My Story: Part 2

 

My Story: I left you last, on my trip to New Zealand with my best friend, Maria. (The pic above shows me jumping off the pier into the bay in Wellington, NZ in Feb. 2010. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. The water was freezing and I had just finished a 3 mile run through the city. I figured I might as well wrap my afternoon of activities with a memorable jump into the bay!)

I traveled all over Australia and New Zealand with Maria and her now-fiance, Patrick. We travel a lot together and were having the time of our lives as usual. Just before I left for Australia, I made a commitment to myself that I would push my workouts through my travels. I had just reached the 3 consecutive miles mark while running and I was terrified of backtracking over the next 3 weeks.

I've never seemed to have the stamina or drive on our many world travels together to actually workout daily in addition to walking and touring cities overseas. For me, a New York City dweller, a few miles of walking is not a workout. It's nice exercise, but if I don't sweat, I am not burning many calories. My body is far too used to walking around a lot. I digress - back to NZ. I took my committment to my health very seriously and worked out almost every day of the 21 days I was out of the country. Something about turning 30 and thinking about my 30 years of issues with food and weight had taken it's toll. I had finally grown tired of my own excuses and there were millions of them! So tired of my own issues that I fought cravings for naps after exploring new towns, cravings for food and cravings for a casual swim in the pool, to don my workout gear and head to the gym.

I should tell you, in case you aren't one of my superfriends, Maria worked on Holland America Cruiseships, so there was always a great gym available to me during our many adventures. I hit the gym every morning, afternoon or evening. Many nights you could find me running laps on the upper deck because I was very nervous that if I didn't keep up my running I'd get back to New York and have to start over back at 1 mile. A bit of a workout obsession had kicked in. I'm not normally supportive of any kind of obsession but for me, this was something helping me, so I kept at it. I was able to keep up with a very fit Maria and Patrick thanks to my new gym routine. It felt great and I relaxed more, felt more comfortable in my clothes and my own skin and soaked up so much more of the culture because I was so comfortable. I found the people and port towns of NZ to be a dream. A place I immediately wanted to live forever. In every town, people our age were in shorts and sneakers, casual workout gear or hiking boots. I could get away with wearing leggings, sneakers and tees everywhere and completely fit in. I had never been so content while away from home.

When I got back to New York, I knew that my time in the city was coming to an end a bit prematurely. Over the last 2 years, I had planned that upon completion of my 8th year in NYC, it would be time to look around for a coastal town in America where I could settle down and maybe, MAYBE start thinking about my personal life over my career. Maybe even work towards real dating and think about having a family. My trip to NZ had opened my eyes to the quality of life that some very lucky people get to enjoy and I knew I wanted it. Having that taste of a truly active life made me want out of NYC and into a small community where I could activate.

I should warn you, I don't make slow decisions when it comes to life-changing stuff. I make them fast. Within 1 week of returning to NYC, I had planned a move, based on a Google search. That Google search was for the "10 best coastal towns" and it led me to a place I now call home. Beaufort, South Carolina. I departed NYC a few months shy of my 8 year anniversary.