Sharing my Health Journey | week fifteen 4.22.15

Week fifteen is all done and, hey, we're even a couple days into week sixteen. :)

As I'm writing, it's almost 11pm on Friday night. I'm heading to bed before finishing my exercise goals because tomorrow we have a really special day! We're going to Luke's grandparents' cabin to spend the day with our family. It's one of our favorite places to go, so I already have a little bucket list of things in my head that I want to do while we're there.

read in the hammock, take a walk in the woods, sit around the camp fire...

This will be Bekah's first visit and we can't wait to show her all the stuff we love about that place.

But first. About week fifteen...

My favorite part about week fifteen... was yesterday night (so technically week 16... but eh) when I had to run-in-place for 30 minutes straight to reach my step goal by the end of the night. I didn't think I was going to finish my goals for the day but had a change of heart around 11:25pm. Haha! I needed like 4,500 more steps. Luke was right beside me, watching tv in bed while I ran in place like a crazy person, watching Fixer Upper to keep myself going. I had Luke do the occasional step check for me on the Fitbit app and he cheered me on. During the last ten minutes or so, I realized I was so close that I might miss the goal by something as small as 100 steps. So I turned my run into a sprint of sorts and felt crazy! I must have looked nuts. Even my skin hurt. It turned into such a funny moment between Luke and I. I'm not sure I've ever been more intense than when I realized I only had about 2 minutes till midnight and 300 or so more steps to get. Finally... the clock struck twelve and I was about 20 steps short for the day. Haha! Anyways... it was a sweet, fun time and it really didn't matter that I missed it by that little... we had fun.

The most challenging part of week fifteen... was going for my first outdoor run in my new shoes! I actually tried to make a video before and after the run to share some "in the moment" thoughts and feelings I was working through. The "after" footage disappeared somehow... so... no video. I've shared before that running kinda freaks me out. I think it has to do with how bad my asthma was as a kid. When I feel short of breath it scares me, even though I know I'll be fine. The other night when I went for that run, it felt like a real victory for a couple reasons.

First, just getting out the door to give it a try was a victory. Second, I felt like I knew how to pace myself a little better than before. I didn't feel so out of control. I took my time and slowed down when I needed to. Finally, I got the phrase "perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 14:8) going in my head, to the beat of my feet as they hit the pavement. It was such a good reminder that, because of Jesus, I don't have to be afraid.

A big root of the fear I had was coming from this idea that if I couldn't run a long distance, I'd be a disappointment. When I reminded myself that God loves me no matter what and that my value has nothing to do with how long I can run, I could just have fun with it and enjoy it. It was hard, but good! I'm looking forward to my next run outdoors.

How was your week? Tell me about some victories you're celebrating. :)

Love,
Bonnie

** You might have noticed some changes to the look and functionality of my blog. There are a few bugs to work out, but there are improvements, too! If you look at the right hand column, you can browse through posts by topic - a really fun, easy way to find posts that might interest you! xo