It's coming. New Year's Day. That time of year when we are supposed to make resolutions about what we are going to do, not going to do, what we are going to start to eat more of, eat less of, etc.
I usually set two goals every year, one concerning my health and one other surrounding the environment or community. 2014 brought my Sprint triathlon and the promise of attending or participating in a minimum of three charity events. Because resolutions, in my mind, should be about bettering yourself as well as others. I am proud to say I met both goals.
So what about 2015? There are 6 races on my agenda, including three half-marathons and an Olympic triathlon. That's a lot of races, and way more than double what I did last year. It's probably a little lofty, but in my heart I know my true goal is the Olympic. As you can see in the pic, official training starts January 04- 30 weeks before my "A" race.
30 weeks.
It sounds like tons and tons of time at first. Kind of like when I was pregnant and knew that I was going to have six weeks off from work. I thought I was going to get SO much done. I mean, six weeks! I'd never even had 6 days off before!
Fastest six weeks of my life. I didn't get crap done.
The last couple of months have been the same way. I've been training every other day, with my focus on keeping my general level of endurance up. I've also focused more on weight training, enduring every woman's nightmare- the squat- in the name of a bigger, stronger ass to propel me forward in all three of my sports. I've felt pretty good, and my spirits have been high in relation to my progress.
But today, as I jogged on the treadmill, the all-too-familiar butterflies started to creep up at me as I started to realize January 04 is super close. Which means I have less than 33 weeks to get my endurance up to about 4 hours. As I looked down at the clock on the treadmill and saw that I had only been going about 35 minutes, I started to get a little down on myself. I wasn't overly tired at that point, but the thought of running 8 more miles like this after swimming and biking started my self-doubt boiling.
That's when I saw him.
The last couple of weeks, a new young man has shown up at the gym. He's probably a little younger than me, and tall but fit at about 6'4". From the front, he looks like a handsome young man, built lean like a basketball player, with wavy dark hair and glasses. But if you look farther down, you notice the cane that he uses to slowly walk around the gym, with a definite limp on one side. And when he sat down in front of me today to do his lat pull-downs, I got a front-row view of the heavy, still new scar running across the back of his head from one ear over to the middle of his skull.
The nurse in me immediately started to diagnose: brain tumor, car accident, stroke....obviously some kind of big brain surgery. And you don't go home the next day after brain surgery. And the closer I looked the more I could see the subtle signs of someone who had been on their back for awhile. Don't ask me how I can tell this- we nurses have a special sense of things like this, especially after years of working with sick people.This guy had most likely been in a hospital and on major restrictions for quite some time. But he didn't look sickly. In fact, if you didn't look at the cane or the scar, you would never know he wasn't one of the other muscular young guys in the gym.
That means he has worked his ass off.
Sure enough, I watched him slowly but surely make his way around the weight machines, maybe not lifting as much weight as some of the other guys around him- but definitely working twice as hard. And as I watched the muscles in his shoulders bulge when he pulled down the bar, and sweat roll down his neck, I was ashamed of my self-doubt and personal pity party. Here was this man who had obviously suffered traumatic injury of some sort and had pushed through obstacles much more difficult than mine.
Suddenly, I wasn't so tired anymore. Suddenly, my determination of reaching my goal was renewed. I turned up the treadmill.
Today's picture represents perseverance and not letting obstacles stop you, as well as keeping your own doubts about what you can or cannot do in perspective. Don't think you can learn a new language? Think about the thousands of immigrants who came to this country and figured it out. Without Rosetta Stone. Not sure you can keep an exercise program going? Go visit a V.A. Hospital and watch amputees do Physical Therapy. Shy about joining a yoga or Zumba class where you don't know anyone? Think about a sixth grader not having a choice in starting over at a new school after their parents move or split up. Don't think you can keep going on the treadmill? Run in front of a guy who had brain surgery and is working out harder than you. I dare you to get off....So pick a goal- one you can reasonably accomplish. Because picking something you know you won't or can't do just defeats the purpose. If your goal is to cut the amount of pop you drink in half- awesome. If it is finish a 5 K this summer without stopping- go for it. If it's finishing an Olympic triathlon- don't let anything stop you. Put your goal on the fridge, where you can see it EVERY DAY. Seriously. It makes it real. Then send me a pic of your fridge so I can be our cheerleader :).
As for my second resolution, I have just about decided on it, and will reveal it tomorrow- Day 365....
30 weeks.
It sounds like tons and tons of time at first. Kind of like when I was pregnant and knew that I was going to have six weeks off from work. I thought I was going to get SO much done. I mean, six weeks! I'd never even had 6 days off before!
Fastest six weeks of my life. I didn't get crap done.
The last couple of months have been the same way. I've been training every other day, with my focus on keeping my general level of endurance up. I've also focused more on weight training, enduring every woman's nightmare- the squat- in the name of a bigger, stronger ass to propel me forward in all three of my sports. I've felt pretty good, and my spirits have been high in relation to my progress.
But today, as I jogged on the treadmill, the all-too-familiar butterflies started to creep up at me as I started to realize January 04 is super close. Which means I have less than 33 weeks to get my endurance up to about 4 hours. As I looked down at the clock on the treadmill and saw that I had only been going about 35 minutes, I started to get a little down on myself. I wasn't overly tired at that point, but the thought of running 8 more miles like this after swimming and biking started my self-doubt boiling.
That's when I saw him.
The last couple of weeks, a new young man has shown up at the gym. He's probably a little younger than me, and tall but fit at about 6'4". From the front, he looks like a handsome young man, built lean like a basketball player, with wavy dark hair and glasses. But if you look farther down, you notice the cane that he uses to slowly walk around the gym, with a definite limp on one side. And when he sat down in front of me today to do his lat pull-downs, I got a front-row view of the heavy, still new scar running across the back of his head from one ear over to the middle of his skull.
The nurse in me immediately started to diagnose: brain tumor, car accident, stroke....obviously some kind of big brain surgery. And you don't go home the next day after brain surgery. And the closer I looked the more I could see the subtle signs of someone who had been on their back for awhile. Don't ask me how I can tell this- we nurses have a special sense of things like this, especially after years of working with sick people.This guy had most likely been in a hospital and on major restrictions for quite some time. But he didn't look sickly. In fact, if you didn't look at the cane or the scar, you would never know he wasn't one of the other muscular young guys in the gym.
That means he has worked his ass off.
Sure enough, I watched him slowly but surely make his way around the weight machines, maybe not lifting as much weight as some of the other guys around him- but definitely working twice as hard. And as I watched the muscles in his shoulders bulge when he pulled down the bar, and sweat roll down his neck, I was ashamed of my self-doubt and personal pity party. Here was this man who had obviously suffered traumatic injury of some sort and had pushed through obstacles much more difficult than mine.
Suddenly, I wasn't so tired anymore. Suddenly, my determination of reaching my goal was renewed. I turned up the treadmill.
Today's picture represents perseverance and not letting obstacles stop you, as well as keeping your own doubts about what you can or cannot do in perspective. Don't think you can learn a new language? Think about the thousands of immigrants who came to this country and figured it out. Without Rosetta Stone. Not sure you can keep an exercise program going? Go visit a V.A. Hospital and watch amputees do Physical Therapy. Shy about joining a yoga or Zumba class where you don't know anyone? Think about a sixth grader not having a choice in starting over at a new school after their parents move or split up. Don't think you can keep going on the treadmill? Run in front of a guy who had brain surgery and is working out harder than you. I dare you to get off....So pick a goal- one you can reasonably accomplish. Because picking something you know you won't or can't do just defeats the purpose. If your goal is to cut the amount of pop you drink in half- awesome. If it is finish a 5 K this summer without stopping- go for it. If it's finishing an Olympic triathlon- don't let anything stop you. Put your goal on the fridge, where you can see it EVERY DAY. Seriously. It makes it real. Then send me a pic of your fridge so I can be our cheerleader :).
As for my second resolution, I have just about decided on it, and will reveal it tomorrow- Day 365....
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