2014 In Review

Preface: This is going to be a long & emotional post. There will be rambling, there will be gloating, there will be good times, there will be bad times. I wanted to look back on 2014 & look at how much has changed. 

I started this blog December 10th, 2013. It was on Tumblr & the whole point was a place to record my workouts. It still mainly is my random thoughts & a place to record workouts but I’ve evolved in a lot of ways.

On December 18th, 2013 we weighed in for our work fitness challenge. I remember weighing in and laughing knowing that I probably would not participate but it was fun to think I would.

One year later I am down 35 pounds & exactly 8% body fat.

I would have never believed you if you would’ve told me that would’ve happened.

Working out has changed me in a lot of ways, but for the better. It’s my sanity, my break from life, my “me” time & my energy.

I used to live off of coffee & now its 80+oz of water a day and two cups of coffee. Starbucks was my best friend. I loved all kinds of pop (or soda), pizza, Chinese food, “lean cuisines” were all staples in my house.

Now it’s so different.

Don’t get me wrong, I have my bad days. I splurge, I stress eat. Hot chocolate makes it’s way into my life way more than I want to admit. I’m okay with that.

For the most part I’ve been in maintenance mode since mid-July. Give or take 3 or 4 pounds I have done a fairly decent job of keeping the weight off. I have also found a way to tone up a lot.

Running

About a year ago I started working out again. On February 1 I hopped on the treadmill because I didn’t like the elliptical at a different Y I was visiting. Out of curiosity I wanted to see how far I could run.

I ran 1 mile and it took everything out of me, but that day I wrote down that my goal for 2014 was to run a 5k by the end of December.

If you would’ve told me a year ago how much running would play into my life, I probably would’ve laughed at you. (Actually Timehop even reminded me last week that I posted “I justified a second piece of cake because I worked out for the first time in two years”). I have learned so much about eating, nutrition, running, training, stretching, not to mention the fun of anticipating a race.

Motivation

I have read a lot of inspirational quotes over the last year. I probably drive some of my Pinterest friends CRAZY with the ones I save. Looking back on this year, there is no quote that sticks out more than this:

“If No One Thanks You Can, Than You Have To”

Running started out as a way to lose weight. It became fun, I became competitive. Along the way I found doubters. People who said that I was crazy, couldn’t do it, full of myself and at one point was told to “eat a f@#$ing cookie”.

Days like that I became more motivated.

We joke around a lot that one of our biggest motivators in this whole weight loss process was spite. Not going to lie, it was….at the beginning. Once I started figuring out the amount of energy I was getting, how much better I felt & the long term benefits, I kept going.

So yes, spite & proving people wrong are good motivation but you have to keep pushing to prove those people wrong.

2014 Wrapped Up

Pounds Lost: 35 (give or take one or two depending on the day!)

5k PR: 24:32 (official time) @ Smoke The Turkey

Half Marathon PR: 2:14:00 (official time) @ Dawn of the Dunes

Most Fun Race: Smoke the Turkey & Dawn of the Dunes. For two very different reasons! I had an awesome support team at Dawn of the Dunes and at Smoke the Turkey I got to run with a friend I hadn’t run with in years!

Race I Want a Do-Over On: This ties in with my favorite honestly. As prepared as I thought I was going into Dawn of the Dunes, there were many lessons to be learned at my first half and I would change a lot of things. Then again… I get another chance in April at my second half!

Total Miles Run: 544.07mi (SO close to 550, but the flu and moving kinda set me back!) 

Biggest Lesson Learned: Outside of nutrition, I would say my biggest lesson is that the only person who can take care of your health is you. You have to want to see results & be ready to put in the work. I wouldn’t be writing this if it weren’t for my best friend. Don’t get me wrong. She and I have pushed each other to limits with running, weight loss, etc…. At the end of the day you don’t get the results from the workout you didn’t do. The only person who can do it, is you.