By MNJA

Hello friends. I know I’ve been MIA for a minute. I have to say that the last few days have been mentally exhausting with everything that is happening around the world. I honestly didn’t feel productive, creative, motivated. I had plans to film some videos for both of my Youtube channels and attend couple of social events which would have been great content but really didn’t have the heart and the mindset to socialize and mingle with the “who’s who” of the Toronto Fashion and Social scene. But that all changed last weekend.

On Sunday October 15th 2023, I did something that has been on my bucket list for years: I ran my first marathon. Well the 5K portion of it.. BUT still I did it and I am oh so damn proud of it!

Back in December 2019, I had made a list of everything I wanted to accomplish for 2020 and for the new decade in general. Well we all know how 2020 turned out so no need to recap on that but one of my primary goals were health and fitness related. I wanted to partake in the Scotiabank Marathon, do the Grandfondo in September in BC, play mas in different carnivals around the world, train and participate in a bikini competition IBFF (LOL) and become an Equestrian.

With the pandemic I gained a substantial amount of weight and developed some not so fun health scares. Like most of us, we all gained some “pandemic weight” and I really let myself down over the last 3 years to the point that I started hating the woman I saw in the mirror, pictures and videos. I will be honest and admit that I am still struggling with my body image and weight. I know what my body truly looks like and it has been so frustrating to still not have been able to get it back to how it used to be.

I’ve been working out consistently and also changing my diet but still not seeing the results that I wanted. So I decided to challenge myself and signed up for the 5K marathon of this year’s Toronto Waterfront Marathon. In my mind I told myself, if I can commit to run a 5K then I definitely can achieve any goals on my list. In fact I did, I finished the 5K in 47 mins. I actually beat my personal record of 56 mins. My goal was to complete it in 40 mins. I’m so proud of myself for doing it. I didn’t properly train for it. I had only started running only a few weeks prior the marathon. I genuinely think that if I had followed a training plan at the beginning of August I would have been able to run the 5K under 30 mins.

Achieving this goal sparked something in me. It unleashed the volcano that had been sleeping inside off me for the past three years. The eruption of energy, pride and self-awareness that came from running this 5K is still ignited in me as I write this post. For some it might just be a silly 5K but for me it was a sign that I can do anything if I put my heart, soul and mind into it. And you best believe that I plan to commit on a lot of things that will continue to give me that amazing feeling.

MNJA