It all started when . . .

I committed to go running with my girlfriends after having my fourth child. I had run before, I have always been athletic. I preferred the sports that involved a ball though, mainly Volleyball, but basketball as well. I ran while playing those sports, and even had coaches at times that for some unknown reason, thought we were runners, and we ran way more than any regular volleyball or basketball team ever did. Now I only wanted to run to get the excess baby weight off. And the ONLY reason I committed to do it was because my girlfriends said we'd talk the whole time. Now, I knew I would not be talking, I'd be huffing and puffing to keep up, but as long as they talked, I could listen, ask the occasional question, and be distracted from the pounding I was putting my body through. And so it began.

That was the summer of 2006. I ran that weight off and actually began to enjoy and look forward to my 6am runs every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We each had a loop worked out around our homes that was between 5 and 6 miles, and we'd rotate.

Not that I would have called myself a runner at that point, I was just a girl who liked the way the exercise of running made me feel and my body look. I laughed at my girlfriend when she told me she was running a marathon, "Why on earth would you want to do that?" I asked her. I laughed when my running friends asked me if I wanted to sign up for a marathon with them.

But then, as with all of us amateurs, non-running life priorities happened. And so, I got pregnant with our 5th child.  I continued to run until the 24th week of my pregnancy. After my daughter was born in late May, I started again. It was like starting over - the huffing and puffing were back and I was SLOWER than molasses (my favorite homemade cookies call for molasses in them, so I really do know how slow that is.)

I was excited to get the weight off and even began to entertain the idea of a half-marathon (13 miles). When April '09 rolled around my girlfriend somehow convinced me to sign up for the lottery for the St. George Marathon that would be held on October of 2009.  May came around and we found out, we got in. That was a scary and exciting day.

Official training began in early June. The girls I ran with were superstars to say the least, some of them had qualified for the Boston Marathon in the past and they were all fast enough to do it if they wanted to. And so, having them as my only running partners, I set my sights on qualifying also. We trained to do it.