Four Years Running!

Happy 4 Year Running Anniversary to me! August 8th holds a very special place in my life. I started running four years ago in hopes of changing the direction my life was going and to try and be happy again. It's been an incredible journey and I am thankful that I've been able to stick with it even after all these years of ups and downs.

after my last half marathon in April!

On August 7, 2009, I was at my cousin's son's wedding in New Jersey and completely miserable. I was extremely overweight, stressed out from my first year of law school, and generally felt more alone than I ever had in my life. Annnnd to top it all off, I was sitting at the reception with all these beautiful skinny Indian girls as if that wasn't intimidating enough!

My sister, mom, and I at the wedding reception I mentioned- August 2009

The very next day, I chose to make some changes in my life and vowed to get healthy because I 1- didn't want to have the health problems that my parents/grandparents do/did and 2- for my own vanity (I mean, who doesn't want to look their best at all times??).  The very next day I started doing research online and found Women's Health Magazine's website and some weight loss articles that helped jumpstart this new stage in my life.  I started walking on my treadmill at home 3x a week for 15 minutes at first and increasing the duration by 15 minutes every 3 weeks until I was eventually running for 45 minutes straight through September 2009. I was pretty intense with changing what I ate and making sure I ran every other day in order to turn my life around. The first 40lbs came off quickly but the second 45lbs took nearly a year, which culminated with my first half marathon February 2011! During my last semester of law school, I had some health issues but I ultimately got through that time in life and even though I still see the after-effects, I am trying to do things the healthy way now.

After my first half marathon- Disney Princess HM 2011

After law school, my running journey was a very up-and-down/bumpy so it's taken me a while to get where I am now.  I used running as my outlet during probably the most frustrating 15 months of my life thus far and it really was one of the main reasons I made it through with my sanity!

I ran quite a number of races and 2013 has been probably my best year of racing! I have PR-ed in the following distances this year: 5K, 8K, 10K, and Half Marathon! I'm hoping for another half marathon PR when I am in Detroit in October but I'll be happy to just finish.  I'm excited for the actual course so time won't be an additional pressure to get over the Ambassador Bridge fast enough or even to get through the Windsor Tunnel in record time! 

I'm excited to keep running.  I literally ran to save my life and even though I've plateaued with a net 60-65lb loss since my heaviest, I am happy.  It's been a long time since I could say that but I am actually happy with myself.  Yes, I may have a glass (or three) of wine one night but I still am active and make sure that I don't restrict too much from my diet or else I will just binge on it the next day.  If I want a tootsie roll, then I will eat a tootsie roll! 

ANYways, today's post was to recognize this milestone in my life and share a little of my story! Here's a picture of all my race bibs (minus my PTI Runway 5K bib) and medals I earned over the past four years:

What was the trigger that got you running/active?