HI Gang,

Life here has been busy.  I am pleased as I now fall into the "healthy" range for my height and body frame per the Metlife tables.

Sunday is my first 5K out of "retirement."  After becoming obese and having back surgeries, I gave up jogging. Now that I am lighter, I like jogging again!  I am a bit worried as I have sort of set up a competition between 26 year old me (who was 26 lbs lighter and 12 years younger than me, but only ate an apple and a big can of green beans per day) versus current me (38 years old, 160 lbs).

I hope to come in under 45 minutes. It is ok to laugh. I never was fast, I just hope not to be DLF (i.e. dead-effin-last) and to beat my first 5K time that I achieved as an unhealthy 26 year old.

I am anxious to see what this 2 months of training will yield.

-Skinny

Congratulations on your accomplishments!

I ran in my 20's, then took it up again this year at 44.  Good luck in your run! 

Thank you for your support!  Want to know a secret?  I want to run my first half marathon by 40.  So I am glad to see you are taking it up again at 44.

Maybe the disney marathon in 2016?

Good luck Skinny you are an inspiration.  Thanks for sharing

Thanks Bubbles!  I appreciate your encouragement.  It is good that we have this forum.  We as a group are inspiring. Making the decision, fighting for, and having surgery is scary.  Staying out of solid foods (or styaing on the surgeon diet) those first few weeks is scary and hard.  I think people that fight the good fight and do hard and scary things are inspiring.  You, Bubbles, are also inspiring!

Then our bodies change, and we do more scary things...things we never contemplated before (like trying to run a 5K) and we serve as real life examples of people who have tried and conquered. People who didn't accept a lifetime of obesity as a "given"

I will let you know how it goes!

Hi there --

Good luck with your 5k!  I am a little over 7 months out RNY and did my first 5K ever in my life 2 weeks ago.  My goal was 45 minutes too and I finished at 34:43!  The race was to benefit the local food bank of all things so for a good cause as well.  I cannot express how proud I was about this finish.  I was angry after the fact because I found it hard to run or train in running for about 5 days after the race (I pushed myself very hard) but after that things are back to normal and I'm ready for the next one!

For those of you wanting to do this, I never ran ever before in my life pre-surgery.  I used the Couch to 5K App with my treadmill and worked up from being able to do only 30 seconds of jogging at once to now doing 4.25 miles at a full jog almost every day.  I know it is a cliche but seriously if I can do it, anyone can do it.  BTW, I am 49 years old so I was in the 26-49 age group.  I placed 18th in females in that group.  Woo hoo!

I wish you the best!

Melissa

Wow!  34:43...you must run like a gazelle!  

If I come in under 43 minutes...i will be pleased.

ARe you signing up for a turkey trot?  There is one that benefits "Life with cancer" here, so I signed up for it too. It pleases me that my exercise regimen helps me AND OTHERS.

Thank you!

Good Luck Skinny!  I'm sure you'll do great!  It's perfect inspiration for me.  I just made a pact with my sister yesterday to find a 5k in the Spring and train for it.  I've never been a runner and am having a tough time getting my lazy self onto the treadmill 5 days a week.  I thought a goal to train for would help.  I'm going to find the app used by Melissa and get started!  Thanks for the motivation guys!

Good to hear!  Being able to jog/run 5K really helps me feel empowered.

You may also experience a mental shift. Previously, I would have never considered myself a runner BUT I think I am because I feel sort of "out of sorts" when I go to long between workouts!  While I intensely dislike getting up early in the morning, I find that I need less coffee and feel more mentally "there" when I have those morning runs.

Good Luck.  I can't run, but thrilled for those that do.