I AM a runner

Hello! My name is Maggie, and I am a runner. Some days a slow below average runner, some days a faster above average runner. I haven't always been a runner. When I was in high school - which feels like eons ago - I was in track, a sprinter. I couldn't run 2 miles to save my life. I stopped running a year or so after high school. After getting married and just gaining that middle age weight, I thought, "I should run again." So I did. I started in the neighborhood, just doing a half mile here and there. Then that turned into a mile, then two, and so on. Last year I ran my first Marathon, after getting back into running 3 years ago. I love it! I get crabby when I can't run for more than a few days in a row.

Imagine how I feel now. I have been out of the running world for 6 months now, with a bad disc in my neck stemming from a long ago childhood accident. I recently had a Anterior Cervical Discectomy and fusion and hopefully after my next check up I will be able to start running again! Counting down the days till then - should be only another 12 days! YAY!! Wish me luck! I have been able to get back to the gym recently with the doctors permission - using only a treadmill and an elliptical. No running, walking outside with the Wisconsin winters, no walking the dogs, no weights, no bouncing, sit ups, push ups..... It's been hard to handle with the way I used to be. Teaching Cardio Kick Boxing 2 nights a week, running at least 5 nights a week. Soon! My husband, Keith, was nice enough to hang a heavy bag in the basement for when I can do use that again. I won't go back to the teaching, but will enjoy the extra cardio exercise and stress reliever of having that down there!

I have planned a good year of running road races and training for the Whistlestop Marathon in October again. Hoping for a better time this coming year. If I use the month of January to get back into the swing of things, into the 1-2 mile runs, then the training from the very beginning will start on February 1st. I like to us the Cool Running Guides to help me train.

I love to run on the Wiowash Trail in Oshkosh here once in awhile. A great place to train for the marathon I am going to run again, as the trails are similar.

Please take a look at some of the neat little gadget's I have on the right, to help you be a better stronger runner. Check back once in awhile. I will post information that I find helpful to me, and hopefully to you. Thanks for taking a look!

Dr. George Sheehan, a running expert, is quoted to have said "the difference between a jogger and a runner is an entry blank"