Getting Back to Healthy

I am not a winter person. I LOVE fall and I LOVE Spring, but whatever that junk is in between, I am NOT a fan. Since I choose to live in the midwest where every season is very distinct, I do try and make the most of the long, cold winter. My three year old daughter thinks that the snow is AMAZING. I will admitt that it is fun to watch her face as she sleds or makes snow angels. However, it always seems our "fun" lasts about 15 minutes before she is a wet, cold mess. 15 minutes of fun when it took us at least 30 to get all our snow gear on. Oh Well.

Something else that winter does to me is takes away my enthusiasm to work-out. About a year ago I started running. I have NEVER been a runner. I was the kid in elementary school that would run a 20 min. mile and be the VERY LAST one to finish. I HATED running. After I was diagnosed with cancer, I knew that I would need to make some major changes in my life following my recovery. One of them being I needed to start exercising regularly. I live in a great neighborhood outside of the city limits where I can run and run and run. Once my body adjusted to a daily run of 2 to 3 miles, I really began to love it. My body would crave it. I was actually fortunate enough to participate in several 5K's over the next 6 months.

Then, came Old Man Winter. Running in the cold is like soaking my lungs in ice water. Therefore, I pretty much quit running for about 5 months. I know some of you are wondering why I didn't choose to go to a gym and run on a treadmill. First, going to the gym with my daughter is not an easy task and not one where I want to dish out money for childcare. The other thing is, I HATE running and not going anywhere! When I run, I want to see that I have made progress....that I'm actually getting somewhere. So, after months of little to no exercise, I feel that I am starting over. I have only run a few times in the recent weeks and I will say that this time around seemed easier than last year. I feel amazing after a good run. My goal is to get back into the swing of things and make sure that I run at least 2 miles daily. I know to some of you this sounds like very little, however to me, it is as if I am running a marathon.

I will keep you posted on my progress. My hope is that I will be able to participate in several 5K's in the coming months. I know I won't come in first, but I also know I won't be that same kid from elementary school that always came in last.

God Bless!