Unplugged: My year in running & fitness 2021
January 2nd 2021 my health and fitness goals comprised of completing my 21 day Daniel Fast in an effort to regain control of eating habits and overall health. I had a half marathon on the horizon, which ended up turning into two half marathons as I wanted to set a personal best for myself and motivate my group for their second half marathon distance race. (I successfully achieved both goals)
As I sit here on the final day of 2021, there is a part of me that still cannot take it all in – just how far I have come. I never really expected to transform my entire body and level of fitness this year (though it has been a goal that I have had in the back of my mind for about two years).
After giving up meat, bread, rice and much excess for 21 days, I told myself to try it for 30 days. Then I told myself to continue with it. Each month, I lost more weight and I was pretty pleased with my progress. However, by April my progress plateaued and I began to feel discouraged.
In May, I would have connected with the person who completely revitalized and changed everything I thought I knew about eating, fitness and even running.
If you have followed my blog series on training for Chicago Marathon, you absolutely know that my nutritionist/trainer played such a critical role in getting me ready for the start line in Grant Park in October.
When I started his program in May, despite what I felt was good progress, the fact was that I was very overweight for my height. I was carrying excess weight in my midsection – one part of my body that I always felt in control of. My eating habits were ridiculously wrong and way too carb heavy. When I was asked the question: “What is my fitness goal?” my response was “I just want to get fit for Chicago Marathon in October. Can you help me with that?”
Did he ever. He stripped away my energy gels, energy bars and hydration tablets. One thing he asked of me – that was to trust him in this process. I was skeptical and annoyed really that all of my favorite training fuels were being discarded before my marathon training commenced.
Well, my first two weeks on the program, I dropped 11 pounds and slowly started becoming a believer. Every two weeks, he would check my progress and the bad numbers were decreasing while the good numbers were increasing. Today, I am easily maintaining my current weight after losing over 30 pounds. My body has been reprogrammed and conditioned to burn calories throughout the day. I am gaining muscle with every workout and feeling stronger than I ever have.
My running? Let me say that I am so thankful for Facebook memories because it has definitely become a reminder of where I was with my running one year ago. Last year, an easy effort run for me was in the range of a 12 minute mile. Today, I am running recovery at a 9-10 minute mile pace. I was finally able to crack the 5 minute mile marker for my fastest mile. I have achieved personal bests in the 5K, 10K and full marathon distance. My goal is to run a new personal best in the half marathon one week from tomorrow at Marathon Bahamas.
2021 has been the year of reaping all of the benefits of making my health and fitness priorities. It is a year where I have learned so much about my body, my mental toughness and my heart. It is where I was able to show so much pride and gratitude in everything that I have been able to accomplish. It is a year where I found my support system, the power of collaboration and of friendship.
I am thankful for what was and hopeful for what will be.
Coach Linda