Nothing's Official Until Highlighters Are Involved

I have a confession to make.  I have been stuck in limbo for about a month.  I realize you guys aren't surprised because otherwise you would have had many more updates from me.  Moving to Denver has been exciting, but it comes with its challenges.  Joe and I are excited to start making roots here in Denver, but that means I am in the holding area before we buy a house, get satisfying jobs, make friends, etc.  When I first moved here, this meant all the free time in the world to focus on myself and my new lifestyle!  But as all new shiny things begin to dull, I became tired of focusing on me all the time.  Aquatics became mundane and having a big side of veggies for lunch but not dinner became commonplace.

Obviously I still want to better myself and stay on my path, but as we all know, it gets hard after a while.  So that is when something new needs to be introduced.  Something to get me excited again.  I can so easily get into ruts and as my ruts deepen, my motivation leaves and melancholy sets in.  This is a situation I am quite familiar with and it has been my downfall for many things.  I find something that works but then do it over and over and over again just the same until I get bored and hate it.  Resent it even.  Finding a way out of it and onto something new on my path is difficult.

So this has been my mindset these past few blog-less weeks.  And today I have some exciting news to get me going again.  My Green Mountain friend, Julia, mentioned on Facebook that she was starting a 0 to 5K training program (an App on her phone) a couple days ago.  Then last night, my sister Ellie mentioned that she was interested in starting to jog outside.  So I gathered them (via text messaging as we are in Denver, DC, and Boston) and said, "Let's do this.  Let's all start training for a 5K and then actually meet up and do one!"

I found a 5K that looks good in Newton, MA (very close to where Ellie lives) and Julia and I are going to fly out to Boston for a weekend to participate in the 5K on October 27th.  10 weeks!  Our training apps give us 8 weeks to train for a 5K, so the two extra weeks will hopefully get us extra prepared.  Which is great because I am feeling very much not ready at this moment.

The first thing I did last night was work out my schedule.  Because you know me, nothing is official until highlighters are involved.  Here is a pic of our 10 weeks.

I will be doing my 5K training on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and my full body strength on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.  On Mondays I will rest.  Now, as soon as I laid out this wonderfully, colorful plan, I started to doubt myself.  Like I just said, I get into too much of a routine and I get bored, I stop....I fail.  So I am going to need some extra motivation from everyone.  I am excited to share my experiences with you, but I am especially excited to share them with Julia and Ellie.  Though we are miles apart, I feel like we can really motivate and inspire one another.  They will be getting many texts from me as I accomplish my tasks each day and I hope to get the same from them.  You never know when that text may help me (or them) to get our butts off the couch and onto our training.  I know some days will be easier than others, but all that matters is that we try.  Sticking to my schedule will be really difficult, but I have to imagine what I will feel like when I can run/jog for a whole 5k!  Right now, it seems impossible, so it will be so rewarding when I CAN do it.

I'm thinking of getting stickers to put on my highlighted calendar on the days I finish my training.  :0)