Step by step.

Less than two weeks ago, I was struck by the desire to register for a race so I could train for it. I checked the event schedule for my local runners club and saw a Thanksgiving event. It was a five-mile run, but it was free, which is rare, rare, rare in the running world. All that was required of registered runners was a donation for a food bank and food to share with the other runners (fruit, granola bars, etc.)

I signed up for it, figuring that I would run/walk it. It would be a good way to be active during what was sure to be a string of heavy-eating days. But I haven't run five consecutive miles in months, and my mileage has been fairly low since spring. I run several times a week, but I usually do 2-3 miles of interval work on a treadmill.

The night before the run, Tim told me he had to take photos of it for his newspaper. I was excited that he and Elle would be coming to the race with me, but I felt a bit of pressure to finish in a timely fashion since they would be waiting for me. We got to the race early and hung out together until close to the 8 a.m. start time. Then Tim and Elle went to take photos for the paper, and I stretched and got ready to run.

The weather was awesome - a bit chilly, sunny and not humid or windy. The first mile was pretty easy - I started to warm up and was just focusing on holding a steady pace.

At the beginning of the race.

The second mile was a bit easier. By mile marker 3, I felt like things were going fast. I figured if I was going to walk, this would be a good time to start. But instead, I kept running.

The time between miles 3 and 4 seemed to last forever. By the time I hit mile 4, I hadn't walked - and decided I wasn't going to. I was on pace to finish in less than 55 minutes. For a lot of people, that's not super impressive - I would be averaging 11-minute miles. But since I hadn't trained at all and have never broken a 10-minute average in a race, I wasn't too worried about "a lot of people."

I ran my heart out in that last mile. I passed people, I muttered to myself, I calculated and re-calculated how much further I needed to go to reach the finish line. I knew that I would be super disappointed if I didn't make the 55-minute mark and missed it by a few seconds.

And it was at that point that I realized, burning calves and all, that I had the willpower to do it. And I have the determination to keep up on this weight-loss journey. It's not always easy, but I'm stubborn, and when I want something to work, I make it work. I don't like quitting. I don't like failing. This is a good thing and a bad thing, but in this instance, I felt like I had an awakening that left me confident about what I'm facing. (It also left me with the inability to walk without pain for the rest of the day and sore calves for the rest of the weekend.) But by running those five miles without stopping, I felt awesome and determined. It was one of those moments that I can go back to when I'm feeling weak or lazy and remember the surge of determination and will-power. It's not about looking at how much weight I want to lose - it's every bite, every step, every choice. They all add up, and they're in my control and completely manageable. By piecing together five separate miles, I knocked out the entire race. If I just take that approach with every meal I eat and every workout I finish, I'll be making forward progress toward my weight loss goals.

My official race time was under 55 minutes. I didn't even look at my time as I barreled across the finish line, so I was glad that Tim got the photo of me below, documenting my time, and even more pleased that the official race results had me finishing in 54:07.

Blurry butt.

I'm looking forward to running more races (and training for them so I'm not so sore!) in the coming months and working on working out to help me reach my weight loss goals. Tim and I are even considering running the half-marathon relay together. And I've already reached back to that race as an example of the determination/stubborness that I need - and have - to get to where I want to be. Anyone who has ever struggled to lose weight can tell you that the holidays are an extremely hard time, but I'm just trying to be aware of what I'm putting in my mouth and what I'm doing in the gym.

A sweaty mess post-race.

Linking up with Move It Monday and