Couch potato turned marathon runner makes every step count

Janine Joubert lives by a simple mantra. "Success is not about being better than someone else, it's about being better than you were yesterday," said the 36-year-old administrator from Te Awamutu.

A year ago she was depressed, on medication, overweight, unfit and sick with asthma and high blood pressure. In May she ran her first marathon in Rotorua in 5 hours 9 minutes.

Joubert has been on a life-changing journey where she has lost 37.9kg.

"Every day I strive to be better than I was yesterday, not just in running but in everyday life -- being kinder, more understanding and just happier than I was yesterday. No one knows what tomorrow will bring, so go run today because tomorrow it might not be possible."

It's an attitude that, with the help of her family and her "running family", has seen her turn her life around one step at a time.

What inspired your weight loss and how long did it take?

My "aha moment" came when late one night in June 2013 I was sitting half upright, not able to go to sleep, unable to lay down flat, because the moment I do, my chest closes up and I can't seem to catch my breath ... and in this moment I realised that I was too fat to even just lie down and go to sleep. I needed to do something! I joined Weight Watchers in June last year and since then I have lost a whopping 37.9kg.

How have you achieved your weight loss and how hard was it?

By following the Weight Watchers plan and getting out there being active. It was hard when I began as I was never an active person, not even as a child. It was only as I was slowly starting to lose the weight and feel better that I started to go out and walk; first once a week then three times a week. I then discovered "Couch to 5K" [running plan] and over three months went from walking and jogging 20 seconds to running my first full 5km event at the Hamilton Lake Park-Run in December.

When did you first believe that you could run a marathon?

It was two months out from the Rotorua Marathon and I was signed up to do the 10km event, when our club president pulled me aside and said that I needed to change my application to the full marathon. He believed I could do it. The longest I had run up 'til this point was 16km. He kept at me and around a month out from the big event said I needed to meet him at 6am and we will go for a run and he will show me what I can accomplish. We did 21.1 km that morning before work. After work I did another 7km at club day. I realised that if I can run a half marathon before work then another 7km after work, I can do that marathon! So I sat down and changed my application to the full marathon.

How has losing the weight changed your life?

Before my weight loss journey, my days consisted of work, then home, eat, sit on the computer and play games or watch movies, sleep. I was too tired to take my son to the park to play and when he did eventually wear me down to take him, we didn't walk to the park that was only 2km down the road. I drove there, then sat on the nearest bench and waited for him to become bored and want to go home. Not much fun for him or for me. Now there is not a weekend where we are not going somewhere or doing something. All of us, my husband, my son and myself are all very active now. We do the Hamilton Lake Park-Run every Saturday and if we can't run it we volunteer so others can enjoy the experience. Sundays are usually an event day. I am doing at least one half marathon each month now and have been since completing my first full marathon in May in Rotorua. There is very little time these days for computer games.

What do you enjoy about running?

I love the feeling of achievement, of "I-did-it-ness". The people you meet are all just like you, trying to be better than they were the day before. There is a camaraderie there that I have not seen anywhere else. There is nothing quite as satisfying as getting up early before the sun comes up and going for a long run and seeing the sun come up on the horizon or seeing the mist floating on the lake on a cold winter's morning. Being alive and active and running! I run six days a week and normally take Fridays off before the Park-Run on Saturday.

How important is it having a goal -- like the Taupo Half Marathon -- to work towards?

I've had at least one half marathon event each month since May, as a means of keeping active and having a goal to train towards. If I didn't have a goal or race to work towards then it would become too easy to mute the alarm when it goes off at 5am.

Does it amaze you to think how much weight you have lost and what you have achieved?

Yes. It still amazes me how much I have changed. I sometimes stop and do a double take when I glimpse my reflection in a shop window and I think "wow, is that really me"? To have gone from literally busting at the seams in size 22 pants to buying my first size 10 pants. Not even in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever be a size 10.

What advice do you offer other people in a similar position that you were in, who are looking to lose weight?

Join a group or three! Get other people's support. For me it is Weight Watchers and Hamilton Road Runners. They are like family to me, they know my ups and my downs, they have seen me laugh from joy and they have seen me cry from sheer exhaustion and disappointment and they never stopped believing in me, even when I didn't believe in me.