So growing up, I was more a mathlete than athlete. I would venture to say that my family has been more blessed with chicken legs and some brain power but you would never ever ever say my family was athletic.
But deep down in my heart of hearts, I knew that I possibly could have some tiny bit of dna that was just a wee bit of more than a mathlete. I knew I could foster some leg muscles and arm muscles and such and so when college arrived and I packed on the freshman 15, I began my quest.
I learned to read all sorts of labels on food. I took strength training classes as an elective 3x during college. I learned to do full body squats and dead lifts on the boys' side of the gym (b/c the girls side got all the rusty old stuff). I took basketball as an elective. Our rag tag Chemical Engineer soccer team got the biggest thrill because we (including a couple of girls) beat a fraternity rec team.
And in all that time, I ran. I ran til it hurt. I ran til til it rained. I ran til my shoes got holes in it. And over the last 20 years, I have become the athletic one in my family. I have run marathons and done century ride and dualthons and mud runs. I played in adult soccer leagues and I played in a flag football league.
But with the arrival of my two dear children my time devoted to exercising has changed my priorities. As much as I would love to have the energy to get up and do a 20 mile run, I neither have the time, energy or knees to do that on a consistent basis. But it doesn't matter when you have these two looking at you in the mornings:

But two weekends ago I ran a 5k again:

And for this one, I have consistently been running the last 8 months. Most weeks it is 12-15 miles. I have been doing yoga and lifting weights. And suddenly in this 5k, I found I cut 1 minute off of my best time since my daughter was born. That doesn't put me back in the range I used to be in before kids but it makes me know it is possible to at least look at that as another goal in the future. Perhaps another minute in the next year. I have to start again somewhere. And I think I am ready for the challenge!
Here I am in my racing glory:
