I could never do that...

"I could never do that." This saying is one of the greatest annoyances in my life. People say this all the time. It drives me up a wall. I go crazy. I'm pretty sure my eyes go all beady, and I get ready to pounce and attack whoever may have said it. I get this saying a lot when I mention, or my lovely fiance mentions, that I run marathons and half marathons. People always say "Oh wow, I could never do that!" Well guess what!?! You can stupid!

This makes me so annoyed because I feel like anything is possible. I mean, there are people out there without legs running marathons with their prosthetics. I think if someone missing legs can run a marathon or half marathon, then by all means, you can too, you two legger. Suck it up and get on with it.

It's not as though I expect you to just get one morning and go for a 26.2 mile run. Nobody in their right mind does that without training. The key word here is training! I did not start running by jumping out of bed and going for 10 mile runs. I could barely run a half a mile when I started running in high school. I would say to my parents "I'm going for a run," and then I would drag myself a half a mile and then march my sorry butt back into the house. My mom would ask "Are you back already?" "Yes, yes mom, I am." It was quite frankly embarrassing, but I kept at it because I knew I could become better. My dad was a runner, and he ran marathons in times that I can really only dream of, and mom was used to him being gone for hours on end, and here comes Stephanie five minutes after she left saying she is done running. I was so proud of myself when I ran my first mile without stopping! I was even more proud when I did my first three mile run. It seemed to me that was an actual distance. I didn't realize how good running made me feel until I didn't do it one day! That is when I think I may have thought of myself as a runner.

Nothing makes me more excited than when I here about someone who has just started running. We are all part of a community no matter what level we may be at, and the camaraderie is amazing. The more the merrier! There's something special about being able to run up to a complete stranger and having a conversation with them, and they are perfectly okay with it! There was a time when someone who was running just a little faster than me, passed me on a run, and I decided to try and keep up with him. I tailed him right on his heels for about 10 minutes before we each turned in different directions, but before we split ways, we both gave each other a nod and a wave. No conversation necessary. Running races is great too, because everyone seems like they want to talk to people at those. You hear some great stories. So when new people start running, you can't help but want to encourage them. You get to hear their story, and watch it evolve into something new.

So, when you say you could never do that, whether it be running a block, a 5K, or a longer distance race, I am going to pounce on you, and maybe smack you upside the head, and tell you to put your grown-up shoes on (the ones without the velcro) and give it a try. Your body is capable of amazing things. Your mind is the only thing holding you back.

May Goals

I am quite aware that I missed my April blog. I kept meaning to write something, and then I just ended up too busy or too stressed out to write anything. I had planned on writing about future brides using feeding tubes in order to lose weight. I read about it briefly in a recent article, and it was quite fascinating and appalling at the same time. However, I have been stressing out about my own wedding plans, and every time someone even mentioned the word wedding, anxiety and stress started to kick in. I am not the "bride" type of girl. I have not been planning my wedding since I exited my mother's uterus, and quite frankly I'm not really enjoying any of it. Top that off with the fact that I get major anxiety when it comes to being in front of people, and you maybe start to get why I am stressed out. I am just not cut out for all of this. I would much prefer to just have a civil ceremony and take our immediate families out for a nice dinner. That is not happening, though we have made modifications to our wedding plans over the last week in order to help make it less of an ordeal for me and more a good time.

Anyways, I will probably write about this weird feeding tube thing soon, either this month or next month (maybe two blogs in one month? Eek!). However, in order to avoid wedding topics, I simply decided to write down my fitness goals for the month of May. So here they are:

1. Lift weights twice a week.--This will be very difficult for me. I abhor weight training. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it (this little mantra probably doesn't help matters either. I will have to be more positive.) In fact, I dislike this activity so much that I am giving myself an incentive to do it. I have wanted the new Trampled by Turtles album for a while now. If I can get through this month with lifting twice a week, I will by myself this album as a reward. I very rarely need to find an incentive to achieve exercise goals because just accomplishing them gives me a good high, but weights are evil.

2. Run twice a week.--I am coming off an injury, and I have not run for almost two months. I was supposed to be running Grandma's Marathon in June, but I am very doubtful I will be able to whip myself into proper shape for that event. But run twice a week. That I can do I think, provided my injury's status keeps improving.

So yes, two goals for this month, maybe not very ambitious to some people, but this whole weight lifting thing is going to be an awful challenge, so mostly I am concentrating on that. Bleck!