Hard Work Paying Off

Happy Tuesday!  It was a very nice three day weekend and I am sorry to see it end.  I didn't work out much, just Saturday.  I rode 10 miles on the bike and then walked 1 mile.  I felt good doing it and my knee didn't bother me at all.  I was a little worried about my back but it was fine.  Didn't feel better or worse, so I thought that was a good thing.

I don't usually ride bikes.  It is usually with the whole family and not really a work out because the kids are small and we have to slow down so they can keep up.  So not being able to run yet, I headed to the gym to see how I would feel.  I started out, without a goal in mind, just get on and ride, stop if your back hurts.  After a couple miles I was bored.  Riding a stationary bike is more boring than running on the treadmill.  At about 7 miles, I was still feeling good and decided to round it out to 10.  I was happy with that and then walked on the treadmill.  I left with my knee feeling ok and my back the same but happy to have moved my body and worked up a sweat.

On Sunday, the University of Rhode Island's Girls Track and Field team hosted a free event for kids 5 to 12.  I headed there with my son to see what it was all about.  First, let me tell you the indoor track was really nice.  My son ran around it twice while we were waiting for the activites to start and then I walked with him while he drank out of his cool water bottle that all the kids got.

They broke the kids up into their age group and off they went with 3-4 girls from the team. Each group did a long jump, hurdles, shot put, a relay race, javelin throw and a very low, high jump.  It was really well run and you can see all the kids had a great time.  I love that this was available for our kids.  I like the idea of promoting fitness and having fun.  My son loved the javelin throw the best but he did the best at the hurdles.  At the end they all got a certificate of completion and then the team did a demonstration for us.

First up was a demo of shop put.  Twenty pounds thrown through the air, pretty cool.  Then a very fast girl demoed the hurdles and lastly we got to see the pole vault.  I have never seen any of these things in person before and I was impressed by all of it, especially the pole vault.  I really wanted to try it.  These talented ladies made it look easy, which I know it was not.  A lot of hard work and time has been put into learning how to do these things.  And they were great at it!

Anything worth doing is worth doing well.  Sometimes it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but you never give up if you want something bad enough.  The URI Girls Track and Field team want to be champions and the flags hanging from the ceiling show that they are.

Do you sometimes feel you are running and running but not getting anywhere?  I do.  And now with not being able to run for a few weeks makes me feel like I am going backwards.  I know I am not.  I am doing things to keep in shape so that when I do run again it won't feel like the first time.

The first time makes me laugh.  I literally ran for 1 minute and then walked for 1 1/2 minutes, 8 different times and thought it was hard.  Eight minutes total!  So see, the hard work and time that I put into it paid off.  I think about that a lot.  I want to run 13.1 miles in one day and there is a lot of work ahead of me.  I am looking forward to running again and train for real.  I am definitely a better person when I get to do what I like and for me that is RUN!

So for now, my hard work will go into my PT.   I am seeing improvement in my knee, Yeah!  I am learning how to stretch, I wasn't really doing all the right stretches before and after my run.  I won't be making that mistake again.  I was never an athlete so this really is all new to me, and there is so much to learn!  Thank you for all the great advice you have given me so far.

We are all working towards something and no matter what it is, we should all be proud of how far we have come.

So what is your biggest goal right now?  Have you had any setbacks?  How did you handle it?

The last couple posts I have talked about Sherry Arnold.  I am still praying that they find her body so that her family can lay her to rest the proper way.  The Run Like a Mother ladies posted today a few great ways we can all stay safe.  You can read that here.

Run strong, think big!