Faith, Trust...and a Little Bit of Pixie Dust!

Hello There!! 

So I have never had a blog before (unless you count "Open Diary" in High School... Good Lord. What a mess that was haha.) But I've decided that I want to start one to document my journey from now, until my very first 6.2 mile run in the Tinker Bell 10K! The race is January 18, 2014. 5 months from now, so I have absolutely no excuse not to be able to do it. Although I am sure along the way I will come up with several excuses to sit on my ass instead of run... but I will keep going. :)

I can't believe I am even going to be able to be in the race. I had no idea how I was going to be able to afford it, since lately money has been so tight for us. But my wonderful friend Alisa posted on Facebook asking people to make $10 donations for me to be able to register, and so many of my friends donated!! I couldn't believe it. I was stunned, no one has ever done something like that for me. I felt truly blessed and grateful that I have such amazing people in my life who want to see me succeed! That's another reason I decided to start his blog. I felt like so many people offered to spend their hard-earned money to help me participate in the race, that I absolutely cannot let them down. This blog is a way for me to keep up the momentum and hold me accountable. So on the days when I REALLY feel like watching reruns of Big Bang Theory for the 4 billionth time, I will think of how I have to run. I have to. Not just for me, but to show my friends and family that I won't give up. Ever. 

I ran my first 5K on the 4th of July and I have never felt so accomplished. I started training for it 3 months prior and all of that hard work paid off ten-fold. Crossing that finish line is like nothing I have ever done before! But I don't want to stop there, doing this 10K is the next step in my life-long journey of better health and fitness. I have never found any other type of exercise that I love more then running. There is something about it. It's liberating, therapeutic and it makes you feel like you can do anything. Sometimes in life, you just need to run. To clear your head, to make you feel like there is something out there worth running towards. Whether it be a finish line, weight loss, positivity, or just because your legs are screaming at you that they need to move. There's always something worth running for. What am I running for? That's a hard question to answer. The obvious answer is weight-loss. But it's more then that. It's a feeling, a need, a desire. To be better. To be stronger. To feel like even though there are things in my life that have happened to me that I have no control over, that this I can control. I can push myself to go farther and be faster. And to finish something I started. That is what I run for. And I am sure along my journey, there will be so many other reasons to run. 

This is my journey to Neverland. The place where dreams come true, where anything is possible. Where you don't have to grow up, and where you can fly. Where if you can dream it up, it is reality. I am making my dream of being a healthier, stronger human being a reality. I hope you will continue this journey with me! 

Thank you so much for reading!!
~Jess :)