3 Months

It's so hard to believe that in 3 months my team (12 TuTus...) will actually be participating in Ragnar rather than planning for it! When I realized today was March 10th, I decided to reflect back over the past few weeks of training. In the beginning I dreaded (maybe even feared) the treadmill. We are now very good friends and I actually enjoy pushing myself. I am very grateful that I have had my gym membership and the wide variety of treadmills to train on. This preliminary training has allowed me to tweak my stride and correct my breathing so that both are more effective for me. I know that once I complete my preliminary training next week I will be outside for the duration and the hills around me are killers! I guess if I can run them on a regular basis I will be prepared for just about anything.

My goal for this race will not be measured by my time but rather completing my 3 legs, supporting my team and surpassing the expectations I had for myself. Initially when I started running my expectations were pretty low. Running had always been the last thing I wanted to do. I enjoyed walking, biking and yoga but the exertion required by running was just more than I was willing to put forth. (Does anyone remember the dreaded 600 that had to be completed for the Presidential Fitness Award in Junior High?) I still remember running those laps around the track at Dowling in our super cute PE uniforms that zipped up the front and I loved being a cheerleader because it got me out of PE during football and basketball season. It was that sort of old school attitude about fitness that helped to form my opinions of physical activity; PE should never have been an option!

Reflecting back on how I hated exercise makes me realize how much of life I missed out on. I hate that it took me until my 40's to grasp the importance of exercise and I am forever grateful to my high school friend, Julie, for telling me on my 40th Birthday that this could be my best decade yet. Those words of advice turned my world around. Physical activity isn't just for me, it's for my family! My mom was a great role model to me growing up...she was always exercising along with the TV and walking with the neighbors. She was a role model and what kind of role model was I being to my children? I expected them to participate in sports yet I got winded walking to the mailbox. Now I am preparing for a race that I never dreamed I could participate in and I'm actually so excited about it! I love that I am sharing this with my sisters and my daughter because now I am actually being the role model I was meant to be. We may be running "tutu" far but what's life without adventure!