Woah! It has been a long time since I shared words, experiences, joy, pain and inspiration with you. I had all the intentions in the world to write more consistently, to share more openly, and to inspire more passionately. And while I could sit here and list a litany of excuses some of which include my own laziness; the daily demands of life with work and school (yes, I am back in school, more on that later), but alas I digress. Excuses do not get us anywhere! So, instead of making them, I am going to own my shortcomings.

I think it is appropriate to first apologize to myself for not leading and showing my true authentic self. Second, I apologize to all of you for not showing my vulnerabilities, and more so for neglecting my previously promised weekly dialogue. Now, with those apologies out of the way, I would like to offer a new and revived vow of committing to a weekly post on my journey—good, bad, indifferent or anything else. Aside from holding myself accountable, I want to enlist your support in holding me accountable. Remember in any community, we only get stronger by lifting up those around us.

Let me quickly tell you where I have been and where I am going. I am now one year deep into a Master’s in Public Health with a focus on Lifestyle Management at Loma Linda University. Scleroderma provided me with a wake up call to help others create a better life in an effort to prevent chronic illness; but also to help those fighting the battle of chronic illness. By the way, I also have straight A’s [yes, I am a school nerd].

The next piece of news is that I registered for a second consecutive year to run the Los Angeles Marathon in order to raise awareness for Scleroderma and money for the Southern California Scleroderma Foundation. Not only am I asking for people’s financial support, but also to help get the word out. If you live local to the race, I am asking you to come out and cheer me on as well as all the other amazing athletes as we conquer this feat. If you are not local, please share my fundraising link with anyone and everyone you know and follow my journey on social media.

On a personal note, aside from creating awareness and raising funds to support patients, I am trying to conquer my goal of running the marathon in under four hours. To be more specific, I am looking to destroy my time of 4:21 in my first ever marathon in 2018 and complete my 2^ndmarathon in 3 hours and 45 minutes or less!

Thank you again for your compassion and support. I look forward to my newly committed journey with you. We all have our good days and our bad days. We all struggle and we all need the support of others. Let’s continue to battle together in the tough times and celebrate one another in all the good times. Stay tuned as we continue our commitment to movement and positive thinking.