imariec

Time for another transformation

Transformation

Hello readers. I am writing to let you know that I have decided to move my writing to Blogspot (aka Blogger). You may continue to follow my thoughts, training and rants here, where you’ll also be able to post comments and rate my posts. Hope to see you all there as the letters become words and the words become stories.

I meet angels just about every day. Sometimes I think I was born to a pair and I married one, but in all seriousness – parental and matrimonial flattery aside – in my life, angel encounters are frequent; however, some impact me differently than others.

Today I met an angel. She made my eyes water and arm hairs raise with just a smile. My day was good; I started with a run – a disappointing one, but not a bad one (there’s no such thing as a bad run) – followed by a good shower, I was ready to take on anything. I was prepared for defeat, and I was going to take it all in stride. I was not ready for Mrs. Brooks. At first I was defeated. I heard the words I was expecting to hear, but that was okay I was prepared to walk away with my head held high. But she kept talking, and typing, and doing. She was doing her job, and a little more – she never let on what else she was doing until the very last signature. “Both of them?” I said. She smiled and nodded, and my eyes watered, and the hair on my arms stood up, and I sat in the car and prayed, and I thanked God for his angels.

I had a great day today!

To say I am disappointed in myself would be an understatement. I didn’t run today. Not only did I not hear the alarm go off this morning until it was too late, but I stayed at work till 6:30 p.m. only to find my husband heading home on time to surprise me with a relaxing afternoon. I was so happy and excited to spend more time with him I chose not to run. Had I left work at 5:30 p.m. like I could have, I would have had the chance to run and had dinner ready for him by the time he got home. But no sense in being upset about what did or did not happen. I had a great early evening with him today. We relaxed, had dinner, and watched TV – it was normal and perfect.

I am so happy for afternoons when he comes home early; that although I am disappointed I did not run, I am looking forward to making up the run on Friday. All is positive and anything can be fixed with a happy heart. My heart is a happy heart!

I really want to say that my first week of training started well. Although on paper it did – all I had to do was run 3 miles today – to me it didn’t. I really wanted to do a light run yesterday, and I wanted to do a spinning yesterday and today. My goal is to wake up around 6 a.m. do my run (that way my body is used to the early morning run on race day), at noon go to the gym and do weights, and finish my day off with a 45 minute spin class. Well, it seems like I’m setting myself up for failure, and I haven’t even started. I really don’t want to give up without starting, I know for certain that I will keep up with the running, but I want to do more.

Yes, like most women out there I would love to loose weight. No, I am not fat, I’m not overweight, I am 100% average and with that I also admit that I am affected by the media scrutiny of celebrity bodies and the “world’s” perception of beauty. I have a husband that adores every inch of me, and friends who upon reading this post will certainly hit me over the head with a bat if I’m within reach. However, none of that changes the fact that I would love for my body to be a little more toned, and for some outfits that no longer fit to slide on easily.

As I write I am realizing the negativity within this message, and that is not like me. I am a positive person, and I am positive that I will run, and I will make an effort to also do spinning and start lifting weights. And I know in my heart that weather I loose weight or not, whether it takes me four or six hours to finish the marathon…I will know that my legs are strong, I am determined, and by having begun my training I have already succeeded.

Today is my first day of training for a half-marathon that is coming up in November. Following the race I will run a full marathon in January. I ran my first half-marathon this year and was bit hard by the racing bug. If I do two half-marathons in one year, does that mean I ran a full marathon?

Three days after my first race I hurt myself and was out of running for seven months. Those were the worst seven months every – You see, I really, really love to run! When I run I am fully alone. My mind is free to think about anything it wants. I have conversations with myself and with God. I pretend to be a really fast runner, even if I’m only doing a 12-minute mile. When I run I can be anything I want to be, and I can be 100% myself.

I don’t have the body of a runner, I don’t even run fast – but what’s to stop me from calling myself a runner? I didn’t train well for my first race, but this one will be different. I am more dedicated, and I will train hard. I will post pictures of how my body hopefully changes over the next 24 weeks. I am so excited!!!

I meant to go running this morning, funny how the snooze button is so easy to find with your eyes closed. I am heading home in a bit; my running shoes are waiting for me, the water bottle is full, me energy is high.

I am ready.