My 1st Official Blog

December 9th 2013

I wonder who will read this?

So I started a year ago with a FaceBook page and an Instagram to share my experiences, photos, recipes, thoughts relating to my life as a 1st time mother trying to navigate her way around working full time, keeping her own identity and discussing issues that are important to me.

When my son was 6 months old I decided I needed to get back into running (my running journey to be shared in another blog at another time). I was so sleep deprived, still carrying a lot of baby weight and struggling to find and maintain balance in my life. I decided Jan 1st 2012 that I did everything else tired, so why couldn't I continue training for races and run tired? So I did... slowly, but I did it.  I think my first post-baby Half Marathon was my biggest achievement in some ways, because I got off the couch and demanded more of myself and by doing so I hope to encourage and motivate my son to push himself when he gets older. I hope he will see me and his dad trying to be healthier (and failing at times) and that he will learn from all of our successes and failures but no matter what always aim for a healthier, cleaner lifestyle. At the end of that half marathon when I saw my husband and son at the finish line I cried, there was no better feeling than in that moment when despite the tiredness, aches and pains and time away from my family that I had done it. I had managed to "do it all". Being a parent was just a part of who I was, and with some time management, organization and motivation I COULD do it all, although not all at once and I could still do the things that made me truly happy and did not have to lose my personal identity.

Running is cheaper than therapy and so is writing a blog, but why do both? 

These days when I run it is not just to be healthy, it is not just to do something I enjoy but I actually feel that I NEED it. It helps me process all of everything in my head which is constantly spinning and thinking of 15 different things at once.  I decided recently that I wanted to run 14 races in 2014 - this *lightbulb* of an idea occurred to me shortly after completing the Long Beach Half Marathon in 2013. I think I might have been on my "runners high" -  still though,  long after the idea stayed. I started signing up for races and hashtagging my posts #14in2014. After all, if my dear friend Barco could run a 100 marathons  why couldn't I do just 14 events in 1 year.  So that is how 14 in 2014 came about, simply because I had 1 crazy thought after a great racing event.  It became rather than why do it, but why not do it? && in my typical nature that doing 1 thing, on in this case 14 things, became not enough and I have decided to up the ante.

My 14 in 2014 Challenge is a personal challenge, but I will be dedicating it to my Aunt Sue (well really she was my moms best friend since she was knee high to a grasshopper) and my Mother in Law Janet. Both of these ladies were remarkable women, they in their own way were my other mothers. Both of their passing's were related to lengthy fights with cancer and long term treatments which resulted in their bodies and immune systems being tired, so in in the end their passing was not from the cancer but as a result of doing what they could to fight it.  The loss of these women has forever changed me. I feel that I NEED to do something to honor their memory and hopefully raise awareness and hopefully raise a few dollars for treatment research.  I firmly believe in that prevention is better than cure, preventing cancer is just as important as treating it.

So that is why I have started my blog, to find a place to empty my thoughts and to show my training and progress in reaching this goal. As a former Team in Training participant and mentor I will end with one final thought, whatever I go through on this journey running these events it will never EVER compare to what a cancer patient goes through. We need better treatment options people so that we don't have to continue losing those that we love to this disease.

Thank you for reading.

xo