My Running is ON FIRE!

I'm a firm believer that you've got to be able to laugh at yourself, and I certainly had one of those moments this morning. Over the years I've gone from fit to flab and while it has been frustrating as hell, I'm dragging my body along on this "get fit" quest of mine...which is a whole other post, so let's just go with the short version this morning.

Get up early, decide to go for a run/walk...decide to use the treadmill at my parents so I can get the exact distance, time, etc. So, I'm jamming along to We Found Love and I think I'm smelling smoke...but I don't see any smoke...and I keep going. My parents are building a sunroom off the back porch, saws are whizzing, cement is being mixed, etc. and I keep going, thinking the smell must be from all of the work, since I am running right near an open window.

Nope. 23 minutes into my run, right in the middle of the Glee mash up of Start Me Up/Living on a Prayer, the treadmill DEAD stops, I go flying forward, bounce off the front panel, pitch backward and bounced off the treadmill and onto the floor, where I was laughing hysterically. Nicely played. No appliances are safe around me these days.

Even better was the text I received from my brother a short while later- "Congrats, Tank!" Ah, brotherly love. And now I hear firetrucks in the neighborhood, so let's hope they're not headed to my parents' place.

Are you there God? It's me, Chubby.

Surviving Craigslist

I've been looking for an elliptical that wouldn't cost me a fortune, so I decided to foray into the world of Craigslist. Now that our hot and humid summers are in full effect, I wanted a low-effort way to burn calories while keeping some creature comforts, namely AC and some TV/Netflix to distract me from workout torture. To Craigslist I went and found an elliptical listed for $50- just listed, while all of the others were $150-$300.

So, I emailed the owner, got my questions answered, and we decided to meet at the owner's house early this morning. The home was a few cities over from where I live, so naturally, I told the hubs he had to come with me, and we'd drive by first...to make sure it looked relatively safe. The whole drive to the home I'm wondering where this is, how safe is the neighborhood, etc. I felt even better when we saw one of the neighbors out doing yardwork and wearing a t-shirt from our church. Of course, I left the address with my parents, just in case I was headed to the home of Craigslist killers that were going to take us hostage. Natural fear, right?

We pull up to a home in an older, but well-kept neighborhood, and think "so far, so good" and ring the bell. And who answers the door? Not some hostage-taking, meth-making crazy, but a sweet older woman who is downsizing from a home to a condo and no longer needs the elliptical taking up space in a spare room. I think she was relieved we were fairly "normal" looking buyers too. She chuckled and told us she'd meet us in the garage, since she had "no idea who would show up" and asked her husband to lug the machine to the garage so they didn't have random people, from Craigslist, in the house.

$50 later, I am the new owner of an elliptical, the lady has one more thing cleared out of her home, I've already started burning calories and C is burning off extra energy. A win for all!

Weight Loss

So, I'm working towards less of me in the new year and I am off to a great start...

1/4-1/11: LOST 8 POUNDS!!!

WOO-HOO! (We won't talk about what I gained over the holidays).

Walking for Fitness

It was going pretty well last year...lost 34 pounds...then gained back 22 of them this fall. UGH! I'm back at it again- eating healthy and this time doing more to add in the exercise. My goal is to walk 3.5-5 miles per day for exercise, in addition to any other steps I take, with the ultimate goal of at least 1,000 fitness miles walked in 2010. So far, so good...10.5 miles down (ticker at the bottom of the blog page) and I felt accomplished walking 3.5 miles this morning in the bitter cold - 18* wind chill.

Now to just keep at it and make it a habit. The photo above is when C was a few weeks old, I'd lost all of the baby weight, and I was in decent shape...not fantastic, but decent. How I'd love to get back to there again as my first goal, and slim down some more from there. I guess it's true...even the longest of journeys begins with a single step in the right direction. Here's to first steps!