Today’s guest blog comes from Laurie Stewart, the president and CEO of Sound Community Bank.

It is difficult to imagine that what started as a diet more than six years ago has led me from a fat woman to a fit woman about to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

After my husband died of a rare form of cancer, I surrounded myself with the normal comforts – work and more work; family and extended family; volunteerism and board work.  Constantly busy, I had no interest in any kind of physical activity and I blossomed from “chubby” to obese.

A good friend decided that I – like my husband Ken – would meet an early death if I didn’t get some exercise.  So, I embarked on a mission to change my eating habits and establish an exercise routine. In the beginning I weighed well over two hundred pounds.  And, I can safely say none of it was muscle.  Over a nine-month period I lost nearly 100 pounds and I have stayed within a five-pound range of my goal for more than five years.

At first, I walked.  Then I walked some more.  Then I actually ran a few steps.  Then a few more!  Those steps led to my first 5K and ultimately resulted in two half marathons and one full marathon – with lots of 5 and 10Ks in between.  My goal is always to be in the middle of my age range group. Although I don’t always make it and I have been last, I always finish.  But even when I finished last I was excited about my accomplishment.  After all, last is still way ahead of those that didn’t even try!

Now I am embarking on an even bigger challenge: A five-day climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world!  I’ve utilized my previous half-marathon training and spent lots of time on the treadmill to prepare.  My goal has been to walk on the treadmill at max incline for 60 to 90 minutes three times a week and I mix that up with long walks from the Seattle waterfront to Madison Park and back. (Lots of hills!)

Even with all my training, my biggest fear is that I will not be prepared.  There is a lot of concern about altitude sickness, but I am more concerned about just being able to put one foot in front of the other for five days.  I encourage you to challenge yourself this week and see what you can accomplish. You don’t need to be the fastest or the strongest, just take those first few steps to a healthier you and see where it takes you … perhaps you too will end up climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro someday!

Great walk this morning at Discovery Park. We logged close to 6,000 steps on our Go Red pedometers. It was a beautiful morning and the company was great (as always with Storm fans). The shade and the breeze were a welcome change from the extreme heat of last week. Way to go Jean, Ellen, Barb, Linda, Judi, Celena, Mike and Trish!

KB

What a great night last night – another fun Go Red Night and another win for the Storm! Thanks to Virginia Mason Medical Center, Sound Community Bank and the American Heart Association/Go Red For Women for their support of our campaign and Go Red Night.

Fans visited the Go Red table on the concourse to sign up for the campaign and receive free information on heart health from Virginia Mason and AHA. Also, big thanks to the folks from Zumba. They entertained us with a half-time dance that inspired fans to get out of their seats and dance!

- KB

Fans visit the Go Red Table. (Aaron Last/Storm Photos)

Zumba dancers perform at halftime. (Aaron Last/Storm Photos)

So, I haven’t done a very good job of posting weekly journal entries, but after a vacation I’m working to re-energize my efforts to Go Red and I’ll be posting more regularly – with good news, I hope!

Three new things I’ve launched this week:

1. Walking log – my goal is to walk at least 20 minutes per day (I even brought some tennis shoes to work)
2. Joined Denali Fitness (a big thanks to Dave Croom and his colleagues at Denali for supporting my mission) – I want to complement my walking with some strength training and stretching
3. Menu planning – we are going to sit down over the weekend and plan and shop for our meals for the week to help with healthy choices and variety; this will be especially helpful when it comes to my eating habits throughout the work day; my goals during the work day:
   - a. Eat breakfast – hard-boiled egg, oatmeal, fruit or yogurt
   - b. Sensible lunch
   - c. Afternoon snack – protein bar, fruit or nuts (this curbs my temptation to raid the cupboards before dinner)

I’ll report back next week to let you know how I did!

KB

I’m so disappointed that I missed the Go Red with the Storm hike this past weekend. I returned from vacation with a bug that kept me home all weekend. I want to extend big thanks to Laurie Stewart, CEO of Sound Community Bank, for leading the group in my absence. Congratulations to all who made the time and effort to get some outdoor exercise on a beautiful day (way to go, Dad!) I’m sorry I missed the opportunity to “Go Red” with all of you while cheering on our team to another victory.

If you participated in the hike and would like to share comments or feedback, you can post your comment below. Stay tuned for the date/time for the next Go Red event – a walk at Discovery Park.

KB

I completed the Shore Run/Walk Sunday! Got up early with the family and some friends and walked out the front door all the way to Madison Park. I fired up my Storm/VMMC pedometer for the first time and broke it in with 5,868 steps! It took us a little over an hour, so not exactly a feverish pace.

It felt good to be outside – it was a beautiful morning – and exercising first thing in the morning. I don’t think I’ve walked that far since the last time I walked around Greenlake, which was probably sometime last summer. I’m still working on figuring out what my exercise routine is going to be during the week … not doing so good on that front. Evenings aren’t an option, so I’ve either got to carve out the time in the morning or during the day. Realistically, during the day is probably not an option either.

If I’m going to reach my goals I’ve got to commit to some form of exercise every day. Since my life often feels like an exercise in calendar management, I need to come up with a game plan and get exercise time locked into my schedule. Stay tuned for the gameplan.

KB

I am so excited that we are launching our “Go Red with the Storm” campaign today. This idea has been in the works for several months and we finally get to share it with Storm fans. Our goal for this campaign is to inspire others to join me in taking steps (literally) toward a healthier heart.

We are really excited to be partnered with the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women movement and Virginia Mason Medical Center. AHA’s goredforwomen.org is an awesome resource for heart health tips – be sure to check it out!

When we first initiated this idea, I consulted with some great women at Virginia Mason – an internal medicine doc, Dr. Nkeiruka Duze; a cardiologist, Dr. Sara Weiss; and a nutrionist, Kathleen Humbert. I’m thankful to have access to a great support team from VM to help guide me through this process.

The common theme when meeting with each of them was “keep it simple”. When you really stop and think about it, it really is pretty to each to make small changes that can make a difference and that will be a theme throughout this campaign. We all have different challenges and barriers so our approach and our goals will be different. But together we can encourage each other to take “one step at a time” toward a healthy heart.

Virginia Mason is also providing the pedometers that you receive FREE if you register for our campaign so SIGN UP TODAY! I appreciate your support and look forward to hearing more about your personal journey.

KB

In conjunction with the upcoming launch of our “Go Red with the Storm” campaign, my family decided to have a weight loss contest. I know that a healthy heart is not all about weight loss, but weight is certainly a significant risk factor. It’s also an easy measurement for all of us to rally around and monitor.

We divided up the family into two teams – lots of laughs and debate over who was going to be on which team ! I’m teamed up with my partner Merrily, my sister Trish, my brother-in-law Evan and Susie, a family friend. We decided to base the contest on percentage of weight lost given that the 10 of us come in all shapes and sizes.

We weighed in yesterday which resulted in a range of emotions – embarrassment, humility, humor and so on. Standing on the scale was certainly a wake-up call for many of us, including me! With a demanding (but very inspirational) job, a two-year old daughter and a very full life, I struggle in making good choices when it comes to my overall health.

I can’t remember the last time I broke a sweat, I rarely eat breakfast or lunch and water often seems like a foreign substance. I’m hopeful that it will be easier for me to find time to exercise, eat better and to resist various temptations with the support, encouragement and humor of my family and friends. Not to mention this is a competition and I hate to lose!

KB