Do you do new year’s resolutions? I don’t, and I’ve read many articles that say it’s just as well. Most resolutions are abandoned before Valentine’s Day.

However…

My daughter and I signed up to run the Covered Bridges Half Marathon in June!

It’s an event on the calendar not a resolution, but it will take some doing to get myself ready. This will be our fourth CBHM and my fifth half-marathon since I started running longer distances a few years ago. That fifth one was in Dingle, Ireland, an amazing experience with breathtaking scenery, even in heavy rain.

CBHM has 13.1 miles of its own breathtaking scenery. It’s on my home turf in east-central Vermont. The photo below is on the route. I’m excited…hopeful…uncertain. It’s like that when I start a new book. Even after writing almost 80 books.As a writer, I’m tuned in to the power of incremental progress. Bit by bit, a manuscript takes shape. For my first half-marathon, I started by running one minute and worked my way up to thirty minutes over eight weeks. Then I dived into Hal Higdon’s 12-week novice half-marathon training program.

There were setbacks with weather, injuries, illness, ice and heat, but I kept at it right up until race day.

And I finished! That’s been my only goal in all of my races. Finish. I’m not racing against anyone, just as when I write a book, I’m not competing with other writers.

Right now, I’m enjoying the winter landscape and layering up for cold weather. Before I know it my route will green up with new leaves on the trees, fresh grass and wildflowers. A new layer of cow manure on the fields can be a bit hard to take for a gasping runner, but I’ve learned to cover my mouth.

Sometimes we just have to trust the process and keep going, one step at a time…one page at a time.