My physical health

I've been reluctant to post about this because I want this blog to be so much more than just a weight loss blog.  But it is my focus right now and I just made the goal of running a half marathon before my next birthday.  I've been doing a keto diet with intermittent fasting for the past 2 months and I've released 8.6 kg (18.9 lbs) of weight.  I've also been walking daily and the longer I've been doing it now and then my body has just wanted to run.  Most my walking is pacing our small house, but I also walk at the park when I take my kids out to play.

Emotionally I've felt more stable getting depressed less often and with less severity when I do.  It's the "I'm crying and don't fully know why.  I bet I start my period tomorrow." Rather than the, "the world is ending, I hate the government and I wish I could just cease to exist!" kind of thing.  So these changes are definitely part of my overall healing journey mentally, emotionally and physically all connected together.

Every morning I've been reading in my mirror, "I can do hard things." And "I am worthy of love."  I recently added, "I am healthy", and "I can do tough workouts."  And every day I listen to my body for what to eat and when and how hard to work out and for how long.  I almost always workout in the morning before I've eaten any food for the day.  Now and then (especially on the weekends) my kids demands for attention throw this off, but I always seem to have better workouts when they are in the morning and before food.  Even on a day that I only eat dinner the afternoon fasted workout is never as good as the morning one.  I have great energy levels throughout the day now and don't crash after lunch all the time any more.  I have more active play with my 4 year old.  Our favorite game being "tickle chase" where the tickle monster chases the other person and if you get caught and tickled, you become the new tickle monster.  I love the quality time I can have with my children that I never used to have the energy for.

So today I plan on taking my son to the park and while he plays I'll do my first day of training running with a goal in mind of building my endurance time and building it up over the course of the spring and summer.  Then October 13th I'll run the Prairie Fire Fall half marathon.   I'll try to update my progress here weekly to keep me on track. 

I never thought I would want to run.  It's never something I've enjoyed before, but lately some things have inspired me and we'll see how long this interest lasts or if it'll be another 6 month fluke like my sourdough interest was. 

I'll be running in my Merrill Vapor glove barefoot shoes. I made the switch to barefoot shoes about a couple years ago though I just tried to do a lot of walking.  I've yet to do a lot of running barefoot or otherwise unless you look way back to my play as a child and teenager.  Last summer I searched and couldn't find in stores a pair of women's sandals that fit my feet right.  I ventured over to the men's and found some but they were stiff and the straps hurt my feet when I walked too much.  So this year I ordered some Xero Shoe DIY sandals.  I'll post about them when they arrive.  So watching videos about how to tie these sandals has led to videos about running in them and barefoot shoes, and that led to videos about distance running and before I knew it I wanted to run the Leadville 100, but that's a crazy place to start so I'll do a 5 K and a half marathon and see if I'm still interested in Leadville after that.