Getting Out Of My Comfort Zone

Getting Out Of My Comfort Zone

Yesterday I decided to get out of my comfort zone a bit. I’m afraid of heights but signed up to go on a group indoor rock climbing with BlackGirlsRunBoston. I was shaking like a leaf at some points and getting down was scarier than getting up. But I did it and the encouragement helped a lot! And it ended up being fun! When I was over 100 pounds heavier, there’s no way I could have done it because I just didn’t have the upper and lower body strength or stamina to do it. I would see people do athletic things and Wish I could. But wishing isn’t enough. Pray then act. Pray then do it.

#Grateful

#BigChangesBigResults

#PlantBasedGodsGrace

It’s a Continuing Journey

*Repost.

This came on my timeline today from two years ago (2016) and two things struck me:

1) My page has more than doubled! Thanks for following my health and fitness journey and also working on your own!

2) I still have and wear the pink suit jacket and slacks since I reached my big goal in August 2015 and became a size 6 and I feel even better, by God’s grace!

It’s an ongoing journey and one I’m grateful and blessed to be on.

#PlantBasedGodsGrace

Running Training Continues

I did my morning run/walk then joined my son on the extra treadmill (I was a nice mom and gave him the newer one again 🙂) for an easier walk/run on week one, day two of three of the 5K trainer for him. He did well and even gradually increased his speed for the run portions.

In other Plant Based God’s Grace news, my medal and T-shirt arrived from the 155.1 Turtoise Creep cumulative race from Yes.Fit! Love it!! 😍 Now to make the bean veggie stew with the beans that were in the pressure cooker while we trained!

#PlantBasedGodsGrace

5K Training….

Nini: I miss running outside.

Mom: Me too.

But we still smiled and were happy running side-by-side on our treadmills in our small home gym this morning. And after work, as promised, I started training Mikey using the C25k app to start his preparations for the BAA 5K in a few months. He did great with 30 minutes, including 8, 1-minute runs. I needed a slightly vigorous run again so I did the 5 minute warm up and cool down walks but a slow and steady 20 minute run. Nini came down to encourage us and we had an impromptu mini dance party afterwards. 🙂 💃

#TreadmillRunners

#PlantBasedGodsGrace

Grow where you are planted, then sprout out whenever you can

Grow where you are planted,

then sprout out whenever you

can.

From the beginning of my health journey, there are things I had to do out of necessity and I decided that working on doing them cheerfully was better than making excuses or complaining about it. My kids have special needs and I work full time. Because of my responsibilities at home, getting to the gym is usually not feasible, so most of my workouts are at home and have been from the beginning since over 4&1/2 years ago.

To enter a race with my family, it’s not just as simple as sign up and pay the fee. My husband and kids are legally blind and the kids have additional disabilities, including autism, intellectual, learning, developmental, and executive function disorders/disabilities. I need to make sure there are guides with whom they are comfortable and who will guide them safely. Sometimes we don’t have guides so not everyone participates if they wanted to, but since Nini is my running buddy, we always suffer—I mean run 🙂—together. 🙂 But we LOVE when it all comes together like when our friends Tim and Heather from Fatmanrants.com came all the way from western NY to visit and run with us and we had such a blast! The kids still talk about how great that weekend was. And all the Bessons will be able to do the BAA 5K together the weekend of the marathon because several disability sports organizations have organized to register and provide guides for everyone and there’ll be runners of all abilities on the course of ten thousand people.

Like I said, we can’t always participate in a live race and traveling to distance races may not always be feasible budget-wise as well as the other logistics that I mentioned. And that’s where VIRTUAL RACES come in. There are several groups that put on virtual races where you can run a race anywhere—in your backyard or your treadmill as we’ve done. We’ve done several 5Ks that way and have more planned. We receive running bibs and metals too!

I don’t have time to train for an ultra marathon then travel to compete in it. But I’ve now completed two virtual, at-your-own-pace, mega mile races. The group Yes.Fit has a lot of those. I couldn’t travel to Brazil but was able to run the Road to Hannah Brazil race over time for 59.5 miles and Yes.Fit sent me Google Earth images of my sights along the run route at certain checkpoints. And yesterday I finished the Turtoise Creep (I’m slow and steady so was so excited to do this one)! It was 155.1 miles and took me 71 days. This one was in Thailand so I got the virtual pictures via email. We would love the camaraderie of meeting up with friends for a race in Leadville, Colorado in June but budget-wise and safety-wise we’ve accepted that running on that mountain will not happen for now. But we’ll once again do it in solidarity as a relay, virtually from Boston.

So, I guess my message is one that I keep trying to remind myself: Grow where you are planted, then sprout out whenever you can. Let go of excuses to not do anything just because you can’t do some things when and how you want to. We can all do something, by God’s Grace. Let’s be grateful with what we CAN do and get moving!

#BackYardRunners

#TreadmillRunners

#VirtualRunners

#Grateful

#BigChangeBigResults

#PlantBasedGodsGrace

Stronger Than You Think

My new shirt says “Stronger than you think.” You know, we really are stronger than we think. When you’re sick, obese, in the throes of food addiction, and don’t see a way out, know that God can make a way. And you are stronger than you think because you were made for more. Commit to a big change and you’ll get big results, by God’s Grace.

#BigChangeBigResults

#PlantBasedGodsGrace

How hungry are you to end the cycle of illness, obesity, and food addiction?

How hungry are you to end the cycle of illness, obesity, and food addiction?

It really DOES get easier! I promise. Abstaining from sugar, oil, salt, alcohol, and in many cases even whole grain flours WILL heal your body AND brain and stop the endless cravings and weight gain. Adding movement and exercise WILL make you feel a natural high. Eating whole, delicious, plant foods WILL heal your body and mind! And it feels WAY better than the short-lived pleasure of junk foods! The brain and body begin to adapt well in a few weeks so if you hang in there, you’ll get there.

When I read the following passage by Dr. Pam Peeke, I said a loud YES in my head! I know this to be true. Then I remembered Dr. Dean Ornish’s statement that brought it all together: “Fear is not sustainable; joy and pleasure are.”

“The greater the hunger you feel about your quest to control your food addiction, the less discipline is needed to carry out your program. The journey becomes joyful and pleasurable even when most challenging. Reward gives discipline a purpose.”

Excerpt From

The Hunger Fix

Pamela Peeke & Mariska van Aalst

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-hunger-fix/id542392436?mt=11

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Blizzard Workout!

Needless to say, there’ll be no backyard running for quite some time. 😞 But I am grateful for the treadmills at home and indoor running. 🙂 We’re still under a blizzard, snow emergency and flooding in some areas. My husband, rightfully, didn’t want me to go out shoveling because of my past lower lumbar spine herniated disc. But I didn’t want him doing it all so I went out for a while anyway and didn’t overdo it (too much 😳). Helped make a passageway up front for walking, went in the back to clear the deck a little and couldn’t do much more because the snow is just too heavy. Shoveling is a heavy workout! And Michael is still out there working while I’m monitoring and having him take breaks inside periodically. The driveway will not be completely done tonight.

#BlizzardWorkout

#TreadmillMom

#TreadmillDad

#PlantBasedGodsGrace