Sunday, March 25, 2012

You Can Do Anything You Put Your Mind To

My Nonni told me that a million times. Of course sometimes I believed her and sometimes I didn't. With yesterday's accomplishment, I know now, that she was right. 100%.

I had always said "I can't run." "I can't get the breathing down." "I've tried so many times and I just can't do it." But I have some pretty amazing women that I am proud to call friends who encouraged me, and helped me conquer the "I can't" demon. They had me download the Couch to 5k app for my phone. And for 10 weeks, I worked up from mostly walking, to mostly running, and going a full 3.1 miles.

I suffered through hurting my knees, and four weeks of physical therapy in between. But I kept going. And yesterday, I ran (and sometimes walked) my first 5k race. It was called the "It's finally spring 5k" in Manchester, CT. The first mile was a horrid. Uphill. But after I got through that, the rest felt no so bad.

Here we are at the end of the race. We look happy to be done, don't we?? (Right to left are Nancy, Kari, Sue, Jen and me)



My fantastic husband took the kids and waited with them about 1/4 mile before the finish to cheer me on. It was fantastic and really pushed me to finish. (I'm blowing them thank you kisses)



It felt so wonderful to work that hard to meet a goal, and to have my friends and family there to support me.



May 2012 be a year of firsts for me. After yesterday, I'm feeling like that's pretty likely.

3 comments:

Sara said...

Huge congrats to you! I have the same issue with running. Can't get the breathing down. Any really good tips on that?

Anonymous said...

Hearty congratulations on your accomplishment. I agree, you have an amazing group of women supporting you that you get to call "friends". Send me some good juju for my first race, just over a month away now.

Unknown said...

Sara I wish I had tips...I just got used to breathing really heavy!

Peggy I'm sure you'll get there! You're working so hard. I will for sure send you good juju. Which race are you doing?