Taking a cue from Nike

I have decided to start this blog in the hopes that I might inspire others to get out and get some exercise... in my case, I have chosen running as the sport most near and dear to me, so that is what I will be primarily focusing on.

As you can probably tell from the picture of me, I do not have a perfectly suited runner's body... in fact far, FAR from it. But I have decided that that little oversight in my genetics won't discourage me from getting out there and, in the words of Nike, just doing it.

I used to run regularly back in my teens and early 20's, but gave it up as I started gaining weight and neglecting my health. Then, about two and a half years ago, I had a wake-up call from my doctor. Although not diabetic, at the time I had signals suggesting I would go down the same path as other family members who contracted Type 2 Diabetes later in life. When I met with my doctor, she suggested that I wouldn't really need to lose that much weight, or do that much exercise, to gain a benefit from it, but that even a little bit would help. So, I set out, trying to figure out how I could do the least amount of exercise possible! LOL!

My journey has been an incredibly slow one... if you're expecting me to tell you about my mind-blowing, Biggest Loser type results, that's not what I experienced! Instead, over the last 30... yes folks... 30 months I have lost around 60 pounds and have gone from walking 20 minutes three days to now running around 75 minutes which, for me, comes to just a little over six miles... nearly a 10K every other day!

I'm not here to provide top-level secrets to my weight loss journey, because really there are none. I've just turned to smarter eating most of the time (but I'm not a saint - I still love junk food) and a lot more moving... aka running.

Instead, my primary purpose here is to offer information and maybe a little inspiration for those of you who, like me, don't have fitness-model bodies, but still want to enjoy the benefits of running. Even though I have lost quite a bit of weight, I still have a long way to go to reach anything approaching an ideal weight. And as I've known since high school... even if I were to reach goal weight, I still wouldn't have a runner's physique. Nope, I would still have short, stubby, thumbs-for-legs. It's just the genetic hand I've been dealt.So, realistically, will I every be an elite level runner? Most likely, no. Do I let that dissuade me from getting out there and running anyway? Absolutely not!

Sometimes the running is the last thing I want to do in a day, but the sense of accomplishment I have when I complete my workout... or when I complete an organized race... makes up for all my struggles along the way.