What's Next?

So you’ve made a commitment! Identified a goal and publicized it and are on the great “Wow I’m finally going to do something” high. Then that high drops and you realize, crap what the heck am I supposed to do next? How do I actually accomplish this? And that would be where I am now.  I will say the support I’ve received thus far is overwhelming and led to a few teary incidents so thanks in advance buddies! But now I’ve got to get off my butt and start actually doing. I decided I need to get some expert advice since I literally know nothing about how to start running and found it I did! A longtime friend of mine is an incredible runner, I mean absolutely amazing. This woman doesn’t let anything stop her, ever. She is the most amazing inspiration ever! I was expecting the usual “start slow, listen to your body blah blah, But I got this instead. This one line that changed the way I was thinking about this whole venture.  “Mostly.....have fun! That's why I run.”  Huh. I hadn’t thought about it like that. In all my mental prep for this adventure I never had put the words fun and running in the same sentence let alone the same in thought. But why shouldn’t I? If you are willing to put this much effort into training for something shouldn’t it at least be fun? My quasi mentor also provided me with this tidbit “Consider every effort a success, no matter how long or how far you go” How many of us start something but stop because we didn’t meet some arbitrary goal we set for ourselves the first time we tried so now clearly we are all failures?…. Um, Guilty.  We need to celebrate each and every one of our successes instead of wallowing in what we perceive as all of our failures especially when undertaking a task as daunting as this one!

Ok enough introspective crap for today! Since crossing training seems to be important in this venture (or so I’m told) this week’s project entails getting my mom’s old bike up and running. To me bike riding is a lot less scary than jogging so I’m hoping to use it to build up some endurance. It’s a Schwinn and the cables need to be fixed and a new seat to be completely functional, which will require a trip to our local bike shop but I think it will be worth it. Short term goal, get my butt biking!