I’ve done something crazy, well crazy for me. I’ve signed up to participate in the Charlottesville Women’s Four Miler which will take place on September 2nd. The race benefits the UVa Cancer Center Breast Care Program . Supporting a good cause isn’t the crazy part — it’s the idea of me running that seems far-fetched.
A new friend at church Gigi has been trying to recruit women to participate and she herself has only recently learned the joy of running. I think her little testimony is what convinced me. She’s cute, petite and in great shape but she talked about when she first started, even she struggled just to walk for three minutes and run for two, alternating back and forth. Eventually the times grew longer and the walking part was eliminated and she ran her first event. I decided that if I don’t make a commitment to being healthier, it’s certainly not going to happen by itself.
Gigi has two of us so far and is going to help train us to get prepared for this event. I know I can easily walk the four miles but I’m going to train to run it. I’m sure I’ll hate this decision at some point (especially when my alarm goes off at some unbelievable early morning hour to tell me to get up and train) but mostly I’m excited at the challenge.
In supporting a good cause, hopefully I’ll help myself a little bit too. I’ve been letting myself drift for too long now in so many ways. Here’s to a new adventure in the life of April.
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
Yo go girl! I have watched enough horror movies to know that good running is an important skill when trying to outrun the bad guy in the woods, down the stairs, through the deserted streets. Well, you see what I’m saying: It’s always better to outrun the zombies than to become one.