“When someone tells me “no,” it doesn’t mean I can’t do it, it simply means I can’t do it with them.”~ Karen E. Quinones Miller

Spartan Shape-Up, Day 88:

I had a wee bit of a frustrating day today, BlogLand. All I wanted to do was hike up a little mountain that is near me, throw my rock all the way up, and enjoy some foliage at the top. I was prepared to go alone. Then I talked to my mother (yes, I'm almost 30) and she gave me a lecture about the safety of that, blah blah blah... and pulled the "I'm your MOTHER!" card. So. I modified my plans. Annoyed and frustrated, I decided to go for a run and add some mileage, which I did.

Today's Run looked like this:
Time: 51:07
Distance: 4.33 mi.
Average Pace: 11.48 min/mi.

Was definitely feeling a little slow today, but I figured slow and steady was alright, as long as I got the mileage out there. 4.33 is a new personal best for me, by a whole . 18 of a mile. LOL. Good times. I was definitely running emotional today, though.

I'm beginning to come up against interesting situations during this whole training process, particularly with my friends. Being a super social person, I don't always like to be doing stuff on my own - I *want* to share those experiences with  my friends, make new friends, whatever. However, it seems that my recent fitness progress has made that impossible, with the people I know. None of my current friends will participate in any sort of exercise activity with me - running, hiking, whatever.  I understand the issue intellectually. These friends that I have are part of the "unfit" not-motivated (I still haven't managed to drag them off the couch) culture that I was able to extricate myself from. Now, I have different expectations for myself (I'd like to go for a hike on a Sunday  instead of sitting on the couch, for example), but they have not changed. And no one seems willing to.  I asked one of my very best friends if she'd hike up the small mountain with me today, promising to go REAL slow and throw a rock the whole way to really slow me down, thus evening out our paces.... but she still gave me a hell no, and she wouldn't even try. And so, I found myself out running alone, instead.

While I know I'm not alone in this journey - I've got lots of people around me virtually supporting me - it is hard, sometimes on the day to day, to constantly have to be alone. I do look forward to my times at Crossfit, because it's a group of people perusing the same goal. I have to say, this is the first time in my life that I'm having a difficult time pulling people from my friend group into new interests in my life.

It would just be nice, sometimes, to have someone or two to try out a new running trail with, or take our Pet Rocks for a throw, or bust out the bikes... or.... I dunno. ANYthing. I guess this is the pain of changing... Some people will let you change and be happy for you... some people with watch you change and fight it the whole way. It's time for me to adopt some more people around me, I think, that can share in these new interests with me.

I'm now accepting applications for new randomly active friend, game for rock throwing, interested in sandbag making, and won't blink an eye at getting muddy.... any takers???