Day One - Shan

Since this is my first post I guess I should do a brief intro. I am happily married to a simply amazing man. I'm a mother of 3 (2 daughters, 1 son). I have a job I find fulfilling. I go to church. I'm involved in my kids' school. I should be more involved in the community. I LOVE to entertain, create, and host parties. I'm not super healthy, but I'm working on it. I've known Tracey for over 10 years and was recently recruited to join her in this insanity. I'll be contributing to this blog every so often and telling you about my experience. And with that....

So I'm not the kind of person who uses "inappropriate language". I subscribe to the point of view that if you are an intelligent individual, you should be able to express yourself with words and phrases that reflect that intelligence. In our family "inappropriate language" includes everything from the generic swears to the mother-cringing "st*p*d" and "b*tt". (See, I can't even type the words.) All of this changed today. Why? Because today was the day I started training for the Disney half-marathon. It is one year away. And this is a VERY good thing. I don't run. Ever. I did go through a crazy stage in my late teens/early twenties when my father was on a running kick and I figured I would join him. We had some great talks during those runs. And then I tripped on a pine cone (yep...a pine cone) and ended up in a cast (yep...a cast). Thus ended my running career. Until today. I did the first workout this afternoon. With the support of my 3 children and amazing husband we went over to our gym with an indoor track. I thought this was a great family activity. We stretched. We laughed. My girls were stoked. And we started our 5 minute warm-up. They lasted 30 seconds before I heard, "Mom...when do we start running? THIS isn't running. You know mom...you're really slow." Maybe this isn't the best family activity after all. They lost interest and wondered off to another part of the gym just in time for me to do my first 60 second run. Followed by 90 seconds of walking. Not too bad. By the 3rd rotation I was reconsidering my commitment. By the 5th rotation I was thinking words that I had NEVER uttered and grateful that my children weren't around to hear me mutter under my breath. I did 10 rotations. I did NOT feel great. I don't understand runners. How could anyone possibly enjoy this? Well, it has now been 2 hours since I finished my epic first run (if you could call it that). I figure running must be like labor....during it NOTHING else is as painful and consuming. But you have to finish (after all, you're a mile from home with no car, bike or ANY other option). So you breath through the pain. And then, with one final effort it's over. 2 hours later you're thinking, "That wasn't so bad. I can do that again." That is where I am right now. It wasn't so bad. I can do it again....and I will...in 2 days. I'm not looking forward to it. But I AM going to do it. I'm committed. I'm blogging about it, so I guess that makes me publicly committed. Stay tuned...