A recap of January- September and the direction I'm headed

Today marks the very last day of summer.

It's sad, but I'm looking forward to the last quarter of 2011. These last 9 months have been something else.

I would say the jump start was February when I broke my ankle. This was my first xray.

(Not exactly how my leg looks anymore because that faint white line across the bone, which can only be described as a very strong rubber band, was removed in June)

I was using a walker, laid up majority of the time and seriously unhappy.

March and April were mainly months of recovery. Yay, physical therapy!

May was when happier times began. On May 6, Cameron and I got engaged! It has been 4 months since that day which is so hard to believe.

June is when I officially started the couch to 5k program. While this is a 9 week program, it has taken me much longer to get through (still not done). The day I started it was the day before I found out I would have my second surgery the next day. The ironic part of this is that the day before I broke my ankle, I was playing basketball at the Y with my little brother and was looking forward to working out more.

It took me 2-3 weeks to recover from the second surgery but after that I got more involved with running. I started off really slow. I remember my first mile (run/walk) was like 19 and half minutes. Now, my mile is between 15:30-16:30. I would say the most brilliant part of the couch to 5k program is the change is so gradual that you don't even realize how much better you're getting until you start looking at the progress of each workout. For instance, the first workout is alternating between running for 1 minute and walking for a 1.5 minutes. Now I'm half way through the 6th week of the program and my next workout will be run continuously for 1 mile, walk for 1/4 mile and run another mile. I remember in my first few weeks thinking "there's no way I'm gonna be able to run 3 minutes straight.. or 5 minutes.. or 10 minutes.. or an entire mile". Everything's changing and I'm so proud of myself for the progress I've made.

The end of July our family went through a really hard loss. Our family friend Rob passed away unexpectedly leaving behind so many loved ones and so many unanswered questions. While there is no reasonable explanation for why he left us so soon - I know in my heart that God had laid out the plans of his life long before he was even born. Although that will never mend the hurt and sorrow, Rob is finally at peace.

At the beginning of this month, I started Weight Watchers again. Last year, I was doing WW and fell off for reasons that mean nothing anymore, but I'm happy that I'm back at it! Since I've done the program before I feel a lot more prepared. What I've learned about myself is that majority of my weight gain has stemmed from overeating and overindulging in sweets. I won't lie - I love sweets. Candy, cupcakes, soda.. you name it and I've probably ate it, a lot of it. It's going to take me some time to let go of this addiction, but I don't believe that it's impossible.

Tomorrow I start my senior year of college, hello 18 credits! Exactly 30 credits and 9 months stand between me and graduation. I am so ready.

My first 5k is 2 weeks away! I'm excited, nervous and a little anxious to get it out of the way. With the way this year started for me, I really just thought it'd be another year of unhappiness with myself and my body, but I'm finally on the up and excited to see the results.

My first weight loss goal is 30 pounds by December 31st. I will keep you all updated with my weigh ins at 1st and 15th of every month :)

In closing, I leave you with a video of Coco. She was an addition to the family for the last several months, but is now in North Carolina with my cousin Brad again.