Fitness, Friends & Fun

Happy New Year! With the new year come lots of resolutions, lots of goals. I know I have made mine. I'm always so ambitious when starting fresh. And I guess a little overconfident as well you might say if you saw my list. Ah, but it will make 2013 so interesting!

Yesterday I renewed my commitment to run the NYC Marathon. This year it will take place on November 3rd if there are no natural disasters. And so today began my journey toward that end. Several friends have suggested I keep a fitness blog because they found my journey inspiring this past year. And so I will share my new journey for any who are interested.

It's odd to think of myself as inspirational to anyone. I've never been particularly athletic. And in fact, my Dad STILL laughs about my days on the Holy Name Track Team in 1980 for one season. In addition, my children find it amusing that they can run circles around me on the track. Yes, many people can lap me on the track and in the pool. And on the bike, forget about it! But perhaps that is the very reason that my story is fun to follow...I'm just an average person doing my best and occasionally surprising myself (and those who love me) with what my determination can accomplish.

It's not easy. And today's 10 mile run is a great example of how the toughest part of a fitness program is sometimes not physical at all, but psychological. Dana and Lauren and I set out at 7:00 on our usual path agreed on a distance and not worried about the pace. The weather was not as dry as we would have liked, but it was plenty warm for January, so we didn't complain. After the first mile, we fell into a comfortable pace and chatted freely about all the things that working Moms chat about.

By mile 3.5, I was ready to turn around....seriously not feeling like doing 6.5 more. Outloud, I made this point. In my head, I was cursing myself for sharing my commitment with the world. When will I ever learn that this gets me in trouble?? But you see, I am a classic extrovert. I process outside of myself. To me, something is not real until I have spoken the thought to someone else. And the scarier the thought, the more people I must share with. It's just the way I'm built.

Now, these women know me pretty well after all this time...so they just let me complain and we agreed that we would re-evaluate at 4.5 miles. Before we knew it, we were at 4.0. And then 4.5 was just one short story further. At which point, I was determined to go the 5.0 before turning around. Somewhere in that 1.5 miles, I got my head screwed on straight.

At the turn-around, we checked our watches and picked up the pace for home. Even with a quick potty stop in the woods, we still managed a negative split overall. And were sprinting for the (imaginary) tape the last half mile. (Naturally, Lauren won...she is the fastest among us.) We finished feeling great and so glad we had done the entire 10 miles.

So my thought for the day is this: It is worth toughing it out. Train the brain and the body will follow! Don't give up!!