So here's the problem: I like to eat! There I said it, it's out there. I love cooking, baking and most of all eating. My love of all things culinary does not reflect well on my, shall we say girlish figure. And while I've been content to wallow in my (large amount of) self-pity for the last five years it's time to move on people! I'm sick of being sad every time I got to the mall and can't find anything to buy for work, I'm sick of looking at every woman that passed me on the street and comparing myself to her. Everyone of us who struggle with weight/ self image has had that moment of realization where we know it's gotten out of control and mine came last week. One picture, that's all it took. That one moment of horrifying realization that I had given up came when I was putting images into a PowerPoint for my church's vacation bible school party. It was almost an out of body experience to see that one profile picture of myself playing. At first I didn't recognize the picture right away but when it sunk in that it was actually me, the shame/disgust/depression began. I deleted almost every picture of myself that had been taken at VBS essentially erasing from existence even though I had been the director. I went home so depressed I didn't even know what to do with myself so I had a snack (emotional eater much?).
And where exactly does the jogging portion of this rambling blog come in you ask? Well, I went to work the next day all mopey and was going through my email and I had one from Disney about their runDisney program. I clicked on the link and it took to the Disney Half Princess Marathon page. I had dreamed of running this before, I'm in LOVE with all things Disney/Disney Princess, but had never thought it was actually possible. So I sat watching the recap videos of last year, the women (and men) running through EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom, stopping for character photo ops along the way and triumphantly crossing the finish line with arms raised in victory, getting a medal placed around their neck. As I literally got teary at my desk watching all these people accomplish something so amazing I had another one of Those moments. You know, one of the times where your subconscious screams something to you and mine was screaming "What the heck are you doing?!?!" Here I was bemoaning how I could never ever do something like that as I snacked on baked chips (which I have convinced myself are healthier so I can eat as many as I want) And in that moment I FINALLY realized that if I put as much effort into doing something good for myself as I do coming up with excuses on why I can't do something... well you get the picture.
So here I am. 26 years old, a first time mom to the most amazing 8 (almost 9) month old red headed baby girl who will hence be known as MB, a wife to my amazing and incredibly supportive husband Kyle, a full time IT person, a part time student going back to college for an additional minor and a more than extremely beginner runner and extremely out of shape (with ankle surgery in 2009 and the possibility of knee surgery coming up I might add). The goal? The Walt Disney World Disney Princess Half Marathon 2014. Going from can barely walk a mile to running 13.1 while trying to overhaul my diet and lose some weight. Yep,
that sounds fun and insurmountable right?? I'm hoping some of you will stick around with me as I share my successes, failures, steps forward and backwards along with my ever continuing culinary adventures. Cuz let's face it, you live one life and I'm gonna keep cooking! Throw in some hilarious first time mom adventures (Ex. Found a tree frog in MB's bathtub last weekend) and this should be fun! 511 days to race day!
PS. Next one won't be so long and here's the race info for those who'd like to join me *wink wink* http://www.rundisney.com/princess-half-marathon/?page=disneys-fit-for-a-princess-expo
