Saturday, January 9, 8:00 am, at Endurance House was my first training run. I was thankful the temperature was in the 30’s and there was just a light dusting of snow that made everything very pretty instead of gray and gloomy.

Before we got started, Coach Flo and the other program mentors had us play “Icebreaker Bingo” so we could get to know the 25+ members in the spring program.

Flo then talked about “The Four Agreements”, a book by Don Miquel Ruiz. I put this book on my “must read” list.

The principals include:

The Four Agreements are a great life lesson to practice in your entire life, not just within our group.

Then it was time to run! We went outside and did some warm up exercises as a group and then depending on what you are training for 5K walk or run or 10K walk or run we did our distance for that day. I ran for 16 minutes and did not stop or walk! I was proud of myself. When we got back at our own pace we paired up and worked on planks for our core and stretching.

I am realizing from this first week of learning and trying to be a runner, that it is mind over matter. I can honestly say, my mind has never wanted to do this before now and I think I picked the right group to help me reach my goal.