I HAVE A GOAL.

About 6 months from now, I’ll be taking part in the Around the Bay Road Race – not the 30 km run that several thousand others will be doing, but I’ll be in the 5k division!!  I’ll also have a 3-month old baby which, at the moment, still blows my mind!!   I’ve set this race a target for myself to not only get my body back in jogging shape but build back the ability of my deep core muscles to allow me to jog again!  Ladies who’ve had kids, you know what I’m talkin’ about!!   I have run 2 half marathons but my knees aren’t in agreement with that any more.  Also, after my daughter was born and experiencing how pregnancy affected my core muscles, I never got back into jogging at all and I really used to enjoy it.  Hey, I don’t feel I need to do a half marathon to feel that this is a great goal for me.  I’ve set this goal for a fitness target to reach knowing I’ll have to work for it.  It’ll be happening during a time in my life that I’ll be most busy (with a 3 year old and a 3 month old) and most unlikely to want to get outside to log in any miles (it’ll be freezing outside!!).  So… why am I telling you this?  I promise, there is a point!

This was the shirt I got for registering in that 5 k – How could I ever get rid of it?!

Years ago, I walked the 5 k division of the event with a friend of mine that had long since enjoyed walking as her exercise of choice, but had never taken part in an organized race before.  We weren’t “racing” against anyone, just taking part.  What that cold, dreary March day turned out to be for that friend of mine was an annual event that started with a slow 5 k walk and grew to finishing the Annual 30 km Around the Bay Road Race as a power walker not once, but now about 7 times.  She used that event – and what it had meant to her in her fitness and weight loss journey – as a goal once she’d had her knee replacement surgery.  Since then, she’s done the 5 k again and also done the 10 k Relay.  This March, her goal is to be doing the 30 k again for the first time and I want to be there.

Do you have a fitness or activity-based GOAL?

It doesn’t have to be to enter a race or compete against other people.  Maybe you’ve always been a walker, like my friend, and want to increase your distance to a 10km, half marathon or marathon distance!  (If that rings your bell, you MUST talk to our mcc teammate Francine who is a walking instructor!!)  A fitness goal could be as simple as being able to ride up that hill on your bike ride that right now makes you have to get off the bike and walk.  I challenge you to come up with a fitness or activity goal.  Write it down – HERE – on the blog!  Tell people about it!!  You’ll be giving yourself great motivation to stay committed to your exercise/activity habits and you’ll get to be PROUD OF YOURSELF for reaching the goal!  When was the last time you were really proud of yourself??  I’ll admit it – at nearly 36 years old, I love it when other people tell me they’re proud of me too, just as much as I did when I was little.

When I cross that finish line and have my daughter run into my arms yelling “Yay Mommy!” and then give me a high five, I’ll feel amazing,  She’ll be proud of me.  I’ll be proud of me.  I can feel it already.  I know my husband will be there with our new son and he’ll be proud of me.  That’s what I want – my family to be proud of me, to feel proud of myself for being a healthy example to my kids and for again being able to do something I used to be able to.  I don’t have to do 30 k for this to count as a “goal” – but you never know, maybe that’ll be next year.

Your challenge today is to come up with a fitness or activity goal for YOURSELF.  Remember all that “SMART” goal setting stuff you know?  Make sure your goal is SPECIFIC MEASURABLE ACHIEVABLE REALISTIC AND TIMELY.  Spend your “10 minutes”  today doing one thing that counts as a step toward that goal.  I’d love it if you’d post your goals right here – and maybe your goal could inspire someone else like my friend’s 5-30 Km journey inspired my “get-back-in-pre-baby-shape” goal.