The Morning After

The morning after. I wonder what negative connotations that brings up for many of you? Today it has an achy but lovely meaning. The morning after I jogged my first 5K! Wahoo!! If I wasn’t sore I might do a victory lap around my living room. The outpouring of support and kudos has been crazy! Crazy in the best way.

I’m stunned that serious runners are offering to run with me if I ever need a buddy. It’s kind of daunting, but I know I’m up to the challenge. I just have to keep my ego in check. Not a puffed up ego, but the one that tells me that I’m not good enough or fast enough or why would they want to run with me. Enough of that! We can have a therapy post another day. I’m still processing the significance of what I did yesterday, but I know that it is life changing.

As a woman who has suffered with obesity my entire life, this is a game changer. To run 9 more 5K’s this year I’m going to have to take better care of my body. That does include eating foods in support of my fitness goals. One of the big challenges is managing my increased hunger. I know that I need to compensate by adding vital nutrient dense foods and not junk.  I have my eye on my 40th birthday (just under 3 years away). I have every intention of being fit and fabulous at 40!

I was going to type all the things I struggle with, but I understand  language has power. So: I am a powerful, confident, loving woman and mother. I surround myself with positive influences and am passionate about the work I get to do. My life is healthy, full and inspired. I give back to my community and am unbelievably grateful for my village (you know the one that helps you raise a child, push you to be the best you and checks you when you screw up)!

This morning after I have no regrets.

Dead Last!

The goal was to finish, not finish first or last – just finish. I am so grateful to say that I completed my first 5K this morning. In the rankings I was dead last (727 of 727) – there were a handful of people who finished after me but the organizers were already taking the equipment down. I’m going to work really hard to forget about being last as it doesn’t even matter.

What matters is that prior to today I had only jogged 1.5 miles. Today I jogged 3.125 miles (thanks Kevin for the mileage clarification). That is my personal best. It took me 1:02:34. I need to remind myself that means I jogged for over 1 hour without stopping. I wanted to be faster, but what matters is that I did it! I finished!  I have failed at so many other things…but not at this. It was pretty magnificent having my little one waiting for me with a medal at the finish line. Her words were the best, “Mommy, in my heart you finished first.”

I won’t lie and say that this was easy. Pushing myself 30 minutes longer than I’d ever been in one day was huge, but I had a ton of support. I want to thank Todd Lange at Running Mate Media for a terrific training program called 5K101 which prepared me for today’s race, my training partners Chipo & Kern Jolibois who encouraged me to get started, supported me along the way and were right there with me at the finish line, the Smith family for friendship, music and loads of encouragement and my family and friends who have been cheering me on via social media sites.

I didn’t expect the outpouring of support from the other runners. It was the one thing that had me close to sobbing during the race. Most of the runners were on their way back when I was still heading down to the halfway point. The were calling out encouragement and cheering for me to keep going. Instead of being embarrassed at being slow I was uplifted. It was a humbling and beautiful experience. Today I became a part of the running community.

My training partners have thrown down a challenge of 10 – 5k’s this year…so this is just the beautiful and exhausting beginning. Now it’s time to take a much-needed and well-earned nap.