Journal Entry - Fri 4/10/09

Well, I took a break from the running after the Veteran’s Run last November. I went back to the elliptical machine and walking through the holidays. On January 1, I found myself trying to figure out what I was going to do to keep myself motivated to exercise everyday. I had accomplished becoming a member of the “500 Mile Club” at the YMCA in 2008. I knew I didn’t want to try to walk another 500 miles in 6 months. It was taking up too much of my day to set such a high goal. I also knew that if I didn’t set a goal that was difficult, I would probably quit. My mind returned to running. Now that was definitely a challenge. After all, I hate running. I thought about the satisfaction I had felt when I participated in Run for the Fallen and the Veteran’s Walk/Run. I decided that my goal for 2009 was to become enough of a jogger that I could participate in events without difficulty. My husband has always been a runner so it would be nice to do these events with him.

I started out running just one mile. Each week I slowly increased my distance. Doing this gradually kept me from experiencing a lot of muscle soreness. Today, I am happy to say that I run three miles daily. I usually walk another mile or two depending on how much time I have to spend at the YMCA. I will be honest. I still don’t enjoy running but I don’t struggle until I am in the middle of the third mile. My biggest struggle with the third mile is fighting the desire to stop. I’m hot and sweaty and somewhat tired, but the reality is that I don’t have to stop so I force myself to keep going. I remind myself that my heroes don’t quit when things get tough so I can’t quit either. The reward is reaching the end of that third mile and knowing I didn’t give into my lazier side. If I wasn’t worried about people in the gym thinking I was crazy, I would probably scream and throw my arms up at the end of each day’s workout!