Well, I accidentally posted a "hi new here" thread without bothering to read this one first. Duh!

Anyway, hi again! I'm Jaci newly from Wisconsin (since August) but prior to that lived my whole life in Iowa. My husband and I have been married for 11 years and we have an almost (on Saturday!) 9-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son. I'm self-employed (hence the ebaymommy username) and work from home while the kids are at school.

I'm a former I-hate-to-run person turned marathoner. Never ran a step until college when a roommate talked me into doing a 20K (yeah, as my first race....good thing I was young and stupid...LOL!). It was a lot of pain & suffering as we were somewhat undertrained, but finishing it gave me a huge sense of accomplishment. I did some shorter (5 & 10K) races off & on during the years I was pregnant or nursing.

Then when I was about to turn 30 I decided to kick my behind in gear and get in the best shape of my life and challenge myself to do something I never thought I would do. So in 2008 I ran my first marathon. Decided it was sort of like giving birth in that after a while the memories of the pain & suffering went away and I decided to do another one. As my kids got older I bonded with a great group of ladies (3-4 of us) who had similar age kiddos and we ran together a LOT. We did a number of races together including 2 trips to Duluth to run Grandma's.

That has been my biggest struggle since moving to Wisconsin this summer....I miss my running groupies! We spent hours pounding the pavement together talking about everything under the sun. I need to find some new people to run with here in my new town, but I haven't found anyone yet.

Right now I'm planning to follow Hal Higdon's "Personal Best" marathon training program that is 30 weeks long which if I start this Saturday will take me to June 2012 and my 3rd Grandma's Marathon in a row. Gonna run it with my Iowa girls....and that will be my motivation to keep going this winter! I'd like to run a sub-4 hour marathon. I ran Grandma's this spring in just over 4 hours (4:05). I'd like to shoot for a BQ someday as well, but need to either get older or run faster or perhaps a bit of both.

^^ Wow! Such an inspiration! Loved reading about your transformation and your personal running journey. Runners are such fascinating and inspiring individuals, and YOU lady kick some major *kitten*! :bigsmile:

No, kicking major *kitten* is my grandma.

She's 70 and has run her whole life but nothing longer than a 5K or so. When she retired a few years ago she decided to take up distance running. She ran a 20K with me in 2010....her first! This spring she was training to run another 20K and had an accident. A previously undiagnosed heart condition caused her to pass out while on a long training run. She was on a trail and when she came to she got up and started walking. She was found by someone out for a walk and taken to the hospital. Just a few weeks prior to that I had given her a Road ID bracelet for her 70th b-day and told her I hoped she never needed it. She did that day. She ended up with not broken bones, but majorly scraped up and bruised on her hands, knees and face as well as a concussion and 4 broken front teeth that had to be wired in. She was on a liquid and soft food diet for almost 2 months. Her doctor got her all squared away with medication for the heart condition and she is back to running again.

Honestly, she's my inspiration. I don't know that I could get myself back out there after having gone through something like that.

Hello, my name is Aaron and I live in Stamford, CT and work in NYC. I have been running most of my life with any breaks along the way for various reasons. Began running again Jan 11' and I could barely make it 5 minutes without stopping which was very depressing considering how far and long I use to run. But I ran almost everyday thereafter, a little bit more at a time, and 60 lbs. later I now I feel I am back to being a full runner again. Looking forward to a full slate of races in 12' including a couple half marathons and possibly a full marathon.

Hi Runners,
I just signed up for the suntrust 1/2 in dc. It's my first. It's gonna be on March 17, 2012. As of today I have 120 days to keep training.
I thank you in advance for the helpful links and motivation you all share with the rest.

hi everyone. my name is Joni, and i live in new zealand.
i'd never ran for a bus for my entire adult life, but one night in november 2009 me and my hubby had a massive row. he told me to go take the dog for a walk to clear my head- i was so angry that i didn't know what to do with all of this extra energy i had. so i ran to a lamp post. then walked the next 2, ran 1 walked 2. and, for me, that's how it started.
i kept increasing my distances until i eventually got to being able to do about 500 metres in 1 go (bearing in mind that i was about 230lbs at the time). then in feb 2010 (on my first 5k race), i found out i was pregnant again. so all of that running went on hold, but every time i saw a jogger i was so jealous and wanted to be out there running too. had baby in the oct, and i started getting serious about running again in jan 2011.
so, i started with c25k, then b210k. did a few races- nothing outstanding with the times, but my goal is always to finish without walking. and i am slow! then i moved to hal higdon's half marathon training, and did a half in sept and another in oct.
for now i'm having a short break from the distance running- i feel like i've not stopped pushing since jan and just need a little hiatus to get the passion back again. so i'm doing 5k a day to try and improve my speed a bit over short distances, and also just to show myself that i can improve.
but at the start of dec comes a 20 week training programme for the rotorua marathon that i'm running on 28th april 2012. eek- i'm really nervous. i know how trying i've found the halves, but i want the bling! it's all about the medal! and on 26th feb i'm running another half. i'll probably throw a few more races in there when i can.
and for what it's worth i'm a mum of 3 under 5, and i work full time. admittedly my hubby is awesome and is fully supportive of me doing this, but if i can make the time then so can anyone!

Hi, I'm Angela. I'm in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

I just started running in January and I'm hooked. I did 2 5k's and 2 10ks this year. My plan is to do 3 halfs next year.

My next race will be in February. a 10k freezer.

Hello - Elle here! I'm new to MFP and near the very end of my weight loss journey. Probably closer to stabilization but love the MFP community and tools. I started my journey in 2004 when I weighed 226 lbs - not related to any sort of pregnancy or anything, just plain fat. Today I'm hovering around 140 and feel really good about where I'm at. I started running in 2005 after being encouraged to start by my older sister who was a triathlete that herself had lost close to 100 lbs.

I ran for about two years, stopped, quit being careful about what I ate, blah blah blah, gained a bunch of my weight back. In November of 2008 I decided to make my health a priority, started losing weight with Weight Watchers (can't say enough good things about that program), and started running once again. I ran my first 1/2 marathon in October this year, my second in November, and will run my third in December. To say I'm hooked on this distance would be an understatement. My goal is to continue with my training and conditioning and run a full marathon either in October of 2012 (Marine Corp in DC) or January of 2013 (Disney in Orlando). I absolutely LOVE the running community. The encouragement and support they give one another is unparalleled.

Hello my name is Nilda. I joined cause I signed up for a half Marathon end of January and starting training about a month ago and trying to lose weight at the same time.

Fellow slow runner- as a friend so generously told me...no need to be ashamed of our pace because it still beats all those people who didn't get off the couch to try

Hi All - I'm Pam from the Indianapolis, Indiana area. I just started running in March of this year, when I just started this round of weight loss - 30 seconds was my maximum time. I've walked the Indianapolis Mini Marathon for about 7 years now and set the goal to run my first half this fall.. September 3rd was my target - the 1st ever Indianapolis Women's Half Marathon, which was a nice toasty 90 degree day by the time we finished. Since then I've run 1 more half this fall and while I'm still slow, my speeds continue to rise. Currently continuing my running work with the goal of getting down to under a 12 minute mile for the next Indy Mini (from 14 minutes my last half). I did run a 5K under that pace in October, so I think I have plenty of time to get there. Looking at also joining one of the half marathon training programs that's offered locally starting in January to keep the focus. When I started, this year, was not sure if I'd really like running, but always knew it was a great weight loss tool - found that I love it, even now that I'm doing my long runs in freezing weather! Looking at training for a full marathon for next fall (which of course my husband things is totally nuts!)

looking forward to suggestions and more ideas in the group!