In the words of Van Halen...JUMP!

Hi. I'm Lisa. I'm a 21 year old, who is graduating from college in one week. So obviously I have a lot of things going through my head right now, right? And at the top of the list of numerous worries (how will I get a job, what will it be like in the adult world, how will I pay rent) is the worry of how do I get health insurance? See, the problem is I'm obese. Yup. According to insurance companies, I will die so soon, that I'm really not worth the coverage. Bit of a smack in the face, but I've taken it pretty well.

I've struggled with weight my entire life. I've tried numerous things, and nothing has jolted me, scared me, or really inspired me enough to really care about my health until now. See, a lot of things in the past 6 months have made me realize I should start taking care of myself. First of all, the fact that I'm going out into the real world, and I need to be healthy, so I can get insurance, get a better job (face it, looks sometimes do matter, it's a cruel world), and learn to love myself. Second, my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer this past March. Thankfully she caught it early, but the whole scope of the situation is still unclear. The main thing was seeing my mother face the ideas of mortality and death, and seeing how much she wanted to see her daughter healthy and happy, so that she didn't have to worry about me and know that no matter what happens with her cancer I'll be ok. She's always worried about my health. She wants the best for me in all aspects of my life. I'm blessed to have parents that care so much about me. Another thing was having a close friend who is dealing with her own body issues and food issues. Talking to her, seeing the things I've felt before, have made me be more honest about my situation with not only her but myself. And finally, just being so tired of being unhealthy and unhappy, that I've decided (with some inspiration from another overweight runner) to do something ridiculous and crazy, but something that will change my life.

I, Lisa White, am going to run the 2007 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on October 7, 2007.

I got the idea to do this from a very inspiration man named Jacob. He has a site, http://blog.whatwouldjacobdo.com/ that details his decision to run the Boston Marathon after being fed up of weighting over 400 pounds. Granted he didn't finish in the time frame suggested, he finished the race, and that was the one thing that inspired so much. If someone who is bigger than myself (no offense, it just made me inspire and convince myself more)can do something this crazy and succeed, then I can do it. I know I can.

So, October 7, 2007 my father and I (he's decided to run with me, I'm so grateful and proud of him to back me) will be crossing the Chicago Marathon finish line, despite how long it takes us. Hopefully over the next 5 months we can train ourselves to finish in the allotted time, but regardless, we will finish. We will also be raising money, in hopes that we can raise enough to qualify to apply for registration through a charity, since the registration spots are closed, and you must now register for the race through a charity. IF we do not raise enough money to join and register, we will still run (sadly unofficial), and will donate the money we do raise to charity of choice.

Regardless, I'm putting this site out there, to tell people, so I cannot back out of this. In life, you have to just make a choice, stick with it, and JUMP (like how I tied in that Van Halen title, eh?). I'm doing just that. It's time for a change in my life, so here we go...