The photo on the top of this blog is of Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.  I vacation there every summer and my son took that picture at just 4 years old.  This is the whole shot.

On our last trip there last summer I made sure not to be too lazy.  I took walks every day and during those walks I started to run.  I did a little at at time.  It got hot out but I still ran.  I ran just about every day.  My first day after my first run I could barely sit down because my legs weren’t used to running, and running up and down hills.  Each day got a little bit easier.  When we came home from the trip, even after a 5+ hour car ride, I went for a quick run through my neighborhood.  I think it might have only been 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile total running, but it was my first neighborhood run getting me into the cycle of running that I am in now. 

Years ago I used to run on my treadmill.  I started in 2002 after being diagnosed with Henoch Schloen Purpura and I didn’t want my disease to hinder anything in my life.  It caused my husband and I to have to put our wish to start a family immediately after getting married on hold.  So I didn’t want it to affect anything else in my life.  So during those years I did up to about 5 miles on the treadmill with walking and running.  But I never took it outside.  I would roller blade and mountain bike, but I was never a “runner”.  I didn’t think being a runner is something you are when you do it on the treadmill.  Now that I have been out running in the elements, through the heat, rain and cold, I still don’t feel like a “real runner”.  I feel like you don’t become a real runner until you do something big like a marathon.

So I am pushing on towards that goal.  Starting with a half marathon and dreaming of doing a full one.