I DID IT!! One Goal Down!!

Yesterday afternoon was hectic around here. You know those days where you are just ready for it to be over. When you just want to take a few minutes to yourself. Normally I would have told Steven that before dinner I was going to go for a run, but it was hot and we had to run an errand, so that wasn't going to work out. So I had to go ahead and wait till after the girls were in bed. This was the first time I was going to run after dark, not that I am scared or anything, I just usually don't. But I needed to. I needed to get my frustrations of the day out.

So I walked over to a park area near our house where a baseball team was practicing, so there were lights and I ran around the outside of the second field. I began by promising myself I would run around it once (I had no idea how far it was), then I realized as I was getting back to the beginning that I could do it again. So I did it twice, no stopping, but I knew I could do more. Soon I was on my 5th time around wondering how far I had gone feeling like that was it I couldn't run any farther without walking a little. I knew it was farther than I had ever run without stopping, but I still didn't know how far. So I pulled my phone out of my bra (yes I know I should get one of those arm bands or something) and saw that I was at .79miles. I was surprised I had gone that far, and it just made me all that more determined to finish out and run a mile. So I kept on myself and I kept running and running. And the next thing I knew I heard the 1 mile mark!! I ran a whole mile without stopping!!! I was so excited!! And the funny thing is I started to walk for about half a block and decided I wanted to run more! So I ran a couple more blocks and headed home.

I was and still am very proud of myself. I didn't think I was going to be able to run a whole mile without stopping until I had lost a lot more weight. I know there are some people who could not run at all and go out and just run a mile and do it faster than I did. But that has never been me. I am not a runner. But I proved to myself last night that I can do it. My time was not fast. It took 12:30 which is not fast. It actually is the same amount of time it takes me to walk and run it combined. But I ran the whole thing. I didn't let myself stop. And you should know that before last night the longest I had run without stopping was just over 1/4 mile. And now that I know I can do it, I am excited to work on getting my time faster!

You may be wondering what would keep you motivated? Well honestly I kept thinking about how I just wanted to go farther than I had before. Then I kept telling myself that it was be awesome to be able to walk in the door and tell Steven that I had finally accomplished one of my goals. I even thought about the show Extreme Makeover: Weigh loss edition. I love that show (I dislike the Biggest Loser). And one thing that I notice everytime I watch that show is that the trainer, Chris, pushes the people to go beyond what they think they can do. Which you should do each time you work out, but this time I kept thinking about one of the men who weighed 400+ lbs and he made him run and run, and just kept telling him to move his legs. No matter how fast he was going he was to keep his legs moving. I knew that if a man who weighs hundreds of pounds more than me could keep his legs moving and run, I could too.

So I am proud myself today. I didn't think I would be able to run that far and I did. It also gives me motivation to find a race to sign up for. I do not expect to win or anything, but I would love to try sometime. I challenge you to keep trying for that goal you don't think you can reach. Give it your all and see what happens.