Well, as you can see, I'm a wee bit behind in getting this post shared! Life has gotten busy for me with my awesome 8-5 career in the medical library so I haven't had as much time to focus on writing posts and creating new recipes... However, I have been able to incorporate a lot more movement into my everyday.... and that all started a little over a month ago because I wanted to celebrate 1 year of my Dad's new heart!
Today (probably 10 days after starting this post!) is day 22 33 of getting up super early to start a daily practice of walking each morning. That doesn't mean I've taken a walk, every single morning... but it means I'm keeping track and it means I'm making a positive, enthusiastic effort... and that's a big change!
It's funny how life works. About this time a few months ago I was talking to my wellness coach, Cheryl, saying that I would put exercise on hold for the month. After several months of not meeting my exercise goals (AT ALL) I was frustrated and just didn't feel worrying about it. It was time to put it on the back burner and focus on other things....
And then magically it just sort of happened anyway. I received the email from ENELL saying I had been chosen as one of their blog ambassadors and I knew if I wanted to be honest about my use of the wonderful products that ENELL makes, I had to start walking again.
To encourage and support myself to start walking again, I signed up for a 5K. I had not participated in a 5K in several years.
This 5K was special to me, not only to signify getting back on my journey to health & wellness, but to celebrate the one-year birthday of my Dad's new heart... one year of amazing lifegiving heart-beats. I'm so thankful for that heart transplant, I'm so thankful that my Dad has been given more time.
Dad's had a rough go at it. It hasn't been an easy year. With a very suppressed immune system, he's spent more time in the hospital than at home... but amazingly he keeps going. He keeps on, keepin' on. And that is a lot harder than you might think. When life becomes more about getting your medications right, losing physical strength and slowly regaining it back only to be side-lined by a broken ankle... life has not been easy for my Dad this year.
If Dad's taught me anything this year, it's to NEVER give up. Life will not go according to our plans... but we have to keep going. People need us, we need to learn resilience and persistence, and we have to learn why life is worth it. Life is so worth it.
To celebrate my Dad's new heart, I wanted to do this walk. I wanted to get my own health back on track with physical activity and to celebrate the beginning of this journey with the Blue Ridge Veteran's 5K Celebration. And what's a better cause than to celebrate with this country's great veterans?
I proudly wore my ENELL gear and walked the 5K with my stepmom Betty in 51 minutes and 43 seconds! We were very proud! (And Betty is definitely in better shape than I am! :-)
There were about 60 participants in this 5K and it included many US Veterans in the Roanoke area of Virginia. I was so honored to walk beside them and support their foundation, support my dad, and share my love of ENELL and their . It was such a great day, despite the cloudy weather!
Afterwards we all went back to the rehab center to spend a few more hours with my Dad before we returned home to eastern NC. Dad was very proud of excited for us... and it just so happens after 3 months of being in and out of hospitals and rehabs... he's going home tomorrow!
GLG Disclosure:
This post is part of a new series sponsored by ENELL. The ENELL Ambassador program provides fitness apparel and pays for fitness event registration fees in exchange for blog posts shared about the blogger's fitness experience. The opinions in this post are completely my own. I , and other bloggers in the Enell Ambassador Program are not monetarily compensated for any blog posts written for/or about ENELL products.
