Full Steam Ahead

I just found this witty quote on Pinterest, and immediately, a blog post came
to mind...gah, I love when that happens!

Today is Sunday.

Tomorrow is Monday.

Monday is weigh-in day.

Last Monday, I weighed in at 132.4 pounds. In the week since, I've been careful about my food...mostly...and I've been okay with my exercise. A cold kept me from running as much as I'd have liked, but I did my strength training and a lot of time on the stationary bike at the gym. I'm not entirely sure what the scale is going to say tomorrow, and I'm gearing up for the disappointment that may come if I haven't lost two-and-a-half pounds this week. Just in case.

While I'm really just waiting for a silly number on a scale to prove that I'm at goal weight, I really feel pretty much like I've arrived. Goal weight is no longer this far-off possibility, it's here. I haven't arrived at it in a confetti-laden parade with marching bands leading the way, I've just simply dripped a lot of sweat and logged a lot of miles. Suddenly, a medium t-shirt is baggy and the scale is quietly showing the results of all this work.

It's taken three-and-a-half years to get here. I've had starts and stops, breaks between trainers, successes and excuses. I thought no one would top G. the Meanie's constant badgering ("Did you run yesterday? How far? Only two miles? Why not three? You should've done three. Tomorrow, do four. Don't look at me like that. You can do four.") in getting me to lose weight, but then M. the Reasonable calmly and, well, yeah, reasonably encouraged me to even greater success.

Believe me, along the way, there have been times I've wondered if maybe a size 10 wasn't as low as I could go. Eh, 160 pounds isn't bad. Sure, it's overweight for 5'2" but I'm in decent shape and can run an 11-minute mile. Maybe I'll just stop here and focus on loving myself! Sometimes, it's tempting to pull over and park where you are.

But always, that desire to get to goal kept intruding. So I'd pull back out onto the road and get moving. Sometimes, I'd want to pull over again...but I haven't. Since November, when I shook hands with M. the Reasonable that first day and sized him up, thinking, "Right, Mr. Fitness, show me what you've got..." I've worked forty pounds off of my body. It's been a slow march, but I've never pulled off the road again.

And here I am.

But here's the thing. Now that I'm at goal weight, I still don't feel I've "arrived." There can be no complacency. Hence the triathlon goal, to keep me working hard towards something, to keep me practicing the healthy habits I've established in my life. I've shaved a ton of time off my fastest mile time in the last six months...but there's more I can do. I don't particularly want to pull off the road, just because I'm at goal weight. I want to keep moving forward, seeing just what I can accomplish.