About Celebrate 2011: This year has been full of ups and downs for me. In January, I certainly didn’t think I’d have health issues and then end up losing less than 20 pounds in the year. It seriously, seriously had me down in the dumps the past few months. Instead of focusing on the pounds lost, I’ve decided to write a few posts celebrating all the great things I did in 2011.
2011 brought the accomplishment of a bucket list item: doing a half-marathon. I never thought I'd be a half-marathoner at 350 pounds, but I was excited to train with friends and do a race in my home city.
I will never forget the feeling of achievement, the grossness of a post-race donut (seriously, go for fruit or bread), or the amazing bottle of champagne consumed afterwards. It was a great experience, but I'm most proud of the money raised.
It was serendipitous that the half marathon was on the 4th anniversary of my mom's passing from complications of young-onset Parkinson's disease; and 2 days before my 30th birthday. With your help, I raised over $2,600 for the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute at the University of Kentucky that went towards Parkinson's research.
The only downside to the half marathon is the injury to my ankle that I've been dealing with since then (7 months in). I just learned I need more treatment on it, and think I probably spent over $2,600 on medical treatment for it. Oh well, live and learn! I'm still glad I did it 🙂