Self Portaits

best I've seen in a while...
this is one of the ways she spends her time at soccer practice/games

I didn't, but I did

that could be applied to many aspects of my life for good or naught. This particular reference is to my third annual Women's Festival 5K. It's held in the Indianhead neighborhood, cute little area - with hills - small detail of much importance. I loved the hill factor the first year because going downhill gave me some steam. No so much the case this year.

I'm not a runner...why I've decided to take this venture up is beyond me. Until three years ago the only mile I ever ran was in high school for an ROTC requirement and I had a fierce retired Army colonel on my heels making sure I finished.

So some twenty years later, Brandon and I are on a date at a very non healthy mexican restuarant and I see a flyer advertising this race. I ask Brandon as he's rolling me to the car after dinner, you think I could do this? His response was, next year? This was two months before the race for the current year, fair question but I was still insulted and thereby determined.

I found a program called couch to 5k in two months, and thought, Hey that's me. It worked for the most part. It was a slow, painful start, but I started and kept with it. I was super nervous on race day. I ran/walked it but I finished it and I wasn't last, definitely in the bottom, but not last. I loved the atmosphere of the race, the different stories you could see.

I didn't run another race until the following year, same race, but not alone, MJ (six months prego) and MA (placed fourth in her age category- props to both) came along and that added an extra umph and I made better time.

I did the turkey trot that year as well and it was raining, but it was nice not to have the hills.

And finally to year three, great goodness, how did this get so winded? So I wasn't thinking doing the race, but my friend Rachel moved back into town and we started the couch to 5k program so I knew I needed to do this race and I really, really thought I might be able to run the whole thing. The Saturday before I ran two miles for the first time ever.

I tried psyching myself up, but I forgot about those hills, not about them all together, but their slight steepness in places, length in others and quantity.

I also ate tons of crap days before the race...go figure.


At one point as I was climbing one of the last two hills , I kept repeating... it's just a hill, it's gotta go down, it's just a hill, it's gotta go down.

cue Chariot's of Fire theme....

This hill decided it was not going down anytime soon, not high but long...I stopped chanting and one more hill after that I stopped running :(.

kill Chariot's of Fire theme.....

Bummer.

But,
cue Rocky theme....

I didn't accomplish all I wanted, I did come closer and I will continue until it's done.....

it's stated in cyberspace now so I have to live up to it.

I'm going to do the turkey trot again this year and hope for dry weather and give it my all...there are no goal threatening hills, not that I recall anyway. :)

kill Rocky theme

I wanna

go foreign, I am posting this so that I remember that.

For the most part I've always thought of leaving the mother country unappealing.
Seriously, we have everything and it's all so wonderfully familiar. If you are rude or offensive at least you're aware of how to do it, for the most part. I'm afraid in a foreign land I'd leave foot tracks everywhere of appalled people.

Wait, I kind of do that now. Anyways, it all changed today when I happened up this blog....

http://thelawfamilyblog.blogspot.com/

Beautiful.

I wanna.

Now just to sell off one of the kids to get a boarding pass. They're so crazy cute I would probably just have to rent them out while I was gone :), maybe a couple cause I'd Brandon to come too.

Always good to have something to work towards, just add this one to the list!