Accomplishment...

It's an ordinary word, but I have learned that it is often used to refer to more extraordinary things.  When looking to find a way to describe the achievement of something one never thought possible, the word accomplishment came up more than any other.  It means fulfillment, something done admirably or creditably, which would include those things never thought possible.
I am one of those people who do not like to attempt things unless I know I can do it well from the start, preferably, do it better than most.  It has always been a hindrance to me when it comes to trying something new or challenging.  I shy away from that which I don't know and definitely from those thing I have convinced myself I cannot do.  Most of this is tied to pride and the inevitable embarassment that comes when others see you fail or even just struggle. 
An athletic person I am not.  I gave it all a fair shot when I was younger (soccer, softball, basketball), but by high school I had abandoned all efforts at team sports, and really any type of exercise at all.  When I was in college, as part of an effort to keep off the freshman 15, I began exercising at the school gym.  I enjoyed it, could go at a time when few others were there (reference paragraph 2) and successfully kept the weight off.  One thing I never did was run.
My commentary on running has always been, "If you see me running please call the cops, someone must be chasing me."  Running was painful, exhausting, hot, and just all around yucky.  Though, inspite of my grave dislike of the activity (yes, i had tried it before) I always thought it would be such an accomplishment to finish a race. 
I am not sure what initially spurred me to even start, I really don't even have a guess, I just decided one day that I would begin the Couch to 5K running program and that I would run a 5K in November (it will actually be in December, the Merry Fitness 5K in Jacksonville).  With impeccable timing I started training as the Carolina summer was heating up, but I have stuck with it, and at the end of 9 weeks I am running 3 miles.  I am embarassingly slow, it is still not as easy as I think it should be, but I can run 3 miles without stopping and that, for me, is quite an accomplishment.