Ever since my divorce last spring, I've been on a journey to reclaim myself. I believe that for many years I lost myself in different ways. I definitely lost my voice, lost my self-esteem, floundered in depression, and basically lost who I once was. That strong, secure, independent young woman of 22 years ago who could do anything.
One big part of my life back then was marathon running. I started long distance running at the age of 12 and ran my first 26.2-mile marathon at 17. It turned out that not only did I really enjoy running marathons, I was pretty good at it. Running was a big self-esteem boost for me, and I made some great friends through it. My last marathon was the Boston Marathon, which I did in 1985. I did a couple of half-marathons after that, but haven't done anything longer than a 5k since 1987, which happened to be the year I fell in love with my ex-husband.
So here I am 22 years and 4 babies later, with a very different (not to mention older) body, and I'm going to try a big race. I'm not quite ready to do the full 26.2 miles, but I want to try the half-marathon to see how I do. It's this Sunday, and I've been training for about 3 months for it, so I think I'm ready. I'm still a little nervous, though. For me, it's not just about finishing the race. It's also about getting back a part of me that I felt good about.