Here I go.

Pretty much as soon as we landed home from Ethiopia, and our jet lagged wore off, the reality of parenting 3 kiddos under 6 hit me square in the face. With two, we were man to man defense. Now...we had to go to a zone defense. I. was. tired. We love each one of our little loves to pieces, but mama quickly realized, she need some...space. The work and stress of adoption and all it's leftover emotions, well, I just needed to run.

My story goes a little like this. I used to be an athlete. I played volleyball and basketball in middle school and high school, with passion. I loved loved loved it. Then, I changed schools and was too chicken to try out in a "big" school. Never played again. At one point in my freshman year, I ran the dreaded "mile" in PE in just over 6min 30 sec. I was competitive then, and badly wanted to be the first girl to finish the timed mile. I think I may have come in second once or twice. I never, EVER ran more than one mile.

Fast forward to my post baby years. After our first child was born, I of course wanted to loose my baby poundage. I walked alot, ate healthy-ish, and got back to my pre baby weight fairly quickly (but still not where I wanted to be).  Fast forward two more years and another baby, and I really wanted to get in shape. I started couch to 5K, and it lasted about one run. Hated it. Felt fat and heavy and bummed out that I couldn't even run for 2 minutes without feeling like I would puke or pass out. A year later, I tried again, and loved it. I made it up to two miles and injured my foot. My doctor told me to stop running for awhile. And, I did. For two and half years.

When  we came home in June with our third kiddo, Lucy, who's adopted from Ethiopia, I realized that for my sanity and fitness, I HAD to get some excercise. We were fairly tied to home at that point, bonding with our little one, but my hubby also happened to be home from school for the summer. So, started couch to 5K again. It was easier than I remembered, and I really wanted to run. So, I did. I jumped ahead a few weeks on the training schedule, and started running longer. I worked my way up to 3 miles in about a month, running every other day. Around that time, one of my sweet dear friends, put it out there that she needed a new running partner for training for a half marathon. The timing was right, I had time to follow the training schedule and loved the idea of getting to spend weekly time with one of my favorite friends. So, here I am. I have worked my way up to 8.3 miles and am loving almost every minute of it. I am feeling so good. It feels fantastic to say, "I ran 6 miles today!". My body is changing slowly, but I'm feeling like I'm in better shape than I have ever been in my adult life. I never EVER dreamed that I would WANT to run a half marathon. Running has been a great way for me to get some much needed alone time, with no small children touching me or saying "mom, mom, mom" for the 10,999th time that day. I am finding more patience, more energy, and more thankfulness in my life. I am thankful that I am ABLE to run, when so many are not.

I have no idea how this half marathon will go, but I have a feeling I will be hooked. I am already scouring the web, trying to find what my next race will be.

This will be my space for keeping track of my runs, my progress, my goals, my thoughts. It feels weird to say, but running is really just about me. Something I do to take care of me. I haven't honestly taken good care of my body for years, and it's beginning to feel pretty good.