This past weekend, I ran the Market To Market (M2M) relay with six other professional women. This was my fourth M2M, but my first as Team Captain. My prior team’s members transitioned out for a variety of reasons and I was faced with rebuilding the team from the ground up. Looking back, I feel so blessed by the way the team came together and for the incredible experience we had working to cover 68 miles in 18 exchanges, in a little over 9 ½ hours.
When inviting others to join the team, I outlined my vision for an all-female team that would be supportive, high functioning and fun. I wanted teammates who would perform their best but wouldn’t fixate on times or act competitive with the other teams or, even worse, our own team. As I reached out to build that team, four of my teammates (Miranda, Jill, Jossy and her friend Randi) came from a core group of women I run with regularly, Robyn came from an entrepreneurs’ networking group and she brought “the fast girl” – our ringer, Becky. We had the perfect mix of smart, responsible, yet seriously silly women who immediately gelled as a team, cheered each other on and made quick work of a relay we thought would take us 10+ hours to finish.
Guiding us the whole day was our chauffeur and shepherd, Brian, my dear husband who supports my running commitment as if it were his own. It was great to have him cheering for us, taking pictures and video and making sure we made it to every exchange point in time to meet our runner. What a generous gift of time and service!
So, you might wonder why I’m sharing this. Mainly, I’m hoping to spread some of the afterglow I’m feeling from yet another wonderful fitness experience. I’m also sharing this because I’d like to inspire you to make your next commitment in YOUR OWN health and wellness journey. Whether its committing to a race, a yoga class, to increase your step count, or to get back to the gym, I’m hoping you’ll schedule some fitness AND fun just for you.
Perhaps you’ll consider joining me and my ConvergenceCoaching teammates in our upcoming 2019 Holiday Exercise Streak (HES). Starting Thanksgiving Day, we’re committing to exercise the equivalent of 1 mile of running every day through New Year’s Day. For the hard-core among us, you can also engage in our bonus push-up challenge that increases in difficulty each week of the streak. Throughout, we’ll cheer each other on with regular Facebook messages and pictures posted to our HES group. And, when we finish our streak on New Year’s Day, we’ll each earn the 2019 HES streak shirt.
To join us in this no-cost fitness challenge that kicks off in 7 weeks, sign up on our Facebook page AND complete the fast, online survey to provide us with your shirt size and shipping address.
Before our HES kicks off, I’m going to run the Good Life Halfsy 13.1 in Lincoln on November 3. I need to get a few more long runs in and commit to a race strategy before I’m fully prepared. You see, no matter how busy my schedule for work or how packed my family’s calendar is, I always make time for exercise. After all, everything seems like a problem before a run and nothing is a problem after!
Gratefully,
P.S. For those of you who have followed my annual three-word journey, the M2M experience evoked all three of my 2019 three words (vision, transition and fun). Cool!
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