Never Say Never

One of my personal philosophies in life is not use terms like Never or Always. Very few things in life are absolute and life throws stuff at you that sometimes results in decisions or actions that you never thought you would make or do.

One of the few things I still say I will never do is become a runner. I HATE running!

Well I may have to eat those words. Michelle and I have signed up for a 5K race in January. Now I know that one little 5K does not a runner make, but still running a 5K, or any race for that matter, is something I never ever thought I would do or have wanted to do until now.

So, why am I doing it? Well it is a fundraiser for the scholarship fund in Tina Griswold's name, she is one of the fallen Lakewood officers. The race is taking place in Ft. Steilacoom park, which is pretty much my back-yard. And, Tina responded to one of our calls when a driver crashed through our fence. She was nice, helpful and followed up with us to make sure we received the info/support we needed to get our fence fixed. Maybe most important of all is that Michelle is supportive and doing the race with me. It will make a huge difference having someone to train with and run the race with.

Combine that with the fact that my 6 and 8 year old nieces have completed 5K's and I could not think of a reason, other than the fact that I hate to run, not to do it. Michelle and I will start training on Saturday mornings so that we can be prepared and actually try to enjoy our run on the 29th. My #1 concern is shin splints. I can run for 2 minutes or 2 hours and get shin splints every time, but I am determined to do this and hope that with the running involved in playing dodgeball/kickball/and softball (even though I didn't play I ran my but off the last few practices helping the team practice fielding) my body will respond a bit better to running than it has in the past.

It is kind of fun to have a goal to work towards. I'm really going to focus on my workouts so that my cardio and strength are where they need to be and am looking forward to knowing Michelle and I have a weekly date to spend time together doing something healthy and supporting our community at the same time.