I realized something the other day. I might have a slightly addictive personality. Thankfully, it only rears its head when it comes to exercise. Let me provide some evidence to this case.
1. I started pilates when I first started teaching. I can't even remember who introduced me to it. I faithfully attended class for 2+ years. The instructor asked me to sub a couple times for her and it planted the seed in my brain to become an instructor. So I spent 6 months training which included over 60 hours of instruction, 30+ hours of practice teaching, a written anatomy exam and a practical where I had to teach in front of my instructor who trained with the founder of STOTT. After 6 months I was officially certified as a STOTT pilates instructor. I have been teaching since. Pilates is something I always see myself doing. Those 2 hours are just for me. I am able to provide myself this time to improve my body and mind. I am lucky enough I can spread that feeling to people in my life. I teach two days a week at school to whomever can come. My school is amazing and allows me to use the facilities for free because I am offering a wellness opportunity to our teachers. I just the other day had a client who started because she broke her foot and she couldn't run. I encouraged her to come to pilates so she could still feel like she was doing 'something'. She got her cast off and continued to come. She said, "I never thought I would love it as much as I do!"
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| I was 6 months pregnant in this picture! |
2. Then came running. I had dabbled in running before kids. Running had some emotional baggage for me. When dancing on a national ranked squad, part of our conditioning was running 2 miles before every practice in 16 minutes (thanks for the correction Lindsey!). If we didn't make the 16 minutes we had to run the 2 miles again after practice. So there was some fear, pain and just pure hatred associated with running. But I put on my big girl running shorts and started again after I got married. John and I weren't at our healthiest when we married, hence why you'll never see a wedding picture in my house or on any of my social media venues. After we got married we dedicated ourselves to a healthier lifestyle. We both started running and choosing better foods. He lost 100 pounds over 2 years and the running combined with pilates eventually got me down about 40 pounds. After I had Evan, I knew running was the way to go to get myself back in shape. That was also around the time I started at St. George's. There is a huge running community at my school. I met Emmy who lived in Collierville and had 2 kids, a full time job (SG) and ran. She committed to me and I to her and we became running partners. She put up with my slow pace and short distances and I put up with her ability to run in any conditions, under any circumstances flawlessly. (That's a real easy reason to hate someone, ya know.) She was training for a full marathon and I was training to run longer than 30 minutes without passing out. By the time her marathon came around, I did 12 miles on that Saturday while she finished her full. By the way, after her full she went a spent a full day at the farm doing farm stuff....manual labor. After a full marathon...see what I mean? I soon became pregnant with Luke and had to put the running on hold. Again, Emmy spent the entire 9 months walking with me. After Luke was born, we jumped right back into our routine, 5 miles 3 times a week after 8pm. Six months after Luke was born I ran my first half. Nine months later I ran my second (and last) half. Two half marathons in a year.
...to be continued...
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