Here goes nothing!

You guys, I am so excited and terrified about my latest goal, that I have hesitated to talk to many people about it at all.

I love my group fitness classes at the Y. I love the instructors there, and the energy, and the team-like atmosphere between the regulars.

I love it so much that I decided to get certified to teach!

I've been talking with Joel about doing this for the last year or so, and started googling info and asking questions over the last 6 months. In the process of looking into the options and certifications, I had to sift through some different opinions, and decide what route I'd like to take. I talked to the group fitness director at my gym, and a few of my favorite instructors about what they did, and what they'd recommend.

And today, I registered. I'm signed up for my Group Exercise certification workshop and exam. I'm doing it. For real.

And now that I've paid my first $300, and announced it here on the world wide web (let's be real, probably only a dozen people will read this), I'm horrified.

I'm not the most super-fit lady I know. I'm not the peppiest, most outgoing lady either. I can't do more than a few pushups on my toes, and I still can't do a pullup. But you know what? If I wait until I get all of that figured out, I may never feel strong enough, good enough, fit enough to do it at all.

So this is as much a personal journey as anything.

I know that learning to teach high-energy classes while speaking (not huffing and puffing) into a microphone is not going to come naturally. It's not going to be easy or quick. I will need to improve... a lot. And that's part of the journey that I'm excited about.

Yesterday, a friend told me that I inspired her to start running.

And you know what? Someone once inspired me to start running.

And someone inspired her to start running.

I am not really thin or super fit, but something about my journey is able to motivate someone else to start a new one of their own. The lady who inspired me to start didn't have a chiseled body or a bunch of medals, but her determination was admirable. And I thought, if she can do this, maybe I can too.

And that's the really cool thing. Being able to spur each other on. We have the opportunity to be part of a chain of contagious encouragement and enthusiasm!

SO WHAT DO I HAVE TO LOSE?

Maybe I will suck.

 I mean... I'm not the most coordinated person out there.

My bridesmaids tried for like 2 hours to teach me the Electric Slide, unsuccessfully, before calling me a hopeless case.

(Wine may have contributed to my inability to remember the steps... maybe.)

I might find that I don't enjoy it like I thought I would.

Maybe I won't lose a single inch or pound.

(My love of pizza, beer, ice cream, pasta, wine... food in general... may very well make that the case.)

But maybe I'll finally know what I want to be when I grow up.

Maybe I'll get in the best shape of my life, and inspire some other people to do so alongside me.

Maybe I'll be so incredibly glad that I didn't wait until I felt or looked like a fitness instructor to become one.

So... here goes nothing!

My first half marathon recap!

Check!

One item crossed off the bucket list!

I ran the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon over the weekend, my very first half marathon, and it was fantastic.

A friend of Joel's from high school, along with his adorable wife, persuaded us to sign up for this race back in February. It's a lottery, and we signed up as a team of 4, so we were either all in or all not. It runs in conjunction with Grandma's Marathon, and is a HUGE race.

Training Schedule

After getting in, I set to work putting together a training schedule that worked for us. It was a hybrid of a few different ones I found online, and included running 3x/wk for 12 weeks.

We decided to keep it loose.
So each week, we had to find time to complete our 3 runs for the week, in no particular order, and on no particular day.

Because that's the way we roll.

If we had set it up in any strict fashion, we would have surely screwed it all up. :-)

I'm gonna rock 2013... I hope. :-)

I will be turning 30 this summer.

I am not even a little bit afraid of that number. In fact, I'm so used to being the youngest, that it's almost a relief to be entering my 30's. Like I'll finally be legit. :-)

But for some reason, I have an incredible amount of drive this year, to cross some things off of my bucket list.

I have struggled the last 5 or 6 years with inconsistency. I desperately want the life I live to be congruent with the life I want to live, and with what I believe. I have been compelled to challenge myself, by identifying what is really at the core of my beliefs, goals and motivations. And to try to narrow down my priorities and focus on growing into my real self.

Maybe 30 is a little late to be just now evaluating all of this. Better late than never, right?

So here are some things I am working toward this year:


I am reading the Bible cover to cover. In order. Not skipping even the most cringe-worthy or boring parts.

I struggle sometimes, with reconciling the almighty, just, holy God of the Old Testament, with the God who would humble himself so much as to die for us. I want to understand God's heart for me, for us.

I have read the whole bible a couple of times, but it's always been broken down for me into a kind of daily schedule. Usually something like 1 chapter of the Old Testament, 1 chapter in Psalms, 1 in Proverbs, and 1 in the New Testament. ... Or something similar. And I've read many parts of the Bible dozens of times, maybe more. But it seems like it loses all of it's chronology and context when it's all broken up in chunks.

So I want to just take it as it is. And read it all the way through. And soak up the STORY of it.


I'm training to run a half marathon in June.

I didn't start out with any intention of becoming a "runner". But I am amazed at what this running stuff has done for me. I have never been athletic or physically fit, and it has never been much of a priority for me. However, I want my body to be strong and healthy. Osteoporosis runs in my family, as does heart disease. Running seemed to me to be a good, accessible fitness option, since you don't need any equipment or a membership to a gym.

Over time I have decided that I love it. It reminds me how lucky I am to be ABLE to move my body in this way; I know many people who physically don't have the option of running. It reminds me that this vain physical perfection women are pushed to pursue is so unimportant. My body is not my identity! It is a tool, a vehicle. And I want to teach my girls to love their bodies for all of the things their bodies enable them to do, not for what they look like.

Oh, also, it makes me feel just a little bit bad-ass to have sweat literally dripping off of me. :-)


I want to get baptized this year.

When I was a baby, I was not baptized, I was dedicated. In a ceremony where the parents dedicate their child to God, and where they publicly vow to raise that child in the Christian faith.

Now, I think the issue of baby baptism vs. dedication is debatable, but I'm not debating it. I think the intentions of our hearts are what God's looking at, not weather we were splashed or simply prayed for in the front of a congregation as an infant.

Nonetheless, my mom explained to me as a child that she believed baptism should be something one chooses, when they are old enough to understand that choice.

I have wanted to be baptized many times, but wanted it not to be just a religious next-step. I want to read, understand, and wholeheartedly mean it, when I make that commitment.


So that's my to-do list so far for this year.
Now that I've shared it with you, I'm accountable to follow through, right? :-)