A Year Of Change

By now it's not a secret I have a lot going on these days. A lot of change going on. Even things that I didn't expect are happening.

At the beginning of the year, when all this change was initially set motion I was talking to a friend of mine about it all. After I was finished telling her about "Project Life Map," she said to me something to the effect of "This is a year of change for you." After she said this, I looked at her with a blank stare. Yeah, I guess she was right. There were a lot of things changing, but I had never really thought of it in such a way that I would assign that label to it. I guess I figured since life is really ever changing, every year was a year of change. Some years the changes were just bigger than others; however, as time has gone by, I am warming up to this label more, embracing it and working to make the most out of 2011. Or should I say, my year of change?

A few weekends ago I was at a wedding where I was placed at a table with a group of the grooms friends who were triathlon participants. During the course of the meal, the group talked about the various races they had recently completed and those that they intended to participate in during the coming months. At one point, the girl sitting next to me turned to me and said, "Do you run? Bike? Have you ever participated in a race?" I simply answered, "No, but I have always wanted to." I went on to explain that I use to run, but stopped several years back. I mentioned how at one point it was my goal to one day run the Hood to Coast relay race that takes place annually in Oregon.

Since that evening, I've been thinking about the "good old days," when I use to run. I recalled how dreadful it was when I first got started and how much it was a part of my life at one point and what would ultimately lead me to stop running. All this reminiscing led me to start researching training programs this past weekend. That's when I came across Couch-to-5K.

If you haven't heard of this program, it's basically a training program for beginners. In the past, I didn't need a formalized training program - I just sorta made the decision I wanted to run and did it. However, what I wasn't able to accomplish was getting to the point where I was ready to run a race and that is what I am looking to accomplish at this point in time. Additionally, I believe I'm at a point in life where I need a more formalized program and a community to keep my enthusiasm going. I'm sure once I formally mention this on Facebook all my friends and family will be encouraging, but figure it never hurts to have additionally support wherever I can find it.

In addition to my family and friends, and the C-to-5K community I have also paired up with my friend Ally on this endeavor. Ally was commenting the other day on her FB page that she wasn't going to her Barrister's Ball (a.k.a. - law school prom) because she wasn't in as good of shape as she was last year. After expressing my thoughts on her reason for not going, I suggested if she was really that unhappy she should join me in C-to-5K. Turns out she had tried starting this program awhile back, but never got into it. Her intent was to start up again this month.

Perfect! Sorta . . .

Given my hectic schedule these days, I will not be starting this program until June. June 12th to be exact. This is when I anticipate life will be less hectic for me and I can give it the time and attention it truly deserves. Ally has agreed that she will wait for me and restart program on this day as well. This way, we both have accountability not only to ourselves, but to a friend participating in the program as well.

The program itself is 8 weeks long. This means we'll be "finishing up" sometime around mid-August. To raise the stakes a little higher, Ally and I have already picked out a race to participate in. Race for the Cure to be exact. A friend of mine was diagnosed with Breast Cancer a year and a half ago. Since then she has had surgery and things look good for her. Personally, I can't think of a better race to be my first race.

So why talk about it now?

Well, first and foremost, I'm really excited about all this. I can't imagine not mentioning it for another two months. Secondly, I still have a lot of work to do leading up to June. About two weeks ago, I started walking more or less two miles every day. Sadly, this has been tough on me. I've been experiencing some painful shin splints. I take this pain as my body's way of telling me that it's been awhile and it needs some time to adjust. All this boils down to is that for the next 8 weeks or so I have to dedicate as much as time as I can getting my body readjusted to walking for miles and miles at a time. You'd think this wouldn't be a problem since I did actually walk places during the winter, but I realize since the regularity of such action was not consistent over the past 5 months, my muscles have most likely tightened up. I figure my training to start training is just as relevant to this whole process which I plan to chronicle on this blog.

I'm looking forward to getting started with this program, blogging about the experience, running a race in September and, more importantly, incorporating running into my life routine again. When I look back on my running days I realize how much I truly loved it and how happy it made me. I hope I can say the same thing this time around.


Maybe 2011 really is a year of change for me after all. If so, I'm ready!

Until later . . .