NO MORE RUCKSACK!

Well, here it goes. Post number one.

As you saw in my "about me" info I am a fat and heavy runner. This is ridiculous but not altogether uncommon. They say about 30% of women who run are obese. weird, huh?

I am 179.8 lbs as of this morning. I need and want to be 120lbs but I'll accept 125. I am fed up with being fat. I didn't used to be fat...in fact I used to be nick named "Hardbody" by a number of people. But that was, admittedly, about 17 years ago. So I've aged and had 2 babies since then. Ok, ok, but I haven't grown taller since then, only wider!

For so many years I have wanted to lose weight to look good. Don't get me wrong; I still want that! But over the last 6 years I have gotten into running on a rather serous level, well, serious for me. I'm hooked. I can't stop and I don't want to. I am a competitive person so I always want to do better, go faster and be like "that runner, someday..." But right now the real competition lies within myself. I strive to do better in my next race than the one before. I'm always looking to PR (personal record).

But, right now, I'm stuck...

I have gotten as fast as I can with this stupid weight on my body. I'm maxed out at about an average of a 10.5 minute mile for a half marathon as my PR for a half is 2:13:something. I want to break 2 hours and have wanted to since I got that PR in 2014. My best marathon is a 5:19:something. I really want to meet or beat 5 hours.

But I think with the semi-permo 55lb rucksack on my body I just can't do that. It's in sight but, alas, I cannot achieve it...I am simply too heavy :-( . It's just so frustrating.

Here I am running the Amelia Island Half Marathon in,
 I think, 2012. I'm the svelte one in the green shirt ;-).

Here I am running the Space Coast Marathon 

in 2014

Here I am running the Oregon Destination Races Half Marathon in 2015

Here I am running the Marine Corps Marathon in 2016.

                                                




The above pics of me are thereto simply illustrate that my size has not changed at all over the years! No matter how much I run, I cannot lose weight...by running, anyway. In fact, I just completed my qualification for Marathon Maniacs which requires, for the minimum level, 3 marathons in 90 days. But, no, I did not stop there, I am in the throws of qualifying for Double Agent status by running 3 half marathons in the same time frame. I will achieve that this weekend on Jan 15 when I finish the Shark Bite Half Marathon in New Smyrna Beach, FL.

Here I am Dec 18, 2016 having just completed The Ameris Bank Jacksonville Marathon. The 3rd marathon in 48 days. (including 2 half marathons in between those marathons)

I think I am probably a pretty strong person, physically. I always wonder how much faster I could be if I were 55lbs lighter. I have been running with all this weight on me all this time. That's got to have a silver lining somewhere. But still, when I see people training with a rucksack on their back and then take it off when they are done running it makes my blood boil!!!! It also makes me want to cry, sometimes. I cannot take mine off!

So, now, it is my intention to release my hardbody from the fluff that encapsulates it currently, the way Michael Angelo "released the figure from the stone," lol. This MUST, obviously, be achieved by eating properly. I will employ the Dr. Fuhrman startegy of eating as I know that works for me....more on that later.

I will post my incredible shrinking woman pics as I go. I hope each week there will be some kind of reduction...

I have one more full marathon February 5, 2017. The New Orleans Rock & Roll Marathon. It will be a great experience but I would like to be at least 8lbs lighter by then!

Till next time...TTFN!