sometimes a little encouragement from a stranger is the nicest thing ever!

If you know me then you probably know that I do not have the athletic family genes. And you probably know that I need a little extra motivation when doing a task/project (that is of course, unless I'm passionate about it. in that case, you can't pry me from that idea/task/project). It's something we're working on; it's a part of my to-work-on list (yes, I know, my list is getting long. ain't nobody perfect.). 

SO. I've been itching to get back to exercising.  I mean, really, really, really, wanting to do it for myself, to feel healthier, to feel more confident, and to know that I'm keeping my body moving.  But, I found myself using homework as an excuse to not go. And don't get me wrong, I've had A LOT of homework this semester.  But I felt that unless something changed, then I wouldn't be getting to the gym. 

And so, I came up with the craziest idea in the entire world to get me to the gym. Prepare the drum-role, please.

DUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUN

I asked my mom to run the mini-marathon with me in May.

Okay, okay, get all your laughs out now. HHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAYOUTHINKYOUCANRUNAMINIMARATHONHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Feel better now?

I figured running the mini-marathon isn't something you just sign up for.  You have to T R A I N for it.  No, no, I know how many miles are in a mini-marathon (13.1). Both my parents have ran it before and I thought that not only would this be a FANTASTIC and BRILLIANT way to get me to the gym, but it would also be something really special to accomplish with my mom (speaking of, throw that woman some kudos. my momma is looking goooooooood. she's really treated herself well with working out and eating well every day. talk about a good example for us).  

We haven't signed up for it because Momma wants to make sure I'm serious about it. So come Christmas break I need to be able to run six miles at a pretty comfortable pace.  And call me crazy, but I think I can do it. Right? I can totally do this. I just need to be determined. I'm also hoping that by putting this online I will then really have to actually do it, because all zero of you who read this will check up on me, right?

So here we are one week in.  And here now, we enter the explanation for the title. So I found myself with no plans tonight (on a Friday?! I know! I'm practically the most exciting college student!!!) and decided to get into my running clothes. This was around 9 o'clock.  And then I put my socks on around 10ish. And I was like "ehh, maybe I'll just watch Netflix and go tomorrow morning." And then I said "NO! You will go now and you will like it!" And so I went at 10:30 pm on a Friday night. 

So this week being only the first week of "training" (holy cow, that sounds official. it's not). I've been running just 20 minutes straight through.  It was getting to be around 15 minutes and I felt my feet going numb and the cramps were hitting and I was thirsty and just wanted to crawl into bed and die. But then there were these two guys on bikes and one of them threw out his hand (apparently for a high-five. Like I was going to waste my energy to run outside the track and do that, yeah right!) and yelled "You can do it!" And it made me smile so I kept on running those last five minutes like I was some athletic family member and I lived! And then on my walking lap to cool down they happened to get off their bikes and the one guy threw out his hand again (okay, this time I did high-five it 'cause I figured I couldn't leave him hanging twice, right?) and said "You did awesome! Way to push yourself!" I mean! People like this exist?! Talk about such an encourager! And from a stranger! 

And now that we've tied in the title, let's wrap this super-unnessecarily-long-post up by explaining the photos! These were back from our trip to St. Louis this past summer.  We went to the City Museum and the fam thought my method of climbing up this [extremely terrifying] 'thing' [that was thousands of feet in the air] was hilarious.  Anyways, the way I felt when I finally accomplished it is how I feel after I complete a good run: Like I Can Do Anything. Including run a mini-marathon, what? Here we go! 

My confession: I've lost my mind and I think I'm training for a mini-marathon.  If you find my sanity, please return it to me A S A P (also, I figured that even if I don't actually run the mini, at least I'll have been running, right?! totally right).