There is no doubt that being the best wife and mother that I can be, is by far my greatest ambition. But sometimes between the dishes and the homeschool plans, I often dream about having a goal that doesn’t revolve around the amount of chores or lesson plans we can get done in a day. So this summer, my dear friend Jenny and I decided that we would set a new, personal goal. We decided to start running. For increased motivation, we decided to train specifically for a 5K. I definitely had my doubts about this, I haven’t run since before my first pregnancy 8 years ago. But we tackled it one step at a time, using the “Run for God’ study I mentioned in an earlier post. And to my pleasant surprise, it was effective!
October 29th was the big day and it took a lot of planning to make it happen! It was the first day of hunting season for my husband, the girls had a big birthday party to attend, we had a Third Day Concert to go to that night and I had to plan all of the babysitting-transportation to make it all happen… crazy! So thankful for Lynn who watched my girls at 5am so that we could get the day started! Oh, did I mention that it snowed that night too?
October 29th, 2011 we ran in our very first 5K! It was so cold that day, it was in the 30’s! We went into the race with three goals. 1. Run the whole thing without walking 2. Run the 3.1 miles in less than 35 minutes 3. Don’t come in last!
I am so excited to say that we met all three goals! My finishing time was 32:57, which is a pace of 10:37. I came in 26th out of 39 in our age group and 111th out of 165 overall. Jenny did smashingly well also! Training and running with a good friend, was my favorite part of the whole experience by far.
It felt so good to set a challenge for ourselves and to then follow through and finish well. I am not sure what the future will hold in terms of running for either one of us. I definitely do not see myself as a competitive runner, but there is something very motivational about setting personal goals and having something to be working towards. So who knows, maybe there will be more 5K’s in my future! Either way, I am so glad we did it!
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” -Hebrews 12:1
