{A recent post I wrote to my online running group, but thought I would share here.}
Ok, I have to be honest. I'm SUPER competitive, but in my own way and mostly against myself. I'm 6 years younger then my sister. I wanted to run a half marathon, but she did it before me. And was freaking FAST!! She's a gifted runner. She has run countless halves and a marathon since. So I sometimes sit and think, "well if I'm never going to run a half at THAT time, why do it at all?" or "I'm not going to run a full, so why train for a half?" Destructive runners syndrome.
This group has been extremely humbling for me. After starting the challenge our church started the Daniel Fast and I felt like the Lord was saying, "trust me, you need to do this first and the rest will come." So I did and I didn't contribute as many miles to the first challenge as I would have liked. But at the end of it I had some such a long way in my faith and heart.
| This time last year I hadn't even started my spring training, but tonight I did 5 miles doing run/walk intervals. |
So I'm on Team Paprika and we slowly slid into last place. But instead of giving up and saying to myself, "no matter how many miles I long it won't be enough." I tried to consistently add to it.
One of the things I think that has meant the most to me is seeing everyone else's pace. My sister seriously runs 7:XX minute miles. So when I looked at my 8:30/9:00 minute miles last year I got discouraged because my body is several inches taller then her and "will never run that pace." Getting to know other real people, just running for the love of it and seeing their real life, up and down paces has been amazing! It's been humbling, encouraging, and so uplifting. Kristin your blog post seriously was so amazing for my spirit!
Pushing a 35 pound daughter and 25 pound stroller!!! Thank you Addi for not letting mommy stop and crying when I tried to leave the gym.
Tonight I ran 5 miles, for the first time since my race training LAST May. After that race I ran probably ten times last year. Because I never would ___________. My 5 miles wasn't the pace I would have loved to see last year, but as I finished it I was just as proud to finish mile 5 tonight as I was to cross the 10K race line last year. Yes, my pace was slower because I'm starting over but I was SO proud!
Don't compare your journey to anyone else's.
Take all the encouragement from other's stories.
Keep fighting.
And be proud!
Any accomplishment is HUGE!!!
"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start" -Quote by John Bingham
Thanks again for the shout-out :). You may know all of this from the blog, but I started running last February and by the fall I was consistently running 4-5 miles at a time, several times a week. I got bored with 5k races pretty quickly and decided to give the half a try. I had no idea what I was doing or if I could do it, but I knew the training would hurt even if I didn't register for a race. I used the Runner's World app to plan my training cycle and them modified it a little as I went along. I really just listened to my body about how frequently and how far to run and that worked best for me. I ran 3-4 miles two days a week, 5-6 miles on Wednesdays and then a long run on Saturday or Sunday. My long runs started at 6 miles and every other week or so I would add a mile until I got up to 11. I never ran more than that and only ran double-digits twice before race day. I always rested the day after my long run and my total training cycle lasted a little over 3 months (although I took almost a month off during the holidays). You can do it - it's just mind over matter :).
ReplyDeleteThanks Kristin! I finally figured out how to get smart coach back on my phone, since it's no longer in the itunes store. But I don't think I'm ready to jump right into a 5 mile mid week run or 6 mile weekend. I'm hoping to ease into it so when the weather warms up I'm starting to run longer and can get outside with a giant stroller. Slowly but surely. I decided I'm going to maintain 12-15 mile weeks for this week + 2 more weeks, then do a half plan, then maintain 12-15 mile weeks for summer, then do a half plan, and race this fall. Then I can "feel" prepared!
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