Tag Archives: Smoking cessation

The 10K that almost wasn’t

I had a 10K race this morning; a race that almost did not happen, for me anyway.  I had a million excuses running through my head.  My race partner (my daughter) has the flu, my back has been hurting for about a week, in the past two weeks I have only run four times and one of those was a race I did two weeks ago.  These are just a few of the things I was trying to use as excuses.

The excuses did not win and I did finish the race.  Here is what got me out there today.

At 5:45 am my alarm started buzzing; I hit the snooze alarm and laid there running all of the excuses through my head.  I thought to myself, “well I am just going to get up and at least start the coffee”.  I got up, turned on the coffee maker and put on a pot of water for my oatmeal; I knew at that point I was at least considering the race.

As I was getting out my mug and bowl, etc and waiting for the water I looked up and on top of the fridge I saw my Runner Box (you can Google that later if you do not know what it is).  I reached up and took it down to see what was left inside.  I pulled out a few things and gathered some paperwork still in there to throw it away when I noticed writing on the lid and on the lid was a quote – “The task ahead of you is never greater than the strength within you.”

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And there it was; my decision.  How could I not run now?  My inner strength and desire to run was much stronger than any excuse I could put in front of myself.  I ate my oatmeal, had my half a cup of coffee, drank some water and took my vitamin.  Geared up; you know when you tie your shoelaces that is THE moment it all starts to feel absolutely right. And off I went to my race.

It was a good race and afterwards I rewarded myself with an awesome meal –

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Tomorrow I will share some of my race “moments”; funny what the mind thinks about when you are running.

And to end I would like to say that today is the 1-year + 1-week anniversary of my last cigarette!

It can only be attributable to human error

Despite the title and the graphic above this is not a post about 2001: A Space Odyssey; both are quotes from the movie and after feeling a bit controlled and dependent on the machines tonight, the theme just seemed appropriate.  Hope the reference is not too nerdy.

When I started working out to improve my health and lose weight I spent a good deal of time working on the strength equipment at the gym.  I could plug-in my number in the computer, it would help me setup my workout and tell me when I reached my goal and tell me the next machine to use.  Very convenient and very helpful for someone new to all of the gym stuff.

At that time I was still a smoker and dreaded the cardio!  Although I knew I needed to get on the stationary bike or the treadmill I really did not want to at the time.  As my desire to walk and run continued to grow, I quit smoking and started a cardio routine of elliptical, bike, treadmill, etc.  and moved my strength training to free weights, the exercise ball and even some yoga.

I have focused more and more on my walking and running and started spending less time with weights and core workouts, making them just a cursory part of my routine at the end or in the middle of some cardio.  Over the past couple of weeks I could definitely see and feel the difference in my arms, core and legs and not in a good way and I knew I needed to take more time on weights and core.

Tonight I walked into the Y and as I walked towards the treadmill I heard the FitLinxx machine say – “Just what do you think you’re doing Beth?”  I tried to fight it, tried to resist but resistance was futile and I plugged in my number and had a great weight and core workout.  So now knowing that I need a little disciplined assistance to keep to this part of my fitness regiment I will bend to the will of the machines and spend at least one day a week with them.

171 days smoke free, 42 pounds down and 178 more nights sleep before the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  “Fitness – if it came in a bottle, everybody would have a great body.”  ~Cher

Pushing through setbacks and disappointments

As someone who has been over weight and a smoker for most of my life I am the first to say that I have not always dealt with stress and disappointments in ways that are constructive or particularly helpful.

Over the past several months I have been making great strides in my personal and professional life, things have been going very well.  Although it has not always been easy getting in shape, not smoking and working way too many hours in a week, it has certainly been satisfying to see the results.

This past week I have found myself needing more to push through some recent setbacks and then today I suffered what in my mind right now is a great disappointment.  The good news is that in the past by now I would be sitting in my bed with a cigarette in my hand and perhaps a chocolate shake in the other; tonight I am sitting in my bed but only because it is close to my laundry room and I can type this, watch Shark Week and do laundry at the same time, I have NO cigarette and had a lettuce wrap for dinner.

This past week my physical routine has been right on point, I had some great runs last week and this weekend I went to yoga and put in a total of about eight miles in walking and running.  My setbacks were in food choices; last week and this weekend I definitely did not make the best food choices.  I did not gain any weight because I kept moving still I need to get back on track.

As far as disappointment, and this one nearly knocked me back to some pretty bad habits, I was informed today that I did not get a promotion that I was pursuing (that was hard to type I am feeling a little light-headed at sharing that).  The bright side of this, I still have a great job that I enjoy and I have amazing coworkers and consider myself in great company with these folks :).

Lesson for today – Remember what you have and how far you have come.  Do not look back or give up; keep moving forward.

How did I get here?

So, my first post.  It will probably be boring and drawn out and contain a good bit of information most people do not care about.  However, if it gets me started I will take it and find my rhythm as I go along.  Does a blog really have to be one thing?  Does it always have to be funny or serious or witty or intellectual?  I do not think so, I do not think that any of us are any of those things ALL of the time. So why would a blog be just one thing all the time?

Back to the topic at hand, or “how did I get here?”.  My Blog name is From Here to Me, I want to talk about how I got here and as I continue my blog about where I am going from here, and not just about me, I like to talk about the world around me.

I began my journey to here on January 4, 2012.  On that date I weighed 213 lbs, I was a smoker for 31 years of my life and I was just generally unhealthy.  As of today I have lost 40 lbs (and counting) and have not had a cigarette for 151 days. My journey to here was not just about weight loss and breaking a bad habit it is about changing the way I view myself and the world around me.

One last item before I end this first post.  Yesterday I signed up to run a half marathon on February 24, 2013.  So not so long and drawn out, but you just wait I have plenty more to say.