Looking back...

August 9, 2009 changed my life, what I thought was the worse day of my life, turned out to be an amazing turning point.  This was the day after Katie Duffey's best birthday.  We had gone to the Patti LuPone where she had met Patti and gone out after that.  I woke up the next morning to my car having not nice words keyed in several places on my car....which after taking to the insurance company was $1700 in damages.  I was devastated, I felt like I had been personally beat up.    I still to this day have never found the person that did this.  But over the next few days I was in a fog of depression and embarrassment.   After a night of crying on Manny's couch, I finally got the kick in the ass I needed.  She told me straight up that I needed to do something with myself to change, if its my job, where I live, what I'm doing....something needed to change because I was beyond depressed.  Then she suggested that I run the Nashville half marathon with the other girls and I laughed, thinking it was impossible.  Over the next few days I really considered it...what was really standing in my way?  So I laced up a very old pair of running shoes and went out for a "jog".  I couldn't at a very slow pace run 500 yards, and thought I had a very long way to go, but was now determined to this! I ended up running that half marathon and two more later in the year.  I lost 75 lbs.  I became a much happier person overall.....and it all started with some asshole who thought they were getting me down!

Here is a pic of me that night at the Lupone concert:

Looking back I never saw myself as big as I actually was, but this pic makes me so sad.  How did I ever let myself get to that point?

  Here is a pic of me before the State-to-State Half Marathon in September:

I'm not where I want to be currently, but  I am proud of how far I have come.  I couldn't have done this without my amazing support system who is always there with support and encouragement.  My Chicago family has not only picked me up when I was down but gave me the encouragement I needed to get here!

So thank you to whoever keyed my car that night, you made me realize how depressed I had let myself get and gave me the catalyst to get myself out....I never thought I would ever say that!