Reconnaisance Mission to Find OPERATION COTTON

Well I was kind of hoping that my two readers would have forgotten about the little series I started called OPERATION COTTON, but I know that you probably just think that I am lazy or have forgotten. Let's recap on the last time I wrote about this subject which was Week 4 of the series:

Oh my goodness...what was I thinking?!?
Patience and persistence...that's what I need!
Eye of the Tiger, It's Your Life, and Don't Stop Believin' are my theme songs!
After accomplishing this goal, I visualize something from Coach in my future!
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Well for those of you who don't exactly know what this operation entailed, it was my training schedule for a "Couch to 5K." I was making an acrostic to motivate myself to follow through with this athletic training plan. The name OPERATION COTTON came from my desire to obtain a cute t-shirt from the 5K race I ran so that the WHOLE world would know about my mad running skills. As you can see, I have failed pretty miserably at this mission. Christmas hit, and my exercise routine kind of came to a halt.

I am pretty upset with myself because I truly wanted to follow through with something that made me healthier and allowed me to achieve something athletic in my life. I like to equate my athletic ability animal equivalent to a hippopotamus. I once compared my athletic ability to a monkey, but that is giving myself entirely too much credit. Didn't monkeys play basketball or football or something in Space?!? I have a caring co-worker who often asks how my running is going, and when I tell him how discouraged I get, he tries to think of ways to make running more enjoyable or offer the thought of maybe trying to start riding a bike. Me + bike + Trinity River trail = FIASCO. I've got to keep up the running gig!!

Let's take a trip down memory lane as we go back to my enchanted (NOT!!) middle school years. I was forced to take P.E. during my 6th and 8th grade years. My 7th grade year was the most awesome year ever because I got to take Computer Skills and Life Management in the place of P.E. Coach Smith was my P.E. teacher for both of these horrible years. Coach Smith and I kind of had a special understanding...she knew I HATED P.E., but she still tried to push me. Every six weeks, you were alloted two sick notes from your parents to allow you to sit out of P.E. class...it was never hard to get my mother to write one!! The two sick notes were like Willy Wonka golden tickets in my mind....especially during the gymnastics six weeks. I would have rather bought my lunch every day in the school cafeteria for a year than to have to perform the crazy gymnastics skills we were forced to do. Each girl had to get tested on different gymnastics skills in front of Coach Smith. So let's see...the only skill I ever passed was a somersault. Yes...to the world...I CANNOT do a cartwheel...GASP...I know! I would save that golden sick note for the cartwheel test day as well as for the back bend test day. The note at least saved me from the test for one more day of my life, but I was always then forced to test the next day, which I failed miserably! P.E. was my only "B" during that six weeks.

For some reason I liked Coach Smith, and for some reason she liked me (or felt pity on me!). She chose me to be interviewed by the NBC news station reporter when the solar eclipse occurred. Maybe she picked me because I was so quiet, and she knew I wouldn't do something crazy like do a cartwheel in front of the camera...hehe!!! I was just happy that I didn't have to put on my stinky P.E. clothes that day! I know that my caring mother called Coach Smith and probably had a long discussion with her about how much I hated P.E. Coach Smith never gave up on me, and when I was in high school, she always sent me a sweet note when I made Superintendent's Scholar every six weeks. I actually ran into her back in A-town when I was in pharmacy school. For some reason, she always remembers me! It is probably due to the sheer terror that she can't believe that there is actually someone out there who can't do a cartwheel!

So back to my present day athletic situation...I did very good last week at getting back in the saddle of my version of "running." This week has been sketchy due to my cold...excuses, excuses!! I encourage you as my reader to keep prodding me and keeping me accountable to follow this mission. I have Coach Smith to make proud, and there is also that promise I made to myself that I deserve a new Coach purse! I also would like to up my hippopotamus status to maybe a stately, mature mare!! What do you think?!?

So here we go:
Week 5
Oh my goodness...what was I thinking?!?
Patience and persistence...that's what I need!
Eye of the Tiger, It's Your Life, and Don't Stop Believin' are my theme songs!
After accomplishing this goal, I visualize something from Coach in my future!
Ruh-ro...I messed up! Back in the saddle again!
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