Impelled

Impelled

As I was running, and walking during this past summer, I was really hitting my stride.  I was stronger, breathing well, even picking up speed.  Committed was a word I contemplated using about myself.  Yea, I was committed.  Until it rained, or work required me to travel, or my girls had an event I needed to attend.  You know how it can be.  Life needed living.  And somehow it all came ahead of my running.  It was then I had to admit that I was committed to trying, but it wasn’t a priority.   When I googled the definition of committment, I came across words like dedicated application and the state of being emotionally or physically impelled.  Impelled?  I had to look that one up.  And when I did I found this; impelled:  to urge or drive forward as if by exertion of strong moral pressure.  Ooooh, I like the sound of that one in my ear, and in my brain.  I like those words associated with my name.   How could I make that happen???  I wonder….hmmm, good things happen when I wonder!  I was running pretty regularly by this time, but that didn’t mean I was committed.  Nope, unfortunately not.

So I started thinking about other times when I had made a committment and succeeded, or maybe when I failed.   Anyone who is married would likely think of the committment they made at the altar with their spouse.  I thought about my committment to Peter, and how easy it feels some days, and how not-so-easy other days.  I reminded myself that committment required making your marriage a priority.  It required flexibility and the art of negotiation — trying to find win/win situations whenever possible.  It reminded me that sometimes you have to do things that are not your favorite, but because it made the one you loved happy , and that the benefits would come back to you later , maybe not for a while, but they would come.

I then started thinking about the committment I made to myself when I joined Weight Watchers, and how it required me to open myself up to change.  To have faith, to follow a schedule, to be accountable.   It also reminded me that the path to success required committment, and that it was important to recognize right from the start that this path was NOT a straight line.  This path would be a wandering journey through places, both familiar and unknown, and would take me to unexpected places, sometimes doubling back.  But if you stay on the path — you will find your way to your destination AND will have arrived having seen amazing places and having learned many things along the way.

So, I came back to my committment to running, and pieced all these things together to figure out how I could become Impelled to Run.   I created a schedule for running, but I was flexible about it.  I needed to run 3 days a week, and the days/times would move around with my schedule, BUT the week would not end without 3 runs — rain or shine.   In August 2011, I was just finishing up my Couch-to-5K program OUTSIDE.  I was now an official runner outside.  The summer blew by and I had spent most Saturdays listening to my friend Lisa talk about running this 5K or that 5K.  I made the mistake (LOL, or great fortune) of saying to Lisa — “I’d love to do that someday”.  Well, Lisa is a force to be reckoned with.  She’s lost 100 pounds on Weight Watchers and is still at it.   She challenged me in ways I had not expected, but in a way that I was totally ready for.  She said, do a 5K with me!

I went home, and slowly came to realize that she had put a bug in my brain that would not go away.  I went to my old friend Google, and found the East Brunswick Road Races 5K.  A 5K race in my Own Home Town in October 2011.  It only took me about two days to push myself to sign up.  I wasn’t concerned with speed, or pace or timing.  I wanted to see if I could do it.  That’s all I wanted to know.  Who are you Diane and what are you capable of?

I was impelled to find out.

Ciao for now…..Diane

About Diane

Ciao! My name is Diane. I'm a wife, a mom, a working professional, and a Weight Watcher from New Jersey. I started blogging in 2011, at 45 years old, when I was training for my first Half Marathon at Rutgers on April 22, 2012. Since then, I've lost 80 pounds, completed my Half Marathon goal and gone on to train for and run my very first Full Marathon. On Jan 13, 2013, I ran the Disney Marathon in Orlando, Fl! What an incredible day. As the saying goes -- "The person who starts the race is not the same person who finishes the race." I am forever changed! So now we move on to the next phase of this journey! Come along. We're in this together!! Ciao for now!

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