As of two weeks ago, I was still holding at 216. I haven't weighed myself since then. But I have been a running fool.
The personal trainer was not as helpful as I had hoped, after an absolute comedy of errors and a merry-go-round of instructors, they finally gave me a man ready for retirement who kept forgetting, week to week, that I was already very strong and in better shape than my outward appearance showed. So the workouts were never that difficult until the last four (we had to settle on once a week workouts to top off the complete personal-training-disorganization of the YMCA).
So at the end of September, Mike (the trainer) decided to try something new: the Expresso Bike. *cue angels singing* This stationary bike is like no other, there's a very large video screen in front of you and you can choose from one of MANY different courses. It times you, takes your heart rate, and gets harder and easier as you go "uphill". It's amazing. And there's little video bike racers on the screen too.
So I get on the bike and start riding an easy 3 miler, and Mike doesn't know if but I'm LOVING this bike. Suddenly, I see the finish line ahead. AND a group of bikers in front of me. I suddenly hunched over that bike, started pedalling as fast as I could, and huffed and puffed and panted and sweated over that bike until I passed those bikers and crossed the finish line.
"Good lord," said Mike, "I think we've finally struck gold."
So every workout after that, for the last 1/2 hour he would put me on the bike and I would pedal away past as many bikers as I could, until I was about ready to pass out when I crossed the finish line. He finally saw the competitive drive I have, and he knew that was the key to pushing as hard as possible.
The bike is $5,000. But if it ever went on sale, say $3000, I would get one.
"I feel sort of bad," said Mike the trainer on my last day, as he looked me up and down, all 216 pounds still standing there. "I don't feel like we accomplished anything."
But he was wrong, and I told him so. Because a few days before Halloween (my last training day) I had tried to run around the block (.8 miles). And I ran around it twice. The next day I ran 2.4 miles.
"You've given me my confidence back," I told him. "You showed me that I'm not going to drop dead in the street if I go running, I know now that I can run hard and not have a heart attack, that I can push myself and not die."
And I've run almost every day since. I ran 3.2 miles within two weeks.
And now today I ran four complete miles, and I could have kept on running - but I didn't want to push myself too hard, even though I felt 200% fantastic.
So that's the update as of today. I have been running steadily for almost a month now, so HOPEFULLY I can keep it going. But it has already become just "what I do" instead of something I "have to" do. And I feel fantastic and I just want to get back out there already.