Here I go!!!

This blog is more of a personal progress tracker, however, the fact that someone could possibly get bored enough to read this is a pretty good motivator to help me keep going! For those of you who have now decided to check up on me and where I'm at- this will be a long road for the both of us!

First off, I should probably give the background of how this all came about. Note: this will probably be the longest post on this blog :-)

I first started running in 6th grade. My dad and I would run around the block together. For those of you used to a grid system, it's not the normal block. If you're at all curious, here is the actual run. The only thing this view lacks is the amount of hills. (Notice that my home street is "south hills drive"... they weren't kidding when they named it that!)



Anyways, this continued for a very long time. It was a really good bonding experience that I will always remember. When I got to high school- I very much wanted to be apart of the cross country team. However, due to other activities I was involved in- I had to wait for a little while.

My sophomore year (2000-2001) came and I joined winter track- yes you heard right- we had winter track! We competed at the University of New Hampshire every weekend. I had a lot of potential when I started, however, I became a shot-putter. There I was throwing a heavy ball while watching the long distance runners go off on long runs during practice- hoping, wishing, devestated. I was determined. Spring track came and I was a javelin thrower but was now starting to run with the long distance runners a few times. I know this is a really long background- but it's almost over, I promise!

Over the summer I trained so that I would be able to be a long distance runner. Fall came and I decided to join cross country. I loved it! I started on junior varsity and by the end of the season I was running with the varsity runners. Winter came and I did track again. This time- there was no more shot putting! I was a long distance runner. I ran the 1,000M race. This is an indoor only event. I was lucky enough to compete every week. Not every team member was able to so that was a huge honor. I was at a high point and was ready for my senior year. I wasn't able to run Spring track but I'm kind of glad I didn't. I hated the 800M race! I'm guessing that's what I would've been doing.

Senior year came and I was on the cross country team again. I was on varsity- but I was also head of the junior varsity girls. I qualified at our state meet to run in the meet of champions that was the qualifier race to go to New Englands (where all the XC scouts from different universities really pay attention to). The best part about being able to run in the meet of champions was, not only did we all qualify individually but we also qualified as a team- which is rare. That's pretty much my big "shining moment" of high school sports. Anways, day of "meet of champions" I took my SATs and got to the race site about 15 mins before the race started. Talk about nerve racking! Thinking about school AND qualifing. The race started and a mile into the race, one of my shoes came untied. If you finished w/o both shoes- you were disqualified. I was trying so hard to keep the shoe on. Right as I started the 2nd mile the boy's coach pulled me out and made my tie my shoe. Talk about losing time!!!! Needless to say- that race didn't go so well. Oh well. I didn't expect to run in college anyways. After this I got very very sick and did not continue on to winter or spring track.

This was me my senior year 2002-2003
I was at work: The Executive Health Club- a gym. I worked in the cafe making smoothies and other food.

Speaking of college... I came to BYU and ran for fun and ran a lot of 5k races. At the end of my sophomore year spring/summer 2005 I started training for the SLC marathon that was in May 2006. I was on my way and my hopeful time after timing all my long runs was to finish the marathon in under 4 hours- which for me was amazing! I'm not bragging... because you'll see in a few lines that I never got to run it.. :-(

In around February of 2006 my left foot started to be in so much pain that I wasn't sure what I should do. My mom had the same problems that I was having and she needed surgery. I was praying that I wouldn't need it- but after many doctor visits, x-rays and prayer it was decided that I needed surgery. Best part was, my surgery was the day before the SLC marathon. Surgery came and went and even though I was devestated- I gained a lot from the experience.

The most important thing was that Jon and I became a lot closer. This experience really showed me how well we worked together. I saw a lot of Jon's heart and soul during this time. I knew him well already, but let's be honest- it's love when a boy carries you to the bathroom! No worries... he didn't help me go... just carried me to and from. I still can never thank him enough for the amount of service he gave to me while I was going through that. I really love that boy :-)

Notice my boot that I had to wear. I was still on crutches at this time.

So let's now fastforward to the present. Since that time I've gotten married, graduated, worked at Comcast where I sat more than I ever had in my life, and now work at Union Square where I walk to and from work everyday. I've gained a lot of weight since my surgery and from all the mentioned events. That's a lot to go through in 2 years! Mostly it was good things- but still- new changes, new everything!

I really want to get back into shape. I don't care if I run a marathon any time soon. My goal is just to become healthier and to lose weight at this point. I got a good head start this summer while we were in Arkansas. I lost 5.5lbs while we were out there while working full-time. It can be done!! :-) I just have to keep telling myself that. If i'm not running I have really cool cardio videos that I do (sorry downstairs neighbors!) and I walk to and from work every day (yay for saving gas!)

So here it is- this will be the blog that tracks my workouts with little maps. See, you can run with me... sort've. I hope you enjoy it and if you finished this entry- good job! I've been trying to shorten it but I couldn't bring myself to take anything out. It's like being a "blog-pack-rat".

To get tihs started off- here is the run I did yesterday after work!