Who have I become.. A year of running!

It's fall. The leaves are changing, the college kids are back and yet it's still hot out. It felt like I was running in a toilet today. A good nine mile run on this holiday weekend after my long run yesterday. It was a slow nine miles, but it's Monday which is easy day, so if it's slow it's fine by me. When I finished my run, I had a thought. A year ago today I could barely run 3 miles. How things have changed.
Last fall I had not even ran my first 5k. I had never participated in any kind of road race and secretly wanted to try. I had heard so many stories about running races. Many of my family members had participated in various local races. I always thought I wasn't good enough. At this point I had gotten down to a size 6 and most people thought I was done and had achieved my goal. Secretly I was getting worse with the mental aspect of my weight loss and desperately wanted to lose more. Last fall I was barely eating, barely running and was hitting the wall. I also ran for the first time in Boston and had only one goal, to get over the Long fellow bridge. This bridge connects Cambridge to Boston. Stunning views of the Charles river and currently under construction, still! The bridge itself is only about a quarter of a mile long. I mapped out from my apartment, over the bridge into Boston and over to City plaza was about 2 miles. The first time I ran this I barely got over the bridge, hacked and wheezed half of it and felt like death slightly warmed over when I was finished. I told myself I would keep trying until it became easy. It took a couple of weeks but finally it got easier. I just kept trying and eventually I went farther into the city. I ran my first 5k with an unimpressive time of 38 minutes. What I realize now that it's not the time that matters, it's completing your goal.
My body has changed dramatically too. Since last fall I dropped 60 pounds and now have the runners body. My legs and arms are solid muscle. Sometimes I look in the mirror and wonder who is she. I have an extremely athletic build. Sometimes I don't even recognize myself. It's crazy how much one can transform themselves in just one year.
In one year I went from the girl who could barely make it over the bridge to the girl who has ran two marathons is still crazy to me. We get caught up in our daily lives and forget to stop and think of what we have achieved so far. If I stopped running today (which will not happen), I'll always be a marathon runner. I will still be the girl who within a year went from barely running 3 miles to running 26.2. I have become an athlete. Sometimes it still hard to eat but I look at my food and remind myself if you don't eat you can't run. Everyday I know things will be okay because at some point I will be able to go pound the pavement. It may have taken a year, but in the end I got there. To know that in one year my next goal is to run New York and last year my goal was to run over the bridge is amazing to me. Sometimes it feels good to just to feel like I can breathe again.I really realized today running saved my life. I forever will be grateful to running and the life it's given to me. After all the crazy injuries, the pushing through the pain and the relentless fight to keep going running has given me the power to know I can do anything. I no longer fear tomorrow because I know what I did yesterday. So onward and upward to NYC and excitement thinking about what this year will bring.