I'm a simple gal, yet I have many titles. I'm a daughter, sister, mother, wife, grandma (or Nana), friend...but I'm also an (overweight) runner, fitness enthusiast, pursuer of quality, reader, trivia lover - oh and you can't forget some other titles like child of a single mom, high school dropout, teen mom. All of that definitely forms who I am but who do I want to be?
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| Me Through the Years |
I want to be someone that finds a zest for life in everything I do. I want to be a faster runner. I want to be at my goal weight. I want to be a better wife, Nana, friend, sister and mother. I want to find beauty. I want to be strong when needed, but I also want to be strong enough to admit when I need to be weak. I want to be the kind of person that is 80 years old and still going strong - surrounded by family and friends that stretch for generations. That's what this blog is really about...who I want to be and the road to getting there because one more thing I want is to always be exploring, learning and growing.
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The entire crew. Front Row L-R: Tasha, Brandon and baby Angelique
Back Row L-R: Kayla (friend), Melissa, Robert, Auxi, Me, Pat, Michelle, Joshua, James |
So one of the benefits to being a teen mom is that I'm now just barely 46 (as of 2018) and I'm already a Nana to three sweet little ones and am done with the technical part of raising kids - because you never really
stop raising them. They just become their own people from a legal standpoint. Some of the "stats" are:
- I've been married to my high school sweetheart, Pat, since 1988 - that's 30 years this year!
- I have four kids that have expanded into an additional two through marriage, along with three truly awesome grandkids
- Robert and his wife Auxi and my grandpuppy Koko
- Brandon and his wife Tasha and my beautiful granddaughter Angelique who is 6
- Melissa and her beau, Curtis, and their little guy Gavin who is 2. In their spare time they enjoy spending lots of time doing cool tricks on their bmx bikes while also building her photography skills (self-taught no less!) and spending time with her twin sister and being an aunt
- Michelle and my absolutely hilarious bucket-of-fun grandson Joshua who is 7 going on 15
- I have one doggie; the little terrorist, Kylo Ren - a Yorkie mix puppy (what was I thinking?!?)
- I work full-time as the Executive Assistant for the President of our local Community College
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| One of the few pictures of me at my heaviest |
In 2009 I decided that I was finally fed up with being obese and began a mission to lose weight. I was suffering from major heartburn just about every night and was tired all the time. I was pretty much completely sedentary but would get in walks occasionally. I signed up with
SparkPeople (an absolutely WONDERFUL
free health and fitness website) and lost about 50 pounds. Along the way I also
gained an absolute love for running and hiking and yoga and so much more! I was a fit child; always running around playing kickball, soccer, riding a bike, swimming...but after getting pregnant as a teen I allowed myself to pack on the pounds. I can look back now and realize I was eating my shame, but the damage was already done and I was one fat Mama. But even though I was a fit child, I never, ever, ever in a million years would have thought that running was for me...unless of course I was being chased by zombies, but then it wouldn't have taken them long to catch me!
But as I was walking to help lose the weight, I was getting bored with it taking so long to finish the route...and I began to see a lot of information about
Couch to 5k (C25K)...and a seed was planted that began to sprout into a "perhaps". But just like with my "diets", it was more of a "someday I'll give that a try". Then my sister and I signed up for the Disneyland 5k in September 2009 and it just so happened to have a 16-minute per mile time limit and I knew that walking that would be close to impossible. So we embarked on C25K and someone that thought she could NOT run, all of a sudden became not just someone that COULD, but someone that LIKED it!! Honestly, I was shocked that I enjoyed it so much...and I'm still kind of shocked on a regular basis. :-)
So since becoming a runner back in 2009 I have completed several 5k's, five10k's, 3 half marathons with another two on the future horizon, and my first marathon in 2014. I may be somewhat stalled on the weight loss front, but I continue to work on it by finding new foods, new exercises and new ways of looking at things. I've gone from someone that didn't enjoy cooking, to someone that prefers home cooked meals.
So where exactly does Putt-Putt Runner come into the picture? It actually incorporates the childhood nickname bestowed upon me by my Dad. The story goes that my Dad worked for Mattel when I was just a wee baby and he brought home a toy wind-up train that I apparently just loved crawling around after while saying putt-putt-putt. So hence, the nickname Putt-Putt; which my Dad still calls me to this day. And now that I'm a runner I figured it was apropos to just own the moniker of being a Putt-Putt Runner. I may not be the fastest, but I eventually get to where I want to be and I always enjoy the scenery along the way!
A lot has changed in the last several years, but all of those titles - yep, they basically have stayed the same. And that's what this blog and I am about...enjoying the journey and taking who I am and constantly redefining it for the better!
Thanks for stopping in and I hope you decide to stay awhile and enjoy the journey with me!
