So as you may have gathered from the title, I'm awesome. I say this in a humble way and the only reason I am saying it at all is because I have learned that by acknowledging times in my life when I make strides toward achieving a goal I am more likely to continue working on that goal. Especially when I am trying to accomplish difficult goals, such as getting healthy. It boosts my confidence and reinforces the path I'm on. With that being said, let me reiterate. I am awesome.
Here's why. On Sunday I had planned on running a complete 5k with Dany and Freddy so I could get some more training in. I ended up going alone and was pretty nervous about whether I would be able to do the distance or not given my history of being too easy on myself. I went to a local high school and started out with every intention of letting myself stop if I needed to. Instead of running the track the entire time since that can get boring, I ran around the football field, through the parking lot, and back to the field. I didn't let myself look at the distance so I could trick myself into running more. It worked. By the time I finished that first loop to the parking lot and back I had done about a mile. Without stopping. With having to run a pretty sizable hill. For me, since I was running by myself, this was an incredible feat.
At that point I went to the track and decided I would run about a mile there and finish out a third mile doing my original route. I was about 1.5 miles in when I really wanted to walk. But then an amazing thing happened. I made myself run instead. I ran, and I ran, and I ran. I slowed my pace a little but made sure to take deep breaths and just keep moving. As I sit here writing this, remembering how it felt to push myself like I did, I have tears in my eyes. I have always been really easy on myself and never try to push myself too hard to do anything when it comes to exercise. But this time I did.
After about 3 laps on the track I was bored and at risk of quitting if I didn't change it up again. I ran back outside the football stadium and went the opposite way to the parking lot, mostly to avoid the hill since my legs were pretty tired, and made a loop around the field again. After I completed that loop I had about .2 miles to go to finish out my 5k distance. I ran back in to the parking lot near my car and ran until my count said 3.1 miles. I immediately stopped the tracker and started walking. I almost laid down in the parking lot and cried from happiness. I had done it! Not only had I made myself run the entire time I was out there but I had completed a 5k and was able to get my breathing back to normal pretty easily!
With this hurdle under my belt I feel empowered to keep working toward making this possible every time I go out to run. I know that it's not always going to be easy but I do know now that it is possible for me.
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