New Year, New Me...

Again!

I know what you're thinking..."another naive, but well intentioned person, setting a New Years resolution that is ready to fail before it can even begin!". But no! I tell you, this is not a New Years resolution! Well, not really - it IS a resolution I suppose, but not one that is set simply because the year has changed, it is set because I have things I want to ACHIEVE! to CONQUER! to PROVE!

So, what exactly do I have to prove, achieve and conquer?

How about turning 40 for one! 40 years later I am finally discovering who I am...after all I AM more than just a mother of two children (1 graduating this year and 1 in college), a wife devoted to her husband of 20 years (high school sweethearts...I know! Who does this??? I mean WHO marries their high school sweetheart and stays married to them all these years?! Well, I do apparently), a sister who helped raise her younger sisters, a daughter who stood by her mom through it all (and there was a lot I tell ya!) and a friend, who if you're lucky enough to be considered a close one, will do anything for you and accepts for you who you are - and if we're that close - we're both weird and accepting of our eccentricities!

To celebrate turning 40 my daughter, who just happens to turn 20 two days before I turn 40, and I  will be commemorating these amazingly awesome milestones by freely jumping out of a perfectly good airplane in order to experience the pleasure of free falling through the sky and perfectly land on solid ground! My husband thinks we're crazy, but hey - he hates tea cups - YOU tell ME who's the crazy one here. LOL

I digress, you're probably asking yourself what any of this has to do with "running for my life" - well, I am also diabetic. Type 2. Seriously, my own doing. I could say "If only I knew then what I know now..." but to tell you the truth, I'm not sure it would've made a bit of difference. One thing I've learned is that even in the face of painful outcomes, I'm not sure we as humans would truly do things differently. What I DO know is that when faced with these outcomes, we fight. We fight hard. And we don't give up. This is my fight...to live. Because diabetes is a killer - and we are it's accomplice.

When I first learned of my diagnosis I was angry but I slowly got over it and set out to reverse it. YES - type 2 diabetes CAN be reversed. So I started meds, changed my eating habits and started walking - 6 days a week, 2 miles a day. I eventually worked my way up to running and can proudly say that I am now a runner. In 2011 I completed several races including a half marathon. Due to an injury I was not able to participate in the half marathon I had scheduled in January 2012. I took 6 months off of running to recover and later did two 5Ks. After about a year of feeling a bit like a sloth, I am now ready to conquer some more runs! I am doing three 5Ks this winter/spring and will be training for a half marathon in November. I am going to take my training slooooow as my goal is to finish injury free AND better my previous time. So - THIS is really what my story is all about - running, trying to stay injury free, keeping my A1C down, and getting off my meds!

I hope you will join me in my journey which I'm sure will be full of laughs, frustration, tears, accomplishments and utter exhaustion!