WAY out of my comfort zone...

A little about myself:

There once was a 31 year old princess wanna be who lived in a land far, far away - well, La Plata, Maryland...

Ok, for real now… My name is Jean and I am now 34.  I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, my family moved to Maryland in 1994.  I graduated from the University of Maryland College Park and later from the University of Maryland, School of Law. 

Made a life changing decision in 2009 – I joined the Delaware Air National Guard.  I knew when I took that oath, I would not only be committing to the Guard, but also to getting into and maintaining a fairly good physical condition.  When it came time to leave for training, I would have to be able to run 1.5 miles in under 16 minutes (won’t even mention the push-ups and sit-ups requirements, sigh) in order to pass the AF Physical Fitness test. 

Now, if you are a runner (or really just in generally good shape) this may not seem like a big deal.  I, however, was not!

So…I started running.  Oh, who am I kidding, there was no actual running – more like shuffling and crawling at times. 

My mom has always been my biggest cheerleader and this time was no exception.  She would go to the local high school’s track with me almost every afternoon.  She peeled me off the track when I could barely move at the end of shuffling for one lap.  Mom started bringing bags of ice with her to ice my legs at the end of a 25 minute mile (I wish I was kidding!).  Let’s just say, those first few months of “running” were no picnic! 

Eventually, the pain started being less and I could actually make it around the track once without stopping.  My time began to improve – though I definitely wasn’t breaking any records.  ;-)  I can still remember the first time I was able to make my time – my mom and dad were both at the track that day.  I could have cried, in fact, I think I did. 

I’m not gonna lie, I started to like running.  At times, after particularly crappy days, I even needed running.

I have now passed several PT tests, ran a 5K at a fairly decent pace (well, for me - 11:35min mile - Yay, ME!), signed up for an 8k in November and will be running the Disney Princess Half Marathon with 4 of my bestest friends in the world!  This blog will follow us the next several months as we prepare and train for this race!

Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're probably right. Henry Ford