First blog posts are awkward, even when it’s not your first blog. But here goes.

Two years ago, my husband and I were knee deep in finalizing our adoption from Russia. It was a grueling, extremely stressful process that took nearly three years. I wrote about it over on my other blog Beyond the Sea. By the time we brought our two sons home at ages 3 and nearly-5, I was sick, tired, stressed out and as a first time mom, in over my head with two extremely mobile (some might even say rambunctious), opinionated little people.

I was eating too much, not sleeping well, and not getting enough exercise (following kids around on the playground doesn’t really count). My body was nearly always suffering some sort of ache or pain, I was having extreme anxiety reactions (shaking hands, pounding heart) to conflict within the household, and to top it off I was dealing with endometrial hyperplasia, a precancerous condition for which the recommended medications cause weight gain.

To say I felt like crap would be an understatement. Topping it off was the fact that the scale had entered the “no fly zone” – I was officially overweight. It was at this point I realized two things:

1) I was going to have to take drastic action if I did not want to be feeling this way for the rest of my life.
2) The rest of my life might not be as long as I’d like if things kept on how they were.

So I decided to start exercising again. I’ve always kind of enjoyed exercise, the sweating and the good feeling of tiredness that comes after. The only problem was inertia and general laziness that was keeping me out of the gym. Once you’re stuck in a rut, sometimes it can seem easier to remain in that rut. But with two kids and a husband that need me to be at my best, staying stuck and unhealthy wasn’t really an option anymore.

So, in January 2013 I did something I almost never do, and made a new years resolution to start making exercise and taking care of myself a higher priority. My gym has free child care and I soon figured out that I could kill 2 birds with one stone – I could get fit and I could also get the alone time that I needed to maintain my sanity. I started feeling better and happier than I had in a long time.

Best of all, I rediscovered running. It had been years since I ran seriously, but this year I got back to it and have even entered in a few 5k and 10k races. It has been great feeling my body getting healthier and stronger. I’ve lost weight, my clothes look better and best of all, my mental state is a lot healthier than it was a year ago.

I am now at the point of wanting to take my running to the next level and try to complete a marathon in Fall of 2014. This blog will be where I record my training efforts, good days and bad days on the run (we all have them), and also will focus on other aspects of trying to get healthier – like what I am putting into my body.

So basically, this blog is where I will share my adventures in eating, running and being a mom (priorities not in that order), thus the name. I hope you enjoy reading!