Growing up I was always active. I played volleyball and basketball all through junior high and high school. I played softball from the age of 6 through my freshman year of high school (got tired of playing three sports). I was a cheerleader for two years in junior high and then one year in high school. I also took dance classes as a little girl, and for several years did horseback riding. I was always going to practices for one sport or another, and summers were spent getting ready for the next year by practicing and going to sports camps. My senior year of high school (2004) I was voted Most Athletic for my class.
After high school I went to college, but didn’t play any sports. I tried to stay active by playing intramurals, but for the first time I was really having to spend a lot of time studying for my classes and fitness just wasn’t a priority. I actually sort of enjoyed taking a break from constantly going to practices and getting home late from games.
The fall of my second year of college I started coaching the J.V. volleyball team at my old high school. I really enjoyed teaching the girls what I knew and helping them become better players. I did this for two years before I decided I needed to focus more on school.
Throughout the rest of college I would exercise sporadically. I took a yoga class one semester, did yoga and BodyCombat classes at my school’s gym every once in awhile, joined a volleyball intramural team one semester, took Taekwondo lessons for three months, etc. But I never really did anything regularly for very long.
Although my weight never got too out of control, I definitely gained some extra padding from not watching what I ate and not staying as active as I had before college. And though I knew that gaining a little weight as I got older was natural, I started feeling uncomfortable with how I looked. I wanted to find the motivation to get back to feeling better about how I looked, and also incorporate healthier habits.
Once I finished school, I started spending more time learning about ways to be healthier. I decided during the summer of 2010 to do a Tough Mudder race that fall, so I started running and weight training. I also started trying to eat better. I got a lot of recipes from food and fitness blogs and websites and started changing my eating habits. It wasn’t a complete turn around from how I was living before, but it was a definite improvement. By the time the race came around I felt a lot healthier.
After the Tough Mudder I tried keeping up with my workouts, but without another event to motivate me, I let myself gradually slip back into my old habits. So this blog will hopefully be one way to keep myself accountable as I train for my next mud run.
Stop and Smell the Wildflowers 