Discovering the runner in me.

I have been on this Earth for 28 years and I just recently discovered my true passion. Running is not something I thought I would love to do 10 years ago. As a matter of fact, 10 years ago, I tried to avoid it as much as possible. I was more focused on weightlifting and building muscle than to concern myself with how many miles I could run or just how fast my pace was. As a teenager, I was constantly reminded, whether it was through magazines, talking to friends, even in movies that a true man was big and muscular. If you wanted to be in shape, you had to be big and lift heavy weights. Of course, if you are into bodybuilding, there is nothing wrong with working toward that goal. But that was just not for me. I was not passionate about it. But when I was younger, I was in denial about this fact. So, that is what I did, I lifted and focused on improving my maxes and building muscle. It was not until my early 20s that I came to a point that I could no longer keep this going. I just did not have the motivation nor the passion for it. I started to gain weight and at my heaviest I was over 230 pounds. I had to make a change! So I started going back to the gym but except this time I focused more on cardio. After months of mostly doing cardio on the elliptical and treadmill, I started to find a joy in the way it challenged me and made me feel. The weight started to fall off me and my passion for going to the gym was back in full force! My weight went from 230 pounds down to 165 pounds! It was around this time that I ran a 5k. My ultimate goal was to finish but I ended up coming in 4th place overall and finishing with a time of 20 minutes and 50 seconds! I was hooked! I started to run outside more and started to improve my pace. About two months later, I ran my first half marathon and ended up coming in 9th place overall and 2nd place in my age group! My finishing time was 1 hour and 33 minutes! I could not wait to do it again! I spent a lot of January of this year building up my mileage and clocked in a total of 240 miles for that month! My second half marathon was on February 7th, and despite having shin splints halfway through the race, I finished! A week later, I had the honor of running with 5 other athletes in a team relay ultra marathon! I ran 5 non consecutive legs each averaging about 4 and a half miles. My total mileage for that race was 23.5 miles! And that brings me to now. On March 8th, I will be running my first marathon. I am anxious, excited, and nervous at all the same time! The passion that I discovered for running has brought me to this point. This is only the beginning for me. And I look forward to sharing this journey with each of you.