The First of many...

Hello~and welcome to my random musings about my life.

A little about me. I am a 36 year old stay at home Mom who is married to a wonderfully supportive man, Casey. I run, I workout but first and foremost, I am a mommy~Finding balance can be a challenge but I make it work with a lot of help from hubby and family. That is what this blog is about-balancing family while still finding time to train, meet new goals and continue on this amazing journey!

The background:

Back in the Fall of 2007 I was very overweight and miserable so I decided that it was time to change. I had never been overweight and this body was foreign to me. I had allowed myself to balloon up to about 250lbs and was wearing a size 20/22! I was eating, drinking and smoking too much and moving very little. I had tried several fad diets-from diet pills to skipping meals to exercise DVD's which gathered dust.

But this time was different: I wanted a family, I wanted a happy & healthy life, I wanted to be like that "fit girl" I would see out running. I was so much better than this! So I quit smoking and started exercising as a way to help me stay quit. I started eating a little bit better. I stopped drinking any kind of alcohol so it would not trigger a craving for a cigarette (if you ever smoked then you know that these two evils go hand in hand!!). I will never forget my first day in the gym; I was intimidated. I was scared. and I felt like I was going to DIE! Run? Ha...I could barely walk more than 15 mins on that treadmill. But I stuck with it. It got a bit easier, so I worked harder. I started jogging-for 20 seconds at a time! then 30 seconds...I dreamed of the day I could run a mile without stopping.

In January 2008 we discovered we were pregnant! It was an exciting and scary time but I had lost a bit of weight, learned a little about nutrition and was well on my way to the healthy and happy life I wanted.

I gained a reasonable amount of weight during my pregnancy (about 45 lbs) but I stayed active through out. Lauren was born on Oct. 6th via unscheduled c-section-my biggest fear. I had heard horror stories of long recovery post c-section and I could not wait to get back to working out.

We left the hospital on Thursday and by Sunday I was out walking with my baby girl in the beautiful Au tum weather.

As I adjusted to Mommyhood, I started to increase my workouts. Hubby and my parents got me a BOB Revolution jogger so I could get back to running again. I started doing some workout DVD's at home during the week and would go to the gym on the weekends. I started learning more and more about Eating Clean. Things were falling into place again. I had joy. I had passion. and I was on a mission.

NO ONE and NOTHING would stop me from reaching my goals!

Fast forward to today: 97lbs gone and I have been my my goal weight for a couple months. I have turned my flab into muscle. I no longer run as a means to and end. I run because I love it. It brings me peace and solitude. It centers me and challenges me. I love weight training and my gym sessions.

I have big goals and I have lots of dreams. Some too sacred to even utter out loud right now...but when the time comes, I will share those thoughts, dreams and goals.