A look back

As I sit and write this, I hve to look back and see from where I came, so that you will understand better the journey I embark on again, although I am sure it will bring new challenges and adventures because each day is a new and different beginning.

At the start of 2007, I decided that I wanted to do something different for my 50th birthday. I thought and prayed about it , and I set my goal as the Disney Marathon of 2008. You might think well that is a good goal , or to me it was an almost unreachable goal, see I am not a runner nor a very good walker for that matter. But I signed up for the marathon anyways, it was to be on Januray 13, 2008. I really had no idea what I was to do, so I started asking away. Someone mentioned to me that his wife had done one, and she used the Galloway method. I found that this was a method perfected by Jeff Galloway, I read his books, I tried his method. I found out that I really didn't have to run , I could walk because I walked really faster then I ran and still train.

I spoke to everyone that I knew or any one that would listen about my training. I worked for a really negative company and there was a bet how quickly I would stop training and if I ever made it to the marathon that I would certainly not make it to the end. One of my Emmaus brothers, said he would train with me, and so a couple of weeks later we were doing a half marathon on A1A. Well we finished it, and it was rough but I made a group there called Friends in Training that were to become my friends and would train me for the next 9 months. My coach Shari, had all the faith that I could complete the marathon with the training I was doing. During the journey I have met some incrdible people, Nancy, Lynn and Marilyn. People that have inspired me and kept me focused on the end result, no matter how far it seemed.

One of my Emmaus sisters and best friends, Barbara comes into the picture about this time, she had heard about all my excitement in training and so decides that she wants to start some training too. During all this time she has been supportive and has never doubted that I would complete my goal. Well about this time I figure I need a mantra toget me through the long miles of training, and so I come across the concept of the Wizard of Oz. All of us become one of the characters , Dorothy, the scarecrow, the cowardly lion, the tin man. Even the ones fighting my progress have a play in there as the witch and flying monkeys.

I can't go into all the details of the past year. I should have done blogs all along, but I got to the marathon, and Barbara was at my side. She cheered me on through miles 4, 10 and to the finish. I never thought I would be able to complete it but through alot of prayers and not once remembering th yellow brick road, I made it to the finish line. It was 6:58:13 later but I still made it within the 7 hours they gave me. I had a very bad blister, I could hardly walk and I developed a really bad flu right after but I MADE IT. It was one of the greatest feelings I had ever felt knowing that I had pushed , I had trained and I had done it.

During the year I completed many 5K races, one 10K and one 13K, 4 half marathons, and one marathon. During my months of training from April 9 to just yesterday March 8 I completed 891.15 miles. I the day after the Disney marathon decided on my next challenge. The goal that I had reached convinced me that I not only could complete a marathon, but that my body could be trained and challenged for more. So I signed up for the Goofy Challenge. That is I will do half a marathon on Saturday and then a full marathon on Sunday. The date is January 9 and 10. So tomorrow it will be 10 months before the beginning of this challenge.

I hope to record on a regular basis my progress, my ups and downs on here. I invite you to come on the journey with me. If not in person , at least in spirit as I share my thoughts with you here.

Let the training begin.