Just One Step More

Guess what?!?

I’m still running.

No really… I am! I did close to 18 minutes without stopping a few days ago and tonight barely made it to 15 but at least I was out there. Guys, let me tell you that I am THIS excited about this accomplishment. When I started out, just a minute would absolutely kill me. I had to repeat the first week of my couch to 5K plan because I couldn’t fathom upping the amount of time I plodded quickly along the trail. Now I’m not seeing my run as a series of minutes, but rather distance.

I’m finally up to the point where I can say “that was a good mile and a half” and I’ll take that as a win.

The last few months have seen many trips around the 2 mile trail at a near by golf course, laps and laps around my neighborhood and just recently, traversing down the Willamette River crossing some of my favorite bridges in the process. All are nice but the river is my favorite. The people watching alone is worth the trek. I’m sure I’m one of those people to someone else but hey, you give some, you take some.

My grand plan was to run in a 5K. There are ridiculous amounts of runs in the Portland area. There are the obligatory color/color vibe/neon runs. Have an ugly sweater? Put it on and join in on the ugly sweater run. Prefer bacon to knitwear? There’s a run for that too. I was leaning towards a color run. They are super friendly to first timers and make for a fun set of Facebook pictures. I was waiting to sign up until I could actually run a 5K. I figured that a fall run would be perfect.

Then I was talked into something crazy.

That crazy is a 10K called Pints to Pasta. Hey, if I can get to a 5K, surely I can get to a 10K… right?

RIGHT?!?

Please tell me I’m right.

Heck, if I don’t make it, at least I can walk across the finish line and still get my beer and pasta.

Priorities people, priorities.