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