Milestones

I believe that it is very important to note milestones and achievements, whenever you are striving to improve yourself at something. No need for big celebrations, but you should at least note them in writing so that you can come back to them and see that your hard work is paying off. After all, the big achievements are nothing more than a set of small milestones put together to form a larger one.

So here are some of mine. Some of them seem incredible to me when I think about how I am changing. Others seem insignificant, but I know that they are adding up to something bigger.

I have been running only since August of this year. That will only be 5 months come New Years. In that time I have gone from...

1. watching too much television to watching next to none.
2. not being able to run more than a couple minutes, to being able to run for over 30 minutes. (and soon even longer)
3. running my first mile in over 14 minutes to being able to hold a 10:22 pace for 5k.
4. struggling to hold 10 minute pace to being able to hold 8:xx pace for short periods.
5. not running at all to running 3 to 4 times per week.
6. not even thinking about running to loving it.
7. not caring about running, to searching out and watching endless video of runners on YouTube.

Not only that, but I have entered two 5k's in the last two months, and I am always keeping my eye out for more. I spent the day over in Philadelphia watching the marathon. (If you would have told me a year ago I would be watching strangers run, I would have thought you were crazy.)

I have found an entire community of bloggers that love to run and have some of the same goals as me. There are runners that are better than me, runners that are where I used to be, and runners that are at the same level as me.

When I look back at my running, and my improvement, it gets me excited and motivated. Excited because I know I will be reaching my goals with time, and motivation to work hard for those goals.