5K!

Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

Tonight, my mom and dad were gracious enough to watch the kiddos for us.  Lydia has been permanently attached to me lately, and while its nice to be wanted all the time, there is a limit, and I had reached mine.  Lydia really needed to be in the care of someone else for a while.


So, David and I decided to have a date night.  I cooked a high protein dinner (with yummy cantaloupe and pineapple on the side!).  We ate slowly and with romantic music in the background.  After dinner, David surprised me and asked me to dance.  I loved every second of it.  We had originally planned after that to go for a walk on the boardwalk (our wooded trail, which we love so much).  But, I felt this fire creep up into me.  I wanted to achieve something new tonight!  So, I asked David if he would show me the 5K trail around town.  He agreed.


As we headed down our street, then turned to climb the incline to our east, we did not go two blocks and my calves were already burning.  I said to David, "We've hit 2 miles already, right?" :)   Well, we kept walking despite the intense pain.  I stopped at several telephone poles and risked public humiliation as I braced myself against them to stretch my legs out.  I feel very conscious of my size doing things that look athletic like stretching!  I felt a little better and we kept walking.  


It was about 45 minutes into our walk when I desperately needed to stop and use the restroom at the gas station.  While I was in there, safely out of the view of the public, I stretched like crazy.  I got those legs nice and limber, and we bought a bottle of vitamin water while there too, so I could drink and avoid dehydrating, since this walk was taking a long time.  After that, I really started making progress and enjoying our walk.  This taught me that before I do any long walks, I'm going to do a brief 10 minute warm up and spend a lot of time stretching before we leave.


David was so patient, as he is a runner, and could have literally run 3 laps around me in the time it took me to finish.  The police officer in town kept driving by and waving. I liked to think of him as my personal cheerleader and bodyguard! (Hahaha!)  


The very last stretch of the 5K is climbing the big hill in the cemetery that is right next to my house.  On the way up that hill (which seemed soooo long today) I began to get a little tunnel vision going on or something. I was also beginning to see spots.  But, as soon as I got home, drank some water, and stretched some more those problems went away.  


The total time for my 5K was 1 hour and 28 minutes.  I know that is by no means a time that any normal person would be proud of for a 5K, but me...I'm thrilled!!!!  I finished it.  I keep having tears well up in my eyes because, though I have tried before, I have never finished a 5K.  It reminds me of a passage in James 1:2-3 

"Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."  

I really did feel absolute joy at the end of that 5K!


It feels really good to have a victory tonight.  It came at just the right time. I was feeling like a failure lately, since I'm still struggling with my eating plan.  But, many times in my life,  I just need one victory to push me to the second one. 


One of the most amazing things that is blowing me away is the support of people.  I posted about my victory on Facebook tonight, and my page is blowing up with congratulations.  That means the world to me.  It gives me more reason to fight.  That people really care that I'm taking care of myself.  The accountability I receive from my blog, Facebook, and myfitnesspal.com are essential to my success.  Being transparent and real about my struggles is hard, but it offers a whole new level of accountability that changes things from nominal to real.  Thank you for being part of that!


Well, off to shower this sweat away, and hit the hay!  Thanks again for reading and for supporting me on this journey!