A young girl racing against the boys....

This is me at age 11 running my first 880 yard run. I am the only girl in the race and you see I am leading the pack. That boy did end up beating me in the final sprint to the finish, but it was still a huge win for me! My time was 2:32 and it was quickly decided that this was to be my new distance to race, moving up from the 440. I ended up being named East Coast Champ in my age group for AAU and ran a 2:28. I continued to race this distance through high school and it still remains my favorite distance.

As I've said before, my parents putting me on a track team at age 9 was the best thing they ever did for me. Mom drove me to and from 2 hour practices every day after school and we traveled across several states and cities almost every weekend year round! We both loved it! Dad came to meets when he could.

I know the discipline instilled in me has carried into my adult years. Although I suffered weight gain and eating disorders in my early 20's, I never left my running and it has made me the person I am today. I still love to compete although I have mellowed so much in the past 10 years.

This month I've been doing a Run Every Day Challenge, as January, was Yoga for 30 in 35 days Challenge. The yoga challenge was easier than this one has been. I stopped running daily several years ago after wear and tear on my feet but I picked a short month to do this challenge and also 1 mile is my minimum and I've done that twice so far this month!

The Run Challenge is going great, the first week I had 38 miles and this past week, 35. I've used my treadmill some for the shorter runs and like I said, twice I've only logged 1 mile, one day when I had a severe migraine and the other was the day before my 16 mile long run this past weekend. My 16 miler went great, my body is feeling good, no aches and pains and I think it's due to the SLOW pace. In the past when I ran my marathons I wanted to beat a certain time, or for sure under 4 hours, this time is all about having fun and just enjoying the journey! I averaged an 11 min pace Saturday and that was with a few walk breaks, so when I'm running, it's usually 9:30-10 pace. I know I can go faster but I am going to be smart and just see how my body handles the milage after all these years of laying off.

I had a bone density test last week and I scored EXCELLENT. Tester said my femurs were the brightest (which is good) she had seen of the test subjects so far and for my age I scored very high! So, I guess 42 years of pounding the pavement hasn't weakened my bones any, in fact, it's made them stronger!

Challenge continues!