But I'm a 0.0

In my quest to continue to lose weight, I've realized it's not going to happen unless I stay active. In addition to the time I spend with my trainer, I also decided to join a local women's running club. Women from all over Arkansas participate in a 10 week clinic and the graduation is a 5K in May.

There's only one problem. Umm, y'all. I'm not a runner. Not at all. 

A few months ago Brandon, the girls, and I were walking through the parking lot of a popular shopping center. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the most perfect bumper sticker I had ever seen. If there was ever anything to describe me, this was it. I whipped out my camera, much to the girls' embarrassment, and captured it in all it's honesty.

Come on! How perfect is that? Instead of those 13.1 or 26.2 bumper stickers that real runners display (and proudly so, I might add), this person was straight to the point. When Nelleke (my friend/trainer) tells me to go run, I remind her "but I'm a 0.0". Then she just laughs and sends me on my way. She's not much for excuses. :/

So. Being the 0.0 that I am, I'm not quite sure why I decided to join this running club. Maybe because it's free. Or the camaraderie. Or maybe just the challenge of it prompted me to go. Well, all of that, and my friend Melissa who sweetly took me to the kick-off and continues to insist I can do this. I was placed in the intermediate runner group simply because I can run one minute without stopping. Ugh. I totally should've lied on that questionnaire. I'm kidding. Kind of. ;)

We just finished week three and it's going good. I've had some crazy calf pain and realized my foam roller is my best friend. I keep waiting on that "runner's high" to happen, but so far I still hate running. Everyone says it'll come. We'll see. 

As much as I hate running, there was a breakthrough moment last week. Our workout for the evening was uphill repeats. We did our warmup and headed for a hill in a nearby neighborhood. Our leaders showed us the proper form for running uphill and instructed us to pick up speed and "chop down that hill" with our arms. And to run that hill six times. Did y'all hear that? Run a hill SIX times. (Granted, it's not like it was this mammoth hill, but still. It was a hill. And I'm a 0.0, remember?)

I kept to myself that evening. There was no time to be chatty when there was a mountain, I mean, hill, to climb. I knocked the first one out of the park. One down, five to go. On my second trip up, one of the leaders came along side of me. She encouraged me each step of the way and before I knew it I was 1/3 of the way finished. We started back up the hill and, again, my leader Cindy was by my side. 

And then the breakthrough.

At the top of that hill, halfway through my workout, I lost it. I started crying. I looked at Cindy and said, though tears, "if you would've told me one year ago when I weighed ***pounds that I'd be running hills I'd laugh in your face". She patted my back as we walked down the hill so I could catch my composure and said, "I'm so proud of you. And you know who did the work? You did. And you're doing awesome". 

Somehow her encouragement got me through the rest of the workout, but I was a wreck on the inside. I couldn't get back to Vanna White (my van) fast enough. ("Fast" is a funny thing to say because I was the very last person to get back to our starting point. The hills kicked my booty and that cool down hurt!) Once in Vanna I lost it again. I think it was a culmination of being proud of myself, plus the pain of running, plus the realization of how much work I still have left to do. I was crying and shaking and pretty much emotionally and physically wiped out for the rest of the night. 

I knew that night was a night I'll always remember so I wanted to document it with a picture. Brandon wasn't home yet, which meant I had to take a self portrait (always awkward). 

Oh, you like the poncho? Yeah, this breakthrough night happened to be in the middle of rain, sleet, and snow. This 0.0 has officially lost her mind!