5K, 10K, or Mashed Potato Mile!
Up until this week, and since the triathlon, I have been struggling with running. Not running exactly, but more the motivation to run. I was talking to my friend Nicole about it and she suggested we do a race. She would of course walk it since she does not run (yet- I will get her yet!) and I could run it.
She immediately went to her computer and looked up local 5K races and found one for us to do on Oct. 4th. Talk about motivation to run. Seriously. There is nothing more motivating than signing up for a race and having that inkling of fear that unless you work, really work, there is no way you can complete it or at least there is a risk of not being able to do so. So running has not been a struggle this week. I not only am running 5K, but I need/want to do it in less time than my last 5K!
I went home from her house realizing that I have a long Michigan winter ahead of me and if races are what keeps me motivated, well I better start looking and seeing what is out there that will last through the winter. After Christmas, there isn’t much.
However there is one I am quite excited about. Every year in Detroit, there is a 5 and 10K race as well as a kids 1 mile run that precedes the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Now, I grew up about 30 minutes outside of Detroit and have NEVER been downtown for the parade! I thought, now THIS would be a fun race to do. I can run, then watch the parade, then go be with my family for dinner. I am doing it I decided! I am gonna do the 5K.
As I looked at the website though, my thoughts kept slipping over and seeing the words “10K”. I began to wonder if it was possible to train and be ready for a 10K by Thanksgiving! I had no idea, but I also know I thrive on a challenge. I am more motivated to train if it is challenging and new. Doing a 5K would not be new. Pretty quickly I knew. I am NOT running the 5K. I am doing the 10K!
So there ya have it folks. One year after I started this whole mess I am gonna give thanks with my whole body for the ability to be able to do such a thing as this and the fact that I get to do it with a dear friend!
After I decided, I began to wonder about getting my brother, Billy, to do this with me. How cool would it be to run a race with him, then watch the parade as a family with his kids all there! While this sounded fun and exciting, I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to start including family in on my whole exercise/weight loss thing. Billy in one breath has often told me I shouldn’t be running. Then in the next breath he thinks its cool that his little sister is running.
I get it. It is a mixture of concern and pride. Billy is a natural athlete. The only one of us siblings. He played just about every sport in high school and even today is relatively fit. He doesn’t have the 6 pack of his HS and military days, but he doesn’t have the big belly that plagues his siblings either. My questions and concerns about including him in on this basically rested in not being able to measure up to him. Not being as good as him. If I invite him into this, it will be like inviting him into this whole journey. Am I up for that? I wasn’t sure. At the same time, I couldn’t shake the idea of running with him. On some level, it would symbolize an arrival of sorts. I can now keep up with him. But more than that, I just thought it would be really fun to be with family and to run this thing with family on Thanksgiving Day.
So I called him. I invited him. Alas, he cannot do it. He reminded me why he has never taken his kids downtown for the parade. He is in TN every year with his wife’s family for Thanksgiving! Duh! They have done this for 18 years! How could I forget! However, he did say that if their grandma wasn’t on her last legs, he would consider not going so he could run it with me. He was actually kind of disappointed that he couldn’t! Instead he suggested we find another 10K to do right around the same time and do that one together either before he leaves or when he comes back!
So now, in Nov/Dec. I will be doing 2-10K’s! Crazy!!! For the first time, I have actively invited a family member to train with me and be a part of this whole journey, on some level. Here we go…accelerating wholeness…5000! Living a little more, Dying a litle less!
No comments:
Post a Comment