I am sure that many people find it hard to believe that I exercise pretty regularly, being a fat chick and all. But I do. It’s 3 – 4 times a week, and I try to mix it up between running and other cardio. I exercise for lots of reasons. The main reason is for my health. I’m 47 and overweight with a history of diabetes and high blood pressure in my family. I don’t have diabetes, high blood pressure, or really any health problems except being overweight. I also want to be able to stay active, so being active will accomplish that! Of course I’d like to lose weight and look better, and maybe once I can really get me atrocious eating habits under control, I’ll be able to do that.

I’ve got a long, strange history with exercise. As a kid, I really wasn’t very active. I didn’t play sports or do dance or tumbling. I did play outside and ride my bike, so I never was an overweight kid. In high school, I tried to run track but it was a flop. I was slow and was plagued by shin splints so I dropped out. (Cue one of my parents with the story of how they spent all sorts of money on track spikes for me just to have me quit.) When I was little, my dad used to run and I would ride my bike with him while he ran. He eventually ran a marathon. Pretty damn awesome! So running always looked so cool but was elusive to me.

I’ve tried running so many times as a adult. I always had some problem, but one thing that was constant was the shin splints. They forced me to quit every time. Last year my husband decided to run a 5K and I became enraged with jealousy. It was really pretty pathetic of me, but I wanted to run a 5K, too. So I secretly started to try to run Again. For the umpteenth time. I started so slowly, like I could run for 60 seconds before I had to stop. And one day I realized my shins weren’t hurting. So I continued to slowly push myself and I was finally able to run 3.1 miles. My husband has been my biggest cheerleader. Every time I get ready to run, I wait for the moment when my shins start to scream in pain. Maybe it will happen one day, maybe not. Until then, I’ll just keep plodding along.

Generally speaking, I like to exercise. I like the way my body feels when its working. When I do something I didn’t think I can’t do, it’s an incredible high. I like knowing that my health is benefitting from my exercise.  As with almost any kind of exercising, the hardest part is just getting going. But once I get going, I never regret having done it!