I wouldn't have believed it if you told me.

This past weekend, I participated in and completed the NYRR Women's Mini 10K (that's 6.2 miles for all you who are like, "What the heck is a 10k?" I was one of those people).

photo courtesy Brightroom Photgraphy

The race was absolutely amazing and I had so many people who encouraged and helped me along the way. A huge THANK YOU to those people, and you know who you are.

One thing I do find humorous is how easy it is to see the end product of something without consideration of the behind-the-scenes work. Almost exactly one year ago today, I weighed 30 lbs heavier. And that wasn't even my heaviest! Try 50 lbs!!! What? I know. (what can I say? I liked late-night pizza) Over a year's worth of work to get down to where I could even consider running a race. And then after that, almost two month's training for the actual race itself. And all of that can get summed up into one FB photo "like" (not that I'm complaining. I like your "likes." Please like my pictures. I need attention!).

"What's your point?" you ask. It's this. It's so easy to idealize the end and forget the work it takes to get there. People see a published best-selling book. They don't see the relentless hours of butt-in-chair writing even when you'd rather pull your hair out strand by strand. Broadway musicals are visually stunning. Waiting in equity lines for hours just to get an audition are not. The list goes on and on. In the age of reality TV where for a couple months you compete and then win your dream, we forget that that's not really "reality." There's no big secret here. It comes down to knowing what you want and doing a little bit everyday. And some days you aren't gonna wanna go to the gym, or write, or meet up with people. You'll just wanna stay home and have an afternoon whiskey while watching The Cosby Show on Netflix. And you know what? That's okay too. Because there's this other really cool thing that goes along with achieving your dreams...grace.