As a family we had always tried to take time to do activities together, tried to plan meals where we sat down together, but as the kids grew it became more difficult.  Our hours were filled with movement, but not a whole lot of substance.  Time began to flow by, and kids were growing.  Soon they would be out of the house and the opportunity to spend time together would become more limited.

It was then we decided that we needed to find an acitivity we could all do and enjoy together.  Yes we went to soccer games together, but we didn’t all participate in it together.  We went on vacations together, but it was more like we went, we endured, we made saw, we conquered, but there was still something missing.  I wanted more for my family because the reality was, time was slipping by quickly.

You have to understand…I HATE to run! But in the spring of 2010 our oldest daughter decided to run track.  It was not something she really wanted to do, but she wanted to experience all that she could in her high school years.  She wasn’t the fatest, but she began to really enjoy it.  During the summer she joined Cross-Country.  The athletes that participate in this sport are a different breed.  There is competition, but mostly the run to beat their own best time.  They encourage each other,  work together, and are genuinely looking out for each other.  Soon all my older children were running along with my husband, but I just could not get motivated to run.

After a routine visit to the doctor, I was reminded I had promised to give him just 30 minutes a day to get to a healthier lifestyle.  I watched my younger daughter, who has the same motivation as me when it comes to exercising, begin running because she wanted to run with her sisters and dad in the upcoming Mini Marathon, and the joy she found in accomplishing something.  The energy and the comraderie drew me in.  That fall I began to run, but I did not commit to the race although part of me really wanted to do it.  After a small 5K run I felt a bit more confident in my efforts, mainly because I didn’t finish dead last, and I committed to run the Mini with them.  Now I was in it for the long haul and this marked the beginning of the journey in our Family Mile.