For the first time in my life...

For the first time in my life I was able to run 20 minutes nonstop!

I've never ever been a runner. In middle school and high school I was in that group of kids who brought up the rear of our 1 mile running tests. I've tried running off and on throughout the years after high shool (I'm 24 now) but I always pushed myself too hard too soon. That always resulted in me quitting after a month or so.

I kept hearing about couch25k and finally decided to get the app and try it out. Now, it started with 1 minute jogging sessions and that was crazy easy for me. It was actually annoying to stop and start so many times!! Especially when I was on the treadmill and having to adjust the speed constantly! But as the weeks passed on it did become more of a challenge. Not ridiculously hard, but a mental challenge for sure.

Then today, Week 5 Day 3 came up. The dreaded day I kept reading about everywhere. I was so nervous. I kept telling myself '' I can do this, I can do this''. I actually almost skipped today's workout because I was so nervous (I really don't like failing!) I was going to use the excuse that it might rain again, since it had rained a few hours earlier, but I realized 2 things. No one cares if I don't do my workout. It doesn't affect them at all, it only affects me, my life, and my goals. So it really came down to a matter of if I wanted to do it or not. Was I lazy or not. Were my goals worth it or not. The other thing I realized was that even if I ''failed'' it still wouldn't be a fail. As long as I got out there and tried (as opposed to laying in bed) I was doing something positive and something to be proud of.

After all that thinking, dreading, and wondering, I had realized one more thing. If I had just went out when I first should have, I WOULD HAVE BEEN DONE BY NOW!

So I finally put my running shoes on and headed out the door. I was still nervous, but happy that I went out there anyways. I was kinda proud of myself for facing a fear instead of hiding.

Minutes passed and before I knew it, my 20 minutes were up! I had for the first time in my life jogged for 20 minutes nonstop! Now, I wasn't breaking any records but still! It's more than I had ever done in my life. This is a huge deal to me!

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this! Sorry if there's any typos, i am on my phone and it messes up so much it's hard to fix all the mistakes!