Before & After

First of all, thanks so much for all the kind tweets, texts, DM’s, messages, and e-mails about Wednesday’s post. It still isn’t over, as I received an e-mail from him yesterday. Blog post to come on that.

If you had told me four years ago that my mom would be training for a marathon, I would have laughed in your face. My mom? The woman who can barely walk up two flights of stairs? Who considers walking to Wendy’s (right next door to her work) as exercise? That obese woman? Nope. No way.

Because this used to be my mom:

Please don’t judge my brother and I on our jerseys.

 

 

And now? She’s a completely different person.

 

She’s lost 80 pounds (and kept it off for almost 2 years). She has completely transformed her life. She’s a completely different person. She loves to exercise. She gets home from a run filled with endorphins and happiness. Her healthy eating habits are absolutely astounding. She took on this healthy challenge with no abandon.

She began her journey in October 2006. I was away at college and called her from my night class. (I was in a terribly place at that time and called her 3-4 times a day, just to calm myself down.) She didn’t answer when I called her. When I called her after my class, she told me she had been in a Weight Watcher meeting. My response? “No, you haven’t. Really. Where were you?” But, yep, that’s where she was. Earlier that month, she had received word from her doctor that he wanted to go over some test results. She got scared, thinking she was pre-diabetic. Luckily, she wasn’t but it was the fire in her belly that made her start taking her health seriously.

It was amazing to see her transformation. It’s been inspirational.

It’s been four years. Two years of losing weight, two years of maintaining her weight. Yes, she has weeks where she goes off the deep end. She has days where she just wants to stop counting and stop having to be so in control of everything she eats. But, for the most part, she’s done awesome. She’s a healthy person, leading an active life.

She began running in 2006. We’ve done 4 Turkey Trots together. In 2006, we walked the 5K. In 2007, we ran the 5K. In 2008, she ran the 5K and I walked the 5K. In 2009, she ran the 10K and I walked/ran it. A month later, she ran her first half-marathon, with a time of 2:43. In April, she ran a 15K. She’s a full-fledged runner now. And she absolutely loves it.

And now she has a new goal. On January 9, 2011, she’s going to run the Walt Disney World Marathon.

A marathon? Yes, I think she’s nuts. Yes, I don’t doubt she can do it. Yes, I will be there every step of the way. If anyone can do it, she can.

So here’s where you come in, dear bloggers and friends. Runners and non-runners alike, do you have any advice for her? Advice on training. (She’s following a plan, but other advice would be welcome!) Advice on running gear. Advice on what to do before and after a long run? Anything and everything, please!

If you don’t have any advice, just tell her how awesome she is. Because she kinda is.