Deep breath. Am I really doing this? YES. Yes, I am doing this. When I told my parents, they kind of looked at me like, "Okay, sure, but I know, and YOU know, it's not gonna happen." But I don't know that. In fact, I'm feeling more and more like it IS going to happen.

I am Jovanie. I am 22 years old. I weigh upwards of 185 pounds. I love food and I am completely out of shape and never exercise. And I'm going to run the 2013 Tinkerbell Half Marathon.

It sounds crazy. To anyone who knows me, it sounds IMPOSSIBLE. Ridiculous, and impossible. It even sounds like that to me. I have never been athletic, in my entire life, and have been overweight for nearly all of it. But I'm also a student nurse, and I know that I can't keep living my life like this. My health is suffering, and of course, I could lose a few pounds, to put it conservatively, to boost my image and self-esteem. I also know that I don't want to be one of those nurses who tells their patients that they need to start losing weight and exercising for their health, and have them want to throw that back in my face. I can't do that. I want to be more fit and more healthy; the looks will just be a perk.
I've been feeling this for a long time now, but just haven't really known how to start. Or what to do. Then, today, in what has to be the most BORING class anyone has ever had to take, I was telling my friends about what was going on at Disneyland. That's the other thing you should know. I'm a Disney-holic, as one teacher affectionately called me; I love anything and everything Disney. Anyway, I mentioned that last weekend was the first ever runDisney Tinkerbell Half Marathon. And my friend Leslie, who doesn't even know what she's started, said to me, "Jovanie, you should do that." And I'm like "um HELLO, ME? Run a half a marathon?" And she's like "Yeah, it's Tinkerbell, it's Disney, it'd be perfect for you."
And then I started thinking. The next Tink 1/2 (that's what I'm gonna call it for short because it's a pain to write out Tinkerbell Half Marathon every time) isn't for another 11 months. They allot three and half hours for the race; that's 16 minutes per mile. Even on my worst day, I think I could probably do that. And with 11 months to train, and start getting into running, it would probably be that much easier...
And then it was decided. I'm gonna run a half marathon.
It's still sort of sinking in; but I've been looking at the runDisney website, and they've got a lot of helpful stuff. There's a Training Program for Beginners, designed specifically for the Tink 1/2, by Jeff Galloway, who is apparently a champ and all that, and it only requires three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday, and a weekend day. That, my friends, is TOTALLY doable. Especially since Tuesdays and Thursdays are my short class days...

I can do this. I can. Despite my original comment about my parents, I'm surrounded by wonderful supportive people, and my family is the most. Once they see that I'm going for this, they'll back me 110%. My friends will too. My friend Bonster told me she had just started running and had started a running blog with our mutual friend CowboyChaser, and that just gave me the boost I needed to make it official. Maybe we'll all run the Tink 1/2 together. :)

So I will start on Thursday with the running. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to try to really get myself to eat better and smarter, and drink more water. Because that's important, right?

If you want to follow me on my journey to earn my wings and my pixie dust, welcome aboard. All it takes is faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust. But a cheering squad wouldn't hurt.