Starting somewhere.

Today's workout
4 miles on the TM easy pace
15 minutes weights
Core Work
Stretch
Foam Roll   

First, I have to share with you my exciting news.
I couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited.
I signed up for my first race for the year 2013.
Yay. Finally!! 

 

I am pretty dang excited for this race. It is still 6 months away and the elevation for the start is at 8500 feet.

I feel out of breath just thinking about being up that high, let alone running up there.

But running in the mountains, with a bunch of other crazies, with the crisp, fresh mountain air...you think I am kidding but there really isn't anything better that that.

And who knows, maybe this will be THE race for me.
Still going for that PR this year.
I am going to be using one of Hal Higdon's training schedule, found here.

I am hoping to add at least 1 more half and maybe a couple 5K races my race schedule.
We will see what I can come up with.

 

   A quick look back at my weekend,
My MIL and her husband came to visit.

Oh we just love family.

  

Our weekend was busy but that is how it should be right...

We took in all the sights of Downtown Denver. 

If you come to Denver, you have to go to 16th street.
And the weather was just FAB-U-LOUS! 

Sunny and 65 degrees in January, I'll take it!

We did a little ice skating for free too. 

My kids were pretty excited...about the skating.  Not so much about me taking a bazillion pictures of them.
  I was happy with the courteous smile and staged thumbs-up.

   
And I have to share this gem of all gems.
So special.
 

So that was our weekend.

We ate some good food, enjoyed being outside in the warm weather, getting a little exercise with walking all day, laughed a lot. Good times.

But my tip for today, during this month of "Getting Started"  

is to

START SOMEWHERE and START NOW

  

Set a goal for yourself of what you want to accomplish.  

Whether it be a big goal of loosing 40 lbs or a small goal of getting to bed earlier.  

The only way to get what you want is to set a goal and go for it.

 But you have to start somewhere.

Don't keep saying, I'll start eating better tomorrow or once these cookies I made last night are gone then I will eat better, or I'll run that 5k I have always wanted to after I loose 10 lbs.

Start saying, "Why not now"... "I can do this now". 

Get off the couch and start walking.  Walk over to the counter and throw those cookies away.

Give yourself some importance right now.  There are a million other things that can fill the 24 hours we have each day, but truthfully we only fill those hours with things we think are important or of worth.

Make sure your health and your goals are right up near the top of the list of importance.

Goals and changes are hard.  They are meant to be hard.  All things worth doing require time and effort. 

If everything we did was easy, there wouldn't be any value in it.

But that is where the reward comes from.

I can not tell you how many times I have dreaded a morning run. I am just not one of those people that wake up dying to run EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING.

Some mornings, yes, I crave it. But lots of mornings, it takes convincing.  Especially if I know I am due for a hard long hilly run.  And there are times that I put it off for a few days. I always regret it in the evenings I didn't do my run.

But after it is accomplished, the feeling is awesome. It really makes me proud of myself for putting in the hard work. Again, the reward is totally worth the work.  

And that is the feeling I crave.

So whatever it is that you want to improve on, set a goal and go for it.  As you get comfortable or you reach your goal, set a new one and go from there.