Now that we are settling into the new year, it's time to talk about resolutions. I'm sure a few of you have already broken that promise you made on December 31st after drinking a little too much champagne. Whether it be to loose weight, quit smoking, or to do more for others, we all have "resolutions" we make in an attempt to transform ourselves into the more perfect "me" we have always wanted to be. Health and fitness are probably the most talked about but least followed through resolutions people make every year. For some, time is the issue: I try to fit in an hour at the gym but my other commitments get in the way; for others it can be a helluva adjustment to transform eating habits from bad to good and fall off the bandwagon shortly in.

Right now Facebook, Twitter and Instrgram are flooded with inspiration of health and wellness. And, like many, I, too, have a health-related goal for this year. My goal for the year is not to start a new fitness class or loose x-number of pounds; this year I will run 1,000 miles.

I got the idea after seeing an online add for one of those virtual run-style websites that advertised the 1000 Mile Challenge. I'm not one for "virtual runs" and I'm also not going to spend forty bucks for someone else to keep track of my goal for my, but I took the idea to heart and decided to give it a try.

I began running about a year and a half ago - minus lots of time off for injury. In spring of 2014 I started running in an attempt to help loose all the weight I had put on during pregnancy and could not work off, especially since a nagging hernia needed to be repaired beforehand. In the summer I ran my first 5k, which probably doesn't seem like a lot to most people - hell, it's only three miles, right? But, as a child who faced a near-fatal bout with a rare autoimmune disease that caused damage to my heart as a baby, rigorous athletics were verboten in my youth. Although I was incredibly athletic, playing volleyball, softball, and growing into inline skating and some low-key skateboarding as a pre-teen/teen, anything that maintained a highly-elevated heart rate for a prolonged period of of time was frowned upon by my doctors.

I was doing fairly well and increasing my mileage until early winter of last year when I tore my foot up and developed osteitis pubis as a result over training. I was a little overambitious and decided to train for a half-marathon and ended up not training the parts of my body that needed to cushion the blow. After about eight weeks of physical therapy, I was permitted to start running again - lightly. Not three weeks after my next registered 5k I began battling another bout of health problems that left me unable to exercise again for some time. Until recently, my gym routine had to take a back burner to illness, fatigue, and the resulting lack of ambition the prior two had caused. I was not feeling well and thus not eating well and thus continuing to not feel well. It's a viscous cycle.

I began last week with two days of light running on the treadmill at the gym, and although I mathematically need to run a 5k a day during weekdays to even think of fulfilling my goal, I know that I must also listen to my body and not over train and end up in another three months of therapy. I was happy to still be able to hit a 10 minute mile without feeling like I was underwater and I know those 6.25 miles I registered on my Elite Running Log last week are just the start. I know there will be weeks where I can barely hit 10, but then I know there will be weeks I clock 30 miles as well. in the end, I hope that it will all balance itself out. As long as I continue to maintain a good weight-lifting schedule, do lots of core work (dreaded core work!), focus on getting back to healthy eating, and listen to my body, I know this is something I can achieve.

...only 993.75 more miles to go.





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