Deciding to Walk, Placing Blame and Saying Thanks

So I want to say upfront that I blame among many things my new galoshes, the book my roommate gave me, Wreck This Journal, an incredible friend, the city of Los Angeles and my best friend for over 11 years for a few sudden but stubborn thoughts in my head. Why do I blame all these things...let's go over the evidence shall we?

Item 1: This incredible friend signed up to do some crazy prove to the world you can run uphill and through obstacles race, now while I don't want to run uphill or prove I'm a Spartan Warrior, it made me want to do something, so I signed up to do The Warrior Dash in April. Yes, I will be one of the crazy people jumping through tires, climbing through a junk yard, wading through mud (and several of you know that I don't like mud). So I blame this friend for making my brain want to do this.

Item 2: In talking with the same friend, I mentioned I was thinking about starting the Couch to 5k running program, he not only encouraged me to do it, but offered to do it with me. So I blame him for what I think has become the start of my actually liking to run. I'm on week 4 and actually really love it. I blame him entirely for this.

Item 3: The City of Los Angeles, okay well maybe not the city itself, perhaps more accurately the weather in the city. How can I not want to go outside and run when it's a beautiful 75 and sunny. So I also blame the weather in the city of LA for forcing me to continue this new running habit.

Item 4: This book, Wreck This Journal, may very well be the bane of my existence at the moment. It's staring at me, mocking me almost, daring me to open it and do one of the instructions on the pages, things like shower with it and place sticky things inside it (I do not like sticky things as a general rule.) the current page told me to make a mess and then clean it up -- I can't decide what kind of mess to make, mainly because I'm afraid it will be too messy (we'll discuss this in another blog entry). So I blame my roommate for giving me this book which is making me do many things I wouldn't normally do and have fun while I'm doing them. I also blame the book and by default my roommate for forcing me look outside of my little box and go on new adventures.

Item 5: My new galoshes, I love my new galoshes, even though I've only been able to wear them once this season since they arrived. I love them for two reasons, the first being obvious, they keep my feet dry in the rain. Second, they are covered in pink ribbons. The pink ribbons, I think I'm blame them too! These galoshes sit in my room, I see them everyday, so in turn I see the pink ribbons everyday. So one night while staring at the ribbons I found myself googling the Susan G. Komen 3 day for a Cure event. I found it, began watching all the videos, reading their information and fast forward 10 days I actually registered for the San Diego Race in November. So I blame my galoshes for the initial idea to google the event and then eventually register for it.

Item 6: Finally I blame my best friend for the past 10 years for asking to join my 3 day team and train with me. I blame her because in doing this she too is helping push me out of my box and into a new journey. The best part is I get to share this adventure with her, but I still blame her a bit!

So there you have it, I believe I have presented significant evidence to prove that my desire to step out of my comfort zone and do things like run, wade through mud, shower with a book and walk 60 miles can be blamed on my new galoshes, the book my roommate gave me, an incredible friend, the city of Los Angeles and my best friend for over 11 years.

Perhaps blame isn't exactly the right word perhaps I should be saying thank you. Thank you for helping me experience so many new things and embark on several amazing journeys in 2011.