I've had to dig this thread up again, because today I ran a half marathon! I ran every step of it, and finished in 1:55:40 which was far better than I dreamed of! This time last year I couldn't run 1 mile let alone 13, and I wasn't far off my starting weight. I don't think I'd even considered taking up running and here I am with a nice shiny medal. :D

Helen, that is a truly incredible NSV and I can practically feel the endorphins in your post! :D I am so proud of you! You must feel like superwoman!!!!

Helen, you're a star! Congratulations! :cheer:

I'm feeling pretty good, I have to admit :D

I always thought I was the kind of person who hated exercise, and that I'd only do the necessary to lose weight, but it turns out there was a frustrated distance runner in there hidden under the fat! It's getting to the stage where I don't care about my weight, only the fantastic things my body can do that I never thought were possible.

There's a full report on BerlinBlog if you want to see me ramble, otherwise I'll just sit back with my celebratory bottle of wine ;)

Helen, that's a great NSV! I've been watching your progress with great interest. I don't think there's a distance runner under my fat, but I cant wait to see what other things I can do when I weigh less!

I posted my lost wedding ring NSV in another thread. Luckily I found it AND got some great info about resizing!

Helen, That's terrific! Hope you enjoyed the wine.

WOW, Helen, that is incredible!!! :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

Mine is not so huge, but fairly huge for me. Today we took the kids hiking. It's a small local mountain, we covered much of it. It took about 2.5 hours, with many steep up's and downs. Woo Hoo!
We also did the same last Sunday, different spot..another very hard hike (hard for me..piece of cake for hubby).

Rudy has introduced me to a hobby/sport called geocaching. There are little containers full of goodies all over the world..hidden in beautiful/interesting places:D :D :D There's a main website called geocaching dot com. You use a GPS to download places from this website and then go and search for them..when you find a cache, you sign the log book take something from the cache if you want to..and leave something else in it's place. The stuff in the caches is just small fun things..little toys, seed packets,pens, buttons, batteris etc...

This thing is all over the world, there are 224 PAGES of caches in our postal code alone. Type in your postal code or zip code on this site and you'll see how many are in your area. It is so much fun...a little treasure hunt taking you to places you didn't even know existed in essentially your own backyard/community. I love it because it has a goal,a destination...the exercise is just a bonus...SO MUCH FUN..and it can be as easy or as difficult as you want it to be.:cp: :dancer: :running:

Linda

Helen, awesome NSV!

Linda, I love the idea of the geocaching idea!

My NSV is small as well (I can just get it in for February) :D I went snowshoeing on Saturday and not only was able to keep up, I was in the lead group for most of the way! :woo: This time last year, I could barely keep up, and when I made it home, my legs were cramping so bad I swore I would never do it again. This year, I felt great and no leg cramping!

woo hoo ladies !! congrats !!
Mine is that in the 3 weeks I've owned my treadmill I've made it to 1.5 miles @ 2.7mph (35 mins) without feeling like I'm about to pass out and "slide" down the treadmill :D it doesn't seem like much .. but I went from *0* to 1.5 miles/day !!

Omigosh, Helen, congratulations!! How wonderful! :bravo: I bet you'll be on cloud nine for days--I would. :)

Linda, that geocaching sounds like so much fun. I'm going to have to check out that website. What a great way to get some exercise. Way to go on being able to manage those hills!

Carol, isn't it incredible to see what progress you've made since last year? Good job!

Congratulations, Mrs. SmartyPants! I've had treadmills that have become clothes hangers. Sounds like yours isn't gathering any dust! :)

My NSV is also exercise-related. I ran a little over 1.5 miles on Saturday. I'm working up to a 5k run sometime this spring. I have to take it pretty slow because I have knee problems (my ice pack has become my best friend!), but I'm determined to run an entire race this year.

WTG Everyone!

Mrs. SmartyPants - I'm a treadmill user too, so I understand your progress. Right now, I'm doing 1.2 miles daily (30 mins). I'm working my way up to 1.5 miles/day. Great job to you!

hautbois - I "make" myself do an extra minute a day .. it doesn't seem like much but it's how I've "built up" my time :)