The Next Step

Okay, so last night, we were coming home from a fitness event at school. At a low-traffic intersection, I spied with my little eye: A Quarter! This was an intersection I totally could have incorporated into my run today, but I couldn't stand the thought of re-routing for a quarter that may or may not still be there today! So, you guessed it ... I asked Aaron to swing back around, I got the quarter (and two pennies I saw at another intersection over the weekend ... oh, yeah ...). Elly and I ran today change-free, which is a bit of a bummer in the potential we had for more-money-than-miles, but whadda ya do?!

It was a most beautiful morning to run! See how pretty?

There's my girl by some really cool purple
flowers! This is the one time I made her
stop for meeeee ...

I found this to be very-Senior-Picture of her.

While it was a great run, it wasn't foremost on my mind today. Nope! Instead, all I really kept thinking about was my new running add-on: Strength Training. (Me? *gulp!* ) Here's the story:

Almost four years ago when I first started running, I took it on for a whole experience -- mind, body and soul.

• Foremost, I wanted to be heart healthy. That continues as my top priority outcome with running. Always. 
• I, indeed, wanted to tone up and undo some of that damage I'd done to myself for the previous decade which would also mean ...
• Revamping the daily menu
• Finally, I knew I'd eventually need to figure out how to cross-train to work other muscles for a whole-body experience.

Holy crap, that list was daunting both in effort and in time.

Enter: One Step At a Time.

I started running in September 2008, and by the end of that October, I figured out and embraced my focus: Just Go. (Trust me on this advice: Make your goal and embrace it.) Therefore, for the first two years, I focused on nothing but a basic running process ... going when I didn't feel like it, keep on keepin' on during a run when I was so tired I just wanted to stop and -- so important -- turning the internal dialogue from negative to positive. My running could have nothing to do with how fast I was as I knew that would defeat me, and it barely had anything to do with how far except that I needed a measure so I'd know to keep going when tempted to stop. Some people use time as their measure; I wanted to use distance.

My focus and priorities did not change until after finishing my first Half Marathon in October 2010. I didn't have a time frame in mind as to when I should do anything different other than run, but I used those two years to constantly evaluate what I was doing, asking myself I was suporting my goal of making this a life-long sustainable activity, and making sure I was still having some kind of fun.

There's not much more fun than getting festive for a run! I still
remember getting those gloves ... I love my candy cane gloves!
And, the whole family got Santa hats! AND, I got to do this with
a friend! You've seen Woody before, so you know we remained
friends even though he might have questioned our friendship that
day since it was, like, 18 degrees at this moment! He's a good
sport and had a great hat, too! Seriously! This is fun!!!

During those two years is when I really embraced the value and fun of entering races. Just to enter and finish was so huge for me; I never thought I'd do such a thing! And, in the meantime, I strategically used those races to mentally and physically prepare me for the big show: 13.1.

I am mere feet away from the finish here.
I was soooo proud and happy!!

Crossing that finish line changed my life. Period. It reminded me of strong I was physically, mentally and emotionally. The craziness of life -- especially through the years of having teeny-tiny wee ones and trying to figure out how to make a young family grow and thrive without losing myself in the midst -- challenged every part of me sometimes to the brink. I know I'm not alone in that sentiment, but I sure didn't want to stay there.

I never said it was good fuel. I said it
was delicious.

While not a whole lot changed in terms of working on my daunting to-dos those 2 years (that first Half Marathon was fueled the night before by a fish sandwich from McDonald's ... totally not kidding. Oh, and it was delicious.), what did happen post-first Half was that I kept on going. I simply kept running. I kept at the one thing I never thought I'd ever do and never even envisioned doing. I revisited my goals, I checked in with my intended focus, and I vowed to Just Keep Going.

Fast-forward to present day: I am super happy with so many aspects of my intended goals that I knew this was the right time for me to add resistance training to my regiment. I'll go into what I'm doing tomorrow as this wound up being longer with the background than I anticipated. But, I think the background is crucial. It matters a lot (to me) that it's clear that everything didn't happen all at once. It just couldn't have!!  In fact, I'll just say it: It would not have been reasonable for me to think I could overhaul everything and be successful in the long haul. It's taken almost four years to get to this point, and it is all working out just fine ...