As a young
graduate student, I didn’t see a problem with heading to Steak ‘n Shake after a
late night out with friends or grabbing McDonald’s in between classes. And even
though I had been active in college — rowing competitively with the school’s
team and jogging frequently with roommates — I stopped exercising, too. It
definitely showed — I gained 15 pounds that year.
I got my first
newspaper job in Centralia, a small town in
southern Illinois.
I started walking with a co-worker during our lunch breaks, and soon after
that, we joined Curves, a 30-minute workout program for women. It was easy and
didn’t take too much time. A helpful part of the program, too, was getting
weighed and measured each month. It gave me a great incentive to keep at it — I
wanted those numbers to go down, not up.
I moved to Springfield to work for
Illinois Times in June 2007. I’d only been to the city once and didn’t know one
single soul. After work and on weekends, I started going to the local Curves
and also joined the downtown YMCA (thanks to a free membership through IT). I
started slow, running for 30 minutes on the treadmill or elliptical a few times
a week. By the fall, I was running three miles through Washington Park.
I eventually started running more and more often with friends I’d made at the
YMCA.
By exercising
and eating healthier meals at home, I finally shed those 15 pounds and more.
But I didn’t want to stop there — my next goal was to run a half-marathon. The
farthest I’d ever run in my life was six miles, and I did that once. But I
found a beginner’s training schedule online, ran four times a week for 10 weeks
and had a good excuse to eat peanut butter and bagels and pasta.
I ran in the
Lincoln Memorial Half-Marathon in April 2008 and have finished three more
half-marathons since then. My next goal: running the 26.2-mile Kentucky Derby
Festival Marathon in April 2010.
What’s worked
for me can work for you. It’s all about baby steps. Commit yourself to
exercising for 30 minutes, three times a week, and go from there. Find
activities that you enjoy. For me it was running, but for you it could be
dancing, biking with your kids or even walking your dog.
Want to share your health story? Whether you’ve had good or bad
experiences, we want to hear about it. Write something about 200-300
words and send it to me at pyeagle@illinoistimes.com. The best reader stories will be posted on the blog, so put your best foot forward!
This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2009.
