Every once and a while I get an e-mail asking me if I have “fun” because it always seems like I’m working out or running. The past two weeks have been filled with these types of e-mails so I thought this would be a great time to blog about this kind of stuff.

I know it seems like I only workout or run but there is more to me than that.  This is a blog about losing 200 pounds and staying active.  My blog focus is to show people that you can do it without a fad or pill and have fun doing it.  This is just a part of me, but yes it is a large part of me.

I don’t know if anyone would be interested in my daily reality tv viewing habits or playing with my dogs or randomly breaking out in song! Ok so you MIGHT be interested in those things but if I only talked about those things it wouldn’t be furthering the purpose of We Beat Fat.

The blog is APART of who I am.  Blogging your life to the world leaves a person with no privacy.  I get spotted in the most random places at the most random times which is a constant reminder people are reading the blog and paying attention to what I do.  Therefore, there are parts of me that don’t make it on the blog.  Willie and I put ourselves out there in the world BUT the people in our lives didn’t ask for that.  I try to respect the right to privacy for them so there are a lot of things you just don’t get to know about in my life.

Now back to the main point:

Working out has become a BIG part of my life.  Most days I devote at least 2 hours to working out.  We started our weight loss journey and had to go to the gym.  We had to put in the work to get there and all that doesn’t end just because we’ve reached the place we want to be.  In fact, I think it’s harder to maintain than actually lose.  I remember being filled with some much anxiety when I was in maintain mode.  I didn’t know what to do.  I felt lost.  I’m a very goal oriented person and when I reached the place I never thought I would be…it was definitely a state of unbalance for me.

I love to run and it’s fun for me.  It gives me some freedom, space and time to myself.  It helps clear my mind.  I can’t explain it but it just feels right.  Most of the time, running is my “bonus” workout of the day and week.  There are days when I want to go run;t here are days when I just want to sit down and forget about it and there are days I just need to run to clear my head.  Running is my joy.  I run races because I like to excitement.  I like to work toward something and every race means something different for me.  Sometimes I really pushing towards a PR or learning how to take water at the stations or helping someone else along in the race who is having a hard time.  Racing allows me to combine two things I love running + travel.  I just like to go to new places and meet new people, even though meeting new people is the hard part for me.

Running is not the only thing I do.  I like to ride my bike, I teach indoor cycle at my gym.  I love to do strength training because it keeps me strong.  I also love going to Group Kick!  I feel like I’m Rocky Balboa when I’m in that class.  It’s great.  I also like going to Centergy even though I’m failing miserably at it.  It’s just later in the day and by the time I get to 5:30 pm I usually just do my own stretching routine and call it a day.  That’s a bad thing because I like the group fitness setting.

But I also love to travel. I can’t express to you how important that is to me. I love seeing new cities and trying new foods. I like being wrapped up in the essence of a new place. I want to do the things the locals do.

This summer I’ve tried to increase the variety in my workouts so I can try new things. And come September I am going to hop back on the swimming train when the pool clears out.  I will be an Ironman!

I know I could do a better job at sharing some of the things I like to do outside of these activities within reason so here are just a few things you should know about me:

1. I’m a horrible speller.  “Bad spellers of the world untie.”  That is me! I’ve never been that awesome at spelling but I do the best that I can.

2. I love all things colorful but my favorite color is green.  My favorite color combo is blue and green.  And my third favorite color is red.  Weird that I can put it that way.

3. I like to make lists.  My whole life is a list.

4. I think I come off as having a huge personality but I’m that shy girl in the corner.  It’s hard for me to go up to people and talk to them.  I’m horrible at small talk so I don’t talk just to talk.  That makes social situations really hard and making new friends even harder.

5. I like socks.  The higher the better and they must be colorful.  I have a BIG sock collection!