"From that day on, if I was ever going somewhere, I was running!"

Love that movie, Forrest Gump. Anyway, since May, I've been training for my first half marathon, which is coming up on the 20th! My training has been going very well, I'm up to 12 miles, which is the farthest my training schedule has me run, until race day anyway. I'm ready, I will probably have to walk a little bit here and there, but my goal isn't a great time...I just want to finish the 13.1 miles and be able to say that I did it. It's been a huge stress reliever for me and in a way, giving me confidence. Each mile I add to my long run has been therapeutic and given me a renewed confidence in my determination and physical ability. I never thought I'd get to a point where I could say "Yeah, I can run 13.1 miles, I'm ready".

I haven't even run that half marathon, but I'm already looking forward to my next challenge: a full marathon. I entered a contest to win an entry to a marathon. They asked for people's stories as to what their motivation to run is. I still don't know why I did it because I'm sure not ready to run 26 miles, but something made me submit my story, my motivation. And guess what? I now have an entry into a marathon this October! I'm pretty nervous about it because I didn't really think I had a chance, so I was quite surprised when I saw I was among the winners. My initial thought was "Oh, crap! I can't do this! Not that soon!" but as I thought about it, there was a reason I submitted an entry. Something pushed me to do it. And I meant every word, that I want to be a role model for my children. I want them to see firsthand that even though the road to attaining a goal might be tough and take many miles, if you believe in yourself, work hard and give it all you've got, you can reach that goal. That's exactly what I'm going to do. It's going to take a lot of time, sweat, hard work and determination, but I will do this. I will complete a marathon this year. Eek!!!

Here's my story:
I've always considered myself a runner and thought that one day, I would run a marathon. After getting married and starting a family, I found it hard to make time to get out and run. I'd still get out when I could, ran a few 5K's, but I never really made the time to push myself and train for that marathon. It became just a pipe dream. Last year, after a difficult pregnancy, and preterm delivery of my 4th baby, I slipped into that dark world of post-partum depression. Determined to find myself again, I started running, setting a goal to run a 5K, 5 mile race, 10K and then a half marathon in August. I have successfully left post-partum depression behind me, ran that 5K, a 5 mile race, and I'm prepared to run a half marathon, looking ahead to running that first full marathon. Not only do I run for myself, but for my 4 children. I don't want them to think any dream, goal or aspiration is out of reach. I want them to know that if you set your mind to do something, work hard and believe in yourself, that you can do anything.