Giddiness

This week has been very busy, but all in a good way.  Interestingly enough, although I have put in 3 hours of overtime every night, I've felt better and had more energy when I got home than I did after a regular day even a month ago.  Before, I would be so exhausted by the time I got home, I just wanted to cry, eat, and go to bed, in that order.

I have felt so good this week! I have a new bounce in my step, I can feel my body shrinking, and unlike last week, am totally stoked about getting on the scale tomorrow morning.  A lot of this has to do with knowing my food has been strictly on point this week, but I think it also has to do with my water intake.  It's amazing to me how quickly my body responds when I give it what it needs, instead of shoving it full of what's convenient (or what I'm craving at the moment).

Maybe my slow-down last week was due to my getting slack with the program, maybe it was my body just needing a minute to catch it's breath before continuing on....I don't know.  I only know that I can feel the difference this week...my body, revving itself up. The energy being released, and also being stored up to do extraordinary things when I finally hit the track in April.

When I began this journey, I told myself that I would start running again in March, as I had so long ago.  Of course, I had no idea that we would be slammed so hard with icy, snowy winter weather this year, which would have made it most likely self-defeating, had I stuck to that plan. But the week before, Keith asked me to hold off for a while, to give my body more of a chance to adjust.  He thought I should wait until the summer, but he is not, nor has he ever been a runner.  Not that he can't run...he was in the Army, so of course he can run.  Not only that, but he can step on the track today and run 3 or 4 miles at a decent pace, and that with no training whatsoever.  He just hates running. He has never had any desire to run, or participate in any races, so with the exception of boot camp, he has never gone through the training process.  And he doesn't realize that you can't start training at the height of the summer heat.

The whole reason behind me starting back with my running in March was to be able to build up my stamina and heat tolerance so that I would be prepared by the time that heat hit me in summer.  I want to be able to run through the hottest season, into the fall, and beyond.  I want to be an all-seasons runner, even through the winter.  And that means that I have to condition myself to it.

So....I agreed to a delay, which I felt was probably wise at the time.  But I compromised by only delaying for a month.  That way, the winter weather is behind me, and I can go full steam ahead.  Waiting that month means that I will start running at least 10 pounds lighter than I would have in March, with much more energy, and riding a high of accomplishment at having lost 40 pounds, already.  I think I can live with that.

I feel so much more prepared this time.  And I feel like I am bursting at the seams to get out there.  This extra energy is surging out of me all the time, it seems like. I'm giddy...almost drunk with it, and it feels incredible, making me realize how long I've actually felt like crap. I don't ever, ever want to forget what being over 100 pounds overweight did to me, not just physically, but emotionally, too.  And most of all, I don't ever, ever want to feel like that again.