Why Not?!

June 16, 2011 By Lauren and Tom
Well, I guess it’s my turn. You’ve heard enough from my hubs the past few days but now it’s time to hear from his better half.  My name is Lauren or L for short. Or if you knew me before my life with Tom I’m just Magee and continue to stay Magee to many. What? Sorry there are tons of Laurens in the world and I’m still adjusting to calling myself Hanley. 
The world of blogging…I started reading blogs when I started the wedding planning process to get creative ideas, see what others were doing, and try to grasp exactly what I wanted for our special day. I’ve continued reading the blogs I grew to like and love. The women have now started having babies and I’ve found something cool about reading what others my age are experiencing around the country even though if I passed them on the street I would know their whole life story and I’d just be a stranger to them. So Tom and I have decided to start documenting our lives and our insight. Will it be the best? No!  Will all people agree? No! But I don’t care. All I can say is that we’ve been to Hell over the last year and if we can offer some advice, guidance, happy thoughts to anyone out there going through a hard time then that will make this blog worth it. I’m thinking of it as a modern day journal.  Instead of hiding it under my bed like I did in middle school we are sharing our story with the world…because you know what…why not?!
Why not has become a phrase that has come out of my mouth a lot over the past few months. Life before The Crash used to be well maybe I’ll run that race next year or I don’t know if I can do that, referring to whatever the new scary experience might be. But now, my motto is Why not?! I have Carpe Diem tattooed on my side for a reason. J It all started in February when I signed up for a trail race I’d been talking about doing for the past 4 years. We drove past the sign and I looked at Tom and simply stated, “I’m signing up when we get home”. He gave me his usual look of “um, you’re nuts but okay”. It was 5 miles and I hadn’t been training that much but why not? It would hurt? I wouldn’t win? I wouldn’t finish? Who cares, I’m out doing something I want and living life. Little did I know that my why not attitude would lead me on to running 2 half marathons in May and agreeing to sign up for a FULL..yes I said it FULL trail marathon in December with one my friends. I thought about it for about 2 weeks, internally debating if I should. I was scared! It’s a full marathon in December on trails…it snowed last year for this!! Then I came back to my Why Not attitude and signed up! What’s the worst that can happen? That I don’t finish…well then I was out there experiencing something new and I’ll get a cool wind breaker for participating. I couldn’t be more excited. Will it hurt? Yes! But that wonderful feeling when I cross that finish line will leave me hungry for more!

                                         My first trail race…can you tell I’m in love?
                                          

You’ll hear much more about my life and running throughout this blog. It’s amazing how much running can relate to your life and help in so many more ways than helping with weight (that’s definitely NOT why I run).  So next time you are presented with a new, scary situation take the Why Not attitude. I promise it will put a smile on your face and lead to something that will make you proud of yourself.
Until next time, get out and live your life!
L