So here I am!
I'm here to share with you. My struggles and my successes; my joy and my pain. Why, you ask? Because there is a chance I've been where you've been. Maybe I want to be where you are. If I can bring one person joy and encouragement by putting myself out there, that is a chance I am willing to take. I'm also willing to bet you will be there to cheer me on along the way and like the song says, we all need somebody to lean on.
My relationship with fitness has been full of highs and lows, think Brittany and K-Fed, except fitness and I are still together. My teens and early twenties took me through anorexia, bulimia, 6 knee operations, an ectopic pregnancy, and an ongoing battle with catamenial epilepsy. On the flip side I was deeply blessed when I married my handsome soldier and gave birth to two strapping boys, the little lights of my life.
The realization that I needed to get healthy again came after the birth of my first son. My pregnancy with him had been fraught with challenges. We found out I was expecting just two months after my ectopic and spent the first weeks after going back and forth to doctors who told us on numerous occasions that "this will not be a viable pregnancy". We also got word that my husband would be deploying and the time frame was such that he would miss the birth of our son as well as most of his first year. I was devastated. By the time I gave birth I had packed on over 60 pounds. With my faith and my wonderful family (special shout out to you Mom and my sweet sweet Rach for holding that video camera. Keeping your head craned away from my Hoo-Ha and still managing to get those glamour shots couldn't have been easy. My husband thanks you) I began my life as a mother, but I didn't feel like myself. It was like living in a strangers body. I began to dabble in clean eating, started running and lifting weights again and by the time I became pregnant with my second son in October 2012 I had lost the baby weight as well as an extra 20 pounds!
I didn't gain as much weight with my second but still managed to put on a solid 40 and after repeating my weight loss cycle I was looking for a new challenge. A few years back I had heard about a growing number of people competing in obstacle races so I started digging and found exactly what I was looking for. A brutal combination of running and strength challenges. I have a background in both distance running and weight lifting but never in combination like this. I immediately signed up for Warrior Dash and Tough Mudder, with the latter as my focus. I was also proud to take on the challenge of fund raising for Wounded Warrior Project as part of my participation in TM. I devoured every bit of information I could about how to train specifically for these events, and started formulating a plan.
With 130 days until "The Big One" AKA Tough Mudder, it is time to buckle down. For me this encompasses my entire lifestyle from eating habits and workouts to making sure I get enough sleep (difficult to do with a 2.5 year old and a 9 month old) Meeting this challenge is going to take everything I've got physically and most importantly mentally. I can't wait to share this journey with you. When I'm finally standing at the finish line I'll be able to say with confidence that there's "No quit in here" and everyone else will know, there's no quit in HER.
