Friday, May 1, 2015

Beautiful Weekend Ahead and Some Reflection

The weather report shows that it is supposed to be a beautiful weekend ahead, which is great because I have my first race of the season tomorrow!


Packet pick up begins at 7:45 and the race starts at 9am! I'm pretty excited because it's such nice weather and I don't believe that I'll need to wear my long sleeves for the actual race; it looks like it will be warm enough to just run in my t-shirt! 

If you can't tell, I'm very excited to be having a race. Even though I know some of you run much farther and much longer distances, this is my first stepping stone. This is the first race that I know will lead to more. This is the first one that will get me to the 8k at the end of the month, the 10k in August, and hopefully all of the way to a 1/2 next Spring!

This is the first time in a while that I'm focusing on myself and some dreams that I have. Up until I discovered running, I had been one of those people.. you know the ones? The people who just go through life kind of trying everything once but not getting passionate about anything in particular? Yeah; that was me. 

I went to 3 different collages and had 4 different majors before finding one that I could remotely live with for the rest of my life. I joined countless clubs for the experience but never really got into what was going on. Hell, even when I tried running it wasn't anything special to me. 

I wanted to use running as a way to move my body and to try and lose the 40lbs that I 'needed' to. 

It wasn't until I really got into it, that I consistently started to run 3 or 4 or 5 miles at a time, that I started to realize what running meant to me. Running is my 'me time', my thinking time, my time away from bills and student loan debt and family fights and planning out my whole future before it all happens.

Running allows for a time in my day when I can allow myself to feel the stress on my body, feel the air pushing through my lungs, hear the music blaring in my ears, and to not think 20 steps in advance. It forces me to live in the moment, and in the moment can hurt. Being present in life is scary for me.. but it is also freeing.

When I'm running, I don't need to focus on how my 5 year plan is going. I don't need to worry about when my boyfriend may propose or how we'll afford to pay for a wedding while trying to buy a house. Or about our company that will be going through a merger in the Fall and whether it should effect us and our plans at all. 

No. I get a few minutes each day when I can zone out and mouth the words to some of my favorite songs. I get the time away from becoming Aubrey and more time being her.

And that is how I know that this first race is just the beginning. It is the first step on my way to becoming a marathoner and I couldn't be more excited to pass that finish line!

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