I am a 400 pound man.

My internet service provider is distinctly and unequivocally lame. About once a month it just stops working for no reason whatsover. That was this weekend. I had no internet except what I could sneak off my husband’s iPhone. But never fear, I didn’t need to use the internet much anyway. Saturday was The Great Urban Race. (Oh, there is so much to tell you about this—it’s going to be my Top Ten {Tuesday} post tomorrow!) Sunday was church and rest. OK, not rest exactly…Asa fell asleep in the car and then didn’t nap after that. But I put him down for the night at 6pm and he slept until 7:15 this morning!

CAN I GET A YEE-HAW? Or a Hallelujah or something?!

Now, to make matters even better—I did it. That’s right, I got up early this morning WHILE IT WAS STILL DARK and walked! I was beautifully mismatched–brown capris, long white socks, old Race for the Cure shirt, pink hoodie and black hat. I had laid everything out the night before (except a water bottle!) and at 6:05, I finally crawled out of bed and into my clothes.

At 6:08 I plugged into my iPod and started The Shack. Yeah, I know, I’m like about 2 years late in jumping on this bandwagon, but it was the only audio book we had in the house that I had not heard yet. (Remember I couldn’t download anything because I had NO INTERNET!)

I walked outside and it was freezing. I pulled my hood on over my hat (so anyone looking out their window at 6am could be scared of me) and started walking. I walked down our street to the entrance of our neighborhood and then turned around. I think I walked for 30 minutes. I wasn’t trying to win a race or even get my heart rate up . I just needed to be awake before my kids and out of the house for some genuine alone time.

And it worked. I told myself I could go back to bed if the kids weren’t up when I got back. But I didn’t. I took a shower, dressed, made breakfast, started a load of clothes and didn’t even turn on my computer!

I did it!

Last night I caught up on Biggest Loser (this is what I do when I don’t have internet—I fast forwarded through about 3 of them!) and saw the 400 pound guy on the white team run 1 mile on the treadmill. He said, “Bob! I just jogged 1 mile without stopping!” He was stoked. And Bob gave him a thumbs up and said, “DO ANOTHER.” I thought, “Dang, Bob. Give the guy a break! He’s 400 pounds!” But he did it. He ran another mile. And another.

He did a 5k.

After that he ran 2 more for a total of  5 miles. He’s almost 400 pounds!

Bob pushed him and the guy took the challenge!

Who would have thought a 400 pound guy could do that? Some days I feel like a 400 pound man. I’m too tired, lazy or selfish to want to take that first step. But that’s all it took for him. One step on that treadmill. When Bob told him to do another, he could have said, “Forget it! I just ran a mile.” But he didn’t. He got inspired by his own accomplishment and kept going.

Today I’m going to be THIS 400 pound man. I’m going to let today be my one mile. And I’m going to be encouraged by it and keep going.

Also, thank you to Tricia from Salmon Blessings for being MY Bob when she left a comment for me on Friday asking if I got up early to walk. She didn’t know it but that one comment gave me the little push to make sure I got up THIS morning. Thanks Tricia! And to everyone else, I will accept any and all GET UP AMANDA comments. 🙂

So. What is going to inspire YOU today?

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ps. I’m happy to announce Krystal from The Clever Mommy won our #sisterchicks Ultimate Blog Party giveaway! Thanks to all 138 of you who participated!! It was super fun! And keep your eyes peeled, we’ve got more sisterchick fun up our sleeves!

photo by sashaw