In June 2011 my son was 10 months old, my daughter was 3, and I decided to go to a boot camp class upon invitation of my neighbor. She was a runner, I thought she was crazy. She thought I would love this boot camp class... at 5:30am!! I actually thought, "Why not?" My husband heard us discussing a 5:30am workout and he laughed, "Ha!" I am not a morning person, so he thought there was no way I would be able to pull this off. But I told him I really wanted to go. So, I went. Little did I know that this decision would change my life. My neighbor's simple invitation... CHANGED MY LIFE! Amazing to think how one moment in time, and one simple "yes," or "no," can change the course of one's life.
I remember it was a Thursday morning. When I got there I found out it was "Thigh Thursday." Needless to say, after an hour long workout that morning, I couldn't walk the next day. I woke up Friday morning and my legs were so sore I could barely get out of bed. Just sitting down on the toilet was painful!! My kids sat on my lap and I cried out in pain! You would think I would never go back after that... but I did. I didn't go Friday, but I showed up Monday morning. After a few days of going I knew I was hooked. The instructor called me and asked if I wanted to sign up, told me the cost, my husband said it was too much, I called the instructor, he gave me another price, I told my husband, he said it was still too much... but for some reason this boot camp instructor lowered his price one more time and said, "I can tell you want to do this. So how about this..." Husband said yes, finally. I said, "YES!" and I went back to the torture chamber... eh hum, I mean boot camp.
If you live in Orange, California... or close by, you should check this place out. Tell Mark I sent you. It's called Hit the Mark Fitness. Mark changed my life. My neighbor invited me there, I met Mark, and Mark changed my life!
My brother, Paul, was battling stage 4 metastasized melanoma cancer at this time. And July 29, 2011 he passed away. My boot camp instructor, Mark, ended up challenging me to do this 5k with his boot camp classes. It wasn't until October (I forget when he invited me, but it was after Paul passed away). I thought my running neighbor was crazy (remember) and I ran a mile during boot camp as a "timed mile" and I about died every time! My fastest mile was around 10 minutes. I thought, "I can barely survive one mile, how could I do 3?" But Mark convinced me that I was capable. So I decided to do it. I started running around my neighborhood with my son in the stroller around his nap time, so he would sleep, and while my daughter was in preschool. And eventually, I worked my way up to 3 miles. I remember my goal was to run this 3.1 miles in 30 minutes.
In October 15, 2011 I ran the local Chapman 5k with my boot camp group, and I ran it in 29:41 minutes! Just under that 30 minute goal! I was ecstatic! I did it! The next time I saw Mark at boot camp I said, "So what's next, a 10k?" I was ready for the next challenge. Mark said, "No. You're ready for a half marathon." I was like... wait a minute. You just convinced me to do 3.1 miles, now you want me to do how many miles? 13.1?!! I asked him how long he thought that would take me. He said, 2 hours and 30 minutes. Needless to say, this took some months of convincing. I just couldn't even fathom being on my feet, running, for over 2 hours!!! Really? But he was convinced that I could, solely based on my fitness level from doing boot camp 4 to 5 days a week.
Eventually, I did it. I signed up for my first half marathon. It ended up being the local OC 1/2 Marathon in May 2012. During my training I thought for sure I would never run a half again. I was feeling pains in my hips, my knees, my feet, my calves... it was traveling all around. I asked my running neighbor if that would go away. She assured me my legs would get use to running. And Mark showed me a lot of stretches that helped. One time he even tortured me on a table with something called a tiger's tail. He rolled that across my calves and I was in so much pain I was crying. I told him that was more painful than giving birth to my two children, which was done all natural without any epidural!!
I ran the race in May, and I finished in 2:27:30... 2 1/2 minutes under what Mark said I could do it in! When I got to the end I was ready to sign up for another! That little cartoon (at the top) was me! My legs felt great, I had no pain, I could even walk the next day! And I definitely was feeling that runner's high, because I couldn't stop smiling. When I found out that race was a part of a 3 half marathon challenge I signed up for the next two. And yes... I finished those as well. One was in October 2012, a year after I started running, and the next was in February 2013.
Sad news though. Right before my 3rd half marathon, my brother's wife, Ruth, also passed away. It was December, a few days before Christmas. 17 months after Paul, she died from melanoma cancer that had traveled to her brain! She was given three months to live before she passed away. She barely made it two. Once she passed away I decided to stop envying those full marathon runners I saw at the end of every race, and stop saying, "Never." and "I can't do that." I decided to do a full, and to dedicate it to Paul and Ruth and raise money for melanoma cancer research. Which is what I did. If you scroll down to the first blog entry on here, you will read about that journey to my first full marathon. It may be my last, but I have learned... "Never say never!" And in that journey my life changed once again. Now I run for God... not just for Paul and Ruth and melanoma research.
So far I have run 7 half marathons. 5 organized races, and twice as a birthday run. And once I have run a full marathon. And that's why I call my blog, "I am only half crazy." Because I usually run halves, and although I did run a full... even I felt crazy for doing it! As they say, "A half marathon is half the length and twice the fun of a full!" So true! If you think I am crazy, I can find plenty more people that are crazier than I am, in the running department! I have met some amazing "crazy" people! Hahaha
Hope you enjoy my blog!! Thanks for reading my stories!
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