One must have GOALS!

So 5 years ago or so my sister in law Kari and I got this hair brained idea to start running...actually she probably wanted to give it a try and asked if I wanted to give it a shot also... :)

Anyways, we started taking classes and training for races and we were doing pretty darn good. But over the past few years with having 2 more babies and having a couple encounters with cancer my training and racing were pushed aside.

Months ago a few of us in the family registered for the Calgary Marathon (I in the 10 km, Mike, Josh and Rebekah in the 5 km) and had every intention to pull up our socks and train our butts off and conquer this goal that we had set out for ourselves...

Then we did NOTHING!! Ok, that's not ENTIRELY true...we had a pretty good few weeks after registering with hopping on treadmills and ellipticals but that quickly faded! LOL.

Today was race day and instead of backing out (I really wanted to) we got up at the crack of STUPID and headed down to the race. My 10 km started at 7:30 a.m. so we parked and hopped the CT train to Bridgeland! It was COLD, but turned out that it was FANTASTIC weather to run in. I would take this over the heat any day!

I managed to keep myself at a really steady pace of SLOW and jogged non-stop for the first 2 kms (which is really good for me). I remember thinking at around 5 kms "Seriously? Only half way done?" Then around 7 kms I said " I HATE 10 kms"!!! LOL.

But as I rounded the last corner I tried to bust out the last of my energy and get my butt across the finish line before passing out! I heard my name being announced and saw the medal waiting for me and it was a lovely moment. I finished slower than I would have liked but chalked it up to a successful re-entry into the running world.

Mike, Josh and Rebekah were up after I finished to embark upon their first ever 5 km race and they did so good!!! So proud of them for finishing and having such a good time! We definitely all learned that actually training for our upcoming races might be a good thing next time!

Now I am so excited to plan my next race because I have learned this week that we all must have some kind of GOALS to work towards. They help to keep us motivated (or they should) and give us something to look forward to!! Who knew running could be so much fun?? Although my opinion might change greatly when I attempt getting out of bed tomorrow morning! LOL...but it was all worth it and I am so happy that I completed it! It's the good kind of pain!