Treadmill Mom, Marathon Man

A few years ago I jokingly dubbed myself Treadmill Mom after I was asked to be part of the documentary Big Change The Film. I said to the director, “Are you sure you want me in this? I’m not like the first two people already on it. I don’t do Marathons. I do 5Ks Slowly, I do exercise DVDs, and I walk and run on my treadmill. I’m Treadmill Mom.” He assured me that they wanted a regular person that people could relate to. I eventually owned that name and am grateful that I can walk and run on a treadmill when I couldn’t even do a 1-mile walk DVD without great effort at the beginning of my journey.

When my husband started training for the Boston Marathon, our older daughter started calling him “Marathon Man.” She’s still calling him that after he successfully completed it this past Monday, April 15, 2019. And he’s already strategizing on how he can improve his running and fitness even more moving forward and what other races, including a half marathon, he can participate in the near future. He has a passion for it.

Several people have asked me if I’m going to now do a marathon. No. As I’ve said to everyone who has asked me or suggested it to me, my daily life and responsibilities are my marathon and I don’t have the time, commitment or passion to pursue that. It’s not for me.

You don’t have to run a marathon to be successful at making a big lifestyle change. You don’t even have to run to lose weight, maintain weight loss and be healthy. Statistics show that losing and maintaining weight release is 80–90% of the story while exercise is 10–20%. Exercise is important for so much more than weight loss and maintenance though; it’s essential for overall good health and fitness, mood balances, and fighting diseases. Walk, box, kick-box, cycle on regular or stationary bike, hand cycle, swim, play a sport like soccer or basketball, stretch with various forms of stretching, do strength training, etc. Do what you can and what you like or just give something a chance and you may start to like it. This week I did walk/runs on my treadmill and walks outdoors. This morning I did three 10-minute segments of The 10-Minute Solution Knock-out Body Blast kickboxing DVD that I got on Amazon (along with the weighted gloves). It’s a workout that is effective, makes me sweat, and that I enjoy.

When I was a size 24, I never imagined that I would one day be a size 6 and be able to do “normal” things like walk and run on the treadmill. So just keep moving. Eventually you’ll form a habit and if you choose what you like then you’ll be able to stick with it.

#KickboxingMom

#TreadmillMom married to #MarathonMan 🙂

#PlantBasedGodsGrace