The first of Barb Filutze's 8 Great Monday's runners training program had a great turnout last night.

There were more than 100 people (about 150, I would guess) who showed up and committed to taking the first steps toward lifelong fitness.

The evening started with a talk from Barb -- a former world-class masters runner -- who gave us her story. She called herself "the most unlikely person to ever start running." When she started running 20-some years ago, Barb has three small children underfoot, was taking 10 aspirin a day to deal with arthritis and was a pack-and-a-half-a-day smoker. She said her first run was from her house to the corner, then across the street to the next house where she stopped, heaving -- problem was...she lived on the corner, so....she hadn't gone more than a few feet. She told how she held fast to smoking...refusing to give it up and remembering that she smoked while walking to the starting line of her first 5K race.

After Barb spoke, she turned the microphone over to a guy from the Erie Sports Store who talked about how to choose the right running shoes. Then, he raffled off two pairs of running shoes!

Once the shoe talk was over, Barb introduced a veteran runner (different runner each week) -- Amy Palmiero Winters -- the Meadville-area woman runner and amputee who can outrun most women with two good legs.

Read the Erie Times-News story about her here.

Read the Runner's World magazine story about here here.

Amy's talk was truly inspiring. She's an amazing person, an incredible woman and one tough mama (she had her two little ones in tow). One thing that she said has resonated in my head ever since: "The only limits we have are those we put on ourselves." Meaning...we tell ourselves what we can and cannot accomplish and you must believe in yourself.

Hate to dwell on my Cleveland experience, but...when she made that statement, I had an epiphany. I couldn't do what I wanted to accomplish in Cleveland because I never believed I could do it. Others told me I could do it and I wanted to believe them, but I always had the voice in the back of my head telling me that it was too lofty of a goal for me.

Funny thing is -- if someone had told me I couldn't do it, I'd have considered it a challenge and I'd have done it just to spite them.

I realize now that what I needed to do (and still need to do) is challenge myself -- to go harder and faster, to go longer, to do what I don't think I can ever accomplish (or am afraid to try like....writing a book, qualifying for Boston, doing a triathlon.

What are you holding yourself back from doing?