Me? Really? A half marathon??

My oldest daughter will be ten years old next month.  In the past ten years, I have lost 80 pounds and gained most of it back.  When I lost the weight, I was eating right, drinking water, and going to the gym 3-4 times per week.  I lived in beautiful, sunny, weight-conscious California and had lots of wonderful supportive SKINNY people surrounding me.  Even at my lowest (size 6), I still looked in the mirror and saw nothing but a fat person.

My youngest daughter will be five in October.  In the intervening years between the births of my children, I gained 20 pounds (after losing the 80).  When I gained the weight, I went back to eating like my friends, drinking soda (and Starbucks), and lost myself in television again.  I now lived in beautiful, crazy-weather, football-conscious Ohio and had lots of wonderful supportive friends surrounding me.  After my youngest was born, I struggled with the weight and am now about ten pounds under my heaviest weight ever (not pregnant).

I have inconsistently tried Weight Watchers, the gym, Body for Life, and other various "fun" ideas to get my weight down and get healthy.  They have worked as consistently as I have tried them.  So, I found out about two months ago that my employer is one of the sponsors of the Columbus Marathon and that they are really trying to drum up participation from the employees.  So, they are giving PTO to both participate in and train for the marathon (or half marathon).  So, I am embarking on a journey to complete my first half marathon in my goal time of 3 hours. 

I started training about two weeks ago and so far, I am still feeling good.  My husband suggested that I start a blog to track both my progress and let people know how I'm doing with my training!  (Thanks Mike!)

So, here I am at the beginning of my twenty week journey to the half marathon....BRING IT!!!  :)