My first goal of twenty-fourteen

This year is not even a month old and already I'm surprising myself!

I have set my first goal. I'm so proud of myself!

This is so unlike me. The goal is so unlike me!

Why I'm so over the moon?

I worked out! And I know, about a year ago I wrote a similar blog, about working out and getting in shape. And it ended.. Well I don't know how it ended. Because it didn't really start.

But this time I have a goal. A real goal. And without a goal I'm not moving an inch from my comfy couch.

 

My goal: A 5k business run and I have 45 days to train for it.

Why I signed up? I don't know. Well actually, I didn't sign up myself.

I was chatting with a sweet and over enthusiastic colleague who is a wee bit crazy (she gets up a 6AM to run 10k before work!) and she got me so worked up that she signed me up!

And I let her.

You may think I'm such a push over, and in some cases you would be right, but this girl.. Whenever she's in her zone she could sell heels to a person without feet! Trust me, She's that good.

So yeah, I willingly let myself get pushed over. Not all the way, I let her sign me up for the shortest route: 5k. The longest is 21,5k and I could never, in my wildest dreams imagine myself completing that route alive. With my lungs still in my body. And still be able to cross that finish line on my own strength. Scratch that; And still be able to cross that finish line period. So I felt somewhat confident about the 5k. After all, I still had about 5 months to train for it.

Every day I walked past that list my name on it. And every day I looked at my name on that list. With the 5k behind it.

It might sound like I am exaggerating, but for the record: I basically donate my tuition to the gym. I still went occasionally, but ever since I got the promotion I started working til late and then I didn't have the energy anymore to go. And then it got colder, and darker. And, and, and...

Until it was the new year and there were only 45 days left, instead of 5 months!

Trust me. Many times I thought of taking myself of that damned list, but I didn't want to seem like a drop out. Or at least not the first drop out. But all of the other "victims" were too psyched about it, so I left things as they were. As time passed I tried  make up excuses or even tried to plan a concert the night before so I could wiggle myself out of it but the odds just weren't in my favor. I even tried to mentally stall time, perhaps I had this undiscovered gift. But no. I'm just plain ol' Jazz that has to get her a** off the couch and in some sweat pants and out on the street.

I have also said many times "Tomorrow" (Just like the song). And then it became tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after... But my couch has such a great attraction on me...

On the presumption of " be the best I can be" I already, totally unrelated, started to change my diet. Less snacks, less sweets, less fast food. I even gave up my ultimate snack: salted popcorn. More veggies, dairy, wholesome food and breafast!

I'm not a breakfast type of girl. I prefer lying in bed for another 10 to 15 minutes than to get up and put some energy in my body. My bed has that same attraction on me..

Breakfast can be indeed fast! So I bought me a cute little blender (0.5 liters) a ton of fresh green veggies at the market and a pack of yoghurt.

I really do love fresh spinah, but didn't it could be that tasty! Blend it up with some yoghurt, banana an chia seed and you got yourself a halthe, filling and easy breakfast in literally 3 minutes.

Holy ***, I start to sound like a sales person from Tell Sell!

Ok, rewind. No, it doesn't make you instantly lose weight, and it doesn't give insane abs overnight. It's just tasty. Really tasty. And it lasts me all through lunch. What more can a girl ask for?

So. Besides me blending up everything I can lay my hands on I still had that teeny weeny issue of having absolutely no stamina. And my personal D-day growing closer and closer. No excuses.

So I did the unthinkable. I went to the gym. I can't even remember the last time I went! I signed up for a class in Body Combat. Nothing serious, just an hour of kicking and punching in the air and women under the impression that they are the next Jean-Claude van Damme. Yeah. Ok, I can do that. The warming up started pretty intense, it's all on a high energy level. So I gave it my all. The running and the jumping and kicking and screaming, I loved it. The kicking and screaming came very easy, I was already a pro at this by the time I was ten. I think it was hard to see I was completely new at this sporting thingy.

 

 

After a good while there was this little 30 second break. I drank a bit of water, I have to stay hydrated of course. And I made a futile attempt in wiping away all that sweat. Man, I have never in my life sweated as much as during that class.

Partially because of the amount of sweat I thought the time was almost up. I checked the time: only halfway.

ARE YOU SERIOUS? Did time stand still? This can't be! Damn you time!

Because of this the second half hour was double so hard. I am proud of myself because I stuck with it. Like a pro. (Even when an old lady mooned me, that was very disturbing).

All proud I returned home, took a hot shower and went straight to bed. Well, almost straight to bed...

A couple of days later, I surprised myself even more! With my D-day only 1.5 months away I knew I had to get busy. I came home from work, changed my outfit, blended me a spinach-carrot shake and went out the door. Music in my ears, my running app on stand by and there I went. A slow jog, all good. But this was much harder to keep up than the body combat class. I thought it was especially difficult to get my breathing under control in the cold weather. Yes,  I think it's cold here in the Netherlands! I know it's not nearly as cold as it should be and there are other parts in the world that are being tortured by blizzards, etc. But I have Caribbean blood! Anything below 15 degrees Centigrade is cold to me!

But despite the hardship I persisted and I ran. Okay, I jogged.

And why I am so happy you ask?

I jogged my first kilometer in 7 minutes!

Stop laughing!

Last time I jogged it took me 10 minutes to complete 1k! And I didn’t even practice in between!

So I think it's something to be very proud of!

I'm no Speedy Gonzalez. Not yet. But I have good faith in crossing that damned finish line!
On my own strength.
With my lungs still inside my body.
Alive!

To be continued…

Jazz.