Kick Start (Running Start) My Heart

It was days before my 26th birthday and I was waiting in the emergency room with the urgent care doctor's words ringing in my ears.

"Go to the emergency room.  I won't make you take an ambulance, but don't stop by home to feed the cats or anything."

At 25 I suffered a major pulmonary embolism.  A big clot(s) in my lungs that could easily have killed me if they had traveled through a different vein and entered my heart or had lodged elsewhere in my lungs and destroyed more lung tissue.  As it was, I hit rock bottom and stayed there for a long time.

In seven short years I had transitioned from an incredibly healthy, active dancer who was completing daily aerobic and strength training to a blessed-but-stressed wife, mom of two, and desk-jockey at a series of jobs that kept me firmly seated in front of a computer for 8-10 hours each day and gradually degraded my health, sanity, and waistline.

I struggled to come back from that PE.  My lung capacity was diminished, and when I couldn't throw myself immediately back into doing what had worked for me in the past, it was too easy to let myself give up.  I didn't know how to find a new path to health and fitness for myself, and I didn't know how to fix things.  Despite knowing that I had to do something, knowing that continued inactivity would only lead to more problems down the line, I gave up. 

I was an unhealthy person, I wasn't going to be able to get any better.  I would hop on an exercise routine for a few days and then quickly give up and fall off the wagon, rebounding by stuffing my face and binging on Netflix.

I drifted lost for another 5 years, continuing to let myself be defeated time and time again before one morning when I opened my email and saw a message in my inbox from Skirt Sports.  They were sharing information about a program they provided called Kick Start (now called Running Start) that provided a support network, a personal motivator, and plan to women who had barriers to fitness.  Participants worked through the program and completed a 5K run at the end of their training.

I read the email and immediately didn't think it would work for me.  

But I didn't delete it.  

I held on to that email for a few days while thoughts and ideas began to percolate in my mind.  I hadn't run since middle school.  I never really liked running.  I desperately wanted to be a runner.  To have a runner's passion, and fitness, and dedication (and heck, let's be honest, a "runner's body".)  With a flurry of activity near the very end of the application period I decided to jump in and see what happened.

I was accepted into the program.  I met my motivator. I did the training plan.  I completed the 5K.

Nicole DeBoom, SS and RS founder, watching out for us beginners as we finish a 5k as a runner!

And I totally changed my world.  

Despite the name change, the program absolutely kick-started my life.  I could find support to make different choices now.  I had resources and could look for plans to get things done.  I learned that sometimes those plans change but that you don't immediately give up, you modify and move on to the next day.

I have done many things in the year since I sent that application in, hoping I would be chosen.

• I have lost 55 lbs, pulling me out of the obese category for the first time in 8 years.
• I have cut down my 5K PR by 20 minutes.
• I have become a better role model and parent to my boys, who are looking forward to taking care of their bodies as they grow up.
• I have rediscovered some of the joy in my life that had been missing for a long time.
• I have met more wonderful and supportive women and friends who make me want to keep being a better person for myself and for others.

I am forever indebted to Skirt Sports and the wonderful women who created Running Start and provide opportunities for women like me to change our lives for the better.  This year I am blessed to be able to act as a brand ambassador for Skirt Sports, and I can't wait to keep sharing what an amazing local company of truly inspired and kick-ass women this is.  I spent long enough on rock bottom to appreciate what it feels like to soar.

Running Start is now officially it's own non-profit (https://running-start.org/), and I would urge you to donate or make a tax-deductible contribution to support this organization in its mission to grow and empower women.  As Marianne Williamson said:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

My motivator Tawni helping me across the finish line.

Skirt Sports and Running Start are at their core all about letting your light shine and finding our own inner power and beauty.  

How could you not want to be a part of that?


#SkirtSports #RealWomenMove