after 5 weeks....

i should have started this blog last month, but i was in such poor spirits it was hard. i had become very unhappy with who i was physically. i made a new year's resolution to lose weight and get fit. who doen't make this resolution, right? i'm determined to make it happen this time for sure. (encouragement still needed.) ;)

i tried to give myself all kinda of motivations to make my goals.

1.  i joined the body challenge at the gym: there was a $25 entry fee with a chance to win money if i'm the gym's winner. i'm not really anticiapting this, but i figure having to have my weight and measurements tracked was great motivation. 
2. i hired a personal trainer: i wasn't sure i could really afford this expense, but then again i'm getting to a point where i can't afford not to get in shape. so i hired a trainer after getting a free session for joining the body challenge at the gym. i liked the encouragement i got from the trainer and the knowledge i was going to be doing things the right way. he pushes me further than i would be able to push myself on my own. there's also that level of accountability i've never had before. 
3. i decided i wanted to run with my husband: travis loves to run. i've always thought he was a little crazy for loving to run so much, but i had lots of friends who started the couch to 5k (c25k) running program and had learned to love running. a trusted friend said it took 6 weeks for her to really enjoy running. i figured i could give running 6 weeks. 

so i did. i started the program at the beginning of the year. i remember how hard it was to run for even 5 minutes without stopping. okay, if i'm truly honest it was hard to run for two solid minutes. sunday i completed week 5 of the c25k program, and the workout for that day was a 5 minute brisk walking warm up followed by a solid 20 minute run with a 5 minute cool down. i was completely intimidated by the length of the run, but again my friend said i could do it. it was all mental, and i just needed to take it 5 minutes at a time. that's exactly what i did. i did take a small break 10 minutes in. i just stopped to catch my breath and then ran the last 10 minutes. i really did feel good when i finished.

wait a minute. what did i just say? i felt good after running for 20 minutes? really? me? have i really made that much progress?

i guess somewhere along the way my mantra i tell myself over and over again while i'm running has started to have some affect on me. i tell myself over and over, "i love to run! running is fun! i love to run! running is fun!" all of the sudden i don't loathe running anymore? i honestly didn't believe that 6 weeks into the program i would want to go the gym and run on the treadmill, but i do.

so i guess anything is possible. i'm taking this journey from not hating to run to truly loving to run. i have a couple of months to make some major strides because not only am i running my first 5k (march 13th) and 10k (april 10) i'm also participating in the palmetto 200 relay april 30 - may 1.

i'm sincerely hoping that i truly love to run by the time i'm running the relay and i do have a long term goal of running a marathon. there are two marathons i would like to run. my first marathon i'm thinking will be the myrtle beach marathon. this is run in my home town and i think that will make it a lot easier as i know the area, but someday i hope to run the black mountain marathon. that's a lofty goal as it's a very difficult trail marathon, but stay tuned and we'll see how far i can go.