I have joined a group called the Team in Training. I am training for a marathon. Me. I've never run a day in my life except in P.E. when it was required and even then I barely ran...actually I walked when the teacher wasn't looking. I wasn't lazy, I just hated to run and I got pissed every time the mile came around in gym class. However, I have found that running can actually take you out of your mind for awhile, let you explore things you might not otherwise think about, take you away from the stresses of your day to day life, and just (despite the labored breathing and beat up body) let you relax.
Let's Tarantino this a bit. Back up a little over a year. Lexi, my hairdresser tells me, "So, I'm training for this marathon." My reaction? "She's f'ing crazy. Why the F would anyone want to run that far? That's just stupid." By this point in my life, I was really lazy so anyone running more than from the grocery store to their car when it was raining outside was insane to me.
Moving forward...I had enough of being lazy and decided it was time to lose weight and get fit. I started P90X in January and finished in May. I lost about 11 pounds, 15 inches overall, and was feeling good and looking good. I had abs again, muscle tone, it's great. Anyway, I get this e-mail at the beginning of May asking me to come to a TNT meeting to find out about the marathon training. I thought, "Oh, I'll just go and see what it's about. I probably won't even do it." But after sitting through the meeting and hearing people tell their amazing stories of how TNT and the LLS (Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) helped them survive their ordeals, I just knew I was going to do it.
So, here I am, a little over a month after that meeting, I've ran countless miles and now have a patellafemoral syndrome injury (my kneecap is rubbing wrong), and I couldn't be happier with my life. I am doing something good, I am meeting amazing people, doing amazing things I never thought I could do, and I feel like my life is worth something again. Thank you TNT and LLS for getting me up and running, literally. I couldn't have done it without you.
