You can do it too! (Whitney)

I'm not much of an athlete.  I never have been.  In middle school I started playing soccer and kept with it for about 5 years.  I tried basketball for a season, and was on the track team a few years.  With each of them I was mediocre at best.  But that didn't stop me.  My passion for the outdoors has kept me active.  

When Haley ran her marathon, I was there.  I was so proud of her.  I wondered if someday I might be able to do something so amazing.  But as you can see in the picture, I was very overweight.  I've been overweight basically my whole life.  I am no stranger to dieting, and I have had lost weight for a time, only to gain it back shortly thereafter.

And then something wonderful happened.  I went on a Mormon mission.  There in Argentina, not only did I drop 70 lbs, but more importantly I realized what my body was actually capable of.  I walked several miles a day.  My companion and I would arrive at the apartment more tired than we had ever been, but still kept going.  It was after this experience that I decided to take up running.

When I moved to Virginia to go to school, I looked at halfmarathons.net to sign up for the nearest race, and started training.  I trained every morning - rain, snow, sleep - it didn't matter.  I was stronger than whatever tried to stop me.

As the day of the race neared, I realized what I had signed up for.  This wasn't a normal half marathon.  It was billed as "the toughest road marathon in the US."  It was basically 7 miles uphill, and 6 miles downhill.  But I had committed, so I was going to do it.

The day of the race there were flash flood warnings.  I felt like I was swimming as well as running.  My wonderfully supportive friends stood in the rain for hours waiting to see a glimpse of me.  Remember this:  bring someone to wait for you at the finish line.  You want someone to share in your accomplishment.

I did it.  I felt invincible.  I felt like nothing could ever stop me.  I still believe that.

For the summer I moved back home and looked for another race.  My oldest brother suggested that we all do a race together.  Sounded fun to me.  He, our sister Cassidy, and other members of the family did a 10K trail run and I thought it was quite enjoyable (my brother still to this day talks about how awful it was).

I still didn't really consider myself a "runner."  I'm painfully slow.  But that's no reason to stop.

My next feat was to try something new.  So I decided to sign up for a mini triathlon.  I love swimming, biking is easy enough, and I had been running several miles a day.  How hard could it be, right?  It was one of the funnest races I have done.

As I've mentioned, I'm slow.  I was the VERY last person out of the water.  Then came the biking.

Little kids passed me on their bikes.  But it didn't bother me.  I was doing something I had never done before.

I ran the last stretch and didn't even look at the time.  I rarely do.  I'm not doing it to compete against anyone but myself.  I felt awesome!

My next race was back in Virginia, but this time I didn't sign up alone.  One of my friends who came to my first half marathon felt inspired to train for a marathon.  We both ran Virginia's "friendliest marathon"(or half marathon in my case) in Richmond.

This was one of my favorite races because I felt so in shape.

And it was a bonus that my fiancee-to-be was at the finish line waiting for me.

After we got married, my husband Adam decided he wanted to race with me, and convinced me that I was ready to graduate to a marathon.  I felt that was certainly reasonable.  It was time to cross it off my list.  We trained together for most of it, but I was gaining weight at an unhealthy pace.  The day of the race arrived and I told myself I was just going to go my own pace no matter how long it took.  Apparently in Charlottesville the race is a little more competitive and we soon fell to the back of the pack (my sweet husband didn't want to leave me).  When we reached mile 10 my legs hurt.  At mile 11 a policeman told us if we didn't speed up, they were going to have to let traffic pass anyway.  I had been beat.  I felt awful.  We walked towards the start line to get in our car.

But of course, the story can't end there.  Even though we didn't go the whole 26.2 miles, we still did a half marathon.  We decided to cut our losses and sign up for Richmond - Adam running the marathon, and I would run the half (my favorite race).  Training was hard with school and work and finals, but we were going to run the race whether or not we were fully "prepared."

It was a wonderful feeling crossing the finish line again.  We love the Richmond race.  It really is beautiful and wonderfully flat.  We won't be in Virginia for the race this year, but Adam has already committed me to running the half marathon with him next year!

I still don't consider myself "athletic."  I'm still overweight by doctors' standards.  But I love the feeling of crossing the finish line - proving to myself mostly that my mind is stronger than my body.  So sign up for something - it doesn't have to be a half marathon.  It can be a 5K, or a 1 mile fun run.  Look in your local newspaper!  Sign up with your friends!  Putting even a small  amount of money down for a race will help give you the drive to train for it.  And then tell everyone.  Let them help get you excited.  Invite then on race day to take pictures.  It's something few people will say no to.  And who knows, you might just inspire them to do the same!