January 06, 2014

Motivational Monday #47


Happy Motivational Monday! I was happy to see lots of MM email today. I was getting a little worried the last two weeks, when there wasn't much to report. I'll assume it was the holidays ;)

My kids' school was canceled today, due to extremely cold temperatures (and let's not forget the shit-ton of snow we got). Before I started running, I never used to pay attention to the temperature outside, but now I like to check it periodically. I was shocked when I saw the numbers today--the temp was -3, but the windchill was -30! The kids were thrilled, of course, that school was canceled. They're hoping tomorrow is canceled as well, because the temps are supposed to get even colder... and it's Eli's eighth birthday tomorrow!

Anyway, this week I am most proud of the fact that I've stuck with my resolution to find joy in everything I do. Because of that, I even changed up a couple of my runs to make them more fun and less work. I thought it would be hard to let go of my goals to PR this spring, but I am much happier running for fun than I would be to get a new PR.

Despite the cold and snow, lots of you had a great week! Let's check out some of your accomplishments...


Despite an autoimmune illness, Chris decided in October that she wanted to start running. Her ultimate goal is to run a Disney race, but she chose a local 5K on New Year's Day to start with. She trained using Jeff Galloway's Easy 5K method (which he highly recommends), and January 1st was the big day. She had a very difficult race because of her autoimmune issues, but she was determined to finish. One of her worries was that she was going to finish last, and and some point in the race, she realized that she was, in fact, last. But (and reading this part made me cry!), her husband was running with her, and knew she didn't want to be last; so he made sure that she crossed the finish line just before he did, making himself finish last. After finishing her first race ever, Chris is thrilled to see what her body CAN do, rather than what it CAN'T! (Chris's race report)



Erin and her husband, Josh, spent the first day of 2014 running a 5K race--and Erin PR'ed with a  time of 31:28! She was thrilled to see her training pay off, so she decided to go for a half-marathon this year--she registered for the Capital City Half in May, and is using Hal Higdon's plan to start training.  (Erin's blog)



In July, Julie shared on Motivational Monday that her husband, who was battling cancer, had just weeks to live, and she was proud that she wasn't using food to cope with his illness. Sadly, Julie's husband passed away in September, and Julie had a very tough time coping with the loss. She turned to food for a while, falling into old binge habits, but today, she is proud to say that she has more resolve than ever. She is binge-free and she just ran her longest run ever--10 miles!



Laura has had one heck of a successful year! In 2012, she walked a turkey trot 5K; in 2013, she ran the turkey trot 10K. She ran over 630 miles and lost 85 pounds in 2013! This year, she and her sister are going to do two half-marathons a week apart: the Disney World Princess Half, and the Seaside Half.



Tamara had a rough half-marathon at the end of October, despite training very hard for it, and she was feeling discouraged in her running after that. After such a bad race, she even felt like she wanted to give up running altogether. After a few days of wallowing, she signed up for the Minneapolis Polar Dash 10K. Just a week into training, she wound up in the emergency room with pleurisy (I had to google this--it's inflammation of the lungs that leads to chest pain when you take a breath or cough). Her doctor determined it was likely due to stress, but her training was derailed. Because of the setback, she only had four weeks to train for the 10K. She didn't have high hopes for the race, but she still showed up on New Year's Day, ready to give it her best. She ended up having a GREAT race, and even finished with a PR. Her typical training pace had been 12:30-13:00/mi, but she completed the race with an 11:52/mi pace! She said it made her fall in love with running all over again, and she's excited to keep going. (Tamara's blog)



Sara challenged herself to complete 1,000 miles this year--500 walking, and 500 running. On December 31st, she ran that 500th mile, and completed her 1,000 mile challenge! On December 23, she was very close to her goal when she had a surprise medical issue come up--she needed to have her gall bladder removed. She thought that would be the end of her challenge, but because her surgery was laparoscopic, the recovery time was just three days. After her recovery, she squeezed in the last miles just in time to complete her challenge!



After being sidelined for nearly 3 months with a stress fracture, Tara took on the Runner's World Holiday Running Streak Challenge to get back into running (the challenge is to run a minimum of one mile every day from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day). She enjoyed it so much that she was a little sad when New Year's came and the challenge was officially over, so she decided to keep up the streak! It was a lot easier than she'd imagined to find time for at least one mile each day, even though she has a job, four kids, and a man that works a swing shift. It was important to her, so she MADE time to do it. In the 35 days of the official streak, she ran a total of 96 miles and renewed her love of running! (Tara's blog about the streak)




Theresa and her daughter, Lindsey, ran the 14-mile Polar Dash in Minnesota on New Year's Day! They've run several races together, including two marathons, but this was the coldest. The temp was -10 at the start (-20 windchill), but the pair managed to have a great race (and enjoy HOT hot chocolate at the finish line)! They were extremely grateful to the volunteers at the race, who braved the frigid temps to make this a great race.



Yesterday, Crystal celebrated her one-year anniversary of when she decided to lose some weight and get healthy. She lost 60 pounds in 2013, and has just 25 more to go until she reaches her goal weight. She also took a big leap and registered to run her first half-marathon in March!



Joyce celebrated the first of the New Year by running a 5K race! She said it felt great to get an award for not partying the night before ;)




Don't forget to check out all the motivational stories on the Motivational Monday Facebook post as well!

7 comments:

  1. I also did the Runners World streak and ran 36 days in a row. It was awesome and a great way to finish a pretty awful year for me on a good note. Katie, have you considered trying a streak yourself?

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  2. Thanks for Motivational Monday. I look fwd to the inspiring stories!

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  3. Happy Birthday to Eli! .....and ME!!!!! I was born 1/7/71 (which i think is a cool set of numbers :O) That would be a great way for a kid to celebrate his/her birthday (ie. by getting a 'day off of school'.) Being the mother of 4, I'm just happy that my kids are back in school (LOL.) Katie~ I'm so glad that you're trying to enjoy your runs more. I know when my mom died, I decided it was time to take more vacations with my family and stop 'hording' my paid time off from work. Isn't it sad that it takes a tragedy to reach us sometimes?

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  4. Great MM! Happy New Year all!

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  5. Laura is my sister!!! I'm so proud of her and she has worked so hard. Thanks for featuring her on your blog...and all the time I ask her: "What's Cookies been up to? And just in case you were wondering we refer to you as Cookies. XOXO

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  6. I've been a follower of your blog for a long time now and just realized this - my son, Elliot, shares a birthday with Eli. Elliot will be 8 tomorrow also - Happy Birthday to our boys!

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  7. Thanks for posting my story, Katie! Thank God for Motivational Monday. Today will be my first run since the 5K and I needed the motivation!

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