Old Faithful

When I was younger, there was this woman who either walked or jogged along our street everyday. Since my parents continued to see her day after day, they began calling her “Old Faithful.” We’d drive by and they’d say, “theeeere’s Old Faithful!” Eventually she must have picked a different route, so we stopped seeing her.

Today I officially became this little city’s version of Old Faithful. There was I was, chugging along on a running interval for week 5 of Couch to 5K and I was passing moms and kids heading to the local elementary school. I headed up one of the hills and as I reached the top, I saw the crossing guard (CG) watching me and saw her say something. So I pulled out my iPod earbud and said a breathless, “What?!”

She proceeded to tell me that I looked fantastic and remarked that I’m going to lose a ton of weight. I laughed and said that I hoped so, having already lost about 8 lbs. She then asked if it was just from the running, which it isn’t of course, so I told her I’m working on eating healthy and nutritious too. CG then asked what a typical breakfast, lunch, and dinner was for me, she said, “a lot of salads, huh?” Answering this question was actually difficult. What do I eat that I could tell her to make it sound possible? Her question reminded me of celebrity weight loss articles that share in little boxes what that celebrity eats. It always seems so blah and like oh sure, she can do it, she’s a celebrity! Of course when I mentioned that it wasn’t always salads and that I try to be creative, turning my favorite meals into a healthier option, she kind of nodded and started talking about Weight Watchers POINTS. I told her I wasn’t doing a diet, that I had joined FirstPlace4Health at my church and it was about balancing my life – spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. She seemed very interested. Then 2 children came along who needed help crossing the street, so that ended our conversation. As I was gearing up to head off again, she shouted that she would see me again and was excited about watching me progress.

Becoming the new Old Faithful? It feels awesome.