How I spend My Spare Time

I had to write an admissions essay for a school application and the question is: How do you spend your spare time?

I really enjoyed writing it, more so I liked reminisching about how my journey has changed the way I spend my spare time as well. I thought it would be a great place to share it here :)

                In the last three years how I spend my free time has dramatically changed. My life changed and so did how I spend my spare time. When you are morbidly obese you spend most of your time sitting down on a couch, watching television or movies and being lethargic. I did not spend much time outdoors; I was not motivated to do anything else. Then I had my daughter, and I began to realize I was digging an early grave for myself. I loved her more than anything, and I wanted to make sure I would be alive to meet her children.

                More than that, I had a new found inner strength. Becoming a mother, it makes you tough; it gives you a responsibility over another person other than yourself. It forces you to become a role model. I knew when she was a baby that I had to make changes to secure her future. The biggest change I committed to was to lose weight and become healthy. At the age of 25 being on 7 medications a day and morbidly obese is not healthy. I was determined to lose weight, get healthy and set a good example for my daughter.

                I lost 120 pounds over the course of 16 months. It changed my life. In the beginning it was just about losing weight and doing some exercise to help the weight come off. Over time it became so much more. I began to transform my body in ways I never thought possible. I became fit and healthy and then one day I started running. I ran a 5k about 8 months into my journey and something happened. I fell in love. I felt like I was becoming not only fit and healthy but also an athlete.

                I was never healthy in high school. I was never athletic. I never imagined that I could become that girl, the one who was excited to workout, who enjoyed being outside and the desire to be her grew stronger.  The more my body transformed so did my habits. I began getting out and getting active. My daughter was becoming a toddler and so I would look for activities we could do that kept us both active. I enjoyed taking her out in her jogging stroller too, and she enjoyed it as well.

                My spare time became my workout time. And even that evolved over time. I kept running and I trained for a marathon. I ran my first marathon when my daughter was two. She was there at the finish line, I knew that day that my life had transformed. I was a runner; I was a mother and a good role model for my daughter. I am more confident now, and I have more motivation and dedication in my daily activities as well.

                My free time is spent running and being active. I have kept running and intend to run as long as I am alive. I just completed my first 50 mile race and am already training for a 100 mile one. My life has transformed, I went from being a couch potato to an ultra marathoner. I never imagined it would be possible, but it is. My spare time is spent running and being healthy, and my life has become so much better because of it.