A New Goal

Once upon a time, I used to run.

For a while in college--about the time I met Nathan--I ran about three miles three times a week. I felt energetic and healthy, and I looked great. I loved it. I'd never been in any way athletic, but I had found a form of (gasp) exercise that I liked and made me feel good.

Then, stuff happened. I got mono and was down for a long time. I got bogged down by my classes at Rice. When I tried to start running again, I got shin splints and had to sit it out for a while. Then, I ran again, ran too far, and got shin splints again. By the time I was totally healthy and ready to go again, I was out of shape and gave it up.

Since then, I've run here and there, a mile at a time. But I've never gotten back to that level, and I'd really like to. Now, let me just put it out there that I am not suggesting that three miles is an impressive distance. Knowing some real runners--marathoners and such, for whom three miles is a warm up--perpetually reminds me what a very small goal three miles is. But that doesn't really discourage me, because I know it's a good distance for this girl.

In addition to wanting to get back to that level for my health, energy level, etc., I have another motivation. Let's face it: runners look good. I cannot seem to shake this last ten pounds of pregnancy weight, and my little girl is about to turn one. I'm ready to step it up a level.

Plus, there are lots of family members who have taken up running these days. Nathan's brother, Matthew, came home for Christmas without telling anyone he had lost 40 lbs. It was simply because he had taken up running. Next, Matthew's twin, Deborah, jumped in. And then Nathan's oldest brother, Andrew, started. Even my brother and his wife--Ken and Meredith--started going to the gym lately after a long hiatus. So we are all motivating one another by all being involved.

Nathan has an aunt and uncle in Austin who love to run. When they became empty nesters, they decided to commit to things that the other liked; he joined the church choir for her, and she started running for him. They actually run a 5k or a 10k every weekend. Is that not crazy?! They actually had a quilt made from the SIXTY t-shirts they got the first year. Nuts! In order to keep up with where there were runs available, Uncle Steve started a website listing all the runs in Central Texas (centexruns.com). When he first mentioned all of this last summer, I immediately thought it'd be really fun to work up to a 5k and meet them in some cute town somewhere for a run sometime.

So a few weeks ago, I went onto CenTexRuns and (pardon the pun) ran across the perfect race: the Blue Bell Fun Run. It's only an hour out of town for us, it's a couple of months away and should give me enough time to work up to a 5k, and it'll be outside during bluebonnet season and in the middle of bluebonnet country. And, come on now, what better motivation is there than free ice cream at the end? Ha! It's the perfect race for us! I signed Nathan and me up immediately. It turns out that Uncle Steve and Aunt Jennifer had already signed up for that race, and now Andrew and Deb are probably coming, too. My parents will likely be coming to watch Noah and Jane for us, and we are all thinking of going out for breakfast/brunch afterwards. It's becoming a big ole family thang. Wouldn't you say that's a great way to start off running again?

So that's my new goal!