Let's Get Physical!

I have been meaning to become active again for quite some time- since my high school track days I have really only "worked out" when I was pregnant with Lily and that consisted of alternating yoga and walking, but quickly ended as soon as she was born. Then one night Brynt got a text from our little cousin, Xander asking him to run a 5K with him. To give a very brief background story, Xander and his brother Sebastian were like my kids before I had a kid. We would take them to the zoo, the playground or just hang out and play zombies. These boys have a very large part of my heart and they always will, so that text from that very special boy gave me the motivation to finally start becoming active. I found a Couch to 5K program and got to running. I will admit it was hard, then easy, then really hard, then a little less hard, then incredibly hard. Running with the dog and pushing Lily in the stroller did not help ease me into it, either. Long story short, I conditioned myself to running for 20 minutes straight then found out that the run we were doing (the Color Run) was a really casual race, they don't even time you. Once that pressure was off I decided to work on my speed for my mile instead as it was becoming increasingly difficult to run for such a long time with a two year old strapped in a stroller. 

Then the day of the race finally came and we had a blast. The boys were so much fun and I never felt pressured to run (thanks Aunt Shel for being my excuse to take lots of breaks (because her ankle was hurt, not because she is slow and lazy like me!) but probably ran about half of the time. This picture is clear evidence of how much fun we had:

I can't lie, my initial feelings after the race were of disappointment, because I wasn't able to run the whole time. But then I remembered how far I had come in being active and how much better I felt physically and mentally. Plus running with these guys was so rewarding because we had such a wonderful time together. I can not even begin to describe how much love I have for these people, especially when I think about the fact that they are only a small number of the amazing family I have. I will forever and always thank God for putting this amazing family in my life.

 Also (because it feels too weird to write an entry that isn't about Lily in some way) we had another big event when Lily having her first sleepover at my parents without me there the night before the run. Of course she had an amazing time (and needless to say Pop Pop and Boppee did too!) I can't believe my little girl is big enough to have a sleep over without her Mommy :')