In the beginning

Before running ....

In the beginning there was a fat girl who worked hard and played hard but never found time to eat healthily or get any exercise.  In the beginning there was a girl who took up music and joined the band and the choir at school so she could get out of P.E. Lessons. In the beginning there was a girl who had such bad asthma she relied on inhalers and could barely walk up stairs without needing a puff (and with creaking knees). In the beginning there was a fat girl who was disgusted with her body and struggled with low self esteem. 

And then she had a baby.

And although at first it was hard to put herself first because the baby cried and kept her awake and demanded her time so she ended up surviving on gallons of coffee, coke and chocolate biscuits... the baby changed her.

She realised that she didn't want to be looked down on anymore as she made new mummy friends. She realised that she didn't want her child to be embarrassed of his fat mum. She realised she wanted to set an example and raise a child who loved to be active and wasn't addicted to sugar. She realised that after years of depression and low self esteem that something had to change.

And she changed. Something inside her changed. 

At first she joined a well known slimming group and ate lots of home cooked veggie based meals, had one portion of dairy and one portion of bread each day and counted her syns. And the weight came tumbling off.

And as the weight dropped and her love for herself and her body grew, the girl decided that she could do anything...

Any thing ..

Including wearing leggings and running  in public. Well at first she ran in the dark, and tried very hard to find places to run where no one would see her.  She followed a c25k app on her smart phone.  It was tough, incredibly tough. (There will be another post about C25k to look out for that will give more detail).  But she kept going and kept going all by herself. And she ran 5kms 3.5 months later. Ran. 

She still doesn't think she's a runner though... And her journey is really only just getting started.
I hope you enjoy reading the rest.

If you want to follow my story from the beginning please click on the blog archive for a guide. Or just dive in!

Head up, shoulders down,
Lisa x