“Who in the world would run a marathon? They must be crazy!” That's what I thought. November 10, 2011 was the first time I laced up Nike's and decided to train for a half marathon. For those of you that don't know it's 13.1 miles! At that time the farthest I had ever run was 5 miles.

Our in game host for the Atlanta Dream, CJ, is a veteran when it comes to training and racing so of course I asked for her help. She told me about this incredible Atlanta based run group called Pretty Girls Run, who are made up of diverse women that set and achieve various fitness goals. They gave me the support, training, and inspiration I needed to succeed.

I started off running short distances - 3 to 5 miles. Then I gradually built my endurance which had me running through the city of Atlanta. It became a bit addicting. It's one thing to run for exercise and it’s another when you're running to train for a competition.

I signed up to run in the ING half Marathon in Miami, Florida on January 29, 2012. And by that time I was ready. I couldn't believe that over 25,000 people were there to run. It was incredible! Now what wasn't so great was all the bobbing and weaving I had to do for about 4 miles. Finally around mile 5 the crowd lightened up and the run became more enjoyable. I couldn't believe the amount of people/volunteers there just to support and cheer on the runners.

When I crossed the finish line I had a feeling of accomplishment. I had done something I had told myself I would never do. I looked at all my Pretty Girls and said, “Next year I want to run the full because I know I can”. They all smiled and said, “I guess we're coming back to Miami next year”