I’m 28 days in to this adventure. So, I feel a little better sharing the deets with you all.
What adventure you ask?
I turn 50 in November 2026, and I’ve set a goal for myself: I want to run a half marathon. 13.1 Miles. Ideally, I’d love to do the Disney World run, the weekend of January 7, 2026. So, I started getting in shape, and working towards that on January 6, 2025. Even if I’m unable to purchase my entry, I’ve heard they sell out pretty fast, my goal won’t change. I’ve been consistent since I began except for the 4-days while I traveled with family, my 28 day count reflects that. I hope to keep the days of, veering-off my plan, to few and far between. I’m not measuring weight loss, as it’s not about that for me. My metrics are: the distance I’m running, my blood pressure numbers, and the average time per mile or my pace. I’ve incorporated some strength training as well, because everything I’ve read tells me that will help with endurance.
If I’m honest, this feels like a painstakingly slow process, but I’m also approaching this being very cautious to not injure myself, and not to exhaust my body too much. I’m taking the, “slow and steady wins the race” strategy from the Tortoise and the Hare.
I’ll be trying to post here, once a week my progress, my challenges, and my very small but significant wins. I’ve modified what I’m putting into my body too, as the proper fuel will help keep me healthy.
Finally, what motivated me? What finally is pushing me out of what feels like a shell I’ve kept myself in for the past 3 and a half years? My goodness, so many things, but here are my 3 main motivators.
First and foremost, since my husband passed I’ve taken very bad care of myself. I found comfort in food, drink, and slothfulness, in other words, complete neglect. Towards the end of last year I could feel the Lord’s nudges to take better care of myself, and then HE shoved me. I heard someone quote a scripture that I had heard, and read, a bunch of times before, but this time it pierced me. It hit different. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV. Ugh, that verse hit me on the nose. I felt so ashamed at what I had done to HIS temple. Not only was I not taking care of the temple of the Holy Spirit, I was destroying it. With every ounce of neglect and laziness I was essentially bringing trash into the temple and letting the trash rot. I wouldn’t do that to any church building anywhere, heck, I wouldn’t do it to any building, but here I was, so easily doing it to the Temple of the Holy Spirit. The more this truth ruminated and the more I thought about it, the more convicted I felt. And so, conviction without repentance and action is just discomfort. I want more than discomfort in this life, I want HIM. I want to honor the LORD, Jesus’s sacrificial purchase with every ounce of me.
I turn 50. November 27, 2026, I’m 50. My husband passed 1 month shy of his 50th birthday. I found his bucket list on his phone. He had so many things left that he wanted to do. I don’t want a list. If God see’s fit, I will eventually be older than my husband ever got to be. I need to do something with my time, and it won’t be making a list of what I want to do. It’ll be scratching things off of the list my beloved left, and doing the stuff I want to do. And, crazy or not, I want to run, just to see if I can.
Because, many years ago I wanted to run a half-marathon. It was the summer of 2011. I was training diligently and on my last long-run I made it to 7-miles. I remember coming home from that run feeling exhilarated. I was a few short weeks from the event I was training for. And then, because I wasn’t as strong as I pretended to be, I allowed outside influence to deter my resolve. I got so discouraged. So now, I want to go further. I know I can go further.
There are so many other reasons, but these 3 wake me up in the morning when I want to stay in bed. These 3, help me push myself when I’m sore.
I pray that I remind myself daily that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Please join me on this adventure. My personal wrestling match with getting and staying healthy. I pray sincerely, that I can share this journey with you all in a transparent and hope-filled way. That I can honor the Lord with this sacrifice, that I can walk towards 50 high-fiving myself, and that even if I’m whispering underneath my breath I can finally say, “I told you I could do it” to the voice in my head that begs me to quit.
I’m nervous that I’ll quit once again, but I’m excited because it feels different this time.