Adrith

"Success consists of simply getting up one more time than you fall."

This motto is found on one of the signs that hangs in the Arizona Cardinals' locker room in the movie Jerry Maguire. And I use it as my training motto.

I was a relatively healthy person up through my sophomore year high school. I was on the swim team at the local Y, and though I wasn't one of the team's stars I worked hard to improve my times and be a good teammate. I also played field hockey for the first two years of high school, and between the two sports managed to keep in shape and stay relatively healthy.

Then the swim team relocated to a pool an hour away, I decided I didn't want to be a junior or senior on a junior varsity team, and lost all contact with the fitter, healthier me. I had no foil for my daily habit of eating twinkies instead of hot lunch, and the weight started creeping on.. When I was swimming and playing field hockey, I weighed around 125. By the time I graduated from high school two years later, I weighed 165.

Today, twelve years from that point and ten years after leaving my active days behind, I weigh 228 (down from a highest weight of 255). The past four years have seen highs and lows but ultimately have been a blessing, as I don't wish to consider what weight I'd be at had I not taken the plunge and started training with Cat.

My next goal is to be well under 200 the next time I meet Cat at the airport. I'm looking forward to meeting my fitter, healthier self again in Orlando.

We have a lot of catching up to do.

Cat

It's 2004, and I'm reviving the "Road to Orlando."

It first started in 2000 when my friend Adrith and I decided to do the Disney Half Marathon as part of the NF Marathon team. It was our way of doing something for ourselves and doing something for a charity. We liked it so much the first time we did it again in 2001.

I took 2002 and 2003 off since Paul and I were trying to get pregnant despite my medical hurdles -- hypothyroid, PCOS/IR and later in the pregnancy -- gestational diabetes Happily, our daughter Julia was born safe and sound on January 31, 2004.

I've set the 2005 Disney Half Marathon as my incentive for getting back in shape postpartum, keeping my PCOS/IR under control, and avoiding Type II diabetes in the future. It's going to be intersting training for the race while being a new mother!

Gail

When I was much younger, in my early teens, I was a fairly active girl. I was petite (I stand 4'11.5") and slim. A teenage preganacy transformed my already attractive physique into a much more womanly shape. I enjoyed it, but depression over other areas of my life helped me gain a lot of weight over the next 16 years. A chaotic marriage, growing debt and the isolation of a homemaker's lifestyle proved to be too much for me and for a long time I hid myself in a cyber world. Online gaming gave me just the escape I craved. Unfortunately, I also chose to self-medicate with food and I gained a total of 65 pounds. The past two years have been a slow crawl back to reality. The crawl became a steady walk in January 2003. I have managed to cope with some devestating emotional events and still keep plowing forward. I lost 39 pounds last year.

Cat and Adrith (even though she might not know it) have inspired me in many ways the past few years. I have silently shared their own struggles with fitness and when one of them would succeed, it gave me the shot in the arm I needed. When I read that they were doing the Disney Half Marathon, I just knew I wanted to be a part of this. I will be developing a training routine with my active duty husband as soon as I can and sharing this journey with you.

In 2004, I want to turn this steady walk into a run.

Paul

I pulled out of the 2001 half marathon when Cat did because I didn't want to leave her alone. Originally I was going to run it and meet meet her at the end but she ended up getting sick before the race and we decided to only walk the first 4 miles and then pull out to cheer others in. So we walked them together hand-in-hand and we felt good about doing a bit more than 5K.

We've yet to do a half together though so here we go again trying for 2005. I'm not a big writer. So entries from me will be few and far between. I live here online and usually have my head buried in some project or other.

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