I'm Ready for a New Challenge...

Many of you know that 3 1/2 years ago I was in 2 car accidents within 8 days.  The first one shook me up and the second one injured my back pretty bad.  I also developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result.  I've been in physical therapy for many, many months, had cortisone injections into my S-I joints, been treated by a chiropractor...and the results are that I have a permanant S-I joint dysfunction.  So I am having to learn to live with daily back pain.  The only hope I have of living a "normal" life is to keep my core muscles strong.  Since finishing PT back in July I have not really done any regular exercises.  I admit...I have a hard time staying motivated.  But I've found something that not only motivates me, but helps out a local charity as well.  I am going to participate in a Mary-thon. 

Now, I didn't say I was going to run a marathon.  A Mary-thon is a 26 week self-designed fitness program that commits me to a minimum of 30 minutes per day of the physical exercises of my choice for 5 days per week.  At this present time, I can not run, I can only walk short distances and I can't stand more than 5 minutes without pain.  So I am going to have to get very creative with my fitness program.  But I'm very excited because Project Linus of East Tennessee will get a $10 donation with my registration.  So I get the motivation I need to keep moving and one of my favorite charities gets some money to help them care for kids in need.

I'm going to be starting on January 1 for 26 weeks.  Do you want to join me?  Go to www.marython.net and sign up.  You can do a full mary-thon or a half-mary-thon (exercising 3 times a week) or even a mini mary-thon (for 12 weeks 3 times a week) for various prices.  You might ask: Why pay money to do something you can do for free?  Well, to be honest, I need the motivation to keep moving forward.  The three years of PT have strengthen my back, but if I don't exercise, then those muscles will get weak again.  I've been in a lot more pain recently because I haven't been exercising.  So if I don't exercise, I'm going to have even more trouble on down the road.  Plus it's hard to not gain weight at my age if all I do is sit all the time.  So I want to try and regain as much movement and flexibility as I possibly can.  There was only 1 person who told me they thought I could get better.  Mark, my physical therapist, believed in me and I can't let him down by sitting around and not moving forward.  He courageously ran a marathon several years ago when the doctors told him that he would never be able to run one because of having had part of his lung removed because of cancer.  So I am going to push forward and hopefully prove Mark right. 

Here's a photo of my racing bib.  Watch for #190 to finish her mary-thon sometime in 2013. 

Want to do something good for yourself in 2013?  Then sign up and join me as we keep moving forward!  Don't forget to put "East TN" in the comments line of the registration so that our local chapter gets the donation.