2011

It's hard to believe that we are in the last few days of 2011. It's been filled with great memories and great struggles in our home. I am thankful that we all have our good health and love for life as we start a new year.

Probably the best personal decision I made this year was to quit my job. There is nothing worse then working a job that leaves you unfulfilled and underpaid! The decision to be a stay-at-home Mom (for as long as we can swing it) has proven to be lucrative for our family and our girls. I don't regret it for a minute and have found peace with finding other things that define me other then my career.

Probably the best hing I did all year was coach a girl's team of Mini-Mermaids. I can't even begin to put into words how special this was for me on so many levels. Everyone I encountered said :If only something like this had been around when I was a kid." My thoughts exactly, I didn't find my love for running until my thirties and I always laugh when I tell people that I was "that girl" who walked the track in P.E. The idea of sweating was so gross while today sweat is more like a badge of honor. If I could instill a fraction of how exciting it is to cross a finish line and feel proud of your accomplishment I knew that these girls would be way ahead of me in building self esteem and self worth. Getting to know these girl's on a deeper level was so rewarding and so awesome. The icing on the cake was getting to cross the finish line with my three and six year old and cheering everyone else in.

The added benefit to my own overall fitness was running twice a week with the girl's and then doing my own run on Sunday's. As soon as running club was over I transitioned nicely into a very easy fitness plan of running 3 days a week and then found myself in a 10k training plan to ensure I continued with my hard work. I've always wanted to work on getting faster but didn't really want to put in any effort into actually doing fartleks and whatever other out of my comfort zone training that might require. I was pleased to find that by running with a bunch of six year old's I had actually gotten faster. Adding in my new Garmin that actually let me race myself, I was quickly improving my run times. Which led to a most gratifying 5k PR on Thanksgiving day. Which was really a big deal to me since it had been 2 years since I had last earned a 5k PR.

Overall as I head into 2012 with 10k's and a 1/2 marathon to train for I feel good about the place I am in. I have pushed outside of my comfort zone and done things that I normally would not do which has greatly built my confidence in my abilities. The key is to keep the momentum going!

Happy New Year!