My First Race!

     At the beginning of this year I made a goal to run a 15K in July. But after cracking my tailbone, I was unable to actually start training until May, which definitely did not leave my out-of-shape little body enough time. Skip forward to August: Right after getting home from Bolivia, I decided it was time to get into shape. I had lost about ten pounds in June for my friends wedding, but I wanted something more than dieting, I wanted to feel better.
   
     That's when I started a 5K program on my iphone, and although I didn't do it consistently at first, by September I was running a couple times a week. Eventually I decided to sign up for a 5K race as something to work towards, and Daniel and I decided on the Thetis Lake 20K Relay. We asked Daniel's sister and brother-in-law, Michelle and Joel, to join our team, and I started running 3 to 4 times per week. 

   Sunday was the day of our race, and although we didn't place that well as a team, we each met our personal goals, and it was awesome. For me that meant running the entire track... which was a lot harder than I expected since I had been training on flat roads, and the run was crosscountry (with devilishly huge hills).
  

   Other than it being freezing cold and a woman running into the back of me as I tagged Daniel, everything went pretty smoothly, and our team (plus our mascot, Cadence) celebrated with a dinner out. 

   There is something so great about making a tangible goal and reaching it. A few days ago I read a blog by Maiedae about keeping promises to ourselves, and it really got me thinking about all the goal or  "promises" I have made to myself and then broken. It has been really quite destructive in my life, and has robbed me of a lot of joy. So as December draws nearer, maybe take a look at your New Years resolutions for 2012 and ask yourself which promises to yourself you still have time to keep. 

Jordan