The beginning

I guess this isn't really the beginning as I started running just over 10 years ago, but heck there's no time like the present for adding another dimension, right?

The title of my blog "Running to Live" is the result of my obsessive need to run, as much and as often as reasonably possible so that I can give myself the best odds possible of living long enough to see my kids grow up.  It's a morbid thought, I know.  But it's fitting since I originally started running (in 2002) so that I could run a Komen 5k to honor my mom, then a recent breast cancer survivor.  For some reason running stuck (despite growing up being about as inactive as possible).  Sadly, just over 3 years ago my mom died after a brief fight with pancreatic cancer.  I was pregnant with my son at the time but swore that I would run 100 miles for each year of her life to honor her.  She was 65 so that was a pretty big feat for a small business owner with a baby on the way and an 18 month old (at that time).  Three years later I've knocked off 2,400 miles with 4,100 to go.

This is the year I will turn 40, yep the big 4-0!  When my wonderful husband, Chad, asked me what I'd like to do to celebrate I knew it had to be something active.  So, I suggested a backpacking trip since it's been a few years since we've been able to get out and a trip to the Disney Marathon.  Jokingly I suggested we run Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge (http://espnwwos.disney.go.com/events/rundisney/wdw-marathon/) together since symbolically it's almost 40 miles over two days.  I was fairly certain he would laugh at me because even though he is a runner also it seems a bit crazy to attempt something like this.  Instead, he agreed and we started making plans.  Registration opened yesterday and we were going to sign up right away, as we have been waiting for registration to open for 2 months now.  However, in a twist of fate the results of a recent medical test require me to undergo a breast biopsy next week and we've decided to wait until the results are back before making the commitment just in case the results are not what we hope they will be.

In the meantime, I continue to run . . . for me . . . for stress relief . . . for a bit of time to myself . . . but most importantly to live.