Just Do It. Really.

We all know the Nike saying, Just Do It. Billions of advertising dollars aside, those three little words truly are a phrase to live by.

I've never been an athlete. I've windsurfed and scuba dived, even attempted tennis and baseball, until I injured myself falling over my own two feet and got bonked in the head by a very hard softball in my teenage years. I was never part of a sports team. Or had any talent in any athletic endeavor. But I always wanted it.

I had marveled at a dear friend of mine who completed the MORE magazine Half Marathon in New York twice over the last two years. She was an inspiration. I tried last year to train for it, but didn't really follow a proper plan and kept hearing that voice in the back of my mind telling me I wasn't an athlete so what the heck was I doing? And then, crack, stress fracture in my right knee.

Fast forward to January of this year, time to start training again. This being the year I turned 40, I decided, as the saying goes, to Just Do It. I told that unathletic voice to go away and replaced it with one that said You Can Do It. And so I did. I followed a plan. Sure, it didn't always work out - sick kids and life in general can get in the way sometimes. But I never said quit. There were mornings that I didn't want to get up and go to the gym, windy cold and rainy days that I didn't want to run outside. But I kept telling myself, Just Do It. Just Do It.

And I Did It.

I wasn't fast. But I Did It. And I will Do It Again.

Those three little words can apply to all aspects of life. There's always an excuse for not doing something. For months I've tried to get going with this blog, but there's always been an excuse for why I couldn't sit down and spend 15 minutes writing. So now, I just sit down and do it - the laundry, dirty kitchen floor and kids can wait for 15 minutes. It's not perfect. But it doesn't have to be. It just has to get done.

I don't have to be a perfect writer. I just have to write.
I don't have to be a fast runner. I just have to run.

So forget the excuses.

Just Do It.