Thursday, April 29, 2010

About Moi

Diehard foodie, crazy health nut, dedicated runner, "nice little Asian lady" - that's me in a nutshell! I have a passion for exercise (especially running) and a love for cooking delicious, healthy food. I wasn't always this way though so how did it all start, you ask?

My Journey


I've always struggled with my weight, and was what I would call a chubby kid. Not obese or anything, but heavy enough to get teased or picked on by other kids or have adults comment - I actually recall going on my first diet when I was 12. I was terrible at sports too with having virtually nothing resembling hand-eye coordination (playing baseball during gym class used to strike fear in my heart) and was always one of the last ones to come in when we did runs in gym...oh the memories!

Throughout the years, I'd try to exercise on and off as my weight went up and down (hello, aerobics anyone?) but my eating habits were terrible. I knew nothing about nutrition and my diet would basically consist of me starving myself on rice cakes or an apple which I'm sure has resulted in a sluggish metabolism to this day. Throw in school, building a career, crazy workaholic tendencies and just overall life stresses - I wasn't a very healthy individual in a lot of ways.

It all came to a head about three years ago, when I went through an incredibly stressful time and it started to manifest itself physically. I was breaking out in rashes, lost a big patch of my hair (thank goodness you couldn't see it), felt exhausted and wasn't exercising or eating well in any way, shape or form. Red Bull was my beverage of choice to get me through the days as I was running on fumes. The nice little Asian lady definitely wasn't so nice then...the bitchy old Dragon Lady was more like it! It was at this low point that I had an ah-ha moment - you only get one kick at the can so why was I treating my body so badly? Without your health, what do you have? Nada. As hard as this lesson was, I'm thankful as it was a total wake up call for me.

I decided it was time to start making some changes and put my health first. I saw a personal coach who helped me work through my stress. I signed up for a bootcamp (gotta put a little shout out here to Michele, Fiona and Christina et al at BDHQ...you ladies rock, seriously...I heart you guys) to kickstart my exercise program and discovered a love of cooking healthy, delicious recipes. I was totally on board with this exercise and eating healthy gig...I loved how I felt when I fueled my body with healthy food and I've become a much more balanced person. Life is good!


As someone who is always looking for the next challenge, I decided to up the ante and registered for a 10K race a year ago. I still remember that feeling when I crossed the finish line - it was like crack, I became addicted immediately. Looking for the next hit, I registered for a half marathon and loved pushing my body to its limits and knowing I left it all out there on the race course. For me, there is no better feeling than when you're done a race hence the name of this blog, Foodie at the Finish Line.


The next challenge for me, you wonder? A full marathon in the Fall...26.2 miles...42.2 kilometres...and many, many hours of training...

And So The Blog Begins....