My entire health journey was “sparked” by C25K on January 17, 2011. Dr. MLK day, you know…because “I have a Dream”… I’m such a cornball, I’m sorry! LOL!!!

Anyway, I decided that I didn’t much like the idea of running/walking outside, not yet anyway. It wasn’t that I felt insecure about folks seeing a chubby woman running down the street. It was more about my odd fear of tripping and hurting myself and then having to limp all the way home. Chubby, runner-wanna-be, looking pretty pathetic and dragging herself home after FAILING at running. THAT’s what I was insecure about.

So I went online and searched for a treadmill version. Then I searched for a local gym (with child care), not an easy task, but I found one. I enlisted a work-out buddy, and I was on my way. I was done making excuses.

But…

C25K was not nice to me. First of all, my knees are crunchy. I sounded like a bag of chips after that first week. But I’m nothing, if not stubborn, so I went out and bought knee braces…yes, TWO of them! Yeah, I looked like I could’ve performed in Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” video, but I didn’t care. I was determined to learn to run.

And I was doing it! I was running! And I hated it. It killed my knees, and by week 3 I was ready to quit.

By week 4, my knees decided for me that it was time to let go of C25K. It was just too much pain. It sucked and I was so prepared to just tuck in to huge bowl of fettucine alfredo and give up on the whole damn thing.

Thank goodness for SP.

I didn’t give up. I found other ways to get my cardio in. I was introduced to the wicked witch, that I love to hate… Jillian Michael’s. Little by little I learned what a healthy lifestyle is supposed to be and what it isn’t.

Yeah, I’ve had my low’s but that’s why it’s called a “journey”, there are bound to be hard times. I actually think those tough times are necessary. They show us what we’re made of when we overcome them.

Yesterday I got back on that treadmill ready to face C25K once again. I’ve been sort of walk/jogging at my own pace for months, so I felt comfortable starting at Week 3. THIS time, I was almost 20lbs lighter, had the right shoes, knee braces in place (just in case), and I had my Droid app to tell me when to walk and when to run (I LOVE this friggin phone, btw!)

It was over before I knew it! I stepped off the treadmill feeling like I could’ve done it all over again, no sweat. Hell, it felt easy! I went ahead and did 45min of ST and practically floated out of that gym.

If I've learned anything since my "I have a dream" day, it's this:
Whatever you do, don’t give up. Giving up is the one and only way to guarantee that you will fail. Stumble, fall down, inhale that pound of bacon…and when you’re done with the self abuse…Get Back Up!