Who I am, what I am doing, and why.

Who I am is probably the easiest question to address. My name is Josephine Horton, although I typically prefer to answer to Jo. I am a 31-year old, married, adult college student living in Madison, Wisconsin. For the sake of this event, however, it might be easier to state who I am NOT. I am not a super athlete. I am simply a person who decided that big problems require a big commitment. This site is my attempt to take you on this journey with me.


On October 10, 2009 I made a decision. I had been languishing for a while, looking for something I could do that would re-energize me, inspire me, and allow me to recapture the feeling of being a part of something bigger than myself that I had 10 years ago when I did a 500-mile charity bike ride. There were lots of small, local events that I could participate it, but they did not have the feeling of community that I longed for. I wanted to do something BIG! Team in Training was that thing. And so it began, this journey to run in the Mardi Gras Half-Marathon on Feb 28, 2010 while raising $3800 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.


I think the first question that jumps into people's minds when I tell them that I signed up for a charity half-marathon is 'why'. That is a complex question, and there really is no simple answer. The reasons that come to mind change in order and status every day. Because I have a healthy, happy group of siblings, nieces, and nephews and I am grateful every day for that gift. Because I've had friends who have lost people they love to the ravages of cancer. Because almost every life is touched in some way by this disease. Because I can. The list goes on and on. Over the course of this story I hope to not only inspire people to join me on this journey, but also to realize that the limits that we so often impose on ourselves are not real, that we are so much greater than we often give ourselves credit for.

A word of warning, this is not going to be a professional journal. It is not in my nature to sugar-coat things. This journal is going to be a running dialog of the trials and tribulations of training, the heartbreak of loss, and the struggle to reach your goals. It's going to be fairly free-form, you will get what is in my mind and heart at the time I write it. My hope is that this will help bring some of my passion for this event and this cause into your lives. There will be laughter, there will be tears, and there will be cheers of triumph.

Come run with me...

http://pages.teamintraining.org/wi/mardigra10/jhorton06n