Just finished a booK called, THE SLOW FAT TRIATHLETE" by Jayne williams. It chronicles her move into racing, when she was still about 240 pounds. It's a step by step guide for anyone to finish their first Sprint distance TRi. It came in the mail the day after I would have finished my first TRI, a bout of walking pneumonia took me out of the water and found me doing a duathalon, instead while impersonating the 8th dwarf, WHEEZY! I had a blast regardless and even wheezed into my first PR for the first 1.5 mile RUN! Did I mention, I'm NOT a runner?

Her book is full of great tips but more than that it focuses on having fun! Yes we have become overweight and out of shape but we ARE trying to change here. Sweat equity is part of that change, are we really going to wait to break a sweat in public until we are an illusive size 4? I hope not, because in my case that will NEVER HAPPEN!

I ran my first 10K after 6 months of bootcamp, I still weighed 240 and it still was REALLY HARD. I also was REALLY SLOW! Ergo I adopted the moniker, "turtle girl."I ran the race with a mom I'd knowN years ago and hadn't seen for a while. She is a jockette so I call her "cheetah girl."It rained through the race, it was cold and miserable. Some nice woman 20 years my senior stepped in, gave me a bunch of pointers and ran me home. CG was clapping wildly and yelling, truly a pivotal moment. Subsequently we've done a few more. I even lost my mind and took on a half marathon 8 months ago, not so fun for any of us. I have gimpy knees so I usually run on the treadmill at the gym uphill, it's easiest. Somedays I do my best to not shoot off the back! Mother's Day weekend found me at a Mermaid 10K, which I ran effortlessly! Super fast, no. I kept a 12minute mile pace and didn't waver once and even managed a sprint of sorts. Oh yeah, CG had given me a billowing green tutu that wafted around my already ample hips. While many of our races have tutu wearing women, this one had 3. I was one third of the tutu wearers. While it was no way my best look, it was GREAT FUN! The sense of accomplishment was huge, I was near tears just crossing the finish line just because I was SO HAPPY! I had a huge cheering section because our resident 19yo and my BFF from high school had joined our race crew.
Race season is ON. everywhere you look there is a 5K or 10K fun run, give it a whirl. Walk it, jog it, run it but really just do it! You are on a journey to weightloss, fitness and regaining your health. Working in healthy amusements is part of the process of KEEPING THE WEIGHT OFF! If you run it in a tutu, all the better!







I returned the favor and got CG girl her own tutu, played "pimp my tutu" with the BEDAZZLER and one hundred sequins later it's FANTASTIC. The BFF is always sunny and cheerful ergo she got a "rainbow bright" tutu and me, I streamlined the "turtle girl" to double as my number belt and produce "less drag."