Run with you heart

My new year's resolution was to run in a 5k, a 10k and a 15k this year. It seemed like a nice progressive plan of 3 major runs in a year. Little did I know... those runs are several miles long!

There is no plan for my running, I just go and see how the run feels. I told myself not to have crazy high expectations and to listen to my body. Running has been a slowly building process in which I work hard every time and get better and better results each run.

Late December, I jogged for a full mile straight. Last week, I finally made it up to jogging for 2 full miles. I know that may seem like small potatoes for some people, but it was a pretty big accomplishment for me. I texted my sister afterwards that I had never run that long or that far, nor had ever thought about even trying much less actually doing it. When the nice lady on my Nike GPS told me that I had "Completed 2 miles" something in me broke and my legs just stopped jogging. I tried another little jog after I walked a bit, but could not get myself to go more than a few feet. I walked a mile to cool down and marveled at how I could have just jogged so far.

Yesterday, I began my run as usual. I thought to myself, "Maybe today, I could jog 3 miles" A few times I went back and forth between "I can't" and "Yes, I can!" until somewhere along the way the nice Nike GPS lady said "3 miles completed".

My sister and I have been sending each other motivational messages and pictures since December 1st when we promised to lose 5lbs each month until we reached our goal weight. The words and pictures that we've been sending fly through my head each run. "When your legs give out, run with your head/heart" "The run never takes more than it gives back" "The only workouts I regret are the ones that didn't happen"

Running has taught me never to doubt what I am capable of doing. I had never dreamed of running 2 miles and yesterday I completed 3 miles. My new year's resolution will happen, "I can't" is no longer part of my vocabulary. My beginning motivational quote was "No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everyone on the couch". Now it's "PUSH YOURSELF - someone out there is warming up with your max"