The beginning....

Welcome to day one of my blogging.  Since I've had so many changes in my life, I decided to make one more and start a blog about my fitness journey.  It actually started about three years ago.  I was very overweight and had lots of aches, pains and general health issues.  I had a weekly ritual with one of my BFFs that we called "porching".  Basically, that meant sitting on the back deck drinking wine and eating deliciously unhealthy food.  She had started running a little, and one night she convinced me to do a 5K with her.  I had never done any kind of race before, but it sounded fun and hey you get cool stuff in the swag bags and really fun T-shirts.

So, the adventure started.  I did my first 5K in August of 2010.  We walked - only a slight bit of running and had a finishing time of 41:42.  I had so much fun ~ I was hooked with just one race.  For the next few months, we did at least two, sometimes three races a month.  (I have the biggest collection of race T-shirts).  The more races we did, the less "porching" we did.  I began to make better food choices and exercising a couple times a week.

 After about six months of this, I decided I wanted to try a half marathon.  I don't just take baby steps ~ I take running leaps.  So I signed up with Team in Training and began training for 13.1 miles.  I completed my first half marathon in November of 2011.  I never thought I could have so much fun and be so tired at the same time.  It was an incredible feeling of accomplishment and excitement.

Now, three years later, I have completed four half marathons, have begun a weight training program and weigh 85 pounds less.  It has not been an easy journey, and there have been some bumps along the way.  All in all though, I have enjoyed changing my life and becoming healthier.  I feel better (no more aches and pains) and I look forward to exercising.  My confidence has grown and I have an entirely new outlook on life.  I hope my journey can inspire and motivate others to be the best they can be and not be afraid to take that first step.  I promise it can be a very fun adventure.