Motivation Monday

Being that I know such awesome people that I want to be like when I grow up.....I'm going to be picking on you people to write a little paragraph about a given topic.  Today's Motivation Monday is brought to you by the fabulous Jill Koford.  She is mother of 3, wife to 1,  and currently serving as Primary President.  She has her own company Creative Design Inc. and she is a whiz with Photoshop.  To top it all off she is currently working on her masters degree.  AND she is NORMAL she has her good days and bad and just like all of us I know she has watched the scale go up and watched the scale go down.  She is currently looking awesome.  We went to lunch for her birthday and she mentioned how much she was liking running...Jill hates running so thus prompted my question......


You know it’s serious when you actually get a phone call and not a text from Mel! How could I say no when I actually got a voicemail!?!  When Melanie called and asked if I would write this little blurb she mentioned something about staying motivated to go out and run. At least that’s what my sleepy mind remembers. In reflecting, it seems like it all comes back to her! She’s wonderful motivation for me!!!

About  a year ago I agreed to the biking portion of a triathlon team with Mel. I put off any kind of training for a very long time and found myself having some serious doubts about whether or not I could do it. Then I mentioned something to a neighbor who wanted to get out on her bike and she agreed to help me train. When this same neighbor then invited me to run with her for some cross training I distinctly remember saying something about hating to run but that I supposed I owed her. I warned that I was a turtle and was assured that she was not part of the “serious girls group.” They run fast. She said something about stopping to walk and not running the freakishly large hill near our house. It sounded doable. At one point last summer this extremely convincing neighbor talked me into running the Provo Half with her. Ok “running” is a strong word. I completed the race. It wasn’t pretty but it was amazingly empowering and a little thought ran through my head on the drive home…we could probably do it a little faster next year. My then 12-year-old daughter joined me in the half. It was truly one of our best memories from this summer. We felt strong. Fit. Like we could do anything!

I realized I was really hooked when, in the dark, a week or so ago my neighbor and I  met under the stoplight for out morning run. It was snowing…ever so lightly. But still it was snow. It was 6am, and I loved it. It was quiet and dark and exhilarating. We still don’t run the freakishly large hill…but we do walk it rather quickly and we actually run more than we used to – there’s a bit less walking. Quite frankly I’m stunned that we still manage to go. Some days are tricky but if our little group doesn’t make it out to pound the pavement a couple of times a week we start feeling deprived and know it’s time to send some text messages and get out. We’ve adjusted for the dark a little bit. We hit the gym for boot camp three days a week. But there’s something almost sacred about out time in the wee hours of the morning when our not-so-serious group gets together for some girl talk oh and a bit of exercise.

Thanks Jilly-bean....I assume that means we are on to do the entire SPUD-man now that you've got the bike and the run in the bag...the swim is the easiest part!!!!

P.S. Happy Snow Day to Everyone - Welcome to Winter!