Improvements

Improvements can be seen in many ways. I like tangible things - like better numbers, faster, farther.... Sometimes those numbers are harder to interpret than others. Yesterday I did my second HR test. This one in a 5k in the humidity. The first one was in controlled environment on a treadmill in January. This was the first time I was running a race as something other than a time trial, a chance to get a PR. This was not what this race was about. I had to start off slow, get in a groove, save my energy for the all out effort I was going to put in for my HR test. So I didn't get a PR in the race - a whole minute slower than my PR earlier this year. BUT I did improve. I ran a whole .1 farther in the 20 minute HR test than I had earlier - or almost 10 seconds faster average pace... in nasty conditions. Hey! That's not bad. Now, I want a do over in better conditions cause I think I can do better :)

There's always room for improvement, but we have to take the time to enjoy the accomplishments along the way. If we don't enjoy and appreciate what we've done then what's the point? We're always living for tomorrow and that's not healthy either. It's great to have goals, but every once in a while, let's just sit back and enjoy today. Enjoy the journey of accomplishment, the small steps of improvement, the hard days when nothing goes as planned, the rainy days, the sunny days, and everything in between.

Here's to now.