5K

I was asked today if I wanted to do something I never, ever thought I would be interested in doing. Something that a lot of people enjoy doing but I have never fully understood why. My friend, Jen, asked me if I wanted to run a 5K with her. 5K, that's like 3.1 miles...of running! At first I thought no, I have never wanted to do anything like that. Then I thought, well, maybe, I could probably do that. And when I got home it got me thinking about my life and why I should do it.

I have a really good friend that is a runner, has been for years. She runs almost every day. We went to Hawaii together when we were pregnant with our oldest kids, she was about 7 months along. That girl got up every morning and ran at least a mile or 2 up a small mountain on a muddy trail. I thought she was crazy! She runs the Hood to Coast marathon and used to actively train with a trainer. I understood she enjoyed it, but I didn't understand her self discipline. Her self discipline that made it possible for her to birth three children with no drugs or epidural. Again, crazy! But something is changing in me and I am starting to understand it and I realize I admire her ability to be disciplined enough to run a marathon. The whole birthing babies without epidurals, I'm not sure I will ever understand that, though. (I love you Ton and I mean all of this in love!)

My husband, Shad, is the most disciplined person I know. In college he would spend 5 straight hours working on one calculus problem. He will not stop a project until it is completely done and he does it to the very best of his ability, always. Again, I have had a hard time understanding why he can't just stop and come back and finish it later. It's just not in him. He has to finish his project because that is his expectation for himself and he will not accept anything less. When we were first married I wanted to be a good wife, so I went hunting with him. We walked like 1000 miles in one foot of snow up and down hills for an entire day. I was so tired and all I could think about was how cold and hungry I was. Shad, he was in the zone. The conditions and hunger didn't even phase him. I spent a lot of years kind of holding his endurance against him, like it was a weakness. Now I know that that is one of his greatest strengths and I admire the heck out of him for it. I now strive to gain even a fraction of his endurance and discipline.

When I was in the second grade I started playing the violin. I was in orchestra at school from then until the tenth grade when I quit because I was getting too embarrassed to carry my violin around. I always enjoyed it, but I was not disciplined at practicing. I really only played it at school, so I wouldn't say I excelled at it at all. As I have gotten older I have realized that I am that way about most things in my life. I do it pretty well, but I don't push myself enough to really master it. I got a lot of C's in school, even college, because that was good enough for me. But is that really the way to live life? Doing things "good enough"? I don't think so anymore.

I think my change of mind started after I had kids. As a mom it has not been an option to do things good enough, no matter how hard I fight it, because the kids need and demand 100% of me 100% of the time. I am in a mommy marathon. I am running most of the time, occasionally slowing down to walk so I can catch my breath for the next round of running. And there is Shad on the sidelines to hand me a cup of cool water to rehydrate me as I run by. Sometimes he even jumps into my place and allows me to rest on the sidelines. I also have God on my team cheering me on , guiding me to stay on the right trail, carrying me along when I just get too tired to go on, making sure I don't allow myself to stop the race when I get overwhelmed with the intensity of it. And this is a long marathon, makes that 26.2 miles look like a nature walk. This change of mind has helped me to excel as a wife too. (I know Shad would agree with that statement because he has told me so. I love that guy!)

I have mentioned before that I have been working out pretty hard in the last few months. I am totally enjoying it. The sweat. The rubbery muscles. The sore muscles the next day. It's all good. Physically I know I could do a 5K. I would have to work hard and train to get to a place where I could run for 3.1 straight miles but I could do it. But do I have what it takes to do a 5K, mentally? Do I have the self discipline to do it? I think now, more than ever, I do. I mean, come on, I am already running a marathon, right? So, Jen, if you're serious, let's go for it! (Yikes!)