I'm sorry. If you don't like self-righteous preaching on health, don't read this.

When I tell people that I am training for the marathon, I get a wide range of responses, the first of which is surprise. Apparently, among my group of acquaintances, being fit and motivated to challenge yourself physically is not common or expected. I also find that some people are very excited for me; but that excitement doesn't always feel very genuine, because I can sense that often times there is a flicker of skepticism on their faces. When I see that (and people try their best to hide it), I sense that in their minds they're thinking, "This girl is crazy... who does she think she is? Does she really think she can finish?" I even feel that response from my family, which is not the most promising sign of the support I have in pursuing this goal.

I think the reason why people are so surprised, as well as disbelieving, that I'm running the marathon, is because most of them don't understand WHY I'm doing it. Most of them know that I try my best to be healthy and stay in shape, but they don't understand my motivation behind it all (because more often than not they themselves do not have it).

One of my biggest motivations is my mom. My mom is definitely not the most healthiest or most physically fit person I know; in fact, she is probably one of the least. She is not obese, nor even close to being overweight (She's 5'2", 110 lbs.), but her health has been on a rollercoaster ride for the past 10 years. In December of 1999, she was diagnosed with a sarcomal tumor associated with cancer, and had to have surgery in January 2000 to remove the tumor. Consequentially she had to have over 60% of her stomach removed. We thought the nightmare was over (though her recovery took almost a full year), until we were hit with another blow. In November 2005, my mom was once again diagnosed with GIST, another version of the same cancer, and is even today taking chemotheraphy to keep the cancer at bay.

My mom looks at me often and says, "Grace, you have to take care of yourself. Don't be sick like me. You have to be healthy, and watch what you eat. Don't take on stress like I did, but just LET IT GO." When I see her hurting sometimes, I just look at her and say, "I'm never going to be sick like you. I'm going to eat well and exercise and be healthy, because I don't ever want to be trapped to illness like you have been." My family saw my grandmother suffer from multiple strokes, deal with diabetes, and ultimately die a slow and painful death in a nursing home, unable to eat, talk, or get up from the bed for over 10 years. And she was barely over 60 when it all started.

There is so much we can do NOW when we are still young that can make a huge impact on our health 10, 20, even 50 years from now. I always say, it's so much easier to incorporate healthy habits into our lives and change the bad ones NOW in our teens and twenties, than to do it in our 40s and 50s, when we have less time and energy.

Another big motivating factor for me to take control of my health, is helping my dad out at his pharmacy. I don't do much while I'm there, but it is really shocking when people leave the store with 20+ prescription medications in hand for ONE PERSON. How do you let your life go so much that the only way to survive and live a day to day life is to pump 20+ chemicals into your body everyday? I just stand there in disbelief, and a mental war ensues in my head to fight and battle disease and unhealthy lifestyles.

But then I watch one of my favorite TV shows "The Biggest Loser", and I know that so many times people just don't or can't take care of themselves, because of their emotional and mental problems. I can distinctly remember Jillian (one of the trainers) asking one of the contestants during a workout, "Are you happy??"

"Yes, I'm happy."

"No, you're not happy!"

"Yes, I am happy!"

"No, you can't be happy and get to be this size at the same time!" At that moment, the contestant began to cry and Jillian really got to digging out his "heart issues".

There are a whole host of reasons (and excuses) why people aren't healthy. And I will let you have whatever excuses you may have, be it "I'm too busy, I don't have enough time", or "Gym memberships are too expensive", or "I don't like working out, it's not fun/easy/I'm too lazy", etc. etc. etc. But think about this: do you think all those people who ARE healthy and ARE eating well and ARE getting their exercise, do you think they aren't busy? Do you think they weigh the price of an annual gym membership versus buying that new plasma 42" widescreen TV that they will probably gain more weight off of sitting in front of it eating pizza? Do you think they LIKE working out 100% of the time? Yeah, think about that.

My last point is this. I think as a Christian, part of my walk with God involves treating my body as a "temple", where the Holy Spirit resides in, and keeping it pure and "set apart". And that includes not smoking or doing drugs (some people might include drinking alcohol, or getting tattoos, piercings, eating pork, what-have-you). But how many preachers have you seen who preach the message of treating your body as a temple in reference to health? Not many, because I think the majority of the time those same preachers are not the best at taking care of their own health. I think part of being a healthy Christian is being a healthy person in regards to your physical health, including not stuffing it with junk food and sugary soda (a bottle of soda can have up to 3/4 cups of sugar it it), and making sure that the body that was created in the image of my Creator is in prime condition. I want to be a witness to God not just through my words, but also through the choices I make in my life, and the first is in my physical body. If I can't take of the body God gave me, and be a good steward with the health he has blessed me with, how can He expect me to take care of the spiritual "body" that is my soul? I think taking care of both shows my thankfulness to God, as well as my love for Him. Your health and your body are each a "talent" God has bestowed upon us, to invest in and nurture, not to bury and ignore and let die.

All this to say, I am running the marathon, with or without the confident support of my family and friends. I am running for my health, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. I am running for my mom and my grandmother. I am running for God. And I am running for you, the reader, hoping that my stories and insights give you the motivation to take the first small step into a life of health, confidence, and joy.