Gritty Goddess

Every January, I make the same New Year's Resolution as most of the country:  this is going to be the year that I get healthier and make lifestyle changes so that I don't die of a heart attack when I'm 50 and/or end up an old lady taking 22 different medications a day in a vain attempt to correct all of the damage I did to my body during the first 3/4 of my life.  12 years as an ER nurse has taught me a lot about how I want to grow old. 

This past year, I decided to take a slightly different approach.  The health of your physical body is a gift from God.  Along with the other blessings in our life, our physical well being is a gift of itself.  Ask anyone who spends life from a wheelchair.  This year, I made New Year's Resolutions about stewardship.  I became determined to be a better steward of the physical health I have been blessed with.  Brandon and I started eating a LOT better, and spent the first half of this year changing a lot of our eating habits all at once.  Gone were the sodas, sweets, snacks, fast food, and basically anything we enjoyed eating, replaced instead with LOTS of fresh fruits and vegetables and protein.  Over the last few months, we have settled into more practical eating habits, but we are still eating heathier than we used to. 

Apparently, someone a few years ago decided exercise was healthy.  I want to shoot that person.  So I, who for years said I would only run if a big dog was chasing me, decided to slowly start a running program.  At the end of July I began a Couch-to-5k running program, designed to take non-runners and have them running a 5k by the end of 9 weeks.  Well.  Five months later, I have finally finished that 9-week running program.  And last month, some friends and I ran (okay, fine, we walked most of it) my first 5k!

The Gritty Goddess was so much fun!  It was in Galveston on a Saturday morning, so the girls and I decided we needed a prep-day for what was sure to be a very taxing run, so we got there Friday evening and stayed at a lovely hotel after enjoying Mexican food and mommy beverages the night before.  Which is what all the serious runners do, fill up on heavy junk food the night before the run, right?

The run was un-timed, and very casual.  At some point, it was decided that we would walk most of the run, because with obstacles every quarter mile, it was difficult to get in a good rhythm to run.  Or something like that.  And it's hard to take cute pictures when you're running.  Like this one at Mile 1:

Don't we look cute?  We were so tired and needing refreshment by this point, so we were very happy to see the "recharge station" passing out water and chocolate chip cookies.  In the middle of the race.  Right next to the ocean and these comfy chairs:

If I had to design a run, there would absolutely be a nice man passing out cookies right in the middle of it.

Mile 2:

And taking a little time-out:

Did I mention the obstacles?  Throughout the run, we made time to climb over, under, and through lots of things, (one of our "obstacles" was walking through part of the Lazy River at Schlitterbahn...a bit chilly in November) and even slid down a tube into a vat of mud.  Very gritty indeed.

I don't know how many times I have washed these tennis shoes, but I still have sand between my toes after I run.  Cannot get it out.

The final "obstacle":

And...finished!  In an impressively slow time due to all the walking and picture-taking. 

And while I did all of my "couch-to-5k" training, Brandon has an actual marathon in his sights for 2013.  Ummm, I'll just stick to the 5ks, thanks.  And I can ever be expected to run a whole 5 kilometers without a prep day with the girls at a hotel beforehand ;)