As Promised....

Things have been wild & crazy around here.  I completed the Camp Mom Certification for Girl Scouts officially over the weekend.  Need to know how to pitch your tent?  I can help.  Wanna bake some biscuits in a box oven?  I'm your girl.  What about chopping that wood?  Yep, right here!  It was a terribly long 24 hours, but new friends were made & now I can take the scouts camping legally!  WHAT FUN!

Vicky (Leader Troop 4345), Me, Pat (Co-Leader Troop 4345) 

Now, onto the update I know you've been waiting so patiently for.....Cancer to 5K training kickoff was last night!  I left the house at 5pm to drive across the bridge into VA for our 6:30 workout.  All day prior to this drive I was a nervous wreck.  I already saw the prescribed workout for the evening posted on the website.  And tho it was a mere 20 minutes long, it actually involved running.  Let me remind you--I.DO.NOT.RUN.  When it was time to leave, I'm not gonna lie, I cried.  Why, you ask?  Well, let's start back at the first reason --I.DO.NOT.RUN.  But, I also don't do well without a plan & while I did know what the training was going to involve for the evening, I had never met a single person in the group, including the Coach (was Coach Bob gonna be hard core & make me cry more? Were the other participants natural runners who were going to think my fitness level was a joke?) AND I had no idea where I was going!  

So, when I arrived at 6:15 (yes, the last 1/2 hour was just getting around the one way streets in Alexandria after I missed a turn right by the track!!) I sat in my car drinking my Access Shake wondering how I was gonna know who my group was?  This was a busy place at this time of the evening.  Was I going to have to walk around the track to all the groups of people saying "Hi!  Are you here with the Cancer to 5K group?" and then have to explain--for the gazillionth time--why I'm involved with a cancer survivor group?  But lucky for my nervous heart, 2 of the volunteers were right at the entrance with bright yellow shirts labeled "Cancer to 5K" so I knew that's where I belonged!  With only 2 other participants able to attend last night & 1 more volunteer PLUS Coach Bob arriving, we each got 1 on 1 training & it was FABULOUS!  

After a brief period of talking about kids, the Great Wolf Lodge, and past 5K runs, Coach Bob looked at me and said "Let's warm up with a lap around the track.  I want you to jog it."  --Insert BULGING EYES and VOMIT CHURNING-- And I guess that's how I looked too because he smiled and said "Go your own pace, let's just try it."  And off we went.  Sure enough, somehow I made it around the track ONCE.  Then he broke us into pairs with our own volunteers and our individual assigned workouts.  I got 1 min run, 1 min walk for 10 sets.  I also got Coach Bob as my partner.  For you avid runners, this may seem pretty silly.  For me, it was really a challenge. Afterward, we walked & stretched and went our own ways...to meet again on Saturday morning.  

I came home & sat talking to Joel, who enjoys running.  I told him as corny as it sounds, as soon as I said hi to the girls & stood there with them, a weight was lifted.  The unknown was now known.  Another weight lifted when Coach Bob admitted that he is a blog stalker (Hi, Coach Bob), but only because he wants to know what's going on so he can help us.  So, I don't feel like he's gonna make me cry anymore.  This very small group of people were so incredibly encouraging & welcoming--it was wonderful.  And while I don't know what Saturday morning holds in the area of running time, I am not nervous about going anymore.  I look forward to meeting more people who will be able to say "I know how you feel.  I felt that way too.  Trust Coach Bob, he knows what he's doing.  You'll run that entire 5K and finish."  Holly is the woman who had the idea to put this group together & to her I simply say "Thank you."  I still can't run a minute without being out of breath and wanting to sit right down, but thanks to her, I WANT to do more than that.  Last night, she told us of her multiple marathons & 2 IronMans.  She says "You can do anything after cancer."  Well, Holly, you are incredible & you can do anything you want.  This momma is just gonna stick to this simple 5K for now, but thank you for bringing this together for people like me.  

We're on our way, folks. I got up this morning and didn't even have trouble getting out of bed!  YAY!  My body will always have a funny shape thanks to the chunks that have been taken from here & there to recreate my new "girls", but for the rest of the parts that I can control, this is my mission.     As Holly said...I may have had Cancer but Cancer never had me.  Look out Forrest, Jenny is RUNN-ING too!