As a mom, I can tell you this:
1. Most often than not, we don't take the time for ourselves
2. We are always trying to take care of everyone else first
3. We don't give ourselves credit for the difficult tasks we manage to complete every single day
4. There will always be something that comes up to put our own plans on the back burner
For me, my back can't take running...not even half a mile, much less a half-marathon. So, I move on and find some other way to lose the baby weight and get back in shape and for me it has been walking. Two years ago, I decided to go another route. I needed something to train for that would motivate me to eat right and work out faithfully, but I couldn't run. So I shocked everyone and decided to compete in a married women's pageant, and let me tell you, the training worked, both mentally and physically. Who said you can't get a good workout from walking? I am about to completely embarrass myself here and post my swimsuit picture from the pageant. But, it reminds me that it can be done, because I did it before. Yikes, here goes!
The second time around after having a child has proven to be much more difficult. Obviously, I will not be pursuing the crown again, but I still need something tangible to train for, and that's where this idea came to fruition (along with a moving message from my friend and pastor Kyung Lee this past Sunday! here are the outline notes from his message)
So here's my plan:
On October 25th, I will set out on a 13.1 mile walk (or as close to as possible as my husband can determine) and my training started yesterday. I found a few training schedules to follow that give you as much as 12 weeks to train for your walking half-marathon, but can be shortened if need be. This one looks at mileage in training and this one looks at minutes walked in training. It's totally doable and I want some people to join me!
So my challenge to you is this...either join me in the "I did, not I will" walking half marathon or let me know what "I did, not I will" challenge you have set for yourself. For instance, my mom and sister are each training to run a marathon together in November and it will be my mom's first and my sister's second marathon. Go mom and Ann!
If you live in my area, and you want to train with me or just walk the half-marathon with me, I would be thrilled and excited beyond belief that you would make that commitment to yourself and join me. If you don't live in the area, I highly encourage you to pick something that you want to do for yourself, set a goal, make a plan, and get started. Leave a comment and let me know what it is you want to be able to say "I did" instead of "I will" and I will check in on you from time to time.
Come on ladies, we can do this! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil 4:13
