It’s taken me some time to call myself “a runner” because I always see it as an area needing constant improvement. I took my first step into running during my husband’s deployment to Afghanistan and what at first seemed like a fun thing to do with my kids, turned into so much more.

I was bit by the fitness bug in November 2012. I had 3 kids, my husband was gone, and I needed something to do outside of my house. Being at home really made me feel the absence of my husband. My kids asked lots of hard questions. We all missed our soldier. “I miss Dad” was on repeat every hour of the waking day. So, I joined my local YMCA, signed up for their personal training program, took up Zumba with a bestie, and started to run (again).

I tried to run after I had Lilli in February 2012, but got stuck on Week 3 of Couch to 5K time and time again. I’d buy new running shoes every time I’d restart the program and had quite the collection of nice kicks. Anyways, I started running again in November 2012 and this time I was determined to finish my first 5K, The Dirty Girl Mud Run. I trained hard for that 5K, showed up on race day, and ran maybe a block of it. It was definitely more of a walking event. But, I ran into some like-minded people who said they wanted to start running too!

That’s when I started training for my first half-marathon! With the help of some great ladies, who I refer to as my “sweatysistahs”, I ran farther than I’d ever run. It was the best time of my life! We trained together for the Leavenworth Half-Marathon, running our longer runs on Saturdays with Wear Blue: Run To Remember. So much is discussed on those long runs that you can’t help but NOT become close friends.

So, here it is the day of my first ever Half-Marathon and I get injured at mile 6. My IT-band decided to fail and I walked, jogged, limped, and finally sprinted across that finish line. I would have never finished without the help from my sweatysistahs. They literally held me up during that race. And that’s what running is all about to me- raising each other up! Whether you’re fast or slow, new to running or knee deep in race bibs, I want to encourage and support you as so many of my sweatysistahs have for me!

Since starting my fitness and running journey, a little group of military wives and crafty friends have begun to support one another in our fitness endeavors. We challenge each other to plank-offs, 30 day squat challenges, and cheer for one another when we update our social media pages with sweaty selfies for exercises complete!

Starting today, every Saturday I’ll post my musings and ramblings of all things running and exercise related!

If you’d like a little encouragement in the fitness department, feel free to leave my your Instagram, Twitter, MapMyRun, and Facebook info so that we can follow one another and help raise each other up!

You can find me here using #sweatysistahs:

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Map My Run- Tiffany36107057

Next week, I’ll be sharing some “lessons learned”! Today, I’ll be running 7 miles. Hope to see you guys out there in the blogosphere!

Thanks for joining me,