The Journey

I love this picture.  It always reminds me of a journey.  I love that you can see nothing but the path & the trees.  I took this picture on a run this past September.  I was on a girl's weekend with my besties (The 6 Pack) and I had a half marathon (13.1 miles) to run the next weekend so I couldn't miss my last long run.  On Friday morning two of the girls & I went out for a nice peaceful run.  I had never run this path before.  I didn't know anything about it other than it was safe, straight and went on for 34 miles so I knew I could do a nice easy out & back.

This picture also reminds me that I too am on a journey.  The path is long and some times winding but there is a start & a finish.  Although on my path there seems to be many starts and stops.  Many other opportunities to go down different paths. One of the paths that I have chosen is the path good health.  WAIT!!! Before you close my blog and say "Oh no!  Another health nut!"  That couldn't be farther from the truth! Why just yesterday I had McDonald's for lunch.  Now I don't make a habit of that but it was for good reason.  You see my husband's office is doing a weight loss/get healthy type challenge.  He has quite a bit of weight he would like to lose and in order to motivate him, we have placed a little side bet between the two of us.  Whoever loses the most % of weight wins!  What do you win? Glad you asked! I (yes I'm going to win!) will win a $100 gift card to a place of my choice.  The loser has to pay half of that with their own personal money!  AND, the winner can choose to make the loser go shopping with them!!

Now before we start all of this let me give you a little background.  I was a little overweight as a kid.  Not necessarily fat but I was not exactly small either.  I thinned out in high school (around freshman/sophomore year) but then packed on about 20ish pounds after graduation.  When Mr. J and I met, I weighted about 164.  I am about 5'4" on a good day.  So I wasn't huge and in our wedding pictures I look fine.  But I wasn't honestly happy with myself.  Before we had Mr. D, I started working out & lost about 20 lbs. But after we had Mr. S, I did Weight Watchers and lost about 20 lbs (those silly 20 lbs have come & gone about 20 times!).  And I kept that off until Miss V was born then I had to lose it all again.  ANYWAYS! All of that to say I'm smaller now than I was when I met & married the man of my dreams.  I'm happy for that.  But I also worked REALLY hard for it.  I became a runner after Miss V was born & have worked hard to get stronger and go farther and faster.

From our honeymoon in 2003

*DISCLAIMER*  I do NOT think I'm fat or need to lose weight.  I'm within the healthy weight for my height.  I would just like to tone up and build some strength to not only help with my body image but also to help with my running. 

So I thought I would take you on my fitness journey.  I don't know if I will actually be able to lose 10% of my body weight (thankfully Mr. J is giving me a 3% head start). But I am going to work on eating right and toning up.  I have an exercise plan and I'm sticking to it!

From Girl's Weekend in September

So here are a few of my stats!  I haven't taken before pictures yet so I'll save those until the after (Jan 20!).

Height: 5'4"
Weight: 140
Measurements
Chest: 36"
Waist: 35"
Hips:40"
Arms:
Left -11"
Right-11"
Legs:
Left-23"
Right-24"

I can't wait to share more of life with you!

Love, Lacey

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