Why a Blog?

I feel like an unlikely blogger. I don't read many blogs; in fact until the past few months I didn't really know what a blog was. And while I participate on many forums and message boards, I am almost always a lurker. I have been a member of the Disboards, an incredibly active Disney message board, for 6 years and have only 260 posts!

But I am embarking on so many new adventures in my life right now, that I find I want to write about them, share about them - well, blog about them I guess!

I'm not sure what it is. I turned 43 last summer, but 43 is not generally considered a particularly significant birthday. My youngest child entered first grade in the fall, which is a big milestone, but it did not change my lifestyle too much since she had been in school full time for 3 years already. Is it hitting 21 years of marriage? Some other more subtle milestone I haven't thought of? Well, whatever it is, in the last year I have been gradually redesigning many aspects of my life.

Last summer I decided that I was going to complete being a Course Supervisor for Landmark Education at the end of June 2008 (if you are interested in what Landmark Education does, check out their website here). I have been a Course Supervisor for almost 17 years, and have been the chairperson of the program since 2002, so this was a really big deal. Really after doing this for 17 years, I am not entirely sure how I will feel in July when I am done!

Then in early fall, I decided to start my own travel business. After doing quite a bit of research, and lots of preliminary work, I created Blue Sky Destinations, and became a travel agent. I am associated with one of the largest and best-regarded "host" agencies for home-based agents, Nexion Inc. This is a wonderful new venture for me, and I am loving every aspect of it! I love planning travel for people, and I love the challenges of starting my own business. I have been doing a lot of training (including a Nexion "Boot Camp" in February), and feel ready to take the lid off my marketing and really start to grow my business. This is one of the "adventures" I plan to chronicle in this blog!

In January I embarked on another new undertaking. After a lifetime of being more or less a couch potato, I decided I was going to become an athlete and I registered for the Walt Disney World Half Marathon in January 2009. I also talked my husband into it as well! This is perhaps the most unlikely venture I could have begun. I have hated running most of my life (and hate really is not too strong of a word) - however, I had flirted with running the previous year with a couple of half-hearted attempts at the "Couch to 5K" running plan. While I was never really able to stick to the plan reliably, I did discover that running was not so bad - in fact, I kind of enjoyed it! However, committing to doing a half marathon, even one a year away, was a much bigger step!

Since then, I have worked my way up to running about 12 miles a week, completed my first 5K race (I'm doing a 10K in 2 weeks), and committed to a second half marathon - this one in Philadelphia in September! More importantly, I have changed my relationship to myself, my body and what I am capable of. This adventure is the other big reason for this blog! I figure if I write everything down here maybe I won't have to bore my friends and family with it all the time!

I am making or contemplating making other major changes in my life as well. After teaching Cultural Anthropology for 14 years at a local small college, I gave them my notice this Spring and I will not be back doing that again next year. We have been talking about moving for a while (and that may happen), but in the meantime we are planning some major work on our house in the next 6 months. I am considering shifting some aspects of my job (I work as the Admissions Director at The Waldorf School of Philadelphia in addition to my travel business). I think the only areas not up for grabs are my husband - not making a change there! - and my kids.

So, in this blog I plan to focus on the two big new adventures I have taken on: my half-marathon training, and building my travel business. The scope of this blog may change if I make other major shifts in my life, but what I want to share with you now is an exploration of these questions:

• Can I become an athlete for the first time in my 40s?
• How should I train to avoid injury?
• How am I preparing for a distance event for the first time?
• What are the emotional/mental spaces I am going through in the process?
• How is this process impacting my family and my life?
• How am I building my travel business?
• Training, marketing and learning the business from the ground up.
• Mistakes, frustrations and challenges.
• When do I jump into this full-time!

This will likely all be mixed in with general news and stories about my family, my house, my pets and my life!

Thanks for reading!