Philahealthia

Photo by Flickr user Loren Javier

Phillyists Leigh and Jenn are making one resolution that better stick: to get healthy. In order to accomplish this, they have registered to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon this March. Yes, less than two months from now (gah!), two of our writers will be running 13.1 miles...in a row...on purpose...without anyone even chasing them. Here are their stories:

Leigh
I'm 30 years old and have only recently become mildly athletic. About four years ago I started playing roller derby and eventually landed a spot with the Philly Roller Girls. I skated a couple partial seasons before I was permanently sidelined because of a kidney injury. Since then, I've been looking for something to fill the void. Nothing really can (I mean, really, you can't hit anyone in Pilates) but I've made running this half marathon a goal I think I can reach. The idea of running the half marathon wasn't mine. It was the brainchild of my sister who actually DOES run for fun and thinks nothing of banging out a 10K on a Saturday afternoon. The only 10K I've seen is on my student loan statement, and that's not quite the same, is it? My sister's not running this marathon with me because of an injury of her own, but one of my best friends and fellow Phillyists, Jenn, is. I'll admit it: I'm not in it for the feeling of victory. I'm only somewhat in it for the athletic achievement. I'm really in it for the medal. Well, the medal and the tiara. Hey, at least SOMETHING is getting my fat ass in this race! My only true goal is that Princess Jasmine doesn't have to scrape my lifeless body out of Tomorrowland before the parks open.

Jenn
Like Leigh, I've only recently become athletic. Barely. Like Kevin Spacey's character in American Beauty, my main goal is to look good naked. And we all know that eating a whole box of mac & cheese and then sleeping it off is just the best thing ever. I decided to join Leigh in doing the Disney Princess half marathon because I will do pretty much anything for a free t-shirt, even pay to travel to Florida, apparently. Throw in a princess medal and the opportunity to wear a tiara with neither a wedding nor the judgment of others? SOLD. Beyond that, 31 years of eating processed food, and an undying love of cheese, is pretty much guaranteed to make one...Rubenesque. We all know what we’re supposed to be doing: eat less, exercise more. Ugh. The whole thing smacks of effort. But family history of high cholesterol and stroke is kind of hard to ignore. All I need to do is eat a carrot and take a walk now and then and this might be avoided? Right, then. With the help of LiveStrong.com's calorie counter, a good running trail, and the obvious inspiration of Eddie Izzard, cue the Rocky theme, baby—it's ON.

So that's that. Welcome to Philahealthia. We'd like to extend an invitation to the awesome readers of Phillyist: Challenge us. If there's something athletic you want us to try, email us and we'll give it a shot, then write about the adventure here. We're up for anything, so bring it on! We'll be blogging about the experience weekly, providing tips from real experts for a healthy lifestyle, awesome tasty recipes, reviews of workout DVDs you can try at home and, if we can score the swag, workout equipment and apparel. We're in it to win it, and to make Phillyist proud.

First up: We had the opportunity to try Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels' latest video game for Nintendo Wii, Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum, 2010. Check out Phillyist on Friday for our assessment.