My name is Kimberly but I really prefer KD (and never ever Kim for a variety of good reasons! LOL!) I am mom to three awesome kids ages 3yo, 7yo & 13yo. I absolutely love being a mother. I am married to a terrific man who runs his own business out of our home that helps the local developmentally disabled adults in our community lead independent lives (Life Services).
If you are interested in reading a bunch more about me and my path so far, I suggest you give yourself a bit of time and grab something to drink! Because I (like my father) am known to be pretty long winded LOL!
This is basically the long version of how I got to the point of wanting to do a triathlon...
My Past
I have always been overweight. Literally since the day I was born. I did crash diets and over exercised on an off my entire childhood and teen years but was never successful in losing more than a few pounds. I was over 200 pounds by the time I entered high school but luckily carried my weight well and wore about a size 16. I was always "the girl with the pretty face" but longed to be more than that. In school I always dreaded PE and would become easily winded when asked to run. I remember quite clearly my chest burning and my face turning bright red within minutes of trying (looking back I know why and it had more to do with poor instruction than health- although health had a lot to do with it too!).
In my twenties I spent most of it either battling infertility, pregnant or nursing. At one point, in a depression, my weight ballooned after a pregnancy loss and I ended up a size 24 (and almost 300 pounds at the end of one of my pregnancies!). I feel I really lost a piece of *me* while trying to fulfill my dreams of motherhood. It was the most challenging time in my life but one in which I learned a lot about life and parenting. It was so very difficult but something I would never take back for anything (including the infertility and loss as I learned through all that).
Unfortunately I didn't learn how to care for my own body during those years. In fact I think my health was worse than it had ever been around my mid-20s. My kids came first while my health didn't even make the list. I took care of myself minimally and only for their (the kids) sake I think.
In 2004 at the age of 27, I gave birth to my third child. This was a very joyous event in my life as we had loss and infertility trying to conceive him. My joy was short lived when I developed complications from my cesarean section a month after his birth. I literally ended up in the ICU and almost lost my life because of it. I was in and out of the hospital for about a month and then with home care for six weeks as I received nourishment through TPN (direct tube feeding basically). Many people felt it was bad luck on my part to have had all that happen to me. I see it quite differently though. There was no luck involved and I was meant to survive that. At one point I clearly remember standing in the hospital room bathroom weakly grasping onto the sink so I could stand without falling. As I looked into the mirror I didn't recognize my sunken malnourished face and my eyes looked so sad. It was the first time I saw sadness and real worry in my very own eyes. I stood there wondering if they (the doctors) would ever figure out how to get me healthy (at that point we had no idea). I wondered if my children would grow up motherless. I wanted to escape and run screaming from that room but was too weak to do so. I also feared what would happen if I did. But then something came over me- a new found inner strength. I knew if I could survive this, I could do absolutely anything. From that point on it was simply survive and keep pushing forward. When I started feeling better and more alert I would spend hours in the hospital bed planning out the things I wanted to do and how differently my life would be...and it was.
After I became healthy and got the medical clearance I started Weight Watcher in March 2005. I wasn't at my highest (non-pregnancy) weight ever but I was close enough. I was also quite out of shape after being in a hospital bed for that long. 3 months into the program I was losing weight but I decided I really needed to make exercise a life long commitment. At that time I was walking and doing some Walk Away the Pounds DVDs a couple times a week. I had a hard time getting in enough days of exercise in the week because my days off would go from a day off, to a few days off quite often. So late May 2006 I committed to exercising daily. Now before you go and think I'm nuts, let me explain! I would take breaks (1-2 days a week) but on those days I would (will) "bookmark" (so to speak) the time for exercise by taking a walk or doing something very low intensity. Just enough movement (and time) to keep the habit up and keep me going. And it worked! Days turned into months before I knew it! During that time my workouts also became more intense and longer. I started hiking a lot and I also started doing longer Walk Away the Pounds DVDs.
Summer (2005) time rolled around and I fought my phobia and joined a gym. I would walk on the treadmill and play racquetball with my husband. I also started a Walk Away the Pounds Walk Jog DVD made by Walk Away the Pounds. I really liked it even though at first it was tough! It really encouraged me though! After a couples months I started jogging to all her DVDs and wearing a heart rate monitor to see what my body was doing. All the while I was dropping weight and watching what I ate with Weight Watchers. Because of the exercise I really was able to be more lenient with my food and that really helped me keep the weight loss up during that time. I am 100% certain I would not have lost the weight without exercise.
In September 2005 I did the unimaginable in my mind- I jogged on the treadmill! I just wanted to see if I could do it beyond the DVDs and I did! It was quite slow but I kept it up for 23 minutes! I was on cloud nine! I really felt I could do anything! That winter I continued to jog a little bit (only on the treadmill) and steadily lost more weight and a lot of size. It was quite the whirlwind!
In January 2006 a friend asked if I would run the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco. To be honest at first I told her NO WAY! I was only running 2 miles at a time and this was a 12K! I also never had run outside! But after much reassurance she convinced me to at least try. I started running a bit further and by the time the race came (May 2006) I was able to run pretty much the whole thing! And most importantly I was HOOKED on running! I felt wonderful and so accomplished! It felt like all these childhood failures were leaving me and I felt like I was strong and fit for the first time in my life.
In the Summer of 2006 I hit my goal weight and had lost a total of 120 pounds from my highest (NON pregnancy) weight!!! It was an awesome time in my life. I really felt powerful and really reflected on how far I had come in such a short time. I would often reflect back and that sickly woman in the hospital mirror that was still quite vivid in my head. I felt like I was doing this for her and to turning a negative experience into a powerful one.
Somewhere around then I decided I wanted to try a Half marathon. I have no idea why I jumped to that but I did. I started training that summer. I also wanted to give back so I started working for Weight Watchers as a receptionist in September 2006 (I still work there one day a week at the same meeting I lost my weight at).
In October 2006 I ran my first half marathon in 2 hours and 12 minutes (10 min mile overall)! I was proud because running did NOT come easy to me. Only one year before I had just started jogging for the first time and was only able to slowly jog! It still doesn't come easily for me as I don't think I am suited to do it (run) really, but that's all part of the challenge and makes it that much more rewarding. I will never be the fastest runner but I have a passion to do my best. I went on to do a couple smaller races after that.
I spent part of 2007 running but I also kept up on all sorts of activities like hiking and my Walk Away the Pounds DVDs. Early in the year I even learned how to fence and started to fall in love with that sport! I was doing things I NEVER thought I would and fighting fears I held for so very long (trying new things and meeting new people is a big fear of mine!!). I started training for the same half marathon that fall but I got injured early fall 2007. Even with my injury I continued to doing daily exercise. I also still did the half marathon, a 10K and poorly training for a full marathon and ran walked that in December 2007.
Currently
2008 has been interesting so far. I had an unrelated surgery in January that had me unable to exercise for 3 weeks. Once I was cleared though, I recommitted to exercise and started to try to run again. I currently have been running some but nothing like I have in the past because my shin injury is still an issue I need to figure out. I continue to exercise daily and feel extremely fit at this point. I am healthy and currently still down 115 pounds!
Team in Training
I have seen the "purple people" at most of the races I have run. There are often many of them in every race. I admit I was intrigued by them but happy with my own training so I never looked into them. But recently something in me decided at the last minute to go to an informational meeting because I was dying to try to do a triathlon (thinking that if I can't run long distance I can do 6 miles mixed with other sports). I think I was hooked after about 10 minutes! LOL! Even though my illness was nothing compared to a cancer patients battle, I did feel a kinship. I know what it feels like to wonder if you will see your children grow or if you will see your next birthday. I was lucky though. After while they found the "cure" for me. But what about all those people who don't have such a simple illness? They deserve a cure too! My uncle also has a blood cancer although it never occurred to me that the LLS had a part in research for him too. So this was now personal after I realized that.
What has always kept me from even looking into TNT in the past was the idea of getting donations. It was important to me that I didn't put this financial burden on my friends and family. It wasn't until I realized I can EARN the money with a lot of hard work that I decided to just do it! I am going to really try my best to earn as much as I can. That doesn't mean I won't send out donation requests but it will be clear that you really don't have to donate if you don't want to ;) As for how I am earning, that should be apparent on this web site soon I hope. What frightened me the most ironically is exciting me the most now. I feel like I can raise some real money for a good organization. How many people get to say they earned thousands of dollars to help find a cure for cancer? I just really have been wanting to give back and be a part of something bigger than me and my little space in this world. Not to mention I hope it gets my children thinking and in the future it's something they will challenge themselves to do.
As for the training itself, it looks good. I kinda want someone to hold my hand the first time around with the triathlon. I have NO idea what I am doing and have not swam laps in years! And the biking isn't my strong suit because I have no idea how to really cycle. I am hoping to walk away with as much knowledge as my head can hold LOL!
At this point in my life I am going beyond my wildest dreams. I never even imaged I would run, much less do a triathlon. I could not have even begun to comprehend this if you told me this 20, 10 or even 5 years ago. I really think in January 2005 I had a re-birth of sorts. Some people believe it was the weight loss that started this ball rolling when in fact it was almost losing everything that helped me truly see how strong I am. PHP Warning: Unknown(): (null): Unable to initialize module Module compiled with module API=20060613, debug=0, thread-safety=1 PHP compiled with module API=20020429, debug=0, thread-safety=1 These options need to match in Unknown on line 0 PHP Warning: Unknown(): (null): Unable to initialize module Module compiled with module API=20060613, debug=0, thread-safety=1 PHP compiled with module API=20020429, debug=0, thread-safety=1 These options need to match in Unknown on line 0 PHP Warning: Unknown(): Unable to load dynamic library './ext\php_mysql.dll' - The specified procedure could not be found. in Unknown on line 0 PHP Warning: Unknown(): (null): Unable to initialize module Module compiled with module API=20060613, debug=0, thread-safety=1 PHP compiled with module API=20020429, debug=0, thread-safety=1 These options need to match in Unknown on line 0 PHP Warning: Unknown(): (null): Unable to initialize module Module compiled with module API=20060613, debug=0, thread-safety=1 PHP compiled with module API=20020429, debug=0, thread-safety=1 These options need to match in Unknown on line 0 PHP Warning: Unknown(): (null): Unable to initialize module Module compiled with module API=20060613, debug=0, thread-safety=1 PHP compiled with module API=20020429, debug=0, thread-safety=1 These options need to match in Unknown on line 0
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