Afoot and light hearted... 3 years post WLS

I'm really really bad at this personal blogging thing. As part of my role with DriveWorks, I help to contribute to our blog but for some reason my personal blog just gets set aside 'until later' - which doesn't happen but once every year (working on this!)

As stated in an earlier blog post, on July 5, 2017 I made the choice to take my life and my health back by choosing to have weight loss surgery (Gastric Sleeve). For almost my entire adult life leading up to that day, I fought a losing battle to become the person I knew I was meant to be. At 242 lbs I ran my very fist half marathon - I had been running for so many years and I was what I used to call the "fittest fat girl" you would ever know. Try as I would, I simply could never get the nutrition side of the equation to balance the physical fitness side.  Once I decided to go forward with the surgery, I've never looked back nor have I ever questioned my decision.  You get one time around in this life and I'll to be damned if I was going to spend it fighting an uphill battle that I simply couldn't do alone.

People may judge my decision to have WLS, ask me if I care? Aside from the support and love I have had from my husband and daughter, no one else's opinions 'really' matter. My life, my choice.

There are people that say that I took the 'easy' way out? Sure, if you call having to give up foods and beverages that you like for the rest of your life in order to be successful with the surgery - sure I took the easy way out.  Getting sick if I happen to eat more extra bite more than I can fit? Sure, totally easy. Anyone that says I took the easy way out is just looking for way to justify themselves and what they have or have not been able to accomplish in any part of their lives.  Also - I would welcome a conversation to discuss their thoughts as they don't ever seem to say it to me....but about me.

Onward.

Since my WLS I have run an additional 5 half marathons and a FULL marathon - major shit for a gal like me who never considered herself a "runner" For those that knew me when I was younger, running was something that I used to make up excuses NOT to do - now I pay to do it!

There have been people lost along the way and for that I am sorry for both of us - one of the things that I believe I discovered through this process is that I was trying to fill myself from a cup that was half empty. I was pouring myself too much into other people's lives and supporting them, when in turn that support didn't always come back.  It's a hard thing to do to walk away from friends when you already have a small circle, but I do not regret doing it for myself, I only that I had to do it.

About a year back I joined a running group (Greater Lowell Road Runners rule!) - I've never been much of a joiner but I've really come to like many people in the group and I'm happy to have pushed myself a bit out of my comfort zone. I think my own personal feelings of 'not being a runner' held me back - and ya know if you run....you are a runner. I wish I could inject that into others I know that constantly compare themselves to others and question themselves....just run dammit!!!

So walk with me, or run, as we continue this journey Afoot and Light-hearted together.

In the winter, I decided to take swimming lessons. At 47 years old I took my very first swimming lessons at a local gym and it was so much fun! Sure, I followed a 7 year old girl after her lessons on Sunday morning - but that was the best! We would "High 5" each other on the way in and out of the pool and she'd sometimes giggle.

Having already competed in several "sprint-style" triathlons, I knew I was weak when it came to swimming. So much so that the poor guys in the canoes that were there to monitor our safety would sometimes ask me if I was ok!  Yes - I was ok but I looked like someone that clearly could not swim properly and was using 2x the amount of energy I needed to get the job done.

So Swim lessons it was.

Three (3) lessons into my program the Coronavirus forced the shutdown of the gym and basically everything else around it. Happy to say that those 3 lessons gave me enough foundation that I am now trying to swim 2x a week in the local pond to keep up on my 'homework' for now. Maybe there will be additional lessons down the road...stay tuned.

I'm leaving this for now because if I leave it completely finished I won't come back to add more.... until then....


Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.  - WW

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