Weekly Meeting Topic : Move For Good, Make Your Workout Work For You

This post is almost a week late, I'm sorry but its been a very busy and tiring week for me and then I was away for the long weekend.

This past week's meeting topic was : Move For Good : Make Your Workout Work For You.  Oh boy I was excited about the topic, I've become quite the exercise lover over the last two years.  So I really wanted to hear what my meeting leader had to say about this.  I was SO disappointed wit this week's meeting!  My leader pretty much paid lip service to the topic as she openly admitted she never exercised to/while she lost her weight.  If I had been home this weekend, I would have gone to the Saturday morning meeting to hear what the other (younger) leader had to say.

Since I have no gems of wisdom to share with you from my meeting I'll tell you what form of exercise changed me and my life.

I was never really an active person, growing up, or as a teenager.  I had to take phys-ed in school, but I would conveniently have migraines during the units I didn't like (touch football, and volleyball to name a few).  I don't think I tried to hard either.  During high school I did play soccer on the team, but I think I was the player put on the field to give the good (ball hogging) players a break.

This inactive trend just continued on into my adult years (also my eating habits), but one day in the spring of 1997 changed my life.  I was visiting a friend from my middle school years in Allen, Texas and she was taking Taekwon-Do classes, I came along to watch and the instructor quickly had me up on the mats doing the warm up with them and learning a few moves.  I thought this was pretty cool, and if my friend Jen could do it... so could I. 

In 2004 with my instructor Mr. Marin after receiving my 2nd Dan

I don't think it was much more than a month later, one evening after doing my weekly groceries I walked into Lu's Taekwon-Do to check it out.  I was very impressed the owner was there Mr. Lu (now Master Lu), he introduced me to one of his young instructors who had just returned from the World Championships in Russia, with a first place in patterns!  I thought wow this is the right school!  I made arrangements the very next day to go in and try out a class.  I have been involved in Taekwon-Do ever since (except for a year off when I first moved into my house, and a year and a half after my foot injury).  I was/am addicted to Taekwon-Do!  Being overweight never stopped me at all, it may of slowed me down but I was stubborn and never stopped and never gave up.  I took the tenet "indomitable spirit" to heart.

Board Breaking at my 3rd Dan test

Sparring at my 3rd Dan test

Today, I am a 3rd degree black belt and instructor (and I hope a role model for healthy and active)!  Who would of thought one day would really change my life?

Step Sparring at my 3rd Dan test

Run For The Cure Update : I'm almost 1/2 way to my goal of raising $1000 for Breast Cancer Research, as of this moment I've raised $415.00 I've got 27 days until I run my 5K!  Click HERE if you'd like to donate.