Running to Keep OUR Sanity

"Running To Keep My Sanity" is adding another author! My name is Johanna and my sister Corrine started this blog to track her running workouts and her progress. She has been running for quite awhile and I always admired her for that. I started running after I had my first child 10 years ago and then had 3 more babies and a husband who worked a lot so running was put on the shelf. This past year I have taken up running again and found that I not only lost weight, I found sanity!

Last Spring I found a running partner and we started running. I was desperately trying to loose some weight, but found the harder I tried to loose weight the more the weight stayed on! I went back to visit a Dr. because my thyroid was enlarged and he told me that I must have gotten the fat gene in my family and I would probably be overweight the rest of my life. I should therefore focus on being healthy. I went home and cried a little, well a lot and then I got mad at him and decided to prove him wrong. So I decided to focus on working towards something focusing on "being healthy". I convinced my running sidekick that we should run a relay race. I told her that having other people that were counting on us would encourage us to keep going, and it worked. We worked hard and put in the mileage and ran our 5 mile part of the relay. We also had a great time. After we finished I was looking for another race or goal for us to complete. So I signed up to run a half marathon.

During my half marathon training I found out I really enjoyed running. I enjoyed the time with my sidekick as we hashed out issues we were facing in our lives. I also found out I like running by myself! Running is my "Time Out", it's my time to myself and I don't have to get more chocolate milk in the sippy cup, or referee a battle about who has had more time on the computer. Running became my thing and now my kids associate me with running. They even made me a character on the Xbox with workout clothes. Running gave me some sanity in my life. After a run I found I can think clearer and handle life better.

I decided to start blogging with my sister because I understood the title of her blog and what it really meant. She is my coach, wether she likes it or not, and I am ALWAYS asking for advise about running and what I should do next. I want to be as fast as she is some day so if I pick her brain and find out what she is doing I can become a better runner and why not share that with others? And I could share what I am doing that is working for me as a new runner. We are real moms trying to keep our sanity, and our common denominator is running.