The Athlete

I grew up being active. Most kids my age were watching tv, not really doing chores that involved manual labor, and playing gaming stations. That was not my life. Saturday morning in my house during the summer was: wake up by 8, eat breakfast that you were responsible for making for yourself, do your inside chores, and then when those were done, go outside and see what needed to be done out there. If it was during the school year, things changed slightly but for the most part, you were part of the family and you were expected to contribute. As such, I was always active. Very little tv time. Riding bikes, running around, WALKING home from school. I moved a lot. My parents opened up our lives to as many sports as we wanted so long as they weren't expensive. I played volleyball, basketball, baseball, track (throwing sports - I wasn't keen on losing races because I was slow as a turtle). This carried to high school.
I was good in high school. I played volleyball my freshman year but gave it up after that. The spring brought track. As stated before, I was not fast and guns made me jumpy. I spent the beginning of a race in fear of the gun. Therefore, I was NOT a runner, but a discus thrower. I SHATTERED the school's discus record by 30' taking it from 94' to 120'4" my senior year. I was a well oiled machine but so burnt out at the end of it that when I went to college and my life was mine, I decided to throw myself into studies and developed some really awful habits. I stopped exercising, kept eating, and lived in complete denial. In 4 years I gained 20 pounds. Then I graduated, got married, and almost immediately found out I was pregnant with my wonderful son. Not the plan but SO SO SO welcome. To make a long story longer, I was the heaviest I had ever been, with a new born and a husband who worked nights. We had no time for exercises. We had no time for healthy eating. We WERE FAT!!!
So when I started running again it was to get my already anxious Jack Russel to calm down otherwise, it was Prozac for him. I got hooked and kept running but not competitively. This helped me lose  about 20lbs. The athlete I was in high school started coming around again. Then my job got crazy stressful, I had medical problems, and depression set in. I stopped running. I didn't gain anything back save for 5lbs. but I just didn't have it in me to run again.
This brings us to present day. The athlete is back! The Midwest is not the runner's friend (especially the runner without access to a treadmill) during the winter so I started with exercising in doors. It felt good to be active. It felt good to feel strong again. Then the sun started shining and the running bug came back. I went for walk/jog for 30 minutes and hadn't felt that good in about a year.
That's where I am now. Commitment to health again. Commitment to running again no matter what. Commitment to running a half marathon this year (whether its a race or not). Commitment to being an example to my son.