First Post...

I decided to start this blog to express and share my journey of live and it's relationship to exercise.  I am not a health nut, gym junky, or anything like that,  I am a someone who does exercise though.  I exercise to live...quite literally and also figuratively.  I love life! I love all it has to offer, the world is beautiful and I want to enjoy it all!  I also have a heart defect and when I am not exercising I find myself pass out on the ground sometimes multiple times a day.  So I exercise for living. 

My journey of exercising didn't start until I was in college, about 19 years old.  My heart started giving up when I was about 14 years old.  At age 19 I had a several heart tests done to figure out what was wrong and as a result I was given a few heart medications and they talked about a pace maker.   I also had a roommate that was a runner.  Seeing her discipline and strength was awesome.  She had the energy and fitness  to do about anything.  So I started running... sort-of, but that was my beginning.  I was feeling pretty good.

I got married a few years later.  The thought of being on medicine that had no test or trials done during pregnancy scared me into stopping my medicine.  I also had NO desire for a pace maker, so I didn't return to a cardiologist and just winged it (yes I was scared).  By this time I was quite active, spending lots of time outdoors and staying fit enough to enjoy life.  This is also the time I started correlating my fitness level with my heart health (obvious, but real live changing).  I wasn't passing out as often. My heart rate, though still fast, was more regulated.  I felt better and had fewer head aches. My blood pressure was a bit higher (I know, most have the opposite problem, but low blood was/is mine problem; and it is no fun either!). 

Off and On Off and On... I was reminded of this exercise = healthy heart correlation offen as over the years, while rising my kids, I would take time to exercise and stop exercising.  I am not perfect and it is so tricky to fit in exercise with little kids!  But the extreme, and offen scary, difference I felt in my heart when I was not exercising verses exercising, was real and enough to get me going again.

So I have a relationship with exercise that is a little unique, and rather long term.  I have learned so much through my journey, and am still learning so much.  I love my life, and I am living because of exercise.  You'd think I would be a little better at exercising than I am, but again I am not perfect.  This blog to help remind me of the benefits of exercising, encourage me to keep going, and hopefully encourage more to love life and exercise!