When most people start a diet, they focus on the numbers that appear on the scale, but Colleen Fields had a different sort of goal in mind, her dress size. In January 2010, Colleen weighed 304 pounds and wore a size 26 W. Her goal was to shed enough weight so that she could wear a size 12 by her 40th birthday. She knew she had just under two years to make it happen.
As a child, Colleen remembers being “chubby,” but says her real struggle with weight didn’t occur until after she had her second child. She gained 75 pounds with her son and never shed the extra weight. Then, a divorce and the demands of being a single parent caused her to gain even more.
Colleen explains, “I had a terrible marriage that left me with significant self-esteem issues. I left him shortly after my son was born and I poured myself into my kids (I also have a daughter, same father, who is three years older). I went back to school, I worked full-time, and I shuttled them to all of the normal kid activities – Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, gymnastics, baseball, soccer, dance, swimming, etc. I wanted to give them as much of a normal childhood as possible despite the fact that their father was not involved in their lives, and in the process I ignored myself. I would leave work, pick them up from day care, take them to their activities, grab fast food, get home and do homework, then put them to bed and I would do my own homework. There was no time for me and I didn’t make me a priority.”
When my young son came home from school on April 15, I had to share with him the sad news about the Boston Marathon bombings. I was gentle and only gave the information a nine-year-old needed to hear. I had the TV on and he walked into the room and saw the cleared scene of the crime. He immediately said, “Mommy, that’s exactly where we stood.”
I knew that the moment the news broke, my husband did, too. But it didn’t quite sink in until our child was impacted by the closeness of this terrible event. The second timeI ran Boston, my son and husband stood under the international flags and cheered for me as I finished. My son’s world changed on April 15, 2013. It changed in a way that broke my heart.
Erin Kreitz Shirey also had a similar sad moment with her little girl on April 15. Instead of being able to report the winning times, she had to tell her about the tragedy and how the race was stopped.
“What about the kids cheering on their parents? Mom, are they OK? Are the kids hurt?”, innocently questioned Shirey’s daughter that night. Her daughter, like my son, had cheered for her mother at many races as well.
We and many other parents struggled to talk to our kids about this event, especially our fellow running parents. We’ve all had our kids at races, standing on the curbs, hanging on the fences cheering. Now what are we supposed to tell them? Read Full Post >
A first time event surrounding such a worthy cause will take place this summer. The Women Survivors Alliance (WSA) will be hosting the Celebrate Survivors 5K and the National Women Survivor’s Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.
The convention runs from August 22-24, 2013 and the 5K is Saturday, August 24 at 7:00am. In a press release issued recently, the WSA stated they are issuing a national call for women affected by all types of cancer. The intention of the conference is to help women improve their quality of life, embrace their new life, and help others. The convention aims to bring together survivors, caregivers, family members, and health care providers.
The 5K is expected to have a casual tone, with many of the participants expected to be from the convention. However, the race is open to all. Many are expected to jog or walk the event, yet organizers are anticipating some avid runners to attend as they plan to run in celebration or in memory of a cancer patient. Read Full Post >
Wow. The running scene has really taken on a new look the last year or so. Weekend race options are much more varied than before. While true timed foot races will always have their place, themed runs have given rise and along with them a whole new crop of participants who have traded their couches to cover some miles.
Colorful Runs
Several series of color races have painted the nation a rainbow in the name of fitness. Essentially they are all about the same. You start the race in white clothes and finish doused in color. The major contenders that are seeing tremendous attendance numbers are The Color Run, Gnarly Neon 5K, and Color Me Rad. All are 5Ks that seem to attract people who are new or novice runners. Who knew getting covered in colored powder was such a motivator? Read Full Post >
“We’re a tough lot,” commented Lacy J. Hansen about she and her fellow runners. She’s a friend, the running contributor here at DietsInReview.com, and a marathoner. Just as Stephen Colbert said in his open on Tuesday night, this is a people who run 26 miles on their days off. They’re hard core to nth degree.
So it’s no surprise that Boston Marathon finisherscrossed the line on Monday afternoon and headed directly to nearby hospitals to donate blood. And it’s no surprise that on Tuesday runners across the nation wore their souvenir race T-shirts to symbolically stand with their swift-footed brothers and sisters. In fact, #RunChat is rallying runners to do so again this Friday.
And it’s equally no surprise that this weekend you will be able to find a running event from sea to shining sea that will raise money for those affected by the Boston Marathon bombings. More powerful than the money is that we will all see this incredible community pull together in solidarity once again, liken to the wave of support the cancellation of the NYC Marathon brought on post-Sandy.
This weekend, runners of all kinds will lace up once again to help their neighbors from as far away as LA and nearby as New York and everywhere in between.
