100th Post!!

I'm going to start out with the obligatory statement we all seem to make when we make it to this very important milestone in bloggy land, "I never thought I would last this long!" And I know this sounds cliche, but it is so true. I started this blog last year as a way for me to hold myself accountable for my running. I had already been reading blogs for over a year and prior to starting this blog had only recently started commenting. I figured though, if I was going to dole out advice and encouragement on other's blog, I better have the beef to back it up on my own. Now, 100 posts later (and really, I don't know how/why you all keep coming back!) I think I have learned a lot about myself, made a ton of new friends and have achieved and accomplished what I had set out to do in my running goals for last year. I have come a long way, but I am so excited to see what the future holds for me with running and I hope I can continue to motivate, encourage and share all the awesomeness that running has to offer with all of you :)

I was thinking I would try and give you all 100 fun little facts about me, but dang, that is hard!  And as much as I LOVE reading about all of you, I'm sure you'd get a little board with me!  So, I will try for 100, but if I don't make it, it's because I'm saving you all from feeling obligated to read them all or just plain being boring!

100 things about me - in no particular order :)

1. I started running almost 5 years ago as a way to loose weight.
2. I had gone to the doctor for a check-up and she informed me I was obese!  As soon as I left her office I went straight to Sears and bought a treadmill.
3. That fateful day, I weighed almost 210 pounds - I had no idea I was that large.
4. I started with a crazy drastic diet, and with in 5-7 months, 70 pounds came off.  I ended up loosing a total of 90 in about 9 months :)
5. I originally began just walking on the treadmill- I would walk for an entire episode of TV before I would look at the distance.
6. I got pretty board pretty quickly with just walking and started run/walking as a way to mix it up.
7. I actually gained all the weight very quickly - like in 18-20 months. 
8. I gained it right when I got engaged and all the way through our first year of marriage - before that I was a normal healthy weight my whole life.
9. I can remember the first time I ran 4 miles without stopping - it was on the treadmill, in my garage, in the middle of summer in Sacramento!
10. I didn't run much outside when I started - and when I did, I ran a route that I had mapped out the mileage with my car.  I would look at the clock before I left and run inside real quick to see my time :)
11. I kept a running journal right from the start - it's fun to go back and see how far I have come.
12. After I had ran that 4 miles I wanted to race - so I signed up for the Lake Tahoe 1/2 Marathon - yeah, not my brightest idea!
13. I trained completely on my treadmill for that race - using the incline feature to train for the hills.
14. I ran that 1/2 marathon in 2:09 - I was hooked!
15. Since then, I think I've ran 25+ half marathons, and on to marathon #7 in October.
16. I played soccer all the way through my freshman year of high school.
17. Sophomore year I joined the golf team.
18. I had started playing golf when I was 10 - my auntie got me hooked.
19. I was a decent golfer in high school, my handicap was 9 - if your familiar with that stuff :)
20.  Since I took up running and came back to the Bay Area, I haven't golfed much - I need to get back out there!
21. I was a Girl Scout from age 5 starting with Daisies all the way through my senior year of high school as a Senior Girl Scout - yeah, no one wants to buy cookies from a senior in high school!
22. I got straight A's in high school and all the way through college - I graduated college summa cum laude - I'm very proud of that.
23. If I could quit my job and be a professional student - I would do it in a heartbeat!  I love school.
24. When I started college I was a theology major.  By the end of my sophomore year I had changed to business/accounting - quite the 180!
25. If someone had told me in high school or my early 20's that I would be a tax accountant - I would have laughed - hard!
26. I met my husband when I was 20.
27. We were both working together at the same dealership - I was the weekend receptionist, he was a little car salesman.
28. We started dating September 27, 2000 and got married on September 27, 2003.
29. The hubbs is 4 years older than me - if you think about it, he was graduating high school as I was graduating junior high! LOL!
30. I was nervous to bring home a car salesman as my boyfriend to my parents - probably not high on the list of boys your dad ever wants his little girl to bring home!
31. The hubbs actually hit it off with my family right from the start - funny the things you worry about when you bring a new boy home.
32. If someone had told me I would be married at 23 I would have laughed at them - but I was and am so thankful that we will have a long lifetime together.
33. The hubbs and I are very competitive with one another - with everything! Watching Jeopardy at night can leave someone with hurt feelings! LOL!
34. Both sides of our families have banned us from playing Trivial Pursuit together - they say it's for the sake of our marriage :)
35. The gloves come off though when either of us are doing some thing physical like running or bike racing - I have the best running sherpa ever.
36. I am the middle child of three kids - I have an older brother who is 9 years older than me, and a little sister who is 9 years younger than me.
37. There is 18 years difference between my older brother and my little sister - and yes, my parents are still married and yes, we have the same parents.
38. Needless to say, when my little sister turned 9 we were all a little worried.
39. My little sister became an aunt at age 3 thanks to my brother.
40. When I was 3, I asked my grandpa for a dog and a cat.
41. He came home with a cocker spaniel and a kitten within the week.
42. My cocker spaniel was named Peaches - she actually took my nick-name since we both had the same color hair.
43. The kitten was named K.C. - for Katie's Cat - yes, very original.
44. Peaches lived to be 19! And K.C. lived to be 21.  When I moved out and in with Ari when I got married, my dad made me take the cat with me - she was my dowry :)
45. Ari never had any pets growing up as a kid - so when we got our dog Lilly he was smitten right away.
46. To this day, he kisses that dog first when he gets home before he kisses me!
47. I hate hearing from people, especially now that we have been married for 7 years, when we will have kids! I get it constantly from Ari's side of the family.
48. Maybe someday - but right now I have one more Boston Marathon to run as my revenge!
49. If I had my druthers, I would quit my job in a heartbeat and run all.the.time.  I would love to not have to fit my running schedule in around my job! (I know, we all have this problem, I'm sure)
50. When I was 18 I got a tattoo - it was a four leaf clover in that very famous spot on a women's back called the "tramp stamp" - go ahead and laugh!
51. I kept it from my parents for a really long time - about 6-8 months until finally my brother in big brother fashion spilled the beans!
52. My mother cried!  She sobbed!  She was so disappointed! LOL!
53. When I was 19 I got my tongue pierced.  I lasted a week of it being swollen until my mom made me take it out!
54. An hour after I took it out I had regrets!  I tried to put it back in and the hole had already started closing! Damn it!
55. I have my belly button pierced and quite a few holes in my ears - don't worry, that phase it done!
56. I have warn glasses since I was young.
57. When I got married my mom didn't want my glasses to show up in all the pictures.
58. So she made me get contacts, something I had never wanted before.
59. I dragged my feet through all the wedding prep to get my contacts and went a week before - bad idea.
60. You cannot master putting contacts in your eyes in a week - 4 days before my wedding I got an infection in my eye from the contacts.
61. I was not allowed to wear my contacts with the infection, but my mom also didn't let me wear my glasses on my wedding day! I was blind the whole day :)
62. I live exactly .56 miles away from the hospital I was born at - I will probably give birth to my own children there.
63. In our first year of marriage we bought our first house in Sacramento and lasted less than two years there - it's hard to grow up in the Bay Area and then move somewhere else.
64. We came home as quick as we could, and as much as we would like a change - I am a Bay Area girl through and through.
65. If my husband had his way though, we would be living right now in Lake Tahoe - it's just a little too "mountainy" for me :)
66. I really want to run the New York Marathon one day.
67. I really want to run the Chicago Marathon one day.
68. Come to think of it, the London Marathon, Berlin Marathon and a ton of others are on my run to-do list.
69. I cannot stand the 10K distance.
70. My favorite distance to race is the half.
71. My favorite distance to go out and run is between 10-12 miles - after that is just gets painful.
72. I have never had a black toenail (knock on wood)
73. I actually have pretty cute feet for being a runner - I just don't get how people end up with the bad feet!
74. I am deathly afraid of heights.
75. Skydiving, bungee jumping, riding that big roller coaster at the top of the hotel in Vegas scare the crap out of me!
76. I do not like seafood - if it swims in the sea, it's not for me!
77. With that being said, I will attempt to try something new.
78. I really wish I liked seafood, it's so good for you, but I just can't get past that ocean-y taste!
79. I was a vegetarian from 16-21 - I eventually had to give it up because I was always anemic and had trouble getting my iron levels healthy.
80. I would probably go back to being a vegetarian in a heartbeat if I wasn't a runner - I need the protein too much.
81. I am addicted to peanut butter - like I can devour a jar in about 5 days :)
82. I am also addicted to bagels - I eat one every.single.day.
83. I love to cook.
84. When I started walking on the treadmill, I would put it on Food Network (I know, torture for a dieter!)
85. I learned a TON from watching all of those shows and to this day know I am a better cook for it.
86. Food Network is often on in the background at my house.
87. I HATE to watch live TV - except for a baseball or sporting game. DVR has ruined me!
88. I LOVE baseball!  
89. My favorite team is the Oakland A's (don't laugh) but really, any baseball game on TV will do for me :)
90. I love to sleep - if I am sleep deprived I am not a happy person to be around.
91. I am an early riser - I am up at 5 pretty much every day - I have to force myself to stay in bed on the weekends if I want to sleep in.
92. I am NOT a morning runner though - my favorite time of day to run is between 9-10 a.m.
93. I cannot stand to grocery shop - I love to eat and cook, but going to the grocery store is pure torture.
94. I took piano lessons from the ages of 9-15 - I hated every single second of it.
95. My piano teacher was mean - but she was my mom's friend so I always felt like I couldn't complain.
96. To this day, I can only read music, but finding anything other than "middle C" on the piano is next to impossible - lesson to all you parents, if your kids don't like something, don't force them!
97. I love cars - all cars.  I can usually see something like a fender or a mirror and tell you that make, model and year :)
98. I'm hoping that when I have kids they will be runners, too! Mamma needs some company!
99. I would love one day to have a dog that could run with me - right now Lilly sits down and won't move after about 1/2 a mile!
100. I never thought I would make it this far with my running - and I'm hoping that it sticks with me a lifetime :)

WOW!  That was long and HARD! (that's what she said!)  If you made it this far you deserve some kind of reward!  Hmmm....maybe a giveaway will be in your future.

Thank you to all of you who come back on a regular basis and show support, encouragement and friendship.  I feel like a very lucky person to have such an awesome community behind me.  Sometimes you are all my motivation to get out that door!  I hope you learned a little more about me - and don't worry, when I get to 200, 300 or even 500 I won't bore you with any more "fun facts" about me!  I'm just not that interesting! LOL!

Thanks again peeps!
Happy Wednesday and Happy Running!