What is your Passion?
Disclaimer. I’ve been compensated for my post with a product, but the opinions expressed here are 100% my own. This a sponsored post was written by me on behalf of Journey To Health With Karen.
In May of 2012, I weighed 285 pounds and started walking the pounds off. I did this until March of 2013 when I decided to hit the gym and began my love for lifting. I looked forward to it: up at 5:00 am, even after getting less than 8 hours of sleep. Working out for 45 minutes every day before driving my bus route. I quickly gained enough strength to start running. On weekends, if I had an extra trip for a sporting event, I would run while the game was going on.
Back in 2012/2013, I went on a journey of losing weight. I lost around 70 pounds within a year. In February 2012, I lost my dad to bladder/pancreatic cancer. We knew it wasn’t a matter of if he passes, but rather when he passes.
It was around May of 2013, I decided to run a local 5K race, for ovarian cancer awareness and education Live Like Liz. At first, I planned to run the race wearing a shirt my sister had made for me and my siblings in 2009 of us as kids with daddy in the middle.
Then, after giving it some thought, I decided to create a shirt and I asked friends and family through Facebook for names of friends and family who had had cancer, beat it or had passed away due to cancer.
For five years, I was either too busy with work, or I wasn’t in any physical shape to run the race. For two years I worked two jobs, with one job requiring me to work some weekends, so some years it wasn’t feasible to enter the race.
This year, I am BACK! I work from home, so training for the 5K fits in my schedule. I owe this opportunity to run to Optavia! I have lost over 20 pounds, and am experiencing little to no discomfort of pounding the pavement in my training. I have found my passion again: running, especially races for a cause. I am not racing to win. I am racing to finish. To honor those who are no longer with us or are too sick from cancer. Such a horrible disease!
My heart breaks thinking of those who have had to endure the pain and anguish of treatments, and to their families, who have to watch their loved ones fight for their lives. They have to endure as well, with a strong face, to tell them, “Keep Fighting! Don’t ever give up!”. That’s what goes through my mind when I’m running. I’m enduring a little over 30 minutes of slight pain and discomfort, nothing on the level of the pain that people with cancer have to go through. For me, it’s a badge of honor to run in their place.
What is YOUR passion? Is there something you did before that you can’t do now due to your health or weight?
