Goals and Inspiration

When I started to lose weight I never thought it would inspire other people to change their lives. So many have sent private messages telling how I have helped them change. I want to share one with you:
"So I have been following the couch to 5K program. And tonight I was to walk 5 jog 3 walk 5 I know doesn't sound like much but it was a good work out. I started the timer to run or thought I did. was running sweating like mad got tired looked to see how much time I had to go. and noticed I never started so not knowing how long I ran I decided to be honest with myself I needed to push start and run for 3 mins. And I did

However the reason for my message is when I feel like I want to quit or am tired I see you running with me and encouraging me to keep going. I picture your split weight loss picture. I have no reason why but thank you for running with me each night. See It's important for you  to post these pics and your exercising. Spring 5K here i come. And If I loose weight along the way even better. The cucumbers, tomatoes and I are best friends this summer."


I didn't include her name for privacy reasons but am in awe by the amount of people whose lives I have touched. You guys make it easier for me to set goals I didn't think I could accomplish and keep pushing to prove to myself and others that nothing is out of reach.  
Next year I have a few races picked out but have set my overall goal to do two things. 1) Ride a century and 2) Run the Chicago Rock & Roll Half Marathon. Each and every email puts a new fire in my belly and a smile on my face.

Much more Muchier

I come here, I read my blog roll. I laugh, cry, scowl but I have been slacking at posting. I don't feel like I have wisdom to share. I have found some strange peaceful place I have never known. Before in my old body I felt so out of control. My world was spinning, I was grasping. I took everything so personally. I had lost my wit, my spunk or as the Mad Hatter would say my muchness.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, muchness means "the quality or state of being in great quantity, extent, or degree." What the Mad Hatter was talking about, in his odd and slightly hysterical way, was that Alice had lost some of who she used to be. He was inferring that she had lost some of the true essence of herself as she'd grown older.
I hadn't lost my muchness due to growing older but due to growing bigger. I had no idea what I had lost until I started to get it back. I forgot that I was funny, sarcastic, smart, confident, open minded and beautiful. I was beat down, defeated, angry and so very sad.
  Getting my muchness back has been as much as an experience as losing all of this weight.  I am glad I am now much more muchier :o)
Another bit of peace that has been brought upon me came in an even more unexpected form. My face. In the last 30 or so pounds my face has changed a lot. I started to notice about 6 months ago that I was starting to look like my father. I miss him so much that when the wrinkles came and my jaw line peaked out I smiled. Recently my brother saw me and mentioned that he was surprised at how much I looked like our dad. I now look in the mirror and see so much of what I was starting to forget. His eyes, laugh lines, forehead wrinkles..it's all there staring right back at me.
Who would of ever thought I could of gained so much by losing?