Frankly, as long as we have been able to run outside, we were anxious to go! True, the wind is still bitter and there is a little slush on the road to watch out for, but this winter has been a beach vacation compared to what we've been used to! (NORTH DAKOTA people, yes it is the frozen tundra you imagine it to be) Today it was about 35*F (Above freezing! Hooray!!) but the winds were 22-24mph out of the WNW. So my big man drove us almost 7 miles out of town so we could run back in with only a cross wind and then with the wind to our backs along a big L-shaped route. Sun was out, roads were clear, people slowed down for us, no farm dogs chasing us, it was a good day!
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| Josh drops us off on some country road... |
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| 7 miles back to town.... |
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| synchronize garmins..... and go!! |
My friend Glenda... I've known Glenda since our kids were in diapers and daycare together. We were always pleasant to one another; our kids invited each other to their birthday parties, even though Brayden was the only boy here and Katie was the only girl there. We didn't really see each other outside of our kids' lives. But in the last year, Glenda started a weight-loss, get healthy journey that has been nothing short of amazing. So we started running together.
This time last year, she shared with us today, Glenda was a size 20W. Today, she's a size 7/8. She never ever imagined she'd be running like this -- training for a marathon!!! Yet she's living proof that our bodies are AMAZING and once you set your mind to it, you can do anything!!
Glenda has the amazing support of her husband, her brothers, and of course, some pretty crazy running chicks who are all "let's go one more mile, let's go faster!" but she has some pretty powerful intrinsic motivation to keep going. Even now, even though we run side by side, sometimes when I run into her at the store or at the gym, I do a double take-- she has truly transformed her life, her mind, and her body has followed.
I guess I want to share her story because so often, I hear people who don't believe that they, too, can do it. Yet people like me, like Glenda, gals that were overweight and couldn't even do a mile 2 years ago, 1 year ago.... we once thought that way too. We never imagined ourselves here. We never thought we could have been marathoners. That was for those thin, strong, athletic girls. But we started running. We ran with other women who encouraged us. We read running magazines instead of Cosmo. We read books by other running women. We read other people's blogs. We ran a 5K. We kept running. We're not olympic athletes. We don't spend all day at the gym, training. We have kids and work and husbands who need time and energy and attention. But we make time for running too.
And we'll keep running, as long as we can. Our goals have gotten bigger, more exciting, more adventurous. Things that were once "never gonna happen" have been crushed into the asphalt, one mile at a time.
Whether you are just jogging a few miles or constantly working on a P.R.-- my encouragement to you is that your body is AMAZING and your willpower is STRONG and you can-- CAN- do this!!! You CAN do one more mile. You CAN go faster. You CAN!!
Glenda IS pretty amazing. In my only competitive 5K she won our age bracket. She is inspiring. I can't believe she's crazy enough to do a marathon ;-) but it seems she's pretty "high speed" (to borrow a military term from my husband's National Guard days). You are awesome Glenda as are your training partners.
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