Hitting the Wall

The past eight years have been a whirlwind of time for me consisting mainly of pregnancy, nursing, sleepless nights, changing diapers, and agonizing decisions of parenthood. I find myself at age 36 incredibly out of shape and many pounds overweight.

There are the upsides, I have four beautiful children; Dear Son 7 who has autism, a topic for another post, Dear Daughter 6, a slave to fashion, Dear Daughter 4, a princess and Dear Daughter 1 well, trouble.

They bring joy to my life every minute of everyday. I love nurturing their needs and helping to shape them into thoughtful, caring, imaginative and intelligent individuals. Then there are the downsides, in the past eight years, my body has been put to the test; ripped apart by four pregnancies, four bouts of nursing and a general lack of overall care and attention. I stopped looking in the mirror about three years ago and refuse to be in any pictures. I still was wearing pregnancy size clothing and stopped being able to fit into my husbands clothing about three years ago.

On April 20, I looked in the mirror and sobbed. That was not me staring back. Who was that Heffalump I was looking at? I was always a pixie. A field hockey and lacrosse player, a coach, a runner, a gregarious, athletic, fun person. I hit the wall and decided to take action.

Everything Disney has always motovated me, so I started searching for a challenge and I found the Disney 1/2 marathon. I used to be an avid runner, that was my euphoric release from life's challenges. Without hesitation, I registered and enrolled in a team for support and guidance and began my Journey from Heffalump to Pixie Hollow.

I am on day 10 of this journey and have lost 10 pounds so far, many to go, and have been starting the slow and painful hobble back to fitness. I know it will not be easy and there will be many challenges, but I am committed to doing this I am inspired by all who have fought their battles with breast cancer and other forms of cancer and know that if they can take on that battle, I can take on my own battle and decrease my chances of cancer knocking on my door in the future. Come and follow me in my journey. I am raising money for breast cancer with my run in the 1/2 marathon.