1- Write real letters to people.
2- Get strong again (challenging myself physically was not priority this year with everything else going on)
3- Photograph life for pleasure and catch up on personal photos from the last few years.
Unfortunately, my camera breaking a few weeks into our time here and my computer working at the speed of a slug have kind of destroyed that last goal. On the up side, my lack of a camera has pushed me to explore other forms of art and I am really enjoying it. My favorite is drawing state outlines and water color painting them along with their state flower. So fun.
While I haven't been as consistent as I had intended, I try to get a hand written card out to SOMEONE at least every few days.
Then comes the whole getting strong again thing. The hardest goal for me by far. There are a lot of challenges to finding the right time when Jax is either sleeping (for how long if I'm jumping around the apartment? :) or Tim/someone is able to watch him. I started out doing zumba on the kinect for the first few weeks. Then I spent a few weeks doing full body elliptical workouts in our fitness center, which was SO MUCH FUN. I realized how much harder I push myself when Jax isn't around. I don't know if I have actually ever worked out as hard as during those workouts. I was starting to see and feel muscles that I forgot I had, even doing it only once or twice a week.
Then I heard about the Devil Dog 5k/10k. At first I was like "yeah, definitely not doing that. I haven't run in sooo long!". But as my body started feeling stronger, I started getting the crazy idea that I should sign up for the 10k. I had run that far before a few times, but never in a race. Even if I walked half of it, I knew I could still finish. A few of the girls here were doing the 5k, but I have already done a bunch of those and I felt like if I was going to run at all, it had better be for something new.
That's about when I met Bekah. She was a friend of my friend Carly. We were all hanging out at the pool one afternoon, and I mentioned my crazy idea. She immediately said she wanted to do the 10k too. I decided to not let the fact that she had run a marathon last year intimidate me. She wanted to run with me. So I said great. And we set a date to run a few miles. The race was only a few weeks away. I think when all was said and done, we ran together 4 times before the race. 2.5 miles, 3 miles, 4 miles, and then a 2 mile run/walk two days before the race. Sometimes we ran with Jax in the stroller (not the jogging stroller, so it was a lot harder!), and other times Tim or Carly watched him so we could focus on our pace. Pushing myself to do the 4 miles was the biggest factor for me. It reminded my mind and my body that I really COULD do this. Bekah was so great to keep pace with my slow self and keep enough conversation so that it went by quickly :)
Keep in mind, it had been averaging about 100 degrees here in Lawton, Ok this month. When we started running, it was about 75-85 in the morning when we ran, but we were definitely sweating and the sun was beating down by 9am.
Day before the race: Bekah and I both got head colds.
Faaaantastic. Snot dripping. Coughing up phlegm. The works.
Race day morning: 50 degrees. That is 25 degrees colder than what we have been running in. It felt like WINTER. It was so cold. I did not want to get out of bed. But I did. We bundled Jaxon up, so he could ride in the stroller while Tim ran the 5k with him.
Going into it, Bekah and I had said we would try to run 3-4 miles before taking a walk break.
As we got going, keeping a pretty steady snail pace, the sun got higher (behind clouds), and it reached a really perfect temperature for running.
We were pretty sure we were the last 10k runners for most of the race, but about the 9k mark a waterboy assured us that we were not. Apparently a van follows the last runner, maybe in case they have a heart attack. We might never know.
We turned the last corner, and the Marines were telling us to sprint. Ha. Fat chance. We are not marines. But there was this older guy ahead of us, kind of half limp running. We looked at each other and decided we could run fast enough to beat him. Some annoying kids who had finished the race already came back and ran behind us pretending like we were beating them to help motivate us. They didn't know we were running faster because of the old guy, not them ;)
Our 5k friends had stuck around to cheer us on as we came through the final stretch, and Tim and Jax were waiting just over the finish line.
We finished in approx 1 hour and 17 minutes (official chip times aren't in yet.)
Oh, did I mention I RAN THE WHOLE THING???? No walk breaks (besides when i was grabbing water cups/drinking for a few steps). That was huge for me. It really meant way more to me to run the whole thing than to run fast. I could never have done it without Bekah keeping pace with me. There are only a handful of Marines at Fort Sill since its an Army fort, so doing a 10k with only like 50 people isn't nearly as motivating as a race with 8,000 people. Having a running buddy was exactly what I needed, and I'm so grateful God crossed our paths.
Also, I can't forget to mention the fantastic race shirt design.
(Doesn't everyone want a devil dog with blood dripping out of its teeth on their shirt? This is what nightmares are made of, people!)
So basically, all that to say, I feel like I've met my goals for Oklahoma, and we aren't even halfway through our time here! Maybe I should make more goals. Or mayyybe I should just enjoy the rest of my time here, and feel happily accomplished :)
I'll decide later.
<3
That's about when I met Bekah. She was a friend of my friend Carly. We were all hanging out at the pool one afternoon, and I mentioned my crazy idea. She immediately said she wanted to do the 10k too. I decided to not let the fact that she had run a marathon last year intimidate me. She wanted to run with me. So I said great. And we set a date to run a few miles. The race was only a few weeks away. I think when all was said and done, we ran together 4 times before the race. 2.5 miles, 3 miles, 4 miles, and then a 2 mile run/walk two days before the race. Sometimes we ran with Jax in the stroller (not the jogging stroller, so it was a lot harder!), and other times Tim or Carly watched him so we could focus on our pace. Pushing myself to do the 4 miles was the biggest factor for me. It reminded my mind and my body that I really COULD do this. Bekah was so great to keep pace with my slow self and keep enough conversation so that it went by quickly :)
Keep in mind, it had been averaging about 100 degrees here in Lawton, Ok this month. When we started running, it was about 75-85 in the morning when we ran, but we were definitely sweating and the sun was beating down by 9am.
Day before the race: Bekah and I both got head colds.
Faaaantastic. Snot dripping. Coughing up phlegm. The works.
Race day morning: 50 degrees. That is 25 degrees colder than what we have been running in. It felt like WINTER. It was so cold. I did not want to get out of bed. But I did. We bundled Jaxon up, so he could ride in the stroller while Tim ran the 5k with him.
Going into it, Bekah and I had said we would try to run 3-4 miles before taking a walk break.
As we got going, keeping a pretty steady snail pace, the sun got higher (behind clouds), and it reached a really perfect temperature for running.
We were pretty sure we were the last 10k runners for most of the race, but about the 9k mark a waterboy assured us that we were not. Apparently a van follows the last runner, maybe in case they have a heart attack. We might never know.
We turned the last corner, and the Marines were telling us to sprint. Ha. Fat chance. We are not marines. But there was this older guy ahead of us, kind of half limp running. We looked at each other and decided we could run fast enough to beat him. Some annoying kids who had finished the race already came back and ran behind us pretending like we were beating them to help motivate us. They didn't know we were running faster because of the old guy, not them ;)
Our 5k friends had stuck around to cheer us on as we came through the final stretch, and Tim and Jax were waiting just over the finish line.
We finished in approx 1 hour and 17 minutes (official chip times aren't in yet.)
Oh, did I mention I RAN THE WHOLE THING???? No walk breaks (besides when i was grabbing water cups/drinking for a few steps). That was huge for me. It really meant way more to me to run the whole thing than to run fast. I could never have done it without Bekah keeping pace with me. There are only a handful of Marines at Fort Sill since its an Army fort, so doing a 10k with only like 50 people isn't nearly as motivating as a race with 8,000 people. Having a running buddy was exactly what I needed, and I'm so grateful God crossed our paths.
Also, I can't forget to mention the fantastic race shirt design.
(Doesn't everyone want a devil dog with blood dripping out of its teeth on their shirt? This is what nightmares are made of, people!)
So basically, all that to say, I feel like I've met my goals for Oklahoma, and we aren't even halfway through our time here! Maybe I should make more goals. Or mayyybe I should just enjoy the rest of my time here, and feel happily accomplished :)
I'll decide later.
<3
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