to be a mermaid

The Mermaid Run East Bay is a week away and I gotta say that I'm REALLY excited! I'm running the 5K with Miss Lori and Miss Lyn. Both of these lovely ladies also signed up their daughters to run the race. AWESOME! For those of you who don't know about the Mermaid Series, please check out their mission statement:

Mermaid Series is building a welcoming community that inspires women from all backgrounds to uncover and realize their full potential.

Mermaid Series strives to serve as a catalyst for change in women's lives as they set and discover new goals for themselves in fitness and in life. By providing training, support, motivation and eco-friendly events we are committed to the pursuit of our participants healthy lifestyle.

Our events aim to provide an opportunity for a positive change while making each woman regardless of their ability feel welcome.

This is exactly what I love about the Mermaid Series and why I have decided to participate in both bay area Mermaid events this year. Any organization that honors building a community of support in order to inspire change in people's lives deserves a BIG KUDOS in my book. I'm always the first to admit that I'm not the greatest runner and running isn't my favorite thing in the world. However, running has and continues to play an important part of my life.

As I've mentioned before, I started running because I believed in the cause I was running for. I wanted to push my body for something greater than nice calves and bragging rights to completing a marathon. However, in the process, running became a symbol of how I would tackle life's challenges. Of the many lessons I've learned while training for a marathon, it's that the race - whatever that may be for you - is about finishing. It's not about the time or the distance, it's about finishing. I learned that all too well when I crawled in tears to the finish line in Maui.

When people think of the concept of running, most people think in terms of running away from something. Each time I run, I ask myself one question: What are you running to? When I've answered that question, my goal is clear and it makes running (the activity) worthwhile. Again, I can't wait for Saturday and many many more Mermaid runs to go!

Today's Small Victories
I made it to yoga. YES!

Today's Workout
One hour of yoga

Notes (to myself) about this workout: Yoga rocks. I need to do it more.