Fat Girl Running!

As a recovering fat chick I can now admit a few things now that were difficult to acknowledge 80 lbs ago. So let me tell you a little story. I travel for work, and occasionally that forces me to participate in sprints and other random athletic endeavors that I call “Airport Olympics”. About eight years ago I was heading to Vegas connecting through O’Hare – but my first leg flight was delayed out of Bloomington. The BMI to ORD flight is a quickie – so my coworkers and I still had a chance to meet our connection – but it was going to be tight. My travel companion was a much younger, much healthier person who was brilliant enough to wear her tennis shoes that day. As I’ve already mentioned I’m a solid 80+ lbs heavier at this point and - not as brilliantly - I have overdressed for the occasion. So here I’m all dolled up to the max and wearing a pair of my beloved hooker heels.

So enough setup – back on our delayed flight we devise a plan. My coworker is going to run ahead of me to get to our gate in hopes of assuring them that others are coming. As we land our connecting flight is boarding already! It’s been too many years – so I have no memory of the terminal/gate assignments – but it was going to be a ridiculous feat to get there. So here I am – pulling my carry-on and my incredibly heavy briefcase – and I start my best attempt to run – in those damned heels! I’m running in public (which I’m sure looked more like spastic flailing in extra slow motion – I’m hot, sweaty and too many things are violently jiggling. I’m beyond winded, people are staring gawking. They are actually stopping their momentum – to make way for the spectacle that was mine. Out of shear desperation and humiliation, I have what I would guess an out-of-body experience would feel like. I can actually see myself trying to part a sea of thousands of travelers and “run” through them. Out of nowhere I start yelling, “Fat Girl Running!! Fat Girl Running!!” I have a peculiar sense of humor – I’ve never denied that. But I know in moments when I’m most mortified – I tend to race to deliver the punch line and not risk someone else making the joke. I learned it was safer to be the joke teller.

So why am I’m rambling on about this experience now? It’s because I just experienced the total opposite of “Fat Girl Running!” I’m traveling to Orlando today – through Atlanta. I landed in ATL and only had 15 minutes to go from C5 to A29. On most trips I travel dressed for work/meetings, but today I’m outfitted in my running clothes/shoes because I didn’t have room in my combo backpack/briefcase for them. So I get off the plane and see the gate assignment. I took it as a challenge – my WOD of the day – make that flight! I clipped on my backpack, pulled the straps extra snug, and I took off! It was fun – darting around others while avoiding pedestrian crashes. I ran down the escalator to the Plane Train – and then ran up the escalator when I got to the A terminal. It wasn’t until I was at my gate – with four minutes to spare – that I realized something – I wasn’t winded!!!! And I still had time for a potty break! Double victory J Today’s Airport Olympics was a far cry from Fat Girl Running! Sometimes on my fitness journey I get hung up on what I’m still trying to accomplish, or what I still can’t do. Today was a nice celebration of what has been achieved. I still have a long way to go, but today putting “Fat Girl Running!” in my rear view mirror was very healing for this recovering fat chick J So for me this week I have a PR for terminal dash!