Adventures of The Incredible Shrinking Woman

Walking…I used to hate it. HATE it. At 289 pounds, it was nothing but pain. Pain in my injured back, pain in my torn-up knee, and pain in my plantar fasciitis-ridden feet. As if that wasn’t enough, there was the fatigue. Imagine wearing a hundred and ten-pound backpack all day long, every day, for every single step you took. Between pain, discomfort, and shortness of breath, just moving through life was pushing me to my limits. Would I be able to keep my job? How long would it be before I needed a new knee, or surgery on my foot?

When I first began my weight loss journey, I thought maybe one small thing I could do when weather and our short Seattle days made riding Happy impossible was to try walking. I hated the idea, but I figured I could force myself to do it, since I had our school’s track at my disposal and a little time at lunch most days. I figured if I took it slow and didn’t push my myself too hard, there was the possibility that I might not, you know, die.

The first day I made it halfway around the track. I had to stop once to catch my breath and stretch my back before heading back inside. I wish I could say I enjoyed it, but it was miserable. I simply could not understand people’s enjoyment in walking. Who could enjoy this? If God meant us to walk, He wouldn’t have given us cars.

Flash forward a year or so. A half a lap turned into one, then two. Now I walk a fast mile and a half at lunch without breaking a sweat. I’d go further but that’s all I have time for in the middle of the work day. And now, 18 months later, my greatest bane has turned into one of my greatest blessings. After carrying around that extra 110 pounds for all those years, walking now feels almost like gliding. Sometimes when I’m racing around the high school hallways, I feel like my feet are hardly touching the ground.

One of my favorite things to do on a dry Seattle winter’s day is take a walk around nearby Deep Lake, the spot in the picture. It’s a mile and a half loop, so I do two go-rounds for three miles. I absolutely love being outdoors, whether walking the track at my school and saying hello to the ducks in the pond there, or trekking through the woods that surround Deep Lake. In addition to the profound connection with God I experience, these walks stir a lot of feelings in me–nature always does–but one of the emotions I feel most often is wonderment…wonderment and disbelief that I can actually do this thing and enjoy it so much. No pain. No labored breathing. Just joy, and the incredible lightness or feeting.