5 MILES in Springfield, Minnesota

If you would have told me a year ago I would be able to do five miles in a hour I would have smacked you in the middle of forehead and yelled, "PLOT TWIST" because the fairy tale you were telling wasn't believable.  But I did it on Sunday, while visiting my niece for her 6th birthday, a huge "Shout out to Molly"

I awoke bright in early at the amazing sleeping in time of 6 am in the sunny state of Minnesota.  After laying there for a while and listening to the love of my life breathe and not hearing any stirring for the remaining residents in the house, I decided to go ahead and go for a run.  I was thinking 30 minutes should tire me out and then everyone will start waking up.

So after double lacing my shoes and doing some stretches the bright sky hit me and I realized I left my sunglasses in the house, I checked my car and found my 80's style lime green color run sunglasses and said what the heck and channeled my inner Risky Business. I looked at the time on my fit bit, turned on the Map My Walk app on my phone, cranked my tunes, cause I forgot to bring earplugs and starting on my journey.  (Just a footnote, I don't know this town at all, I know the street address of my family's dwelling and I looked for the water tower to give me some guidance as to where it was direction wise in case I got lost)

So off I went, probably would have been good to look at street names, but the tunes were rocking and the sun was shining and there was just enough of a breeze to make it seem like it wasn't to warm to get going.  So away I go, not a whole lot of anything going on at 7:15 a.m. on a Sunday in the town of Springfield, MN but that was ok with me.  I basically decided to walk the perimeter of the town and just kept guessing when I came to the end of the block, I finally landed on I guess you would call it a highway.  So towards the sun I went, when I hit the edge of town, decided to take a selfie in front of the Welcome to Springfield sign and per my app I'd done 2 miles, so I thought I would head towards home.  I had run the majority of time and only when needed did I walk, and I was at a personal best of a 13 minute mile so I was pretty happy.

I'm styling those shades, but didn't go all Risky Business with my attire, though you can't see below my neck I'm wearing a shirt and shorts. 

So on my way back, it occurred to me I hadn't the slightest clue which road would take me back home.  In fact, I had curved and switched directions a multitude of times that I had completely confused myself. So I had a choice, I could whip out my phone, look on my maps, type in the street and find it immediately or I could just fly by the seat of my pants and hope I didn't have to call my poor sleeping hubby to wake up and come save me.

So onward, saw an ad on a car for Rott Puppies, had to look at it twice because in my running state I thought it said "rotten puppies" and who would want to buy a rotten puppy?  I was greeted by multiple furry residents of Springfield, most would bark a happy hello and I would say hello back and their backsides would wag from side to side.

I did go down not one, not two, but 3 streets thinking I could turn at the end only to be greeting with a dead end and having to go back from which I came, which I kind of thought funny I did it three times.  I came to this path that looked like a hiking path but it has a big pillar in the middle of it and kind of looked like it might be someones private drive or something, so I didn't venture on, cause who want to find a sweaty Iowa girl on their lawn early on a Sunday morning, don't think anyone was praying for that! (Note this part is important to remember)
 By this time I was at the 3.25 mile mark and to be honest I didn't think I was getting much closer to my final destination, and I was starting to feel it a little in my hips but the town is pretty and there wasn't anyone on the roads really, with the exception of a stray car or truck, I pretty much had the town to myself..

So after seeing some buildings that were looking familiar and my app telling me I was at a little more the 4 miles, I could feel it in my legs that sooner would be better for finding home.  I decided to take one more turn and just go straight until I hit the railroad tracks or a field or the high school.  So .75 miles later, I turn the corner and low and behold there was my final destination.  I was sooooooo happy to see and and I was shocked and surprised that my final distance was 5.2 miles in less than an hour.  That's almost a 12 minute mile which is an all time personal best.

So after a scavenger hunt in my brother/sister-in laws home, with help of my sister-in-law's mom, trying to find a towel to take a shower and desperately trying to get ice out of the freezer without causing too much noise or breaking it, I was pretty proud of us.

Slowly the family started to rise and I tell my sister-in-law, Shawna, of my journey that morning, now here's the funny ha ha.  Apparently the "private drive with the pillar" is an actually walking trail that leads directly behind their house.  So I probably wouldn't have gotten 5 miles in, I could have taken the trail and got a short cut to the house, but I think the way I went was more fun.  I got to explore the beautiful town of Springfield, enjoy some Minnesota sunshine and fresh air.  I got to giggle with family and friends when I got back.  Who knew looking for a towel or getting a few ice cubes would be funny?

So you never know what's going to happen when you just decide to go!  No destination, no clue as to where you are going, but just trying to get your workout in and start your day with a little bit of adventure.

So thank you Springfield, MN, you will always be remembered by me as the first time I ever did 5 miles at one time, 5 miles in less than an hour, and the fact I need to slow down when I read what's on the side of people cars, because I knew selling "rotten puppies" seemed wrong to me.  Thank you my clan there for the hospitality and for the fun we had and to my partner in hunt of towel or ice, Juli, thank you for making me laugh.  It was a FABULOUS weekend everyone and it's a great way to start a new week.

So set your own adventure and don't let a little thing like being lost stop you from exploring further.
As one of my favorite cartoon characters says, "TOO INFINITY AND BEYOND!"

Be well, be peachy and stay tuned next week for the 10 month recap.

HELP I NEED AN APP FOR MOTIVATION

Why is it when you say the word exercise you kind of want to take a nap? (Ok maybe that just me today) Back when we were cavemen, we got our daily exercise by trying to stay alive, you know, outrunning dinosaurs and trying not to fall off cliffs and such.  Have our friends try the berries first and if he lived, it was a good day.  Today you don't even have to leave your house, because you can have anything delivered with just a tap of your smartphone. But have you noticed they haven't come up with a way to make an app exercise for you.

Yes I know there are tons of apps that will tell you how to exercise but if you don't do what your app tells you to do then nothing changes.  We have computers and smart phones that think for us.  I mean if you think about it when I was in high school I could rattle off hundreds of numbers of friends, family, the pizza place uptown and probably a dozen other worthless telephone numbers for that all important emergency.  I knew how to get any where just by knowing who used to live there or how far from so and so it was.  If I didn't have my smartphone, and I had to call someone outside of my immediately family today, I would be in trouble.

So apps will think for us, but they won't work out for us.  I'm sure Apple has some sort of MENSA team working on this solution as we speak but are keeping it to themselves until the IPhone 34 comes out and even then it will require some sort of brain link that will, of course, be extra!

Putting my body through the paces and trying to tighten up areas that haven't been tight in a while is not easy and sometimes can seem to be easier to just call it a day and give it the old college try tomorrow, it would be much easier to just tap an app and photoshop my butt smaller.

I get asked where I get my motivation.  Some days I'm the Wonder Woman of Motivations, other days I'm like Garfield after consuming a lasagna, motivation persona non grata.  I was asked to help a friend try to exercise by another friend.  I'm happy to help but how do you do something like that?  I know I can "ask" them to join me at the gym, but if they don't, that is their prerogative.  I'm not the boss of them even if I am concerned about their health.  All I can do is tell them I care for them and I'm here if they need me, but to be honest, they are not going to change until they want to.  I know that was true for me and until the doctor said lose the weight or basically be unable to walk when I was old, that was rock bottom enough for me to see the error in my ways take a immediate left into a life change.  I'm not saying everyone needs a rock bottom, but I do think everyone needs a mindset to do what I've been doing.

I can't change someone, I know that.  I can encourage them when they decide to go on this path.  I say that it's 60% mental and 40% physical, because it takes a lot of motivation and will power to get on this path and stay on it.  And as in life, there are some fantastic I can't believe I did that days and then there are some kick you in the backside days that make you want to give up and quit.  I believe it doesn't matter how many times you fall as long as you always get back up.  Self esteem is a nasty emotion sometimes and can make a hole in your soul so deep you can't see daylight. Delusion is a wonderful place to visit, but when you start to set up house there that's when you know you have a problem.  I put those emotions down deep and basically just didn't deal with them. I lived on the cross roads of delusional and fantasy for a while.  If someone else is there, how do you get them to pack up and move to reality.

I don't have any answer for that.  I don't like to preach and sometimes am weary with my answers when I'm ask questions because how much do they "really" want to know.  Maybe they were being polite like when you seen an acquaintance and ask them how they are, 95% of the time they say fine even if they are not, and that other 5% give you way more information that you were expecting.  So it's a slippery slope.

So how can I help someone start on this path?  I write this blog and try to be my witty and entertaining self and if something they read hits a nerve and it gives them the little kick in the butt they need to do something, then PEACHY KEAN JELLY BEAN!  I write this blog to cheer myself up, to write down to document where I'm at now and to be able to look back at where I was.

Like I've said before, I'm happy to workout with anyone, call, text, or send smoke signals and I will be there.  Making you laugh along the way and hopefully making you feel that you matter enough to take care of yourself.  It took me 15 years to come to that conclusion that I mattered enough, I hope when you read this (whomever you are) that you are smarter and quicker than I am and come to this conclusion sooner.  I don't dwell of what I missed out on or what could have been, I excel and thrive on what I can do and what I want to do that pushes me each day.

So though I still need my smartphone to contact practically everyone I know and I do use it to calculate a tip when I eat out and when I'm lost and need directions, I have an app for that too.  But when it comes to motivation, self-esteem, and determination, there currently isn't an app for that.  Just my little brain with a tiny little squirrel that runs in a wheel like his tail is on fire keeping my neurons going and not letting me give up on myself.

So I encourage you to try.  I will help if you wish, or if you just need a caring ear or just someone to make you laugh while you walk so it goes by faster (by the way I do know a dirty limerick or two but that is only for those that take me up on my walking offer).

I'm not perfect and I'm not here to preach, I'm just here!

So have a peachy week my friends.  Remember you are important and deserve to be at your best!!!