Milestone (Literally)

I have never been the most fit person in the entire world. That was something I had always just been content with. I never thought of the possibility of paying money to go to a gym or even running on our deserted country road. Despite my lack of physical conditioning, it has always been a dream of mine to be in shape. The fastest mile I ever ran was in 7th grade. It was 10:05 min. I was reasonably pleased with this and have been telling everyone who asks that this is my speed- even now in my second year of college, without a bit of practice.

This summer I ran a 2 mile race, and my mile was about 12 and a half minutes per mile. Horrified, I made it a goal to do better somehow. Thankfully I attend a wonderful university that allows free gym access right across the road. I have been working out daily for the whole semester. I never really pushed myself, thinking that I was way to weak. But today I decided to change my attitude and go as hard as I could go. I work out on the elliptical, which is as hard or harder than running. I went hard and suddenly mile one was disappearing below my feet. I felt so empowered. I pushed harder and harder then, it was over. My breath was still relatively steady and I checked the time. 9:54. I know that it is just barely below 10 minutes, but this was something that had taunted me my entire life. I had at last beaten this challenge facing me. I continued for a moment, and decided that I still felt strong- especially after completing my goal. I raced ahead. Mile 2 flew below me in 9:50. I nearly broke down into tears of joy, but I still felt strong, so I continued. My heart was racing as I completed mile 3 in 9:48. My total time for the entire 3 miles was 29:32. I have so much to be grateful for and I feel so blessed.

I have so much farther to go and am so excited to continue striving to achieve this dream.

Here are the songs that are best suited to getting me through my workouts (thank goodness for the ipods!):
1. Break Your Heart- Taio Cruz
2. Higher Power- Boston
3. Faster- Matt Nathanson
4. Waka Waka- Shakira
5. Blow- Ke$ha
6. Holding Out for a Hero- Bonnie Tyler
7. Rocky Balboa Theme song
8. SOS Remix - ABBA
9. Test Drive (Theme from How to Train your Dragon)- John Powell
10. Perfect Day- Hoku