Last month, I came across an interview by Charlotte Athlete with Julie Wagner, a mom of 8 that I'm privileged to be acquainted with in real life. That's probably the only reason I clicked the link as I don't normally relate to anything with the word athletein it. I mean, I can get through a yoga class (the ones marked for all levels) but that's pretty much the extent of my fitness level. The interview was fantastic, nothing like what I was expecting! A mere two hours after that I listened to a podcast with the four time world record holder Colin O'Brady. (His story is definitely worth a google.) During the podcast he talked about his current project, The Calendar Club, a group of people who commit to running one mile per whatever day of the month it is. (On May 1st, 1 mile, May 15th-15 miles and finally on May 31st, 31 miles!!).
Although it was a fact that I didn't have the ability to maintain a run for even one mile, it occurred to me that I could replace the word mile with minute. The Calendar Club Lite, if you will.
Every bit of this is 100% out of my wheelhouse. May 1st I ran for one minute and came home out of breath (technically I barely left home since running for a minute doesn't get you all that far). Today I ran 3 and it was strangely easier than either of the first two days. This has proven to be a great practice in learning to live in the moment. Rather than allowing the thought of running the whole 31 minutes straight discourage me, I can forget about that and focus only on the current number of minutes I'm running TODAY and only today.
For my fellow enneagram fans, as a type 1, putting this out there publicly is not in my character either, since I'm not 100% sure I'll succeed and also because I know that for many, the end goal of running just 31 minutes is ridiculously small, a non-goal. I've decided to go public for the rest of us.
Furthermore, I don't often allow myself to celebrate tiny successes. So, I've decided that every day after I finish my minutes, I'll snap a pic of my running shoes with the number of minutes I just ran so I remember that every minute mattered, not just the last 31.
Meghan created a journal for every day she ran and every day she increased her time by one minute. She shares her unfiltered account of her highs and lows and it is absolutely AMAZING!!! This is why Charlotte Athlete exists! Meghan has certainly inspired us and I'm sure she's getting ready to inspire many more through this. We are going to post Meghan's journal a week at a time. Our challenge to you is to join Meghan!... TODAY! Don't think about it, just jump in. Be inspired by doing your own version of "The Calendar Club" or share Meghan's story and inspire someone else. #inspiredbymeghan