It's Still Progress, And It's Still Forward Progress.

Wow, I realize it's been an entire month since I've posted to keep you updated on Paige's journey.  I apologize!  We've had a very busy month.  Tons of challenges, of which I will be letting you know about in video format very soon.   Some of those challenges I'll talk about, will include my struggle of almost cancelling the remainder of this program all together. Stay tuned to see what has happened over the course of this month, and why I almost said "forget it."

But, in the mean time, I would like to share one huge accomplishment that Paige achieved this past week.  I had Paige meet me outside of my work one evening (in the dark), dressed to exercise.  She had no clue what we'd be doing, but I can only imagine the trepidation, as she drove downtown.  She knew she couldn't skip out on this one (reference the above paragraph).  We only had about 20 minutes, as I was in between personal training clients that evening at the gym.

As soon as I walked out the door and saw Paige who was meeting me out near the parking lot, I said: "We're going to run a mile."  I could see her brain churning like "hell no we are not!"  But, I knew she could do it, so I wouldn't let her create any excuses, at least out loud.  1 mile would be just about 4 laps around the block.  Since it was dark outside, we decided to just do that.

Paige giving me the finger after completing 1 mile.
At least it's just to signify "one" mile done!

Now, if you remember, it was back in June/July when Paige took the 5 Weeks to 5k running clinic. Technically, she should be able to run 3 miles, at this point.  That would be if she stuck to the training schedule.  She even started the schedule over at least one more time from the beginning, but I don't think she made it past the first week of runs.  Paige can probably correct me on that if I'm wrong.

So, it's been a lesson to me, on patience.  Not everyone will accomplish the tasks I set out for them, on the timeline I set out for them.  So, I cannot be mad at Paige for avoiding the running schedule homework.  It may be 5 months to 5k, but that's still fine.  It's still progress, and it's still forward progress.

I tend to beat myself up when my clients aren't achieving the results they (or I) think they should be achieving, on a timely basis.  It frustrates me to no end, as I think, "what did I do wrong?"  Could I have done something differently? I probably could have done a million things differently, but I didn't.  So, my lesson is to remember that forward progress is still progress, no matter how fast or slow it goes.  It's so important to not stay stagnant.   And that's why I pushed Paige on this 1 mile run.  I know she felt stagnant in her running. She still doesn't like running, and that's fine with me.  After this 6 month journey, she's off the hook from running with me if she wants to. But during it, she's all mine, which she often forgets ;)  So, I knew Paige needed to not only feel, but SEE her progress, even if she's disappointed that it's not as much progress as she hoped for either.  

Running a mile is a trackable, recordable, notable accomplishment for someone who has never run that far or long ever.  In fact, Paige ran the mile in 13 minutes!  I, however, didn't tell her until we finished that she ended up running for over 15 minutes, and actually did 1.18 miles.  (We had to get back around the block, so it ended up being a bit longer than a mile).  I am hoping that now, Paige sees her progress.  I see her progress, but that means nothing, if she doesn't see it.

So, for the next month, Paige will be doing "activities" that help her to understand how far she's come, even doing the small baby steps along the way.  She needs these small accomplishments, now that she is  sort of  beginning to believe in herself.