I’ve always considered JoggersLife to be sort of like my own personal diary that a few other people just happen to read.  It is always my intention to help others/incite a riot/evoke passion/give a good belly laugh through my posts, so I think it’s important that as I move onto different things in my life, I share those on the blog as well.

I’m happy if you enjoy, and kind of sad if you’re indifferent, but ultimately, I’ve found the blog to mainly be a great place for me to journal, share thoughts, and it’s also an awesome way to reference back to things in my life that I might forget along the way.  Besides all of these things, I have “met” so many wonderful and truly supportive people along the way.  Love you guys.

I originally started the blog because I made the decision to run my longest race up until that point: The Boilermaker 15K.  That first post on November 18th last year is actually quite a hoot for me to read now.  What a difference a year makes, huh?  From that initial race motivation spawned the decision to run my first half marathon–The Frederick 1/2 (which actually occurred before The Boilermaker), then I moved on to my very first marathon–The Baltimore Marathon.

Along the way, I’ve hurt myself several times, seen my PT more times than I can even recall, been fitted for my own personal pair of orthotics, freaked out about my family history of chronic disease, became a pescetarian, freaked out about food and diets and my history with bulimia (also more times than I can recall).  Now, I’m planning a wedding.

I’ve covered everything with you guys.

And, I may not have specifically expressed it here on the blogola, but one of my life goals was to run a marathon before getting married and having babies.

I ran the marathon.

Soon, I’ll be trying to have babies.

Babies?!

Yes, babies.

Despite my childish good looks and complete lack of wrinkles and crows feet (lie, lie, and lie), I am no spring chicken.  My Gazelle and I will be officially tying the knot on October 16, 2010.

The ceremony will begin at 5PM.

Thirty minute ceremony.

Thirty minute drive to the dinner party.

Eat, drink, and be merry from approximately 7-10PM.

So, I estimate that the conception process will commence at around 10:01PM on October 16th, 2010.

Although I’m probably running the risk of sharing too much on the blog, I do think that these things are important to bring to light.  And I don’t intend on throwing you the “play-by-play”, so you’ll be fairly safe from any unwanted mental imagery.

Fairly.

But, I can’t really make any promises to that effect either.

I’ve been taking synthetic birth control for many years.  I’ve had a history of irregular cycles when I wasn’t on the pill.  It took my sister a long time to get pregnant with my niece.  These things are all at the forefront for me, and I am highly aware of them, but I don’t necessarily think that they preclude me from getting pregnant within a reasonable time frame.  I do, however, plan to take measures so that it will be more likely that we are able to conceive before I reach menopause.

That was a joke.  I know I’m way too young to worry about menopause, and women are having babies into their 40′s now, but personally, I’d like to have my child-rearing done before I hit 40.  You know, by like 39 1/2 or so.

I have done a lot of reading and learning over the past few months.  I’ve also followed Kristen’s story of conception (and her difficulty) very closely, and I have taken her advice very much to heart.

My doctor has recommended that I stop taking birth control ASAP in order for my body to be cleansed of the synthetic hormones well before we start trying to conceive.  To me, this is a huge relief because I hate taking pills/medications of any kind.  The added fact that birth control is technically a synthetic steroid only adds to my neurosis about taking it.

Today, I took my last birth control pill.

And, I jumped for joy.

And, I bought this book.

The whole scenario kind of makes me feel a little bit “tree-huggerish”, but it also feels incredibly good that I’ve made a decision to listen to my body.

Does anyone have experience (positive or negative) with Natural Family Planning (NFP)?  Please do share in the comments!

p.s…I promise to bring a running update soon.  You now, since this is “JOGGERSlife” and all.

p.s.s…I also plan to give you that soup eBook that I promised so very long ago!

p.s.s.s…I also plan to bake massive quantities of cookies between now and Christmas Eve, so look for some new recipes!

* Have you joined my Facebook Group yet?

* See how my training is going over here!

* Looking for my eBook?

*Check out my body image project!