I had a monumental moment yesterday. Actually it was more of a Forrest Gump moment yet monumental just the same.

I think I've mentioned it before that I have been jalking, or half jogging half walking. I have my little trail I go down that is pretty secluded. I don't have enough guts to actually jog in public yet.

So Scooter, my Welsh Corgi pup, and I start out walking briskly to the path for a little warm up. When we get to our start point I jog for a little while, picking a stop point ahead of me. When I reach my stop point I walk until the next jog point and so on and so forth, until I reach the end. Then we walk home together. Occasionally my husband will come along with us. He resisted the jalk at first, but now hes usually at the end of the road waiting for me to catch up. He's such a trooper!

I've been jalking now for about 3 or 4 weeks, only a couple times a week. At first it was hard. I could barely make my stop points without gasping for breath and sometimes I had to stop before I reached the end.

Over the weeks I have really seen vast improvements.

First I noticed it was taking me longer before I was out of breath but my legs still wouldn't go any further.

Then it was a combination of both my legs and my lungs that were outlasting my little stop point goals. I was really getting better! I started picking longer targets and found myself jogging right past them.

So the other day I jalked my entire path, only walking very briefly to catch my breath a few times and then it was right back to jogging. It was definately a great feeling but what was even better is when I reached the end, I turned around and did it again! (Hence the Forrest Gump reference, you know when he ran all the way to the coast and didnt know what to do so he turned around and ran back) Scooter wasn't quite sure what to think. He looked at me like “ummm, Mom, we just came from there.” But soon enough he caught on and was running right along side me.

It wasn't even just the turning around, having extra energy and pushing my limits that made me feel great though. It was a combination of things.

That day I actually continued to jog when I would see other people on the path. Before I would always stop as soon as I saw another person as I feared they would make fun of me or laugh or just look at me strange like “hey there not thin woman, dont you know you're not thin?”. That day I just didnt care anymore. I was doing this for me not for anybody else.

I actually felt like I had some sort of form that day. Prior to then I always felt a little unsure of myself. Was I running right? Did I look like Phoebe on that episode of Friends? I've never been a runner. I've never been a jogger. This is actually the first time in my life that I've even attempted such a crazy thing. But that day everything seemed to just fit. It seemed right.

So that was my momumental moment. It wasnt something I had thought about. It wasn't one of my goals. It wasn't something I planned or even strived for. But ya know what, I think those unpredictable moments are turning out to be some of my favorite times.

It's like throwing a surprise party for a friend. Everybody is in their hiding places...the lights are turned off...you hear shuffles and whispers of “shhhh” through the dark room... your heart is beating quicker in anticipation of what's to come. It's that moment, when the lights flip on and everybody jumps out of hiding and shouts SURPRISE! That's the moment when you realize this party was for you. That's what that moment was for me. My own little suprise party.