications, the pandemic, perimenopause, bad life choices, and my constant love of donuts & cheese.
In December of 2019 I brought my son, R, to his first 5K. One I have done many, many times, one I thought I could do without having run for a year, with an additional (at the time) 30 pounds on me, in 10 year old running shoes. Clearly this was a setup for disaster as I ended up fracturing not one, but both of my feet in the process. Lesson learned. Bought new running shoes.
Shortly after that we headed into the pandemic where I, like many people, didn't do much of anything for at least a year. Then in December of 2021 I got COVID for the first time. Since I was already an asthmatic, it wreaked havoc on my lungs, and I am still dealing with some after effects and have been diagnosed as having Long COVID, or being a Long-Hauler. With symptoms ranging from breathing issues, Myocarditis & Neuropathy. I have always had migraines and in the 2010's started experiencing vertigo after my first ear infection. I would experience these in conjunction a few times per year and they were short lived. When I got COVID the first time, I had a migraine with vertigo that lasted about 2 weeks. And now I experience these episodes maybe once every week to 2 weeks. It took my lungs almost 3 months to be able to handle walking enough to be ready to go back to work. Obviously, I was not ready to pick up my running shoes anytime soon.
Fast-forward now to 2023. I am now single and living on my own (with shared custody of the kids) for the first time in my life. And Since September, a few of my friends and I have been signing up for 5K's every month or every other month. I have been walking these with my friend DL who is gracious enough to slow herself down to keep pace with me. But it's kind of been pissing me off. Because while it's taking me 50+ minutes to walk a 5K, at one point I was running them in about 29 minutes. So it's kind of lit a fire under my ass to get back in shape and really take these on. DL & her husband EL have been getting me to sign up for more 5K's in the future and I would like to run one sometime soon.
Buuuttt....when my ex moved out she took the treadmill with her. (Rightfully so as she is the one who bought it from one of her co-workers). I thought about it for a while, and searched all over the place and finally found a treadmill on sale. And then I did what all normal people do and threw a treadmill party. Where LM & SM were gracious enough to drive 2 hours south to come help me put it together. Translation: SM put it together. The rest of us ordered pizza and drank wine.
And today was my first go on the new treadmill, Betty. She is much smaller than the old one but she gets the job done. I walked 1.5 miles at a brisk enough pace to get me sweating and get my heart rate up to 140. It will be slow but steady as I get used to how my body works now & get re-acclimated with exercise, but it began today. I will have to work around the migraines & vertigo that still affect me on a somewhat regular basis since COVID so I'm not sure if I will do the Couch to 5K program again or if I will do it at my own pace, but at least I'm starting. I'm making some dietary changes too in hopes to get these 50 extra pounds off at some point but I'm taking everything one day at a time and will bring you along for the highs & lows.
