A little history lesson

To begin this blog I thought I'd better tell you what it is about. My name is Elizabeth. My whole life I have been overweight. Growing up was hard, there was a constant awareness of my size, I avoided sitting on buses, rides,anywhere that I might not fit. I can remember going shopping with my mom when I was twelve and having to not only shop in the women's section, but in the plus-size women's. Today wouldn't be quite as bad, retail stores have figured out that just because you are fat doesn't mean you have to wear a mu-mu, but I still cringe each time I hear a mom tell her little girl, "I'm sorry honey, that outfit is just too small for you." Fast forward a few years. At twenty-one I decided to serve a mission for my church. This would involve a LOT of walking so I began to eat a little better and exercise. My weight in those eighteen months went from the highest it had ever been to the lowest I could remember. Toward the end (this is where the marathon part comes in) I was working with an amazing girl who had been a runner all her life. I was intrigued. Running was always something I completely avoided. Not only because I had never run more that a few blocks in my life, but because...well, when you run you jiggle, and I was particularly jiggly. However, the past eighteen months I had been doing things I never thought I could and it had given me confidence, I didn't worry so much about what people saw when they looked at me but how I felt. I felt I could run. At first I could do no more than two minutes without gasping, but gradually I began to increase the amount I time that I ran, pushing a little harder each day. After four weeks I did something I thought impossible, I ran a mile. Without stopping. It took me thirteen minutes, and I almost passed out, but I did it. I decided then that my ultimate goal would be a marathon. I didn't know when, but I was going to run a marathon at some point in my life.