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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

I amaze myself sometimes

I am finally starting to realize exactly how little I've expected from my body AND exactly how much my body has to give. I've preached my mantra over and over. The exercise one that is. "Fat hurts a whole lot more than the temporary pain of exercise". I am at the gym and I repeat that to myself over and over and over again. When I want to quit, I make that comment in my head. When I don't want to start, I say it. When the time that I set aside in my head is up, I say that in my head and push longer! A week and a half ago, I got on the treadmill and decided to start jogging/running some. I jogged 2 minutes out of every 5 and I felt like my lungs were going to collapse when I sucked air in. A time or two later, I switched it to 3 minutes out of every 5. Not to bad....I was counting down the timer to finish up those three minute segments.....but when I reached the end of my pre-determined time on the tread...I decided to go for another 20 minutes. Running and walking off and on. Yesterday I felt ready to bump it up to 4 minutes jogging, 1 minute off. But instead I decided to try to jog for 5 complete minutes at a time. Hey, lets go big. I did it! NO PROBLEM! I did it AND talked to my mom the whole time....she was on the treadmill the whole time. I wasn't breathing smoothly...and my talking was a bit more of a pant...but hey.....I did it! I noticed that after only 2 minutes my heart rate and breathing had stabalized and I actually felt well enough to jog again. Amazing!

Sooooo last night on The Biggest Loser (yes, I watch....I don'tagree with how FAST they lose it...but they are doing the work to lose it....and that is inspirational) So anyway, last night micheal was on the treadmill and he finished that first mile. He was soooooo tickled with himself. You could see the pride and joy on his face. I was cheering for him as he was telling Bob....all full of pride. I have to admit...his face when Bob said "make it two" was priceless. He was literally floored and that sense of happiness was replaced by shock.....I smiled. But he got back on that treadmill....and started jogging. The next time we saw Micheal, he had that look of pure joy again when he announced to Bob that he had not only down 2 miles....he was at 2.5 miles. Once again, that joy was turned to incredulous disbelief as Bob said, "make it a 5K (3.1 miles). Micheal got back on that treadmill and did it. Is that the end of the story? Heck no.......When that 5k was completed Bob turned around and wiped that pure joy off his face one more time by demanding.....Make it 5 miles. And Micheal DID IT! He ran 5 miles at Just shy of 400 pounds (at least I think that's where he's at right now). You could literally see the pride and sense of accomplishment oozing from him! At the weigh in (or somewhere toward the end of the episode) Micheal said that he had run 5 miles EVERY day since that occurance.

So it got me to thinking. How much can we do that we have no clue we can accomplish? No, I don't think I could run 5 miles at this point. But You know what.......2 weeks ago I could barely run 2 minutes without fear of collapse, and look at me...I can run 5 minutes straight.....and I aim to push that longer on my next visit to the gym. What else am I afraid to do because I have let self doubt rule? I don't have a BOB in my life to push me on. (my mom was with me and she is a great motivational partner...but she freaks out when she sees my face get red and she sees me breathing deeply.....she doesn't want to see me in pain and pushing myself does bring pain...TEMPORARY pain....however in the long run it removes pain...it removes the pain of being fat). So without Bob in my life to push me to places I didn't kow I was capable, I've got to push myself and rely on my frinds to throw out challenges to me when they see fit. To help push me from my comfort zone!

12 comments:

  1. Great post!! Our bodies can do more than we think, if we just let ourselves try. I'm getting ready to get back at it, now. Good for you. Sounds to me as tho' you're getting back into the swing of things again. Yeah!!!

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  2. I thought the same things as I watched the show last night and it really got me thinking. Maybe I'm NOT pushing myself enough? The most I've ran at once without having to stop to walk is about .6 mile. I think tonight I'm gonna shoot for a mile and stop telling myself I can't do it. If he can run five then surely I can run 1. Great post...it's nice to 'meet' you!

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  3. Sorry, the anon comment above was me!

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  4. Loved this post MaryFran, way to go!!! I do think we are all capable of anything we put our mind too. I know far to often I sell myself sort too. You'll be at 5 miles before ya know it.

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  5. That is so true! I know many times i don't push myself as much as i could!

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  6. Hi MaryFran - thanks for stopping by today. I loved this post. You are so right, if we just push ourselves, just a little bit more each day, we can do quite an amazing feat!
    And I had so many steps yesterday because I ran in the morning, walked a bit at lunch AND did 15 minutes of elliptical afterwork. Today's numbers will be much much less.

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  7. Keep going MaryFran! Keep on moving out of your comfort zone,little bit by bit. Soon you find its normal and you can look back and see how far you've come. Thanks for inspiring words.

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  8. Very inspirational .... I'm really excited about our possibilities.

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  9. Anonymous2:24 PM

    LOVE this post! LOVE the question about what it is we can accomplish that we aren't aware of. I'm kind of trying to live that answer right now.
    And I can't imagine carrying on a conversation while running on the treadmill. I think the fact that you did it makes you my hero.

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  10. This post really motivated me! Just what I needed. Thank you :)

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  11. I totally agree with you on the "Michael" assessment. I was feeling slightly chagrined that I can't (or think I can't) even run 1 mile and I am 150 pounds lighter than he is. It made me stop and think there is a lot more I could be doing...I just need that push to get it done.

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