Happy Friday! I am so happy that the weather has finally changed for the better and we can get outside and play. I have been spending time outside with Ariana and have had a few fun trips to the park. It is so fun to see how much more confident she is the on playground this year! We are going out to dinner tonight, to give ourselves a break from all the cooking, it feels great to cook and eat about 90% of our weekly meals, but it will be a welcome break to deciding what to cook and all the clean up that comes after the cooking. We are going to Andiamo, a local Italian place, and I have been in the mood for a good fish. I have already planned my plaeo meal ahead of time so it makes it easier when we get there. Yesterday was a total "off" day for me, I was tired and really sore from my leg workout on Tuesday, and to top it all off I had a stomach ache (um...I ate some coconut milk ice cream and had a glass of wine on Wednesday night, see I'm not perfect), but it left me with a bad stomach ache. After the park in the morning we took a nap and had a very chill night. I didn't eat a lot so today after a trip to the grocery store I am like...EAT ALL THE FOOD! I bought some ingredients for some paleo treats I am going to make this weekend. I will let you know how that goes!
Well enough about me, today Smitha from The Faux Runner shares how she fell into her love of running! She has completed an impressive amount of marathons and half marathons and is learning to take care of herself and stay healthy for her family. Be sure to head to her blog, Facebook and other social media sites and follow her running journey.
Smitha's Story:
I weighed
203lbs the day I gave birth to my second kid in December, 2008. This
number was just 25lbs more than my “normal” weight so I didn’t
really care much or do anything to work off the weight.
But In
September of 2009, my husband forgot my birthday. I was upset but
determined not to act “childish” and didn’t mention it to him. The next day was
the 10k Labor Day Classic. I signed up at the expo just to get away from him,
without having to specifically tell him that he missed a very important
day. I crawled up the hills, and slid down the downhills, and finally
finished with a huge grin on my face.
But in that
runner’s high I did something completely out of character – I signed up for the
ING Half Marathon in March 2010.
Christmas
Eve, it hit me that I’d signed up for something WAY bigger than a 10k. That it
wasn’t something that I could just show up and walk. That I actually needed to
have a plan to tackle this. I needed to TRAIN!! I printed out a basic training
plan and religious followed it. I found inspiration and support online through
friends and sites like DailyMile.
Holding up
the finishers medal after hobbling across the finish line in tears was more
than enough motivation to keep me going. And 4 marathons and 10 half marathons
later, I am still going.
I am proud
to call myself a runner now. A very slow one, but still a runner who loves the
journey that running takes me on. I enjoy running with friends and my kids. I
truly believe in the “running is a metaphor for life” philosophy. I have learned so many life lessons through running and continue to learn. While my
initial motivation was weight loss and proving that I could run a distance of
13.1, somewhere along the way it became less about the number on the scale and
more about the feeling that running evoked in me. The knowledge that I am
laying a strong legacy of health and fitness for my kids motivates me on.
About Smitha:
Originally
from India, Smitha was a
nerd all her life with no thought for fitness until she moved to Melbourne, Australia
and adopted the outdoor lifestyle that seemed synonymous with Aussies. When she
moved to Atlanta,
work, life, kids and everything else took over until a chance incident turned
her into a runner. She is now passionate about fitness and having fun while
being fit. Along with trying to juggle being a super mom, Smitha blogs at TheFaux Runner.
Connect with Smitha:
Thanks so much to Smitha for sharing her story with us today! I look forward to hearing more about your running adventurers in the future!
Today I did a guest post over at Running On Happy, Rachel, has been running a weekly segment on finding the workout-life balance. Head over and read my story on her blog!
I hope that you are having a wonderful day and that it is sunny where you are!
If you weren't the winner of the yoga mat bag, don't fret! I have a 15% off any yoga mat bag code (ONFIRE15) for you to use until April 25th. Thanks to Melissa from Goodmarvin for the bag for the giveaway and for the code!!
Hey! We have the same name!
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