New Definitions

Oh my goodness am I sore as I type this.  While I enjoy knowing my sore muscles are from working my body hard, plain and simple, it's still pain.  Yeahhh for candy coated Advil!   I'm trying to figure which part of my body is sorest.  Pretty sure it's my butt, my legs and arm are a toss up for second place.  Yesterday Pam and I did our 5k routine. Today, I went swimming with Heather, Paul and Belle. I think we swam about 1/2 mile, but I kinda lost track.  It's hard to count laps, breath, kick, much less to it all at the same time.   Hannah even joined in the fun and did 4 laps in the pool.  Three with me (2 with a kick board, 1 with my help) and one with Pauly with a kick board too.  It was fun to watch her and see how more darning she is now that Paul and I are more willing to take chances and challenge ourselves with fitness.

I'm beginning to notice how much my new lifestyle impacts my relationships.  One example is with my husband.  I've been reading about weight loss and it's effect on marriage.  It's not uncommon for divorce to occur when once spouse gets healthy and "re-defines" themselves.  I'm very thankful Paul and I are on this journey together.  He asked me today if I remember why he started losing weight.  I stared at him blankly.  Honestly, I had forgotten, he told me he had made a commitment when I sighed up for my Tri.  That he would train and support me the whole way, after he said that, I did remember.  I know he's been 110% support of me in every aspect in my journey, even the aspects he doesn't understand.  It brought tears to my eyes.  Just another ripple in the pond because of one positive change.  We are committed to continue to work on ourselves and our marriage.  While we may end up different people, we will get there together, holding hands at the end.  I've also started thinking about how my views and definitions have changed.  I wanted to share just a few with you.

• Friendship is showed when someone extends their hands, challenges me to be better but still loves me 100% flaws and all.
• Love is showed when my husband gets up early to make me breakfast in bed when I have to be off early in the am.  Love is also showed when he puts on socks on himself to "warm" them and then offers them to me before bed.  (I know, a little odd and maybe gross, but to me, it's romantic as all heck).
• Success isn't the number on the scale, it's the risk and efforts you take to get there.  It's not necessarily beating your time jogging or biking each time.  It's the fact you put yourself out there and are willing to keep moving forward.
• Health isn't about being skinny, it's about having a healthy mindset, a healthy body and a healthy soul.

I'm proud to say I only weighed myself 2 times during the week, I sorta cheated and weighed myself this morning.  I'll work hard this week to keep it to 2, it made a huge difference.  I feel much more calm.  I'm also finding my mindset to be much more focused on balanced health, that number will go down as I keep finding that balance.  This is a long journey, I won't wear out like the hare, I will be the happy tortoise.  Slow and steady for me, just like my jogging :)

Unstoppable "proud to be tortoise like" Mariah