Amy (shocky5)

Real life side: I'm a 42 (for about 6 more weeks) year old wife and mother of 3. I have an adorable husband named Eddie (44) and our kids are Erin (16), Nolan (13), and Nate (11). I am a high school science teacher who has been slowly creeping towards her masters in school counseling. I'm happy to announce that I'm officially going to achieve that goal Sept. 19th, 2014. For those of you that met me during the 2011 Christmas trip planning days (Tammie, Susan, Heather, Betsy) you will recall that I was hoping to be done way back when! But life intervenes and I had to scale it back a bit but no regrets! My life is hectic and crazy. No other way to put it. My husband is also a high school teacher and a coach. He coaches football and baseball which translates into "no off season." He's amazing and is definitely doing what he was meant to do in life. He doesn't measure his success on wins and losses but simply on helping these young men become better equipped for life. This year, however, his baseball team was class 4A state runners-up, he was named 'coach of the year' by several state organizations, and I couldn't be more proud of him. In between his sports seasons, our daughter Erin plays basketball and runs track. We've recently added cross country to our high school so this upcoming school year will be her first shot at that sport. Erin will be starting her junior year which absolutely blows my mind. More about her in the 'running side' of this intro. Nolan is going to be in the 8th grade and plays football, basketball, and baseball. Nate will begin middle school as a 6th grader and also plays football, basketball, and baseball. One of these days, I'm going to figure out how many days, hours, that my rear-end has been planted in a stadium somewhere either cheering on a child or the hubs.
All of that being said, it's easy to tell you that "I lose sight of myself." I've had a desire to run Disney and have just simply not made the time for myself to go do it. I battle the jobs I 'think' I need to be doing at home with actually doing something that is 'all about me.' Hopefully, that's going to change this time around.
Disney side: The PHM will be my 7th time to the world. My family and I actually just returned from WDW a couple of weeks ago. I love WDW and am anxious to see it from the RunDisney side. This will be a first for me.
Running side: There's some experience here but it's been hit and miss for a very long time! I used to coach cross country up until the birth of our 3rd child. I made the decision it was time to let my hubby be the coach and I would commit to chasing him with our kids. It's always been a lot of fun! I've dabbled with getting back into running and typically get a 'good start' and then life gets busy and I just STOP. I've made myself commit to an exercise program this summer (kicked it off with the miles of walking at WDW) and have continued. I'm giving myself up to July 15th (race day registration) to be fully immersed and in the routine. Good news is Eddie is fully on board which is helpful. Eases my irrational beliefs of feeling selfish.

At one time, Tammie and I both wanted our daughters to come to the PHM with us for a mother/daughter trip. Because of the dates of the PHM, it continuously falls on my daughter's first round basketball playoffs. While my arrival date is still to be decided, I'm prepared to miss this one game to do this for me. Eddie says he can be there for the both of us.

I just have to get past my own feelings. With it being Erin's junior year, the reality has struck that I really have her for about 2 more years. She is a great young lady and I love being her mom. 18 months ago, she blew her knee out, resulting in a total reconstruction of her ACL, MCL, and meniscus. While this adversity brought a whole new set of life lessons to her (and her mom and dad), she has surpassed the expectations of many. Erin is a good basketball player but she's a phenomenal runner. After her surgery, she went through 6 months of rehabilitation, won a starting spot on her varsity basketball team and then won state in the 100m hurdles and 300m hurdles... yes... she hurdles. I prayed every single race for her health and pretty sure I never took a breath. So SOME DAY, I hope she and I can run Disney together with the rest of you cupcake runners! But for now... it's just me!
I will be training with the Galloway program and I'm definitely in it for the finish and friends! It's not about time for me... it's not about the vanity... it's about the friendships, cupcakes, and celebration of each other.