Another Month Goes By...

The last week of February is here, I know it is the shortest month but this year it was definitely shorter than usual! In saying that I feel like I have made the short time worthwhile. I am back in the routine of running again and have chosen my next half marathon! In 3 and a half weeks I will be running the Wicklow Half Marathon. I had been thinking about starting to look for one to join but was pretty daunted by the idea of commiting to one on my own. Next thing I know an email goes around the office saying a few people are signing up and asking people to join in!  

Back On The Road Again!

February is a big month for me! This day 2 years ago I hit my weight watchers goal weight! I can tell you it feels like a lot longer than 2 years ago, but at the same time I still remember the feeling standing up on the scales that night! There are a lot of things I have done in my 30 years, but reaching my goal weight and maintaining for 2 years is definitely something I can be very proud of. Its not been all plain sailing and there have been moments when it would have been pretty easy for me to slip back into my bad habits. Just last year I let myself gain a stone before realising what I was doing.

I feel like reaching my goal weight was me making a lifelong commitment to my health. Being overweight was such a negative time in my life; I was unhappy in the choices I was making, I had no energy or motivation to do anything, I found it difficult to like myself and I was putting unneccesary pressure on my body. Its a constant work in progress but I feel like I can be comfortable in the day to day choices I make. If I have a bad week or two I don't kill myself, instead I move on and get back on it. I feel like I know where the balance is. 

I don't want to obsess over food and exercise my whole life, I want to be at a stage where it comes almost naturally to me. For the moment it still takes a good bit of effort and thought but I spent over 15 years struggling with my weight, its going to take a little longer than 2 years to totally be able to let that go. 

Last February also marks the start of my morning runs! I never thought it would be something I would keep up and I am proud to say a year later my alarm is still going off at 5:45am a couple of times a week. Thinking back over last year I ran two 10k's in under 60 minutes and completed my first half marathon. So despite what I'm about to write about I am proud of what I achieved. In saying that, the graph of how far I ran month by month paints a different picture to my memory.

I started out full of motivation and goals and at some point I let things slip. I took weeks off, skipped whole weekends and just ran shorter distances. My running has almost been non existent in January which has lead to a total drop in my motivation. I have started a new half marathon training program on runkeeper and my plan is to get my monthly distances back up again.


I have been making too many excuses, my alarm has been going off but I am not always jumping out of bed like I used to. I am getting up on the weekends and spending too long talking myself out of running on the couch, or talking myself into only going 2 miles. Its all in my head and I need to lose the excuses. I skipped my run this morning because I woke up with a sore back. I already have my alarm set to go tomorrow instead.

This year I want to do better, I want to be the best version of me I can and achieve as much as I can with my running! I know I did well last year, but success is ongoing. The only real failure is giving up!

Bye Bye January..

January has been a long long month, and up until this week I didn't really feel like I achieved much. I came back from London and my next weigh in I was up 2lbs which was only to be expected. Then I got myself back on track 100% and I stayed the same last weekend so I was feeling really disheartened. I had managed to ease myself back into the jogging but I was really feeling it! I felt down on myself, and as usual I was feeling bloated and dumpy. I bought myself a new dress a couple of weeks before and I was dreading putting it on. One of the most unforgiving dresses I could own, I even went so far as to go out and buy myself a magic slip the night before to suck in all my wobbly bits (to wear on top of my usual control tights just to be sure). So I was getting ready and on went the slip and despite not being able to breathe I thought I'd be grand. The dress went on over and I was not happy, the 2 materials were clashing, the dress wouldn't sit right and whatever way the material was catching I felt HUGE. I was also roasting in all the layers, and not being able to breathe was wearing thin.