If you follow me on instagram, then you’ve already seen how badass my mom is. Check it out:
You’ll have to forgive me as I brag for an entire post a second about how awesome my mom is. First of all, she recently lost 85 pounds. 85 POUNDS!! That’s a 5th grader, people. My mom lost a 5th grade child (ok that sounds weird, but you get my point).
How’d she do it? Healthy eating and exercise of course. No silly tricks here. Her workouts of choice included swimming, walking, and old school step aerobics videos. I’m pretty sure I also saw a Richard Simmons tape chilling near her tv set, but hey, no judgements here. (ok… maybe a little…I need to get her some more modern workout dvds..).
Despite all her exercising, she never really understood how I could like running so much. She HATED it. With a triple capital “H,” so when she she emailed me asking if I’d want to run (not walk) a 5k with her, I was in shock – the excited, good kind!
She asked me to help her pick a race and train. I immediately took to Google to find a good 5k. There are plenty of 5k walks out there, but I wanted one that people would be racing. It was also mandatory that the race include a medal at the end because gosh darn it, my mom just lost 85 pounds and was now going to train for her first 5k at 54 years old – she deserves a medal!
I found the Rocky Balboa 5k in Philly. It was perfect. It gave her a little over 2 months to train, and it included swag and this baller medal:
And so she took to training. I told her to try out the C25K (couch to 5k) app. Read all about her experience training here.
Soon enough, it was the morning of the race. Here she is in our starting corral. Nervous. Excited. And more than a little bit freezing (what the heck, winter?).
Besides the fact that we had to park a lightyear away, the race was very well organized. We picked up our bibs no problem and found our corral with ease. 10 minutes later, we were crossing the starting line. It was so fast!
The course was a simple out and back course. I wish there was music all along the way, but there were 3 little DJ booths to pump us up with Rocky music. Look at her go!
Her #1 goal was to run the entire race without stopping. She also wanted to finish in under 45 minutes. I went on one training run with her a week before the race and knew she could maintain a 12:30 pace. She beasted through the first mile in 12:07, the second at 12:31, and as we approached 2 1/2 miles I looked over at her and said, “If you keep this up, you’re not only going to finish under 45 minutes, you’re going to finish under 40 minutes!”
We hit the three mile marker, turned a corner and spotted the finish line. She picked up the pace and crossed the finish line in 39:15!!! Rock. Star.
We picked up our baller medals and walked to the top of the “Rocky” steps to show them off.
I’m so ridiculously proud of this lady. A week ago, I asked her if she though she’d keep running after the race.
“Nah. I don’t think so,” she said, “this was hard enough.”
“Yea… wait til you cross that finish line. You’ll want to run another one,” I responded.
After the race, I asked her again, “So, do you think you’ll ever run again?”
“Yea,” she said, “I’d do another race. Just maybe in warmer weather!”
And with that, my friends, another runner is born!
This whole story just goes to show 1) my mom is AMAZING and 2) it’s never too late to set a new goal, to dream, to believe, and to achieve!
By the way, this picture came about because the line to take a picture with the Rocky Statue was too long. Instead of waiting in line, we just got a picture of the back of the statue. I actually think this is a pretty awesome picture.
It's never too late to set a new goal, to dream, to believe, and to achieve! @fitapproach @ideaworld
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Let’s chat:
Truth or truth: My mom is awesome.
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