A Celebration of Life

What better way to celebrate life, than by living a healthy lifestyle and inspiring others to follow suit?

I decided to celebrate my birthday by challenging myself and others to run our age and more in miles! The Challenge was a 13.1mile run (half marathon) immediately followed by a 26.2mile (full marathon) bike ride.

12 years ago, at 285 pounds, I found myself struggling with diabetes, high blood pressure, back issues, and a complete lack of inspiration in life.  It was then I decided to take drastic measures and embarked on a journey that lead me to a new life. 

When I married my husband 10 years ago, we always looked for ways to stay active and live life like an adventure, every day. We married while scuba diving 25 feet underwater, in the Florida Keys and continued to explore the beauty that life has to offer.

During my husband’s deployment a few years ago, I found myself looking for ways to keep my 2 sons busy and spend time with them outdoors. I received a double stroller now known as the “Minion Wagon” and started running to live healthy and inspire my kids to do the same. At my husband’s return, we started training together and set up the attainable goal of running our first half marathon.

Running has brought us together and we have crossed every single finish line holding hands. We continue to enforce our promise to stay active by inspiring our children and friends to live healthy. During this running journey we have run the 2019 Air Force Marathon in Ohio, 7 half marathons, and over 20 shorter races. We are now training for the Marine Corp Ultra Marathon, which is 50 Km (31miles.) The race is set to take place this coming October in Washington, DC. However, given the current circumstances we are prepared to run this race on site if the event is cancelled or postponed. We wake up every day focused on our goal but not let it get in the way of spending time with our boys and doing the best we can in our jobs.

Why do the Birthday Challenge “13.1 Run / 26.2 Bike Ride”? Because we believe running is a gift from God which must be share with others. We invite everyone to lace up, exercise, and gain life by enjoying the beauty that nature has to offer!!

Magda C. Gelves

@magsgelpro