Good Glowing, Bad Glowing and Glowing Well

I just ran The SWOSU Tough Enough to Wear Teal 5K.  My time of 39 minuted, 10 seconds, was slower (by a minute and a half or so) than last year,  Given various real factors and lame excuses for why I am not in better shape, and that the Mister is completely congested with allergies, I'm just super-excited that we finished.

At the one mile mark I was really wondering why I do this at all.  I hate to run.  If I train for a 5K, I do it by swimming and dancing if I can.  And then at the end I was dancing again because it is so fun to do this (and perhaps some coach should tell me that if I am dancing immediately afterward I am not pushing myself enough, but I'm a conservative person who always wants to have enough money for an emergency and enough energy left to dance).  And I did this for my friend J.

Glowing in the blurry backlight, Nov. 2012,
Wichita Mountains

J is in the middle of six months of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.  She's my age (young!) and single.  Every week of her treatment, she posts a photo of herself grinning with her chemo crew-- a different loving friend every time.  I know she is struggling, physically and emotionally, but she looks positively radiant (and I don't think it is actual radiation doing it).  And the teal in "Tough Enough to Wear Teal" is for ovarian cancer.

My logical self doesn't know how paying to run 3+ miles around town and thereby donate a small amount of money to the American Cancer Society for the fight against ovarian cancer will in any way benefit my friend J*, but my irrational self felt this had to happen, that the synchronicity of the race change to teal, her diagnosis, the Facebook images of her radiant self facing icky treatments, and my resolve to glow this month, was a sign that I must move my large body those three miles and shine while I am doing it.

Maybe I just need to move that distance to remind myself that I can,  And when I go far enough, I do glow in a good way.  And that we all need some help to be at our glowing best.

Keep smiling, J.  You're beautiful and it shows.  Keep smiling everyone else.  We are beautiful and we can glow.

*And yes, I am working with J to be part of the chemo crew and to act in ways that will directly make her life a little easier.

Ladies Glow

More glowing resolutions:

Team Ecuador, from the FIFA Womens' World Cup 2015 webpage

12.  I will see women from around the world glowing as they play World Cup Soccer.  Specifically I will see women from Cameroon, Ecuador, Switzerland and Japan in person from BC Place in downtown Vancouver, although I also intend to watch other matches televised.  These women will be "glowing" in the sense of, "Horses sweat, gentlemen perspire, ladies glow," but perhaps also basking in the glow of victory.

13.  I will glow myself into shape.  Somehow it feels like I am sullying my "fun" resolution to add a serious fitness resolution. None the less, I was recently reminded 1) about how "ladies glow" 2) how unfit I am 3) how important it is not to be unfit 4) that public accountability helps with achieving fitness goals and 5) that I am running a 5K in a month.  I also recalled Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project (which I really enjoyed, and would heartily recommend to some, but not all, of you) and how dividing her big resolution (happiness) into smaller month-long chunks made sense.  So, while I will be pursuing moonlight and candlelight this month, I will be focusing on developing that healthy glow through exercise, and will be publicly posting about my trials and successes here.  Tonight the new fit bit comes out of the package.  Tomorrow I wear it.