I'm not sure about you, but I'm not real big on resolutions. I try to always learn from the past and be better about the things revealed to me that I'm definitely not great at. I know it's pretty general, but God has revealed many specifics in that general resolution!
This year I decided to spice it up a bit and add a real resolution. I've lost 30 pounds in 2010 with Weight Watchers. I have 15 more to go in 2011. Honestly, the only way that's going to happen is if I exercise. I have a gym membership, but sometimes that's like having a Subway rewards card. I use it if I go there, which isn't all that often. Actually, I get more use out of my Subway rewards card than I do my gym membership. Which is sad.
Anyway, my resolution this year is to do a 1/2 marathon. I'm not going for speed or time or anything like that. I'm doing it to say I did it. One of my bucket list things since college is to do a marathon. I'm hoping this 1/2 marathon goal will get me loving to run and then I can be ready for the Portland Marathon in October 2012.
I had a schedule for the gym. I even did the first week and felt fantastic. I saw marked improvement in that time. In addition to the 1/2 marathon in May, I've signed up for some smaller races between now and then. They build in length the closer I get to May. I did that because 1) I really want to be a runner and 2) it would keep me on the training schedule! I was pacing myself for the 1/2.
Then in mid-January I got pneumonia, missed 5 days of work, cracked a rib and was basically sick all of February. It wasn't until this week that I felt great. If you read yesterday's post, the illness in our house is back. I'm losing sleep to take care of Zoe, so the gym is a back-burner. God, oh how He has a sense of humor.
I came into work this week and a lady I work with is also doing the same training things I am for the 1/2 in May. We're both signed up to do the St. Paddy's Day 5. This Sunday! It's also got a kid's race that's 600 feet and I know Zoe was excited about that. It was going to just be fun!
In the racing world, everything is in kilometers. If it's a 12k, it's really 7.46 miles. If it's a 5k, it's really 3.1 miles. The St. Paddy's Day 5 would be an easy 3.1 miles. If it took me 45 minutes, that's just okay. It would also show me how much I need to get to the gym. The Race for the Cure in April would be a chance to get better with my time and something to train for that isn't terribly overwhelming.
The sweet lady I work with informed me this week that the 5 in St. Paddy's Day 5 is actually 5 miles! Neither of us read any fine print. We both thought it was a 5k! Apparently it's a "fast" 5 miles and a qualifying race for Bloomsday (which is a 12k). I'm not even sure what a "fast" 5 miles is. That doesn't sound fast to me unless I'm in a car! The 2010 winner of this "fast" 5 miles did it in 23 minutes. 23 MINUTES! That's a 4.5 minute mile. I don't even think I can walk from my car to the treadmill in 4.5 minutes.
Honestly, I was a little shocked, stunned and humored by it. Oh God does indeed have a sense of humor. Instead of a 45 minute goal, I'm just hoping to get past the first mile before someone wins the race. For 5 miles I'm going to be telling myself that my t-shirt looks exactly like the 1st place winner's t-shirt.
Apparently I'm not giving up training for lent. Instead I'm giving up biting my nails. I can't be sick anymore before the 1/2 marathon or I might be taken off the course on a stretcher and still not get my shirt.
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