SHE SAVED OUR LIVES!!!!!!!!

In January 2010, my 60 year old Mom ran her 6th Houston Marathon and came in 3rd in her age category!! I ran it with her and finished in 3 hours and 56 minutes. We love running now, but that was not always our story. In 2005, my mom and I were in a very scary place. We were both overweight and unhealthy. It seemed like we tried everything but nothing really worked. On Mother’s Day 2005, she made the change that completely transformed both her life and mine as well. We joined weightwatchers and over the year she lost 60 POUNDS and I lost 25 pounds! We started eating healthier together and she made little changes that made the journey so much easier for me as well. For example, instead of eating spaghetti with pasta, she would make it Spaghetti Squash. It was a simple change, and it tasted absolutely amazing (and if you ask her, she will definitely make you some, it’s delicious!).
We also started running together, just for exercise. But then as a joke at first, we decided to run the Houston Marathon. She had done a marathon back in the 1980s, but had given up running after she had gained weight. But we started to train seriously for the marathon and during the training she also decided to quit smoking!! She had smoked for almost 30 years. But she decided to switch smoking with running and she's never looked back. During these months, my mom not only lost 60 pounds, she started running, AND she quit smoking. I am so proud of her. This change takes an amazing amount of determination and strength.
So we ran our first marathon together in January 2006. I had never run 26.2 miles before, I was very scared, but it was something that we wanted to do. Running the marathon was an amazing experience and it really changed my life. I included a picture of my mom and I, as she finished the Houston Marathon in 2006. We have run the Houston marathon every year since. I’m 23 and I’ve ran 6 marathons and done a couple of triathlons. I would have never ANY of this if my mom had not made the decision to change our lives.
I am so very grateful for her decision to save our lives. She not only saved her life and made sure that I would be able to have many more years with her, she gave me my live back too. As a single parent mom, she has been everything to me. She is an absolutely amazing human being and I love her so much. I don’t know how I can ever say thank you to her for making so many sacrifices for me or making the change that altered the entire course of our lives. I would be so very grateful if you were to choose my mom. I truly feel as though she deserves to be acknowledged for her hard work, and her amazing transformation. She is the best mom in the world! Please, pick my mom!!

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