Who I am

I started my love of running in 6th grade.  You can find some of that story here.  I ran off and on throughout the years, mostly off.  The summer between my freshman and sophomore years in college I came home and decided I needed to lose the weight I had gained, so I ran some then.  I also cut out pictures of Victoria Secret's models and taped them all over the house (my poor dad).  That didn't last long either.

I dropped out of college to have my oldest son, Damian, but when I went back a year later I was told I needed 3 PE classes in order to graduate.  I ended up having to stay for summer school to get them done, during that time I also did some workout videos and started taking Ephedrine, which I loved, and was able to lose 30 lbs or so.  Then Ephedrine became illegal, I graduated college and I gained all the weight back.

Fast forward to age 34, I started running during my lunch break.  At that time I ran for time.  I had an hour lunch, so I'd run half an hour and then go back to work, sponge off and eat lunch.  That lasted several months . . . until I got pregnant again.  During my first trimester I was so tired that I was unable to do anything active (or at least that's what I told myself) and I quit running.

Then about 6 months after my second son, Maddox, was born something clicked in me and I started running again.  I got hooked into some running blogs that talked about racing, and decided I needed to do a race. I also started blogging at that time.

Fast forward to age 41 and I've run 12 5k's, 3 10k's, 6 half marathons, and 2 marathons.  I've also run the Tulip Run (5 miles) 5 times (I walked once), Bloomsday (12k or 7.45 miles) 4 times (well, I walked 2 times) and did the Big Climb (climbing the stairs in a skyscraper in downtown Seattle) once. 

In 2018 I decided to start a runstreak, running at least a mile a day.  I did it for exactly 4 years and ended it in 2022.  I have a theory on why I started and why I ended.  My Mom died in March of 2018 and I decided to do a holiday runstreak and just didn't end it in January of 2019.  I feel it had a lot to do with my Mom's death, I quit racing at the same time, but had a runstreak. Then my Dad died in 2021.  One thing that my Dad asked every time I talked to him he asked "still running? How many days?"  After he died, I just didn't see the purpose, so I stopped a year later.

The last year and a half I've really struggled with my running, lack of motivation, weight gain, frustration from having to start over.  Menopause has been rather a bitch, but I am determined to continue.

I guess you could say I'm Running the Dream.