So my first challenge the Ragnar Relay was awesome. My second challenge the Warrior Dash was a dud. The Dash wasn’t, but I had an ear infection and couldn’t go. I wanted to be the people in these pictures, but I didn’t get to be (at least this year). My third challenge was going to be to hike the Grand Canyon, but we got rejected from the permit pool. (Keep your fingers crossed because I’ve applied again.) The Grand Canyon still may happen, but I was starting to feel a bit disillusioned with my challenges.

It wasn’t just that they weren’t working out as planned, but at first I felt like I was only getting prepared for them one week in advance, which wasn’t really the point. Then I started hiking a lot and was feeling like I was in really great hiking shape when I got the news that we were rejected for a Grand Canyon permit.

The point of my challenge was to spend time preparing for certain activities throughout the year to help myself get in the best shape of my life. So far it doesn’t seem to be working out the way I planned—a lesson about life that I suspect I’m supposed to be learning from these challenges.

But it’s a challenge so I won’t give up. I’m still going to prepare for a big hike and I expect we will get approved for the Grand Canyon permit in the next week or two (still keep your fingers crossed, please).

And I’ve decided to run the surftown marathon at Misquamicut Beach in September to replace the Warrior Dash. And I’m already preparing. Last week I went on an eight mile run for the first time in six years. It felt good. It helps that I have some members of the original Old Wethersfield Bootcampers (a group of women I work out with) to help encourage me and train with.

So overall, right now, I’m feeling pretty good about my challenges. I was feeling down about them, but I’m starting to get excited again. And it helps to have a goal. I can tell you that I probably wouldn’t have run eight miles if I wasn’t going to try to run 13.1.