The power of positive thinking

Week 1 of the Birthday Challenge is complete!  I challenged myself to lose 15 lbs by my birthday in August in order to get over this "hump" I'm experiencing in my quest to lose weight.  I'm happy to say that Week 1 is a success; I've lost 3.2 lbs!  I'm going to relish this moment, because I know that not every week is going to be great.  I'm going to have rough days and not so stellar weeks, but this is a great start.  I have some wonderful friends (and my loving family) supporting me and encouraging me along the way, so thank you all so much! It means the world to me!

I've been thinking a lot lately about the power of positive thinking.  I'm committed to running my first 1/2 marathon next April and I'm quickly adding other races to my bucket list, including the Disney Princess 1/2 marathon.  I find myself telling people that I'm going to do these races, but I always end with "well, I know I won't run the entire thing, but I can definitely walk it."  I really have to change my mind set, though, because, why couldn't I run the entire 1/2 with the proper training?  I'm doing myself a dis-service by talking myself out of running the race before I even begin it.  

When I started training for the marathon relay earlier this year, I found that running for me was challenging, but not in the way I originally thought it would be.  Initially, I thought that my body wasn't built for running, that I wasn't physically able to do it.  However, as I started running, I realized that it wasn't my body I had to convince, but my brain.  That's not to say it wasn't physically challenging for me, but it was certainly more of a mental challenge.  When I looked at my training plan for the day, whether it said to run for 1 minute intervals or 10, I thought to myself "I can't run that long" and I always could.  It wasn't always on the first try; some days I had to repeat, sometimes I needed to repeat entire weeks, but I was always able to run the intervals. 

So with that in mind, going forward when you hear me talk about the 1/2 marathons that I plan to run, I hope you will hear me say "I'm going to run that entire race!"  

Remember, "Your body can stand almost anything. It's your mind that you have to convince." (Didfit.com)