Everyone has a story to tell

In 2009, I let my health go or should I say I didn't pay attention to what I was doing when it came to eating sweets and my food portions along with being active. I became my heaviest at 197 lbs! I was not comfortable in my own skin. I kept on smiling through so no one would know how I was really feeling - Like a failure for letting my self get this way. I was miserable on the inside. I would work out a little, but wasnt really serious. I wasnt focused with the right mindset of what I truly needed to do. Here I am in 2009 - 2010 - 197 lbs and going on a size 14.

 

May 2011 - That was when I decided to truly take my life back and try to do better. Right before I started, I worked at a preschool and oh how stressful that place was! The classes were packed to the max and it was very difficult to get things done on a daily basis with so much chaos. I finally decided I had enough - even though it helped pay the bills - I quit. I was quite miserable. It was a leap of faith that I took, not knowing how we were going to keep going with me not working. I just knew that God was telling me that I had to get out of that preschool.

It was tough. My husband was going through paramedic school and a lot of his time was taken up. I didnt always know how we were going to pay and take care of everything, but I had faith that God would provide and He surely did. We got rid of a few things like cable and to this day, we never got it back - we learned how to live without it and I am completely fine with that. I started slipping a little bit to what seemed like a dark area - depression. The darkness did not last long as I was determined to not let it truly soak in. It was also a time when my mom's kidneys started failing due to complications with diabetes. She had to start dialysis. It was a lot for me to take in, knowing that I wanted to help her in every way that I could. I felt guilty like it was sort of my fault for not knowing what diabetes really does to your body and what I could have done to push her to exercise more and take care of herself. A turning point for me was to start now to take care of myself or I was going to be headed in the same direction.

I decided that I would get fit, be diciplined, learn to run and become a runner. I have ran before, but I never really got into it with paying attention to shoes, speed, breathing, etc. This time I was going to make it happen. I started with the Couch to 5k program that helps you become a runner with run/walk interval training. So I set out with the Insanity workout videos and boy were they insane! It was the toughness of a workout that I needed to jumpstart things and then I ran in the evenings and sometimes just in the mornings. Some days it was just plain out rough - days where I didnt think I had it in me to keep going, but I kept going! I would talk to myself and say "if you want this you gotta keep going. The pain you feel now is no where near the pain of having a baby!" I knew that I would have to push and dig deep to find that inner strength that has been burried within me. The strength that God instilled in me to be strong and fight. I would always remember the scripture "With Jesus everything is possible!" and I would reach to him for the strength to push myself.

Here I am today after much hard work at 170lbs and a size 8 (muscle weighs more that fat)

Little by little, I felt the changes that made me a stronger person. Running became my peace, my inner sense of who I am. It gave me hope that things wont always be like the way they were. Looking back on all the things I went through, I realized that they have shaped me to become who I am today. I found my passion and I want to help others learn how to run, encourage them and let them know that sometimes their mind and thoughts get into the way of what they CAN do. I enjoy motivating people to keep going because whatever they may be going through, I know that there IS light at the end of the tunnel. I have also realized that not everyone can understand the way that my eyes see life - eyes that can see within every person and know that they have a story to tell. Everything that a person does reflects on what they have gone through and not everyone will be able to understand that. So tell your story - who cares what anyone else thinks!

Much Love,
Krissy