Special Moments and Special Needs: I'm special too!

So, in my time away from my blog, I have come to know one very important thing...I AM A SPECIAL PERSON TOO! Most of my life, since having my special needs daughter, has revolved around her. Every minute of every day, plays out in a very planned out and scripted way, that has been thought out and planned by me. I need to think of every little thing, from who will be with us, how many potty locations there will be, how many potty breaks will be needed, what are the safety concerns (and in most cases that is EVERYTHING), how many escape routes are there....because I have a runner, is it a public location, will there be lots of walking, are there other children to worry about, planned "melt down" locations....ect... There are actually so many things to think about, that most ordinary outings, become big events in our family.

Most people don't actually GET what I am saying, and that is ok with me. I have grown to accept my life as it is and I have grown to cherish how special our family is. One thing that often goes over looked....is me. I am so busy taking care of everyone around me that I put me on the back burner.....but NOT THIS YEAR! For the last 5 years I have had a personal "goal" of running a marathon or half marathon before I am 40....and well, let's just say that this is my last year of opportunity....No, I am not telling you how old I am...LOL. In the last 5 years, I have over come some family challenges, had a baby, gone back to work full time for a company other than myself, been through behavioral classes, behavioral studies, therapies, PTA President....and well the list could actually go on and on, but I am sure you get my point. NOW, I am taking back MY life and doing something for me.

Tomorrow starts phase 1 of a 2-3 phase plan that I have. First phase is to start eating healthy, because without eating healthy, the rest of my goals will not be obtainable. I have a friend of my that has taken back her life from Cancer, and I have been following her story for many years now...pre-cancer, newly diagnosed Cancer patient, Chemotherapy, to CANCER SURVIVOR! About a year ago I started following her success for eating healthy. I was impressed with how much weight that she had lost by simply eating right. Another friend of mine recently did a "Tough Mudder" race and about a month before she ran the race I told her how great she looked and she simply said that she changed the way she ate.....SO, I have decided to do it for myself....change the way I eat. To be honest, it is probably the scariest thing that I have ever decided to do! I am a meat and potatoes kinda girl....with a BIG tall frozen mug of WHOLE MILK...mmmmmmm.....makes my mouth water just saying it.....BUT it is time for me to give these things up, with the goal of living longer in mind. I decided a couple of weeks ago to do a 28 day fat burn, which will lead to forming healthy habits. It comes in the form of a challenge....and if you know anything about me, it is that I LOVE a good challenge. I signed up, joined a team and will have a coach to help me through it. YEP, you guessed it, my friend the Mighty Warrior, Kara, is helping me along the way. I am following the same healthy eating habits that she started, when she needed to lose all of the Chemo weight that she put on. What better person to guide me right? My challenge starts tomorrow, January 6th. I am excited and nervous and ultimately scared, because I know how hard it is going to be for me to give up all of the unhealthy things, that have become part of my everyday life. I know I can do it though. Part of the challenge requires me to journal the progress over the entire 28 days. The good news, is that I will be posting my journey here. I kinda figured that since I am as special as the rest of my family, I can use this blog as my scribe and share my journey.

So I mentioned above that I have a 2-3 phase plan....the other two phases are fitness related. Phase 2 is for me to become more fit. Since having my children, I haven't had much time for fitness. This is my time. Phase 3 is running. I plan on running this year. I am going to start with a 5K, then I will move up to a 10K and by the end of the year my ultimate goal is to run a Half-Marathon. Writing about my journey here, will help me stay committed. I have never done anything like this before, so this should be an exciting adventure. This is MY year of health.