Guest Blogger

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Bloggy Post Exchange as much as I have! I’m happy to be posting Bobbi’s running story:

Hi, I am Bobbi and I blog at zeroto26point2.blogspot.com. It’s so great to be doing a guest post for Darlene!

SO often when I talk about my running journey, I begin with where I started running most recently in March of 2010. But really, that March was the culmination of a long road of self discovery. It’s safe to say that I discovered the Bobbi I want to be that March, but it was after a ton of epic screw ups and toxic apathy along the way.

As a kid, I was introverted and shy. We were pretty broke as a family. There were no sports teams for me, and at the time, I was ok with that. I spent much of my time with my head in a book anyhow – I had no interest in team sports. When I hit middle school, I actually was interested in trying out some sports, but my fear stood in my way. And by the time I actually got over that fear, everyone else had been playing for a while, and I felt like I wasn’t good enough to overcome the few years my classmates had on me in terms of playing time.

So during my freshman year, I went out for track. I figured if I sucked at it (and oh, I did) it was only on me – I wasn’t letting anyone down. I hated meets. I was a terrible sprinter. But I loved practice. And I really loved the longer distances. I only ran track the one season, but the seed was planted. Looking back, I SHOULD have gone out for cross country. But I never made the connection at the time.

Throughout college, I ran on and off, as the only “working out” that I actually enjoyed. I met my first husband my senior year, and I promptly gained a bunch of weight. We ate. We ate a LOT. His family ate. I was so unhealthy. Our relationship was so unhealthy. After a year, I left him. And I started to take back my life again.

When I met my current hubs, I started that unhealthy cycle all over again. And then we got married and nearly immediately pregnant, and I used that as an excuse to be as foolish with my food choices as I wanted to. I could kick myself looking back, but you know what they say about hindsight, right? We have 4 great kids that I’d give my life for, but I lost myself in there again. I ran a bit on and off between pregnancies, but I never managed to stick with it. Or I’d get pregnant again and quit.

When James, my youngest, was nearly 3, I finally reached a point where I was disgusted with myself. I felt awful. I got sick all the time. My cholesterol was terrible. The yo-yo dieting would take the weight off so that I could put it back on again. I needed a big change. So I registered for the Chicago marathon to be run on 10-10-10. Without having run in years. I was TERRIFIED. But elated and excited and thrilled with the possibilities! Then I got down to training.

In those first few months, I ran because I had to. To get across the finish line, it was necessary. I followed my training plan mostly. I was slow, but that didn’t bother me. I ran my first half marathon in August – the Chicago Rock and Roll half. Looking back, I didn’t race it very smartly, and I didn’t recover well, and I spent the majority of August not able to run at all. And I MISSED IT.

Somewhere along the way, running changed me. And it changed for me. It became something I craved. This weekend, I’ll repeat running the Rock and Roll half. And I know I’ll do it better. Because now? I love the run. And running loves me right back.