A Little About Me...

I'm not a writer, nor claim to be especially elegant with words.  But I have a story and I want to share it.    1st post is a little about me:

I'm a 29+++ wife and mom of 3!  The only running I did was on the soccer field, until 1996 when my now teenage son was critically ill his first year of life.  I took up running as a way to cope with my fears and became addicted.  I strapped my son in at 2 months (pretty sure that was not recommended and he had blankets all around him to keep him upright) and my 2 year old daughter and 3 miles turned into 5, which eventually led to marathon training.

I ran my 1st Honolulu Marathon in 1998 in 4:14.  I continued to run daily, usually 4-7 miles. In 2001 I started dealing with SVT and had a heart ablation which did little to help my rapid heart rate.  Blood pressure meds didn't work either so I continued to run at a 8:30 pace, unable to work on speed or hills as once my heart rate sky rocketed to 200, I had great difficulty getting it down.  But I was content with  my daily runs, which kept my stress level down and the kids had now graduated from the Baby Jogger to bikes.

 In 2004, I was diagnosed with cancer and that was a 1 year battle of treatment and getting my meds correct, which led to a 20 lb weight gain, yet I kept running.  I ran the 2007 Honolulu Marathon for the Lance Armstrong Foundation raising 2k for cancer research and was thrilled to cross the finish line at 4:26. Did a race here and there, but just ran daily, which was my happy place.

I made a goal in 2011 that I would do 1 8 mile run a week and those 1st couple months were difficult.  I started a new med (cancer) and started losing some weight.  At the end of the year I was put on an anti anxiety med which I noticed allowed me to run faster without my heart rate going through the roof.  My 2x Ironman & too-many-marathons-to list hubby started coaching me with a training plan in Jan 2012 with a goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon.  We run 40-60 miles per week, sometimes waking up at 3:30am so we can be home to get our 4th grader to school and us to work on time.

In 2012, I've run 4 1/2 Marathons.  The 1st in March with a time of 1:42:14.  The 2nd in May finishing in 1:40:04.  The 3rd in September and finally broke the 1:40 barrier to finish in 1:38.  And 2 weeks ago I ran part of The Honolulu Marathon course and set a new PR of 1:33:37.  In all of the above races I won my age group (29+++) and managed to be the 4th overall woman's finisher.  I also ran a 25K in 1:53 (4th female overall again)!  Note:  I'm competitive not only with myself but with others so 4th overall 4x in a row was a bitter pill to swallow, yet I focused on what I personally conquered.

Never did I think I would be able to do anything more than cross the finish line.  Not only have I never felt like a "runner", with my heart condition and weight complications from cancer, crossing the finish line has always been a sweet enough reward.

Yet, working on speed and setting a goal for qualifying for Boston, has set a fire within me I didn't know existed.  To be honest, I have 3:45 to finish Honolulu and qualify, but I'll be disappointed if I don't break 3:30.

I feel a little more "official" now.  I wear a Garmin and actually use it, I switched from Saucony's to Newtons (LOVE them), and the best is I am obsessed with Lululemon skirts.  Not only are they so comfortable and hold my fuel, it is just an awesome feeling to pass a dude while wearing a skirt (yes, I am a little competitive).

Have so much more to share, but wanted to get this introduction out there in the hopes of inspiring someone out there who is struggling either physically or just doesn't think they have the time to commit to running.  Until next time, alooooooooooha!