It's Time

If you've been reading my blog, you know my thoughts on running.  I'm not a huge fan of it, I'm not that great at it, but I do it anyway.  My dedication to running ebbs and flows with the months.  Some months I could care less and opt for the elliptical, and other months I push it hard.  And from time to time, I've toyed with signing myself up for a race...not to win, but to finish.  And I've never done it...UNTIL now.

Now hang on, before you think that I've signed up for some crazy marathon, or even a half marathon, I haven't.  That would be emotional suicide!  I'm slightly terrified of failure, and I like a gradual introduction to things.  SO, I've signed up for my first 5K.  That's right, 3.1 miles of yours truly re-living her running memoirs of times past, wohooo!

I am nervous and excited all at the same time.  Nervous because I've given myself a deadline to run 3.1 miles nonstop, and running is hard for me!  But I'm also excited.  Excited because I'm ready to be done fearing something that's hard for me.  I feel like this is almost a little milestone for so much more than running.  I'm ready to stop being afraid of things that require a lot of effort.  

I'm learning that just because something is hard, that doesn't mean it's bad; it just means that it's hard work.  And in my 28 years of life, I've learned that a lot of things that are worth achieving, require hard work.  It's still hard to dissociate hard work from being 'bad', but I'm starting to get there.  I think my first real eye-opener was my birth experience with Owen, and now I'm ready to begin tackling a new area, running.  It's more than running, it's what it symbolizes.  I'm not expecting any part of it to be easy, and I'm not even expecting it to be easy when I'm done with my 5K.  I'm just expecting more of myself, because I know I can do hard things, I KNOW I can.  

I'm ready to be done holding back because I'm afraid of some hard work.  I'm ready to work and sweat and feel pain and accomplish my goal and set a great example for my kids.  It may be a small goal, but it will lead me to bigger and better things, and I'm ready for the challenge.  I'm also considering some other goal-worth challenges soon, I'll let you know when I've decided.

SO, my 5K is in American Fork on Thanksgiving Day, a Turkey Trot!!  I've been running on the treadmill at the gym, and have kept telling myself that it takes more than 3 days to train for this.  I'll do about 2.25 miles with scattered walking, slow jogging and fast jogging interspersed, and it's a workout for me!  I always turn red when I run, my face looks like I'm about to have a heart attack, I've even had two people at the gym ask me if I was OK.  "Yes, people, I'm fine.  Not everyone can look gorgeous when they run.".  So, I'll keep you all posted on my progress!!