[MaryAnne]

I am just so excited I had to share, for the past month and lalf I have been on a mission to run. I have never been a runner, and even as a child/teen was unable to run due to severe childhood asthma. Well there was a competition at our gym that included running and teams, no one wanted to be my team mate and I figured it was due to be the super fat girl. No one thought I could keep up, I knew I couldn't keep up but I didn't want to feel like that again. So when they started the competition I started to work to running my first mile. About a month ago I finally made it to my 1 mile goal, it felt so great to be able to do that it was something I could never ever do before in my life. I kept at it everyday, adding more time and more miles. Then today I ran for 5 miles straight!! 5 miles it took me exactly 60 min but I did it and if I could have stayed longer in the gym I really believe I might have made it to 6 miles. I have never been so proud of myself before in my entire life, I just wanted to cry. Out of happiness of course It felt so good, I feel so good my 5th goal is to run a 10k and just a few more miles and I am there. A big goal of mine is to run a marathon and I now believe that I can do it and I will do it! I just wanted to share my victory and thank everyone here for their stories, and inspiration and motivation and advice. Thanks for taking the time to read this
Mary

[LotusMama]

Congratulations, Mary; your post is so inspiring! I don't even know you, (so I hope this doesn't sound weird), but I am proud of you!

Keep up the good work,

J

[salsa chip]

Well done! Your post has inspired me to get back into running

[Suezeeque]

I think it's wonderful that you are able to run that much at 225lbs! Quite an achievement. You must be really young to be able to do that. A word of warning though, when I was about 35 I starting running and I was probably about 200lb at the time. I also liked to walk a lot; I had a job in the field and instead of taking the bus (San Francisco) I would walk all day. Unfortunately, by the time I was age 44 I had worn out my hip joints and started having terrible pain in my knee (referred from hip). I tolerated it for years, ended up with a cane, lots of painkillers and eventually hip replacements. The doctor said I put too much stress on my hips when I was obese. I never even thought about this at the time but if I could do it over I would consult with an ortho and make sure my cartilege was doing okay. You don't have to eliminate exercise, just those that stress your joints. I swim and use the machines. I decided to post this because having to go through two major surgeries was not good.

[Violet73]

wow! Congrats!!!!!!

[MaryAnne]

Thank you guys for the congrats!! Jrmohr and Salsachip- you made my day saying I was an inspiration so Thank you!
Suezeeque - thanks so much for that advisement I will for certain speak to my dr. about it!
Thanks Leslielou!

[ubergirl]

Congratulations, MaryAnne. That is a HUGE accomplishment!!!

[Purplefirefly]

You have such determination I am sure you will make that marathon one day. I bet they all wouldn't mind being your teammate now Keep going, girl. You are inspiring.