Finding A Way

My recent obsession with Pinterest has led me to find a adorable outfit combos, ideas for vacation locations, and new motivational and inspirational quotes (as well as laugh out loud ridiculous images of crazy animals and children). The quotes have been my favorite part so far, and the image below represents my new motto.

My life has been filled with excuses. Excuses for why I am not exercising. Excuses for why I am not going to church. Excuses for why I am not doing my homework or eating healthier or putting everything I have into getting what I want. I’m busy. I’m tired. I’m hungry. I don’t want to miss my show or get up early or work harder. These excuses have ruled my life, and yet I still wonder why I am not thinner or happier or accomplishing what I want.

If being fit, and thinner and sexy is really important to me, I will do what it takes to get healthy. And it IS important. So, it is time to get rid of the excuses.

In the spirit of “finding a way,” I have identified the fact that I thrive under pressure and when presented with a challenge. This only way to ensure that I will actively pursue my goal of getting healthy is to create a challenge for myself. And here it is: I will run a 5K this summer.

It might seem too simple. But as a healthy and fit high school cross-country runner, my fastest 5K time was 23 minutes. Training to get back to that is going to be HELL, especially considering that I am 10 years older, 40 pounds heavier, and incredibly sedentary (plus, I have tootsie roll sized legs that cause me to move incredibly slowly). But this is something I want to do for me.

I am currently trying to decide between Outrun the Sun (outrunthesun.org) on June 2 in Indianapolis, and the Midnight River Run (wvrr.org) on July 27 in Terre Haute. Obviously I would have more time to train for the Midnight River Run, but July 27 is right in the thick of Indiana humidity, while the June 2 Outrun the Sun race might still be fairly cool but I lose almost two months of potential training.

Who knows if anything will become of this? I may absolutely hate this experience and determine that running has never and will never be for my shorty legs, and pursue cycling instead. Or I may be so in love with the experience that continuing to train for future marathons might become a hobby.

Either way, I will be actively pursuing better health and happiness.

On a completely separate note, I turned 25 today! Officially, my year of fitness has begun!!!