I < 3 Me!

I was reading a new blog the other day - Healthy, Happiness & Skinny Jeans.  The author Samantha just completed a half marathon and was considering how far she's come in the past year.  The she challenged us readers to do the same.  Here was my comment:

I've trained for & completed a half marathon. I've set a new 5K PR while suffering from a respiratory infection. I trained for a triathlon only to be benched b/c of severe anemia. I took iron infusions, was released for training, and completed my first triathlon last week.

Oh and my husband & I celebrated our1st wedding anniversary in California, we bought a home together and are on track to pay it off in 5 years.

Somehow that's now how I view myself.  But that's me and my goals in a nut shell.  So why am I still so critical of myself?

Enter the Shrinking Jeans October Monthly Challenge - I love me (dammit!)  They've asked us to pledge the following:

The Pledge to Love Myself.







I pledge allegiance, TO MYSELF.

Today I will proclaim it

out loud,

TALL AND PROUD

I LOVE MYSELF.

From this day forward,

I promise to be nice.

TO myself and ABOUT myself.

I will accept my quirks and I will love my faults.

I will love my shape, whatever it is

My bones, my muscles, my hair and my face.

My body, all of it, inside and out.

Because that is what makes me, ME.

And there is only one of me.

I will finally allow myself

to see what others see.

My kindness, my spirit, my love.

And starting today, I will share some of it,

with ME.

Because I deserve it.

I will fight for myself, because I’m important.

And I deserve to be everything I am capable of in my life.

I deserve to find my greatness and live my life fully and completely.

With no regrets.

There is so much I want to do in my life,

but first, it begins with “me.”

I LOVE MYSELF.

Today, tomorrow, and every day after that.

I LOVE MYSELF, DAMMIT!

And no one can stop me.

Sad that something so easy can be so difficult.  With that I present the top 5 reasons I should love me:

1. Jesus does.  A very easy WWJD to answer.John 3:16
2. I have a mutant that loves me.  He might not have abs like Wolverine, but he's still pretty incredible.  The best part?  Unlike the X-Men my mutant is real.   To have earned his love and his promise of forever then there must be something pretty special inside me. 
3. I am adored by my niece and nephew.  Partly because they are amazing, but also partly because they know their Aunt Boo loves them with all her heart.
4. My amazing friends - here and in real life.  Who am I to question their taste in friends?
5. Because I know it.   Deep down. 

Today I completed my fastest. mile. ever.  It was a part of the Shrinkvivor challenge - Team Rogue represent!

My 5K PR is at a 10:40 pace.  Today?  I ran 1 mile in 9:07.  I understand that sustaining that over 3 miles would take some work but I blew my old pace out of the water.

Back this spring I whined complained explained to my sister and mom that with all the effort I was putting in, my pace wasn't getting any better.  The both urged me to see my doctor.  I was putting in far too many training hours for my times to actually be decreasing.

I brushed them off.  It was all I could do to not to burst into tears.  "I just suck.  A doctor can't help that."

When you believe lies about yourself it can lead to dangerous consequences.  Be it a damaged self esteem or over taxing your anemic body. 

Today I'm flying high.  My body can get faster.  With some work I have no doubt I'll be able to run a sub 30 minute 5K.  That's a goal that will have to wait until after Disney, but I do have a short term goal that I'm a bit scared to put out there but here goes...

I'm competing in a 3.2 mile race in 10 days - the On Cosby Moonshine Run.  My goal?  To meet my 5K best time.  Given the extra tenth of a mile, that'll mean running this in my fastest time ever - a full 20 seconds quicker than my 5K PR.  But I really think I can do it.

One thing I can not forget is that win, lose, or draw those 5 reasons I listed will still be applicable.

Because I'm that damn lovable.

Head on over to the Shrinking Jeans so that you can take the pledge and join us this month.