I'm Number 1!

I am both proud and amazed to tell you that just this morning, I completed #1 on my 40 by 40 list! Not just any 5K either, but our very first Big Gay Race, an event to oppose the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex couples from getting married. It was the perfect combination of a good cause and a personal goal.

So yeah, I ran a 5K! Me! The person who up until 4 months ago didn't think she could even run a single mile. I have to say, this seemed like one of the most daunting tasks on my 40 by 40 list. And up until I actually saw that finish line, I was debating whether I'd still be able to count today if I ended up walking part of the race. Actually, I was silently chanting "If you run this whole thing, you never have to run again! Ever!"

I had never run 3.1 miles. I did not follow a training regimen. I tried to, sure, but within the last month, I probably only ran 3 or 4 times because I was sick and then sometimes just lazy. The point being: I really didn't think I could do this.

But I did!

I know I've mentioned this a few times over the last couple years, but setting a goal and accomplishing it is really amazing. And I'm not saying that to be trite. I'm saying it because I honestly don't think I had ever truly set goals for myself until I turned 30. That's not to say that I'd never had a goal or I'd never achieved anything in my life, but I don't think I'd ever truly set a goal that was just for me and that was totally within my control to accomplish. I'm actually a little sad that it took me so long to find out how great it is.

As for running, I'm not ready to train for a marathon or anything, but I would definitely run another 5K. And I do intend to try to stick with it as a form of exercise...assuming that I ever regain the use of my quads. 

One Foot in Front of the Other

I did it! This morning I ran an entire mile without stopping - and more importantly, without DYING!

I've been working on this for awhile and I am just amazed at how quickly I was able to increase my distance by running outside. The treadmill and I are no longer friends. (However, the Nike + GPS app and I are BFFs.)

I'm ridiculously proud of myself. And motivated. I actually think I'll be able to run a 5K this year...possibly this fall.

Running a mile is nothing to many people, but I'm not kidding when I tell you that I did not think I was physically capable of it just weeks ago. But now I am!

Here's to setting goals and achieving them - especially when they're actually good for you.

Excuses and more

As if it's not bad enough that I'm failing miserably, I'm afraid my daily blogging challenge has turned my blog into my nemesis. It makes it feel like work. (yes, apparently work is also my nemesis...I'm better suited for days spent lounging by the ocean with pina coladas)

I thought it would be a good writing exercise, but instead it feels like my writing is even more pointless than ever. Sigh.

Are there phases that a person goes through when forming new habits? Enthusiasm, boredom, self-sabotage, and then justifying failure? Yep, those are my four phases of being a quitter. Except I'm not quitting in this case. I'm just whining. But I'm planning to finish out my last 5 days strong!

It should help that I'm on single parent duty this week - I find that staying home is far more conducive to blogging than actually having a life worth blogging about.

My husband is in New York on a freelance gig and I realized that even though he's gone a lot at the theater these days, I had forgotten the anxiety I get when he's gone for several days. It's like my brain thinks we're going to a desert island or something and I must gather enough supplies to last us the entire length of his absence in case we lose contact with the outside world. I have to assume that it's a holdover from when the boys were younger because back then, I really did feel overwhelmed just taking them both to the grocery store by myself. Now it's easy-peasy, but I guess old associations are hard to shake.  

In other news, I realized that I have less than 5 weeks before I'm going back to Vegas for our friend's wedding, which means I have to 1) buy a "summer formal" dress and 2) wear a swimsuit in public. Both of these facts got me out jogging yesterday. Jogging! And, according to Google maps, I jogged a full 0.45 miles without stopping! That's pretty major for me. I guess what everyone has been telling me about it being easier to run outside, might actually be true. Huh. I'm hoping to keep it up and maybe eventually jog the full mile to the Caribou up the street (I believe that if it was a Starbucks, I would have done it already).

I'm also participating in the Autism 5K here in Minneapolis on May 21. I don't plan to run the whole thing, so I don't think I'll be checking anything off my 40 by 40 list that day, but it will be a fun family activity, it's a great cause, and it will contribute to the body reshaping I'm hoping to achieve in less than 5 weeks. Win-win-win.