Motivational Monday(Kristy's Story)

I was going to hold off until tomorrow to start posting peoples stories about why they got into running, but after reading some I have decided they are great for motivation. Here is the first story and hopefully we get a lot more coming in. The point of this is to read these stories and realize everyone started out from the bottom and worked their way up. It may have been for losing weight or to just see if they could run a certain distance, but they had to start somewhere.

     I got into running because I wanted to run a marathon, by the time I turned thirty. I had never ran more than 7 miles, and that was before I picked up my pack-a-day smoking habit, which was going six years strong. I finally started training for my first marathon, November 2007, seven months before my thirtieth birthday. I didn't follow a training plan, and I had no idea what I was doing. In May of 2008, thirteen days before my thirtieth birthday, I completed the Cleveland Marathon in 4:19:59. After that marathon, I was hooked, I ran 6 marathons my first year. I quit smoking, June 2010, because I was so motivated to qualify for the Boston Marathon. After a heartbreaking miss of a BQ, by 12 seconds in 2011, and a horrible injury (4 stress fractures in my proximal tibia), I finally qualified at that same marathon, the Shamrock, a year later, on only six weeks of training. Today, I've ran 16 full marathons, 17 official half marathons (1 virtual), and countless other races, and I have no plans to stop! - Kristy @ PghRunner.com

     

     Let me start out by saying I have nothing but respect for Kristy.  Anyone who qualifies for Boston gets my respect.  I have not done this yet and I am striving to do it very soon.  Also, nothing like some good old running to get you to quit smoking.  Great story and I think this shows that you have to start somewhere and that the sky is the limit.