Chicago Marathon Registration Opens in T-Minus 39 hours

So here it is....I have decided to commit to train for a full on marathon....I have "yet" to race a half 13.1 marathon, but the full 26.2 Marathon...holy cow, what am I getting myself into?!  $150 registration....ouch!  But I have to sign up February 1st, because the 45,000 runners fill up QUICK!

In an effort to put one foot in front of the other....and get that part of my bucket list marked off, I decided to train and run my very first 5k, this time last year.  Mind you, I could not run 10 feet without staring at death and wishing someone could conveniently hand me over a handy oxygen tank.  I panted heavier than a dog in August.

Mind you my running did not start simply with my bucket list because I can honestly say this has been one of my New Year's resolutions for the past 7 years.  No it became an all or nothing when I went to a 2011 New Year's Eve party and a few other moms were talking about doing the Iron Girl and about wanting to train for it as their resolutions.  They created a team with all the women there, but they omitted me.  Totally.  Hmmmmmmm ... now THAT is motivation.

So in my depressed mood after the party, first thing I do is check in with Facebook, look at all the fabulous reels everyone is posting and I wallow until I see an ad for a running coach pop up on the sidebar...."Come and talk to me about Beginning Running." Hmmmm, what is this...?

A sign?  Perhaps.....

Usually I do not pay attention to the Facebook side bar of advertisements, but this one caught my eye! So I sent an email....as I typed away at my story and how I am going to be the biggest hurdle she has ever trained, I re-read and thought, "Dang, you are pitiful, girl!" I hit send, and lo and behold, I get an email, one day later.   The best encouraging email I have ever gotten...."Yes, you can be a runner and I will show you how!"  Oh Debbie Voiles from Run Tampa, I am always going to be indebted to you!

So after months of training, and yes it took like two months before I even ran a full mile without stopping, I did not run the Iron Girl. I did end up running my first 5k last May, Miles For Moffitt.  I cried, yep, I did, as I went past the finish.  What an accomplishment! Running a 5k? Check? No...oh no...I wiped my tears and thought...waaaait a minute....what was my time?  35:24?  Oh no, no, no I need to do better (my uber competitive side kicks in!).  So let's see...in a year's time I have managed to run the following races:

1) Miles for Moffitt 5k, May 2011
2) Tampa Police Memorial 5k, Oct 2011
3) Richards' Run for Life 5k, Nov 2011
4) Clearwater Turkey Trot 5k, Nov 2011
5) Race for Cure, 5k Dec 2011
6) St. Pete Beach Classic, 10k, Jan 2012

Not bad! So getting a little cocky, I signed up for the St. Pete Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon coming in two weeks....! My very first 1/2 marathon, February 12th O. EM. GEE.  Yes, I will cry going over the finish with this one!  Oh and get this, I am also signed up three weeks later for the Gasparilla 1/2.  So I have made HUGE strides in this running thing.....so freaking overpowering to be done and get done.  I do my best thinking.....I own this....I BETTER NOT GET HURT.....

So I am thinking, I may need sponsors to keep this race habit up.  I am now going to sign up for the Chicago Marathon....I am crazy....but it is ON MY BIRTHDAY......how can I ever turn it down?  Now that is my new entry to my bucket list, Chicago on my 39th birthday, and NYC marathon on my 40th.

It is a sign.

Rut Ro! I Now Have To Blog!

Oooookie Dokie....good Lord I have a blog.


I need you all to please bear with me. I was given an assignment to start a blog.  
How, do you say? I am being forced and it counts as a grade.  Seriously.  Yet....Saweet!


After a life altering moment over a year ago, I felt the need to write a bucket list. Yes - one of those lists you write about on what is it that you want to do, finish or experience before you...well, how do I put it? Kick the bucket?
So I decided that I needed to step back and ask myself, who is this girl, Johanne, that I see in the mirror every morning?  I brush her teeth, her hair and glob on gloss on those lips every morning..but who the hell is she?  I realized that I honestly could not answer that question other than she definitely likes Starbucks: grande white chocolate mocha, two pumps, skim, no whip. That I feel I look just like I did in high school, but a little "curvier" and a few cup sizes larger.
So with bucket list on hand and a swift kick in the rear, I have decided to put plan into action and head out on a journey to find out who she is.  Well, clearly not the same 21 year old Johanne, but the "not quite in her mid thirties anymore", Johanne.
But how much of me has left the building, how much still remains, and what amazing thing has yet to be seen?

One item on my list was to finish school.  I was thiiiissss close and I stopped for a "break" and that break turned into 11 years, marriage, two kids, and a mortgage later.  So my first step was going back to school, initially to do graphic design, deciding to embrace that creative side of me.  Instead, I found a pull in Journalism.  So now I commute from Tampa to the USF St. Petersburg campus, on top of the all the yadi yadi family/household stuff I said I do in my profile. And now blogging.

Glutton for punishment?  "Present!" 

Soooo, for my "Intro to Blogging Class", (yes, no lie, that is what it's called, and it counts towards my degree, so double sweet!), I  need to come up with interesting stuff to write, so again, please bear with me.  Since I am pulled in different directions on any given day and I wear so many hats...to the point of being a Jack of All Trades but a Master of None, I feel I cannot focus on just ONE thing, somehow I have to make it work.  Got to make blogging a habit...if you supposedly do something for 21 days straight, it becomes a habit.  We shall see....

The one thing that I have made a point to create a habit of is to RUN.  I first began to run for exercise (a New Year's Eve bet), but then I realized it is so much more than that.  Yes, it is free, it is empowering, mentally clearing and it makes me a much stronger and better person both in and out.  But there is more, much more.  This pounding of pavement really is the catalyst of my journey.  Running initially was what I wanted to only blog about but then I thought, hmm.... it is only a small piece of the "let's figure out what Johanne is "truly" capable of" puzzle. 


We will get to my running at a later post and it will somehow tie in on regular posts. But for now, I just wanted to let you know I am here.  (Holla!) 


I promise to try and make this interesting and hopefully we can become virtual BFFs, k?