Mama of three completes a HALF MARATHON!

Here is the story of a mama, perhaps just like you. Amy started attending StrollerFit with her oldest daughter, Dorothy, about three years ago. When Dorothy was about 18 months old, Amy found out she was pregnant...with twins! She was on bed rest in the hospital for many weeks and came through the situation with two beautiful baby boys. Amy returned to StrollerFit with her double stroller in hand, ready to get back in shape. While she has always been an active mom, she was never an avid runner. Here is how Amy got to the finish line of her first half marathon:

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I started running last fall, I signed up for the women's 5K, and at the expo, I saw a booth for the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon. I grabbed a tiara for Dorothy and went on my way. But it got me thinking. I needed a goal, I needed something...extra...to add to my exercise routine. I had to miss the 5K because I was sick, but I was still thinking about the 1/2.

My husband, David, thought it was a great idea. he was training for the Gasparilla marathon at the time.

I proposed the idea to my friends, and 3 of them said yes...we would all run the 1/2 marathon together. It was a weekend away from the kids...just what we all needed. So I looked for a training program, one that started out very slow, I still could not run a mile without stopping and walking, I was very worried.

I started by running a few days a week and doing a longer run on the weekends. I'd run a mile or two after StrollerFit with the boys in the stroller, and then do a longer run on the weekends. Eventually I dropped the mid-week runs because running with the stroller (and the boys) was just to hard for everyone involved, I kept up with StrollerFit and increased my long weekend run by one mile every weekend. The cold weather in January gave me a few weekends off, which was nice, but not so nice too. My longest run was 8 miles, but it felt terrible and VERY slow---only just barely under the 16 min/mile pace I needed to keep in order to finish--and get my medal. I was seriously worried about my chances for finishing the race. But I kept running, I ran a 10K in 70 minutes--that's 11 minute miles, and it felt great. after the 8 mile run, I tapered down, kept running shorter distances and slowed down with StrollerFit as well. I didn't want to risk overdoing it. With under two weeks to go I dropped an ottoman on my foot. Luckily I didn't do any damage.

My last run before the race was Thursday, and I ran my usual 3 miles.

RACE DAY. Early in the morning...3 am, we wake up, get down to the race course with the 13,000 other women running the 1/2 marathon. there was a ribbon of people as far as you could see in either direction. We made it into our corral and had to wait and try to keep warm for almost 2 hours. finally 6 am the race starts, but it would be another 1/2 hour until we actually started running. It felt so good to finally run. There were so many people, and so many people to pass, there was barely a point for the first 5 miles when we could just run in a straight line, mostly we were passing people and constantly saying "on your left" The bands, DJ's and characters along the way really kept us moving. I ran with a friend for 8 or 9 miles and then couldn't keep up, she kept going and I put my earphones in. When I hit the 10 mile mark, I told myself that all I had left was my regular morning 3-mile run. when I hit the 11 mile mark, I told myself I only had to go out and back on my street--one mile in each direction. When I got to 12 miles, I told myself all I had to do was RUN HOME!

All I wanted to do was finish the race without getting picked up by the bus. In the end, I ran the whole thing and finished in 2:49, well faster than the 3:30 cut off. The feeling of accomplishment and pride is amazing. I wasn't even that sore the following day!

I start running again this weekend, and I'm planning on running the women's 1/2 marathon in November here in St. Petersburg. I'd like to go faster this time!