Just over two years ago I was a complete mess.
I had an alcohol problem, I had money problems, I was morbidly obese, I had severe mental health problems, had been divorced from my ex-husband and I was living on benefits with no real aspirations. My life was effectively over and I wasn't even 35.
And then I stopped drinking.
It wasn't a momentary decision, it took many weeks of psyching myself up, and getting a support network of my few remaining friends and family together. However, I set a date of the 27th July 2009 when I would have my last drink.
I stopped drinking. It was the worst physical experience I have had. I literally thought I was going to die, but obviously I didn't. With the help, love and support of some fabulous people I not only managed to stop drinking but am now over 2 years sober.
My weight was still a problem. Just before I stopped drinking I was diagnosed as Type 2 diabetic. Once I had got the drink under control and to a point where I felt that I wasn't struggling against it, I decided to start losing the weight.
When I stepped on the scales for the first time I nearly died. I'm not ready to share what they said, but it was heavier than I had imagined. It was a case of I had saved my life once by getting rid of the alcohol, I needed to save my life again by getting rid of the weight.
At Easter this year (2011) and with the support of a great friend, inspiration and motivation, www.rungeordierun.com I started losing weight. I started walking and started following a healthy eating plan. I also closely followed Mark's run across the USA, using his blog entries to motivate me when I was struggling with my weight loss and exercise plan.
In the summer I decided to start attending David Fairlamb's bootcamps which frightened the life out of me. I didn't actually believe I would complete one bootcamp. However, with the help and support of Dave, Steve and Tony I have not only gone from one bootcamp a week but now regularly attend 3 a week and can run up this hill twice!
I have also started running on my own, and have entered my first 5k run at the end of October. I also decided to raise money for Mental Health Matters and have raised over £450 so far. I also applied to University earlier this year, and got 4 unconditional offers to study, and am now a Criminology student, studying for a Bsc Degree.
But even better than that, I have lost over 3 stone (42lbs) and after having another Glucose Tolerance Test the doctor told me I am no longer diabetic. However I still have a lot more weight to lose and a lot more miles to run
So this is my blog. I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm not looking for people to say "wow isn't she great!", it's basically a diary to keep me motivated. I just wanted to invite you along to share the journey with me. I might talk about my struggle against the alcohol at times, I might talk about how my running or training is going, I might talk about my diet or I might talk about my fundraising. But mainly it's just about me and how I'm doing.
