Lessons Learned

It's been awhile since I've written--I've been recovering from pneumonia. It hasn't been fun, but I've had time to think about the past several months that I've spent here in California and what I've learned about myself during this time.

I began training with Team in Training for the Nike Women's Marathon the month after I arrived here, and I spent most Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings with a group of wonderful people working toward a common goal--finding a cure for cancer. I looked forward to those days and formed some great friendships along the way. 

On October 17, the goal was met and training was over. We all knew we would feel a let down--we were even warned about this. To add to the let-down, I became ill the following weekend. A month later, I'm just finishing the last round of antibiotics. Yes, for the past month I've been resting, doing my best to recover from pneumonia (another reminder that I'm not Superwoman!).

My doctor allowed me to begin working out again just this week. Now I have a challenge ahead of me--in a month and a half, I'll be at another Army school. The first week there, I'll be given a diagnostic APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) at an elevation of 4500-5500 feet. I've been training at an elevation of ~240 feet. Ugh!

So I'm using the P90X program to train combined with running (I'm hoping to add swimming to the mix as well). Monday was my first day with the program, and by Wednesday, my body felt as sore as it did after running my first half marathon (Urban Cow on October 3rd). But it's a good sore. Yesterday, after working on arms, shoulders, and abs, I planned to go for a run. That morning, I received a text message from a friend on the team inviting me to run with a group. I got my Wednesday run back! I didn't run very fast or far, but I was out there, and it was good! I'll be running with another group of friends this weekend--I can't wait!

Now I realize that I have a great need for both short and long term goals. I have a personal strategic plan (no, I won't share it here, but I wrote it almost three years ago, and I've seen positive progress), and my short term goals need to lead toward the long range strategic plan--I need to have a purpose in everything I do. The school that I'll be attending was part of the original plan, as was the half marathon. 

With Nike being over, I need another short range goal that supports the strategic plan. My last APFT score was 199 (my highest was 204). 300 is considered a perfect score, although one can score higher than that. My goal is to raise my APFT to 270 before March 17, 2011. This will be a challenge for me, especially after having pneumonia, but I like challenges. Achieving this goal will help me meet another goal--an academic goal. I'll write more about that goal in another blog post. 

Cheers!