Catching up but Still Laggin Behind
It has been a terrible two weeks for running. I missed my long run this week. My job and social life are interfering with my ability to get out there and get it done. I keep running, doing the shorter runs when I can. I am behind one long run. But it doesn’t look good for me to get it in this weekend as we have a family wedding. The long runs require quite a bit of physical and mental preparation. Plus, there is no way, in this heat that I can do them any other time but early am.
On the plus side, our good friend and sports-psychologist, Brandon has agreed to be my accountability coach. I was feeling very decimated earlier in the week but then I realized I had just put up a lot of mental barriers that were keeping me from seeing what I could do. Let me give an example: I think, “it is WAYYYYY to HOT to run.” So I keep myself from getting out there. But I can do short runs in the heat or I can go to the gym and run on the treadmill in the AC. I also don’t have to accept the heat as a barrier at all and I can just strap-on the CamelBak and hit it. Coincidentally, Runner’s World magazine has a whole article this month on how to beat the heat. Much of my mental talk had turned into excuses to not run.
Also, I think I am starting to get scared that maybe this is more of a challenge than I am capable of. Again, thoughts stopping me from even trying. So I am making a list of stuff that is going to HELP me complete this marathon-my motivators.
1) My daughter, Juliet. I want her to know her mom is tough and strong and able to do great and amazing things. Her very existence is a testament to my ability to do something hard and long and scary: pregnancy and childbirth.
2) Jeremy, my husband. Together, he and I have accomplished amazing things. We built a family, a life, a business, and worked together so that I can excel in my own profession too. I have watched him bust through the fear and anxiety that is a part of taking risk and I have watched him succeed, again and again. When I leave the house to run, he says, “bust it out, Baby.”
3) Being a Doctor. I just can’t quit. I have a reputation to uphold. Plus, I made it through 12 grueling years to become a doctor and then a board certified anesthesiologist. Plus, I had to learn how to spell “anesthesiologist.” Hell, if I did all that, I can run a marathon.
4) Lori, Shannon, Stephanie, Julie: These are four women that I am pleased to count among my friends. They have all run marathons. They are average women with all the stresses of motherhood and work and all that jazz. They inspire and challenge me to meet their bar of achievement. Brave and beautiful hearts every last one.
5) My Dad: a man of great suspicion, with an inquiring mind, and a genetic predisposition to avoiding risks. A man who values hard work and effort over flamboyance and talk. Seriously, I think Dad thinks I can’t do it. Yeah, he thought I would never get into or complete medical school. He is why I love Christina Aguilera’s song “Fighter.”
I AM A MARATHONER. I LOVE TO RUN. I RUN UNTIL I AM DONE!
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