Report From Ladder Company 40 -Day One

Hello everyone (all two of you so far! -Welcome John)

Although today as I write this it is really day two,(I was too tired to do it yesterday) I am going to write it as though it was day one.

Today is the first day of climbing my ladder to reach my goal of becoming a certified EMT. One thing I discovered before making the decision to do this is that apparently, in the state of Washington, one has to be essentially sponsored in order to hold an EMT certification. If one is not serving under some agency or organization that necessitates having and EMT certification, *Presto* certification is pulled. That means that somewhere along the way during this journey, I shall have to find a place to put it to use and be accepted by whatever organization I find that wants me before I can actually receive the certification.

At the moment, I cannot afford to go to school. This is only partly an obstacle. There are other things that I need to do to reach the top of my ladder, not the least of which is to drop a minimum of 50 lbs and get in shape, build muscle strength, stamina and endurance. This is the direction I am going to start with.

I have not intentionally exercised since college in the late 90's. EEK! There! I've admitted it. I will need to break into this slowly. My best friend, Alex has graciously agreed to help me stick to a plan to make things happen. I warned her that I will make every excuse in the book, and some of them will be REALLY good ones that would be very difficult to argue about. I told her I needed supporters that would love me enough to drag me KICKING AND SCREAMING and insist I follow through. SHe said something to the effect of "Oh, that's easy! I'll just tell you, 'You DO NOT want to be an EMT! If you did you would DO something about it, etc.'" I told her that no words would work. Literally dragging me, (kicking and screaming) is what I need! Therefore, those of you who choose to be my supporters and cheerleaders, I want you to have fair warning: This is a huge commitment. We're friends now, but there may be times that friendship pushes the boundaries. I can be whiny and argumentative at times. (Be quiet Alex, I know what you are thinking!) If you need to remind me to put my big girl panties on, so be it. Please know that no matter how trying I am at times, I do love you and appreciate you and I thank you for all of your love and support.

Another thing that I need to do is to make a list of all the things I want to do to make permanent lifestyle changes. I know that if I try to change everything at once it can lead to "epic failure". I need to start small but strong and work my way up.
I will try to have the list by Friday, but I am committing to posting that list by Monday.

Some of the things that will be on the list include:

I need to buy a scale and take and record some measurements. In the meantime, I will have to make sure I stop into the YMCA this week and weigh in. It's nice to know you're base weight and be able to weigh in regularly to track one's progress!

I need to remember to stop into the Y today or Wednesday evening and weigh myself.


What I did today:

Today I met Alex at the mall for a walking session. We spent almost a full hour walking today. Alex started us out at break neck speed and I kept up for a while but then she let me set the pace and later, slowed to my pace when I gave up on hers. I can't help it if I have much shorter legs than she does! During our walking session, Alex coached me on planning, setting goals, rewarding milestones and changing my self-talk to be positive. I am feeling encouraged. Alex and I have agreed that we will meet tuesday and thursday to walk for an hour at the mall. Next week we will meet Monday and Wednesday. The following two weeks will be three days of walking. On Saturday the 19th I will be walking in the 4US.org benefit at point Defiance. This benefits crisis pregnancy centers by providing ultra sound machines and training for technician to use them!! The walk is supposed to be 3k. My husband, son, son's girlfriend Morgan and several members of our church are involved in this walk or other related events . So, we will have a good time and get some good exercise in while doing a good deed. My kind of plan. Beginning the week after the benefit walk, my plan is to walk at least 5 days a week. While at the mall today, I bought a new battery for my fancy pedometer. Tomorrow I will start wearing it and keeping track of my steps, distance and calories burned.

I spent the remainder of day one working and then came home to catch my blog up to my current point in time. It has been a lot of work and a lot of typing, but it is good to be caught up. -Hotflash