A little under a week ago, a friend asked me to run in a 5K taking place on June 4th.  She’s part of Girls On the Run– an organization I’ve heard wonderful things about, so I jumped at the opportunity to help out as a running buddy.

The problem? I haven’t run in almost a year.

I’ve talked about my love/hate relationship with running before- I love the idea of it, but lordy, I hate the reality of it.  But I committed myself to this 5K.  These girls need a running buddy and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a group of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders down. I was very honest with my friend about my skill level- I very well may not be able to run the full 5K with only 2 weeks of training, but I’d do what I could get myself ready and I’d give it my all.

Given how much I dislike running, I’m trying to set myself up for success.  For me, that means I need someone to buddy with to keep me accountable.  My dear friend Amy was kind enough to volunteer to meet me 3x a week at 5 am to run (note: the time choice was hers, not mine) so today we started.  It was 46 degrees and dark outside when we got to the running trail and frankly, I was marveling over how crazy 2 30-somethings could be. Shouldn’t we know better? But you know what, it was great! Amy ran with me for as long as I could even though she could have easily lapped me a few times over in the time it took me to run that mile.

When it was all over, I felt awesome. I feel like I’m finally trying to climb this huge mountain I never thought I could get over. I may never, ever like running and I may not be able to run the full 5K in less then two weeks- but hopefully by setting these goals and having someone hold me accountable, I’ll finally keep at it.  I want to be a good role model for my kids- I want them to two see healthy, active parents who do what they can to live a long life.  I want them to see us moving our bodies every day and to mimic that behavior. I want exercise to be the norm, not the exception in our house hold.  Hopefully today was the first step in making those wishes a reality.