If you would've asked me 10 years ago about how I'd be running marathons regularly, I would've told you you were crazy! Over the years, I'd started packing on the pounds, until I was having all sorts of obesity-related health issues, like high blood pressure and sleep apnea. I could barely walk, and forget wearing regular running or walking shoes!
I made a life-changing decision in 2012 to get weight loss surgery. I got a gastric sleeve that made my stomach smaller so that I try to manage my out-of-control eating. And as the weight started coming off, I realized I had to change my entire outlook on life, and embrace an active lifestyle. I started with the elliptical machine at the gym, and slowly began introducing running.
Although I had "woggled" (walked/jogged/wiggled) in marathons every 10 years or so, as the weight came off, I found I could run faster.
My goals then were 10Ks and half-marathons. And over the years, I kept running, eventually running the Boston Marathon, as well as the other races in the Abbott World Majors Marathon Challenge (Chicago, New York City, London, Tokyo, Berlin, and Boston).