The Journey to being #Better@50

In October of 2007 I starting running.  Why?  I was 18 months from turning 40 and it was either wallow in it or greet the 40's with more passion than when I turned 20.  So I set 3 goals for myself:

1. A physical challenge
2. A challenge to do something I did not believe I could do
3. Give myself something I would have forever

Those three goals, more specifically, were:
1. To be in better shape at 40 than at 20.  So I started running, 3x a week, for 30 minutes, on a treadmill, and hated it.  I told my husband I would never run a marathon (btw I just signed up for my 9th marathon)

2. To bake a pie.  The crust, too.  From scratch.  Still not as good as my Mom's but I can say I've made a few pies.

3. To buy myself an awesome piece of jewelry - done and which I still wear to this day.

That was nearly 10 years ago, and this year, on my 48th birthday, I realized that I needed to set some  big challenges again as I approach my 50th.  I thought I'd make the goals a little tougher, give myself 2 years to achieve them and decided to launch #better@50 journey May 1.

The three goals follow the same theme as the ones for my 40th but a little loftier:

1.  Physical challenge:  Up the fitness even more, try hard to qualify for the NY marathon (I've qualified for Boston, NY is even harder).

2.  A challenge to do something I did not believe I could do - learn to SWIM.

3.  Give myself something I will have forever - still undecided.

It's been 3 months since the launch of #better@50 and so far, so good.

I completed a certificate in athletic nutrition and have really refined my diet; my weight is down, but, more importantly, I'm fuelling my workouts properly and really seeing progress on all fronts.  I'm not yet speedy enough to qualify for NY but still have lots of time to train.  I bought a road bike this month as a way to add more low impact training and have had so much fun racing around the neighbourhood!

I started swimming lessons in July and have surprised myself by how quickly I have progressed from not swimming to managing a quasi-front crawl.

Still have not yet decided on the "forever" goal - but my 9th marathon will be Big Sur California April 2018 - that's a bucket list item so could well be part of the goal!