I have always been active, not athletic by any means but I like to bike and run. Last year I completed two half marathons, but as soon as I accomplished the second half I completely quit running. I deserved it didn't I? I didn't do much for exercise for August till December. I started in January and it was like starting all over. In addition I gained a lot of weight back. I had replaced exercise by eating and was in total denial. Not a great thing to do over winter months.

I have added the moderation mantra to working out as well. I also redefined my idea of exercise and to enjoy the journy and keep the benefit to feeling good and fit, instead of "losing weight". I really do like to run! I enjoy the company of my Jack Russel Terrier, I feel better after a run, it is such a great stress reliever! I also find running very social and have a variety of friends that also enjoy running.

I wasn't always this confident with my running ability. When I started a couple of years ago, I was very self concious. I am always the "big girl" who runs. I even had people comment "Wow, for the amount of running you should be a rail!" It took quite a bit of motivation to keep going. At first I only ran on the treadmill inside. I started out with walking 10 minutes and running one minute, then each week I would walk less and run more. 9/1,8/2,7/3 etc. Now I rarely run on the treadmill, and enjoy the outdoor running the most, even through the winter.

Now I run 10 minutes and walk 1 minute. This combination gets me through my half marathons. I am still not a very fast runner, I only run 8.40 per km.

It took a long time for me to make the association between exercise and eating. I now control my eating and consider exercise a "bonus" and don't rely on it at all for losing weight.

I used to work out and then binge, or use exercise as my reason to eat, or worse, punish myself for eating too much by exercising strenuously. Once I started to count calories that is when I realized that even though I ran for 45 minutes, that is only 350 calories. A Mcdonald's egg mcmuffin with sausage has 370 calories!!

I am glad everytime I head out to be active that I have a body that allows me to enjoy the journey! I practice feeling grateful and enjoy the outdoors.

The bonus of losing weight in tandum with my spring training is that the longer runs get easier, I have 26 less pounds to lug around!

My runs are getting longer with my training program and that is a mental hurdle as well as a physical one. I have several mantras that I repeat while I run, like "you can rest when you retire!". I have called on several friends to join me as I run to keep me motivated. I post my running schedule with dates and times on facebook and on an email that I send to like-minded friends. It helps me to stay on track and be accountable as well as being pro-active.

Once I have reached my goal weight I will start training for a full marathon. I can't wait. I am going to book my race somewhere amazing, like Australia, or maybe the marathon on the Great Wall of China!

I recently went on a trip to NYC, where I woke my friend up at 6:30 am to go running in Central Park. She wasn't too thrilled at first but halfway through our run she started to feel amazing! What an iconic milestone for us! I may never make it back to NY, but at least I can say I ran in Central Park!!