FIND YOUR GREATNESS

I've been struggling with finding/making time for blogging lately.  Honestly, I've been having a hard time finding/making time for almost everything lately. It's crazy, cuz I'm not even sue what I've been so busy doing! I am so far behind on everything!!! The good news is, I've still been running. What else have I been doing?? Taking pics, working on finishing the bedroom remodel, helping Maddy move into her new apt., helping get ready for fair, being at the fair, recovering from the fair, sleeping~I've been very VERY tired for the last month, and of course I've been watching the Olympics.  Which leads me to the interesting {well that's questionable} part of the blog post. The last month has been a bigger struggle to continue on the path to the 5K than almost any other time during this journey.  It's been almost a year now, and there have been plenty of times along the way I wanted to just quit, and over the holiday stretch I did quit for a bit, but never was the mental struggle involved been as crazy, as this past month.  When I quit for the holidays, I just quit. NO guilt, no concern for what the impact of all my bad choices would be later. I just put everything on hold.  Then Ryan got me the gym membership and back to work I went!! Other times I've, struggled for a few days or what ever, but this was a serious stretch of time for me.  I'm not sure what prompted it, I just had a lot of struggling going on.  First I had the fall, the huge swollen ankle, then the broken {or severely bruised} pinky toe, both of which made it difficult to run.  Then my right knee started to hurt, which I think had something to do with the favoring the sore left ankle/toe! Then I got tired, not just a bit tired, but super tired. My whole body was tired. I had no energy. My legs felt like lead. Just running for five minutes was a struggle, and  I was getting muscle cramps.  I was craving chocolate like crazy. And I was no longer losing ANY weight. I've said this before, and I want to say it again.  The weight loss thing is just a bonus side effect for me, it's not necessarily why I'm doing this, BUT it's nice when it happens!!! It sucks when you don't want to run, are making NO progress on the treadmill, AND you stop losing weight too!!!  I knew several weeks ago that I was NOT going to be able to run  my entire 5K at the fair.  This was also bringing me down a bit, I won't lie, I was a tad disappointed in myself.  Could things have been different if I had worked harder, not taken off the time during the holiday season? Would things have been different if I hadn't twisted my ankle? Would I have made more progress if I had eaten less junk??? All reasonable questions to be asking myself.  But it doesn't really matter, cuz it's too late to change the outcome.
At this point, Ryan suggested that I take a few {3-4} days  off, drink a ton of water, rest, and then get back at it.  Maybe my body just needed a bit of a rest.  So for several days I drank a ton of water, upped my protein and iron intake, watched a lot of olympics, and slept a lot!!  It seemed to work, I did feel better. Mentally and Physically.

I loved watching the Olympics, the stories of struggle, disappointment, heartbreak, sacrifice, determination, drive, hard work, achievement, and of course the cool commercials!! If you can't watch the olympics and find some inspiration, you are seriously not looking for it!!!

My favorite commercial would have to be the Nike  FIND YOUR GREATNESS commercial.

"Somehow we've come to believe that Greatness was reserved for the chosen few or the superstars. The truth is, Greatness is for all of us.  This is not about lowering expectations, its about raising them for every last one of us.  Because Greatness is not in one special place and it is not in one special person. Greatness is where ever somebody is trying to find it!"

Or the CitiBank commercial about DEDICATION

"-take a day off, I don't even take a morning off
-I haven't ordered desert in 2 years
-You know that best selling book everyone loves, I haven't read it
-I haven't watched TV since last Summer
Hey, I been busy!!!"

These commercials really get me thinking, they have a truly powerful message, for everyone, not just the superior athletes of the olympics.  Nor do they have to be about athletics, necessarily.  What is YOUR greatness? FIND your greatness!

So, the question is... During this journey over the last year, have I found my Greatness???  I think so.  The truth is that my Greatness is not  in being a 5K runner, my Greatness is in the decision to get healthy.  My Greatness is in not quitting when my ankle, toe, knee hurt.  My Greatness is in making better choices every day.  My ultimate Greatness was 2 days after the 5K, I made the decision to keep going, to make a new goal and work toward it. My Greatness is in recognizing that without a new goal to work toward I will quit.  I believe I've found my Greatness!!

So my new goal is to RUN the entire Lane Walker 5K on October 13.  This gives me about 2 months to be ready.  I'm pretty sure I can make it, Saturday I ran an entire 2.75miles without stopping to walk.  YEAH, I was pretty dang geeked about that!!! I'm still not fast, that is a goal for later down the road.  My current list of fitness goals goes something like this

1) RUN the Lane Walker 5K in October
2) Continue with the healthy/clean eating
3) add some weight lifting to my routine
4) add some biking to my routine
5) This time next year, if I'm looking much more healthy and fit~ there WILL be a new Family pic taken for the living room wall!!!

Those seem like pretty reasonable goals, for now, right!?!? You know me, my goals are pretty flexible, I can add things, change things, what ever I need to do...



OH! And if you are wondering how that stupid Fair 5K went...
It was horrible!!! It was raining, cold, and windy.  The fair grounds were a sloppy, muddy, mess!! Maddy told me I could ditch out, that SHE would NOT run in that crap.  So, I had an out, but I did NOT take it, I had prepaid for the event.  BUT, I sure didn't turn in my best time, in fact, I never even went to see what my time was.  I walked at least half the course, cuz it was mud, and NO way was a ruining a great pair of shoes over a 5K.  And for the obvious safety concerns, I felt it was best, for me, to walk more often than not.  The last thing I need is to fall during fair week. There was still a horse to get home.  So, I consider the fact that I attempted it, in horrible conditions to be my Finding My Greatness accomplishment!!! After it was over I had a celebratory 24hr junk food binge.  That was pretty awesome, I won't even lie!! I ate ice cream, hot dogs, chocolate, chips, and more ice cream!!! But, like I said, Monday morning it was back to the gym!!!

And so the journey continues...
FIND YOUR GREATNESS.
remember,
it's where ever somebody is trying to find it!!
I'll be right there with ya, trying to find mine!!