Sweet Satisfaction

"It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks, to go forward with a great desire forever beating at the door of our hearts as we travel toward our distant goal. " ~Helen Keller

Yes, the quote and picture can mean only one thing. That little goal that I stated in my last post, the one about wanting to run 3 miles by sometime this week, well I did it. I did it a mere 2 days after I posted it. I woke up on Saturday morning and had seen a status from a friend about how great it feels to workout first thing in the morning. I haven't been able to do that in years, so I decided to get my butt off the couch and do it. I got there and ran, and ran, and ran. My Ipod just kept playing the right songs, one after the other. Before I knew it, I was at 2.5 miles. I was feeling the burn by then but thought "You have come this far. Just think about how mad you will be at yourself if you came that close and just stopped." So I didn't(stop, that is). I hit 3 miles. I accomplished one of my main goals. I actually had shattered it, doing it a whole week before I thought I could. And man did it feel amazing. Sure I was dripping in sweat and my hips felt like they did when I was 35 weeks pregnant, and Lenae had already dropped close to 3 times. But nothing was taking away from that sweet satisfaction. I almost yelled out as soon as I hit my mark, but figured it was best to not label myself as the crazy lunatic if I was going to continue to workout there. And shoutout to my Mom, who also hit the 3 mile mark on Monday!!!! We have both done it twice now..and it's getting easier each time!

Now on to goal #2. We have taken the step and have chosen the 5K we want to participate in. We had orignially wanted to do one in August, but have decided to wait until the weather cools down. We chose the Bob Ardrey Marathon(it also has a half marathon and 5K run) in Salina, on September 22nd. That should give plenty of time to chip away at our times and work on speed maintenence. Can't wait!! Here's a link to it just in case you want to come run with us :)!

http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/racefinderdetail/1,7150,s6-239-283-284-0-0-0-0-1935014,00.html

It has a link to the actual event page too. It's for a great cause!

I also found out within the last week that I have limits. I know, I know. Contrary to what everyone believes, I'm not superwoman...(haha). I went on a workout kick and ran 3 miles Saturday, ran 3 miles(1 mile at a time) and walked a mile on Sunday, ran 2 miles on Monday, lifted weights on Tuesday, and ran 3 miles again on Wednesday. On Monday, I was really wishing that I had taken off Sunday. The body does need time to rest and heal from performing at it's best. So don't forget to take a day off here and there...it's not a sign of being lazy(even though I feel like it when I do), it's a sign of being smart!

Lastly, I owe a large part of being able to keep up with this running not only to my Mom and you guys, but to my ever so supportive Ipod. Seriously, if I didn't have the music that I do, I would not make it near as far. I have my "Workout" playlist on shuffle and it gets me through that 1 3/4 mile mark, and that 2 1/2 mile mark when I feel like I can't do anymore. It just takes "Starships" or a David Guetta song to come on once, and man does that energy flow! I have a lot of different music on mine that I mainly just googled running songs and compiled it. I would encourage you to do the same. Trust me, it makes a world of difference!!

Have a good weekend!

P.S. My hubby and I took Lenae to the pool last night, and I actually went with my swimsuit top(not the tanktop over it). I still wore shorts because, let's face it, I have major childbearing hips and thighs and it's gonna be a while before they will make an appearance :)

Pin It

Rome wasn't built in a day...

A little update on our running venture, last Thursday I decided to try running on the treadmill at the WC and see how far I could get. I ran 2 miles. Without stopping. For the first time in the whole 25 years I have lived. Where did this come from? Is this the same girl that could barely run 3/4 of a mile two nights before? I think it has something to do with the fact that I have a hard time regulating my beginning speed and wear myself out early, as opposed to saving up my energy until the end. It may have taken me 26 minutes to run it, but I did. And then again on Monday night, I ran 2 1/4(there was a brief 15 sec stop) until Mom tried to show me up and run more, so I cranked it up and kept going. My new goal is to run 3 miles non stop at some point next wk. When I get that down, I will start working on regulating my speed off of the treadmill.

As I was running last night, I kept having to deal with both my pessimist and optimist sides about how far I was going to be able to make it. I was tired, Lenae hadn't slept well the night before and we had been BBQing and stayed up pretty late with a friend. My body was worn out and exhausted, so my pessimistic side said, "Okay fine, just run a mile at a time then" I felt a little defeated at first, but then all of a sudden the thought popped in my mind "Did you really just say 'just a mile' like it was some sort of giving up?" This is where I believe that my optimistic side won out. A little over a month ago, I would have given anything to run a mile without stopping. And last night I chose to take it easy and run 2 miles, 1 mile at a time.

This has gotten me thinking about the old saying, "Rome wasn't built in a day." I am still just a little frustrated with myself for not going the full 2 miles together but I also know that I cannot expect my body to handle my best every day, and go from foundation work to finished beauty in 24 hours. I have always struggled with being the "negative", "sarcastic", or "glass half empty" kind of girl. But since starting this whole process, I have seen, and felt myself becoming gradually more optimistic about life, my body, and relationships as a whole. The conclusion I have come to is that, for me, a little pessimism is a healthy thing. As long as I let the optimist take charge on more occasions I think I will be just fine!

To finish up, "What keeps me going with this?" I received a VERY sweet message from someone last week. What she does not know is that I was having a very rough day and was not going to run that night. Until that message came and I instantly got excited and realized that there really some people that take notice and are interested in this. Those very kind words helped me put my shoes on that night and run my first 2 miles. So thank you for that. Without those of you who tell me you read this or encourage me to keep going, I would probably not have made it this far. Because of you, I am more careful about what I put in my shopping cart(for fear of someone stopping me to talk at the store and seeing ice cream, or endless amounts of horrible carbs), or what I order from a restaurant because people will see this as a sign that I have given up like so many times before. Don't get me wrong, I like to still enjoy the occasional bowl of ice cream and still have not kicked the Diet Coke habit. But This process is gradual. The weight does not come off overnight, and the process and will power to get there doesn't happen overnight.

"Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better" - Pat Riley

I think that by accepting the fact early on, that this will not be a fast results kind of journey, I will not give up after a few weeks of no results. (Which by the way, I was finally able to go down a size last night and am up to 3.5 inches gone from my measurements, and 13 lbs off.) So they are coming, slowly but surely.  Pin It

Setbacks are not the end of the world...

“Part of abandoning the all-or-nothing mentality is allowing yourself room for setbacks. We are bound to have lapses on the road to health and wellness, but it is critical that we learn how to handle small failures positively so that we can minimize their long-term destructive effects. One setback is one setback—it is not the end of the world, nor is it the end of your journey toward a better you.”
― Jillian Michaels

Sorry for the little abscence, hit a few health delays. Nothing too serious, just a good bout sinus issues! I am actually thoroughly convinced that my body went into it's self preservation mode and tried rejecting my new healthy lifestyle! It sidelined me from working out(I mean who in their right mind would run with a Sinus infection and 103 fever?) I'm dedicated to this whole thing...but not insane!  Once I finally felt a million times better, Mom came down with it. We were also plagued with our first week of above 100 temps, although I did go three nights at 9 p.m. and got runs in. It was still 95 degrees...ouch.

So then I decided to just give up(not working out silly) the heat. I joined the Wellness Center...and man was that the best decision ever. A cool 60 some degrees, weights(which I have been itching to do), and other Cardio machines to break up the monotony of running every now and then. I talked Mom into joining to so that we could keep up the partnership(and keep up the motivation). We had to move a little bit backwards to build up our stamina, but we're still gonna make that 5K! I know it!!

As for eating...blah. This past weekend was not my weekend for self control. I ate what I wanted, and had a little bit of fried food(for the first time in over a month :( ), and didn't work out like I wanted to. But I'm recharged and have done much better yesterday and today. It's a never ending battle, and I don't intend to give up!! What's more worth the results...than knowing you had to fight really hard to get them? That's what I keep telling myself!

Random thought...I used to go through a 20 pk of Diet Coke in 3 days, well the current 20 pk of Diet Coke sitting in my pantry has been there since last Wednesday. And it still has 5 left in it. Baby steps....

Pin It