*Series in progress* This entry is part of a series I’m writing
leading up to my running (walking…but hopefully mostly running) my first
5K. For more information on this series
check out the introduction here
or just continue on reading this entry.
I have also included links at the end to the other entries and to both the
Terry Fox Foundation and my run fundraising page.
I don’t generally consider myself goal orientated. I can already hear my friends telling me that
I’m crazy and that I totally am but let me explain. I have found generally in my life that I don’t
really have to work to get the things I want.
I consider myself to be fairly lucky and things tend to just
happen. This is not by any means a bad
thing but I do think it has made my lazy when it comes to really pushing myself
for something that I really want. In the
past I have found that if it doesn’t come easily I’m more likely to shift my
focus to something else than I am to really push towards whatever it is that
isn’t coming easy. This is not something
that I am actively working on changing and after my work on getting prepared
for the 5K I have to say I think I’m finally seeing the benefit to goals and
actually working towards them once you set them.
Signing up for the Terry Fox Run and planning on trying to run it is
one of the first real goals that I can remember setting for myself that I have
actively worked towards achieving. What
has truly surprised me (it’s totally one of those duh moments) is that it is
actually amazing and incredibly motivating to have a goal that you are working
towards. I thought that it would be a
drag to have an extra responsibility to work on, something to steal my time
away from things I enjoy more but I have to say I have proven myself
wrong. I love that I have something that
is driving me to make changes that I have wanted to make for years but have
never been dedicated enough to make.
One of the biggest positive things that has come out of having a
specific goal is the motivation that has come with it. When my alarm goes off at 4:30am each weekday
morning and usually by 7 on weekends if it wasn’t for the pending 5K I would
probably likely turn it off, roll over and go back to sleep. Knowing however that I want to do this 5K and
that I want to do my best at it has proven to usually be enough to get me out
of bed. Often I’m tired and cranky as I head
to the gym but as soon as I get on the treadmill and start moving this feeling
washes over me, a sense of purpose. Along
with this feeling of purpose I also am getting a sense of pride that comes with
the fact I know that every step I do on the treadmill will make my 5K so much
easier. I feel like I’m working towards
something (because I am) and I actually know what that something is because I have
set the goal.
Having an end goal in mind and defined has also helped me to make better
choices along the way. Every day I bring
a lunch to work full of healthy foods. I
almost always love my lunches but there is also a restaurant at work that makes
really great food and yummy treats.
Before deciding to do the 5K it was a toss-up as to what would win for
my afternoon snack - either my veggies or a sweet treat from Olly’s. Now although I still treat myself some of the
time I find now that before I grab my wallet I remind myself again how feeding
my body better will help make that 5k a whole lot easier. So now I’m am more likely to enjoy the treats
I brought for myself rather than buy anything.
(The side benefit of this is it is also helping with my budget ;-)
I am determined to make this goal a reality and the drive that comes
with that is thrilling. It has given me
purpose and motivation to help guide me.
I am converted wholeheartedly to the idea of goal setting now and have
begun to apply the things I have learned setting goals around my run to other
things in my life. When you are willing
to actually work towards a goal that you have set for yourself and are willing
to put in a little effort it is amazing what can actually be achieved. I guess the only question is how on earth to
pick what goal you want to reach for….but more on that tomorrow.
To donate and check out my progress please visit my page here.
For more information on the Terry Fox Foundation and the run check out
their page here.
Finding My Running Legs Previous Entries
Planning to run my first 5K has been an incredibly eye opening
experience for me. It has taken up way
more of my time then I expected which is one of the reasons my poor blog has
gone ignored all summer. I have found it
to be challenging but in the best ways.
I am incredibly proud of myself for tackling this goal. Nothing has ever made me feel better about
myself. My journey to try and become a
runner is still far from being over but with the Terry Fox Run only two weeks
away I figured it was a good time to focus a little on the things I have
learned so far.
It has been a long time since I have been this excited about something,
which is great but has caused me a few problems especially when it comes to
being able to share it with people. I
mean I can talk for hours about it but all that excitement has made it a little
tricky for me to actually be able to get blog posts written that are coherent
and I’m happy with. A lot of it is
coming down to the fact that I have a lot to say, which is not unusual for me
but doesn’t create the most organized of post for my blog. My solution is to just write a bunch of small
focused posts that I will post each day between now and the run. So for the next 14 days I will share a new
lesson that I have learned on this path to find my running legs.
With far too much doodling on scrap paper I have found a way to break
up all the things I want to share into four categories to try and give it some
semblance for order. These four
categories are goals, my body, my mind/spirit and the outcomes. I suspect even as I write this intro and do
some of the planning for the blog entries themselves that they will also
probably overlap at least in some of the cases.
It is my hope that some of it may appeal or help others but mostly I
just want to write it all down so I remember it and can get it out of my
brain. I also hope that maybe having
something to focus on besides the run will help keep some of my nerves at bay
as we get closer to the run.
I hope that all who read this series of posts can find something that
inspires and teaches as much as running has taught me. We should all be so lucky to have something
to bring so much positivity and joy into our lives.
To donate and check out my progress please visit my page here.
For more information on the Terry Fox Foundation and the run check out
their page here.
Wow is all I can say about the last two months. I have had some amazing moments in those
months and have been kept fairly busy. I
have been adapting to a fuller schedule as I continue on my journey to become
healthier. I am loving life right now
though and wake up each morning with a smile on my face, even though I am
waking up at the crack of stupid.
If you want to read a bit more about my resolutions feel free to check
out my previous posts:
New Year’s Resolutions Past and Present (the first post)
2014 Monthly Goal Check-In for March
1) Move More/Lose More
I am feeling the most proud of this goal right now. I am consistently hitting 10,000 steps each
day and on at least half of the week I am also hitting over 11,000. The biggest change in the last two months
with this goal is the fact that I joined the gym and am going most mornings to
use the treadmill. It is a bit
challenging especially on weekdays because in order to get the work out in
before starting my job, I’m getting up at 4:30am. I will admit that there are days I question
my sanity and my drive to do this but what has kept me going is the knowledge that
the more work I do now the easier it is going to be to do my first 5K in September. I have taken to visualizing how good it is
going to feel when I cross the finish line to help keep me moving. It makes even the hardest days on the
treadmill a little bit easier.
I’m also incredibly excited with the ‘lose more’ part of this
goal. In the last two months I have done
extremely well with my weight loss.
Since the middle of April, when I started regularly going to the gym, my
weight has for the most part been steadily going down. The total weight loss for 2014 now stands at
14 pounds (with 10.9 of that being lost in since the middle of April). I also hit a huge personal milestone this
month and finally lost all the weight I had gained when my friend Will passed
away. You can read about that here.
2) One Day a Week Vegetarian
The last couple of months have been bad for this goal. As my schedule has gotten busier and my time
shorter I have to admit that my meal planning has lacked a bit. As soon as meal planning lacks my meat free
days tend to fall to the sidelines because I don’t have as many recipes yet
that I can just make at the drop of hat and know that I will love. I am trying though and have made it my mission
to get back to full meal plans each week instead of the quick ones I have been
doing which will also mean getting back to my meat free days.
3) Regular Blog Posts
Writing blogs much like meal planning has been a challenge. I am learning that I have far too many
hobbies and things going on in my life to keep up with it all without plans in
place. I’m working on find a new balance
that will let me get the things I really want to do done. So for the month of June my mission for this
particular goal is to post a blog entry once a week which will mean 5 entries
including this one – only four more to go.
4) 365 Photo-a-Day Project
I am very happy that this goal is still running along smoothly. I have continued to take photos each day and
have started the process of getting them turned into digital pages that I can
print. I really do love this project and
I love looking back on my 2013 pages. As
a side I also finished the last of my 2013 pages so I just have to send them
off and I can officially say last year’s project is done.
5) Read 50 Books
I am now up to 18 books read this year, which apparently puts me 2
books behind schedule for hitting my 50 by the end of the year. This doesn’t worry me yet because I think I’m
still doing better than I was last year at this time. I have been reading quite a mix of books and
have found a few new favourites in the last two months. The two that stand out most in my brain are
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Skinny by Donna Cooner. Both were easy reads but both had me in tears
at the end for different reasons. I am
continuing to make reading a priority and try to read at least a chapter a
day. In order to hit my goal though I
really need to spend a little more time reading on my weekends so that shall be
the plan for June.
6) Nanowrimo challenge Complete
a Draft of Conor’s Story
Well I attempted to do the Nanowrimo challenge in April but just didn’t
have enough time to get it done. I may
have done better if I had used Conor’s story rather than the story that came
from my dream but oh well. I did learn
that I really am a planner. As
interesting as it was to try and write a story I hadn’t planned I struggled a
great deal with it. I like to know the
story fairly well before I try to write it so that when I start writing it just
flows. This allows me to feel like I’m
making progress and not just messing around.
It is not a complete loss though because at least now I know how to best
channel my creativity to get results. It
is all about outlining and planning. I’m
just a geek that way I guess. Hehe!
As for Conor’s story well sadly I haven’t had much of a chance to work
on it, well at least not with pen and paper anyway. I have discovered that the treadmill is a
great place to work on the ideas in my head.
I am slowly filling my phone up with notes taken while I’m walking. It has been pretty wonderful. When I get the chance to sit down with Conor’s
story I feel like it will flow well.
At the end of March I wrote that I was feeling excited about the way my
life was going. I was looking forward to
starting at the gym and I have to say that the last couple of months have not
disappointed. I have been feeling strong,
positive and driven. I have been feeling
like I can take on any task that I come up with and that I will find
success. I am amazed in a lot of ways
how truly positive I feel about everything right now. It gives me hope that this year really will
be the best year of my life to date.
