Drum roll please....

....for I finally went for a run this morning! Ta da!!! For the fourth time in about as many months, I put on my best running shoes, the ones that ran the Belfast marathon in May 2015, but have only run about twenty miles in the intervening year and a half, and went for a run. It's as it always is, it was a pain in the arse to get out of bed at oh dark thirty, but I'm so glad once I've made the move.

There were a few things about this run that were different to the last one. Firstly, it stayed dark the whole time. I love running in the early mornings when it's dark. It's a throw back to when I genuinely didn't want anyone to see me, a fat lass, running and splodging about the streets. I care a little less about that these days (just a very little, I still care a bit) but I genuinely just like running in the dark, with street lighting.

The other changes were size related. First was my sports bra. I really need to tighten the straps and to have it on the tightest back strap too. I used to need it on the loosest one, so this morning I thought I'd try the middle one. I'd just started running when I realized that it wasn't quite enough. So next time (oh yes, there will be a next time!) I will have it on the tightest hooks, and see what that does. I wore a bum bag, a wee neoprene number that holds a key, some money and my phone, and I had to bring in the waist strap of it by quite a lot.

I was very pleased about that wee change. It felt more tangible than the bra strap change for some reason. And finally, I wore a top that I bought to run in in T K Maxx at least four years ago. It was one of my favourites, and I hated when I got too big for it. Well, not any more. It fits perfectly now, and I felt fabulous wearing it!

It was a good run in all. I felt comfortable as I worked up a sweat. I'm about two and a half stone lighter than I was when I ran the  Marathon (see finishers tee shirt below. It didn't fit me when I got it. It's supposed to be an XL, but it's a sporty XL, and they are rarely generously sized, in my experience)

I'm lighter than I was, but not as fit. Just the idea of 26.2 miles kills me at the mo. That said, I did just over three miles this morning, and I'm very happy with that.

So here I am, and I feel a-maz-ing! And I wouldn't be feeling quite so good (still walking on air because of my losses and the size 16 jeans, but not as good) if it wasn't for the run that I finally got out of bed to do. As always, that is down to the encouragement of another friend. What is it with me, and needing to be shoved in the right direction? A few weeks ago, it was down to a conversation with CycleBoy. He said he hadn't been out on his bike for ages, and I said that if he went for a cycle, I'd go for a run the following morning. Bloody bugger went and did it, so I had to uphold my end of the bargin. Then it was down to TMM, who fancied a wee trot a couple of Sunday's ago. He hadn't run for ages, so we went out together and he went at my pace. We did 5k and I know the only reason I did it was that I had company.

I have two on line friends who run. Well, more than two, but very specifically, these two and I form a chain. Helsbells is the reason that I took up running. We befriended each other Facebook stylee on the Weightwatchers website. They had a cool social networky- type-thing going on, and we could buddy up, write on each other's walls, keep blogs and stuff. It was fab for support and motivation. Hels was doing the Couch to 5k and I was jealous of her get-up-and-go. I wanted some of that. So I shamelessly copied her and started to run. It took a while, but before I knew it, time had passed, and I was running a whole year, and could do 10k in about sixty-one minutes (I never broke the hour, but that's still a goal.)

Then I met BikerBabe . She says that I'm part of the reason that she took up running. That makes me so happy. I actually had a positive influence on someone! Go figure :-) So in this wee running chain, BB is the child, I'm the mum and Hels is the Granny (Teehee, Hels :-D )Anyway, Hels has just entered a half marathon, and has been running early in the mornings again for ages. BB has a half marathon in about three weeks, and she's been training like a champ! So I see their fitness activities being logged on mfp and I'm super jealous. But yet, not jealous enough to get off my  ever decreasing arse and do something about it. Well, BB called me on it yesterday. We were texting talking about how good it felt to be on a roll, and to have a few days straight of healthy eating, and I said I was jealous. And, straight up, sensible girlie that she is, she says, and I quote,
  "Don't be jealous of my running...get the hell out there and do it!!!"
(The punctuation is all hers as well :-D )
She was bloody right too. I need to stop thinking and start doing. So I did. And aren't I glad!

These are two women who I "met" on line. We are on different land masses and we connected over t'interweb. Feckin' weight issues will make friends of people who'd never meet up otherwise. But that's what we did. We met up, in the actual world, as well as the virtual one. A few of us talked about meeting for a weekend away, went to Edinburgh and had a ball. Then about six months later, we did it again, this time in my home town of Belfast. This was when I met BB and Hels for the first time, in the flesh**. There were nine of us that time. After that, it was Southampton. We did Scotland, Ireland and England. Darn, we didn't manage Wales for the full set!

Any who! What's the point of talking about this? Oh yeah, support and motivation come for the most unlikely sources. Two girls I'd never have met if I wasn't a chubbster, trying to be thinner, have both inspired me to run of late. I have the other half, and family. I'm very fortunate. But the more the merrier, and these uber wonderful peeps know how I feel, to the very core. They've been there. That's special. And they're not the only ones, just the ones I connect with through running. There are so many more. I'm a lucky bastard.

Well, that's a pretty long one today (oo er mrs! Fnaar, fnaar!) Toodle till next time. I might even have had another run coz I'm feeling pretty pumped up at the moment. Of course, I'll see how the old legs fare in the morning!


** Note:
   just realized I lied here. I first met BB I Southampton a few months later. Sorry, that was a quick bout of EOS (early onset stupidly)