Pivoting does not mean failure

Pivot means to change direction. I hear this word all the time in the work place but now it is definitely applying to my personal life.

I have been training for the Trailfest Cirle marathon in Utah coming up in the next couple of days for months. This trail is the distance of a half marathon at least 13 miles.

My goal was to run a portion of it with my guide dog Roxy and the reminder with a sighted guide runner. My sun sign is the Lion, the Leo. I always dream and think big but most importantly I hate leaving things undone; I strive to live up to my promises and want to cross things off my to do list.

I learned so much in this process. I learned that running with my guide dog is not like walking with Roxy, obviously but I had to transverse a thin line of her remembering how to act in harness and train her to act differently when out of harness, running but still working. That was a very difficult process and I did not want to push Roxy and I want to go by her pace. So with that said, it is taking longer but I am okay with that......PIVOT.

Myself, I prided that I was a track runner, a cheerleader, ballet, dancer in the past, and exercise three times a week and felt for my age of 41 I was in great shape. This was a cold water over the head awakening. I am not in the shape I need to be in for a half marathon. I had problems finding my stride, injuries to my hamstrings, calf muscles and charlie horses/cramping that blew my mind. I was pushing so hard and I was hurting myself. So I am going slower, have new running shoes, and just taking my time. So what if I am able to only run half a mile one day and three the next. I am figuring it out. PIVOT!

I need to do smaller runs before jumping into the half marathon. I am going to do a couple of 5K marathons locally to get used to running in a crowd with Roxy and just the experience. I am hoping in doing so, I can make friends in the runner's community because doing this alone as a beginner is overwhelming.PIVOT!!

Another barrier, is that if my significant other could not run with me because he had work or etc, I could not run. I would go for weeks not being able to run. I depend on others for rides to and from places and there is no exception to that when I am running. PIVOT!!

But from those challenges, I learned so much and cannot wait to finally run the half marathon and rise more money for the Guide dog school in NY. For one, I am more of a runner than I ever was in my life. 2. I have increased me drinking water 3. I changed my diet as a lifestyle 4. my husband and I are doing this together and helping him lose weight 5. I got to connect with a co worker of mine to be a sighted guide and her passion and support helped me believe I can do it 6. All donations so far went straight to blind school in NY and so far a little over $2,000 has been donated 6. I have more time to think of opportunities to raise more money for them and lastly Roxy and I have a new layer of our relationship that is hard for me to verbalize.

So I am PIVOTING, I am not ready for the marathon in a week but I am not a FAILURE or GIVING UP. I am postponing crossing that finish line. So myself, my husband, my sighted guide all agreed lets get some 5K's under our belt and go to Utah in 2018. So that is what I am doing.

PIVOTING is not a reason to beat myself up, I will cross that finish line and I will raise more money to the school. This is a win win situation!!!!