10 Miles - Check

At the beginning of the year, I made a goal, one I felt inspired of Heavenly Father to set. The goal was to run 10 miles at one time. I hate running. I ran cross country and long-distance track my freshman year, not because I enjoyed it, but because I was bored for the first one and didn't have any friends for the second (we moved half way through my freshman year). 

During Track, I did make friends, and life became a little less dismal, but I LOST every single race that season. It is not super exciting to have people in the stands watching you lose for 8 laps. There's nowhere to hide. And for 8 laps I had people futily trying to encourage me. Those kind words may have been helpful for some, but for me, it just added to the discouragement. So after that season, except when it came to workout runs for soccer practice, I gave up running.

I ran a few more times in college, including one peer pressured 5K, and a few times later, but as much as I want to enjoy running, it has NEVER been my happy place.

Fast forward a lot of years and I notice weight going on and NOT coming off. We purchased a very little treadmill so I could walk. I never had any intention of running, I enjoy walking. But slowly, I began walking a little faster. And by the end of 2016 I was running a couple of miles very slowly. I still had a few pounds I wanted to lose (especially after a Christmas holiday of eating most of the desserts all by myself - Matthew's family isn't big on them) but I really really didn't want to diet. Blegh. 

So as I was making up my list of goals for the new year I felt like a 10 mile goal was a good one. Something that would definitely stretch me, but wouldn't kill me. Also, it felt like a healthier goal to focus on than losing weight.

I found a half marathon training schedule and adapted it so that it would take the year instead of 3 months. But by July I was getting BORED. So I decided to ramp the schedule and finish early - Saturday, July 29th.

I had been running solely on my treadmill, since it was the easiest to do with young children, but for my last 10-mile run I wanted to do it outside. I didn't want to ask anyone to do it with me because I am still REALLY slow but after mentioning it to two wonderful women, they wanted to crash my party. I am so glad they did. I'm pretty sure there is no way I would have run the entire way without them. They chatted while I huffed and puffed, they never made me feel less than for being so slow, and they never tried to cheer me on like those from my high school horror days. They are my angels and I am forever grateful the Spirit suggested I bring it up to them.

So now that I am done with my goal, my new goal for the rest of the year is to run 15 miles per week. You may be asking the question, do you enjoy running now? Do you think you'll ever do a half or full marathon? No and no. But . . . I do appreciate my body in a way I never did before. It can do hard things. Things it's NEVER done before, not even in my fit teenage years. I may be twice as slow as I was in high school, but I ran 5 times farther than I ever did in high school and that is a big accomplishment for me.

The other question you might be wanting to ask - have you lost any weight? A little. But no matter what the scale says, my body image has greatly improved, even if no one else notices. So did I enjoy running 10 miles? Nope, I almost died for 2 hours. It wasn't really fun at all. But was I right in thinking it was a healthier goal than just losing weight? ABSOLUTELY!! I am so thankful for the growth I have seen in myself. And I'm thankful my children see me putting my health as a priority.