Back in March/April of 2013 I lost a childhood friend to cancer. Once I heard the news I was crushed Dee was such a part of my growing up and she shaped many of my adventures with, "where there's a will there's a way". Whenever it seemed like there was no hope we always had our motto, "where thers a will thers a way". Fast forward twenty years or so my friend and I crying in the car just coming out of Dee's wake both phyically and mentally shaken from this loss, we made a promise. We promised that our OVER 40 selves would get our asses in gear and do something fun for Dee.
I had been battling my weight for years and I had lost 20lbs but I still needed to lose 85 or more to get back to what I was when I got married. I said to my friend that I wanted to run a race. My dream was to run the Disney Princess Marathon, but I didn't think I could do it. At that moment she said ME TOO!! We came up with a plan. We would do a FUN RUN nothing timed because we didn't want any pressure. I signed us up for a glow run and then a color run. I also came across the new website called DIETBET. I was very intergued. I thought why not. I weight in at 227 took my first dietbet picture and I was off. Where there's a will there's a way was in full force with me. I was training for my first 5k. I was hitting the treadmill I was walking outside I was watching everything I ate and I won my first dietbet and then my second and so I kept winning and losing weight.
Our first glow run was so fun. We did it. I was down about 40lbs but I was so determined to get to my goal weight. We kept training and running our fun runs, I even ran a few timed races as well. After I got down to 150 it was harder for me to lose and I couldn't win my dietbets. I was very sad that I had to stop I knew I needed a break from the competition, but I loved my dietbets, I loved the family I have found online. My goals had to change. After a six month break from dietbet I made some changes to my goals and lifestyle again.
My new goal was to train for the Princess Marathon. I wasn't sure if my friend could do it, because of financial reasons but I knew I needed to do it, to keep training for something bigger than myself. I was going to train to be a princess and nobody was going to stop me. So here I am training for my first Princess 1/2 Marathon. I joined 3 dietbets to get me back on my training track and to keep me focused through the holidays. I am donating 100% of my winnings to the Childrens's Miracle Network under my charity website. I have to raise $1200 in order for me to race. My husband is very supportive of me and my friend is still training for us to do a half together after I complete this one. I ran my first race for DEE and everything she believed in and I am racing my Princess Half for me and everything I have become. I have so many more goals after this one, my list keeps growing.
I'll keep you posted in the upcoming weeks in my training to be a princess. If you would like to take a small portion of your winnings and donate it to my charity page that would be awesome, however if you can't that's ok too. I would love you to cheer me on and give me the inspiration to keep going.