Couch to Boston

It's going to take forEVER.

The tired lady in front of me proclaimed, releasing what seemed to be every last bit of air from her tired lungs. A stray strand of hair fell into her face.

I'm not going to get that far. I don't even like what I look like when I'm that thin. I want to be below 200. That's as far as I care to go.

Look.
I know from where you're standing the task seems impossible, the work grueling, the time frame so long you can hardly think so far into the future. But I want you to imagine something for me. You only have, what, 70 more pounds to your healthy body weight? But I lost almost twice that in a year and a half. In fact, I lost 100, quit smoking, lost 30 more and... (I did some math in my head) now, 3 1/4 years after I got up off the counch and started this journey, I'm going to be running the Boston Marathon. It's amazing. Look back at the last 3 years of your life, and tell me 3 years ago doesn't seem like yesterday.

Her blue eyes widened.

I just don't see myself doing that kind of work.

She'd been to curves. And when curves stopped working she'd joined our gym.

But you've done the hardest part already. You've made a start. And when what you were doing stopped challenging you enough, you upped the ante again by joining up here. And talking to me.

I just want to be under 200.

I just wanted to "not be a freak anymore." I got the Boston Marathon instead.

But I don't want to run.

I didn't start running until I was almost a healthy body weight. In fact, strangely enough, I picked it up as a way to prove to myself I was done with this whole fitness kick. I could go back to my normal life, maybe do Zumba a few times a week. Run a 5K now and then for charity. Nobody has to run.

Sigh.

It's going to take about a year to reach your healthy body weight. And you're going to feel great. After that if you want to run a marathon you can. If not, don't. But be healthy.

She nodded. I could tell she thought I was full of baloney. I shut up and showed her around the gym cheerfully.

I saw her around the gym doing the routine I'd set her up with virtually every day. It worked. She was losing, getting stronger. The work became easy. As soon as the work became easy it stopped working.

She became frustrated.

I invited her to join my gym group.

Each session she jogged, ellipticalled, weight lifted, toted, cardio kick boxed her way past her plateau.

After our sessions ended I would see her around. Working her tush off. She would delightedly tell me she was losing steadily. Or she'd plateaued. We would plan and scheme.

Then came the texts. She'd gotten under 200. She hit 180 and got a tatoo. 10 more pounds and she would have that healthy BMI she never thought she could have.

Then the day came. I got the text. "I made it." It had been a little less than a year. I'd watched all her progress. Cringed as she told me about her plateaus. Cheered her progress and complimented her as she slipped into smaller and smaller clothing sizes. I was as proud as I'd been the day I'd crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon.

Yesterday I saw her in the gym. There's a look of delight in her eyes. She got a tatoo just above the waist when she reached her healthy Body Mass Index. She'd kept going, too.

It feels like yesterday.

I know.

I can't believe how hard I thought it was going to be. How long I thought a year seemed. It feels like yesterday.

It's been almost a year since I crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon. I've taken up ultra running since then. Ran a 50 mile race. Qualified for the Western States 100 mile race. This year just because I can I'm running a 50K a month. Why not?

But looking back the 4 and a bit years it's been since I first ventured off the couch and out into my neighborhood for the 2 mile walk around the hills of doom (which took me an hour) seem like nothing. At the time I could not imagine exercising TWO WHOLE MILES a day for the next 4 years - certainly not for the rest of my life. Now two miles seems like ... a walk in the park.

And every time I cross a finish line I think of how long I've been running this race. My 4 years - and it seems like nothing.

Couch to Boston Marathon in 3 1/4 years. Where will YOU go?