Growing up as an overweight child, I never really got a hold on my weight issue. So It continued into my adulthood, when I lived as a morbidly obese adult most of my life. Noone ever wants to be in this place, but many of us find ourselves here. Obesity was a very lonely place to be, because I kept to myself most of the time. Food became all of the relationships that I never made. When I had reached a high of 280 pounds, I stopped weighing myself. But I knew I was getting even bigger.
One day a friend of mine reached out to me and offered his help. He was a health and wellness coach with a company called “Team Beachbody.” Not having anywhere else to turn, I accepted his help, and my journey began. He helped me pick a workout and choose healthy diet supplements and food to reach my goal. I stumbled a lot but kept going. As everyone knows, weight loss does not happen overnight, but little by little I started to see change.
When a good friend asked me what my big dream was, I told her that it was to go to Hawaii and complete a full marathon walk. At that point, the challenge and plan took form. For the next year I began to walk each day. The thought of walking 26 miles was unheard of since I could not even walk two miles. But every day was a victory. As I started gaining confidence, I decided that I wanted to do something special with this big goal, so I found Louie’s Kids. I wanted to raise others’ awareness of childhood obesity and help as many kids as I could. In a few months other friends and I raised several hundred dollars, but we also had enlisted a group of over 200 people, including a kindergarten class, to commit to MOVING with me on race day, exercising for at least 26.2 minutes!
On December 9, 2012 , 13.09 hours after beginning, I crossed the finish line at the 2012 Honolulu Marathon. My dream had come true.
I am preparing for my second marathon in Hawaii to be held on December 8, 2013. I will be racing once again for Louie’s Kids, and this year will also be special in another way, as I plan on completing my own personal race against obesity. I am over halfway to my goal weight, and am working hard to get there by the end of this year.
I want everyone to know that it does not matter where we begin our races, but where we finish.