This just in: I am now just over 10 weeks away from completing my certificate course in technical communication… And I couldn’t be more stressed, exhausted, or high-strung. But. With all of that said, I’m a pleased to report that I am still running.
Sort of.
Many of you know that I am a newly ‘minted’ runner. I successfully completed my first race, a 10K, on May 29th. And since then, I’ve been running here and there, sort of willy-nilly, whenever the spirit moved me. And that’s been fun and somewhat relaxing… But lately, I realized that what I was really doing was allowing myself to be lazy. The excuses started flying off my shelf… Since I wasn’t training for a run, you name it – I used it. “I’m too tired.” “It’s too hot.” “I’m too busy.” These all became acceptable reasons to simply lace up my shoes, take off for a few easy minutes, and come home. Not to mention that my running several times a week, became running a few times a week, became running (hopefully) sometime this week. LAZY.
I have said from the beginning that I love to run. But now more than ever, as I’m flying so high and so fast, I need to run. It’s the only activity that I have found (besides writing) that truly lets me shut off my to-do lists, ignore my inner-critic, and silence my worry wart. I put on my shoes, hook up my music, and leave it all behind for a little while.
So, I got to wondering the other day how I’d find a way to get back to running like a real runner should, since there are no races currently in my sights. And then it hit me: Just because I’m not signed up for a run, doesn’t mean I can’t train for one! So I did some research and I thought about what my next running milestone might look like. And fairly quickly, I was hit by the idea that I wanted to run a half-marathon; if not in “race”, at least in distance. I found a non-crazy-person 10 week training schedule, printed it out, hung it up on my calendar hook, and have begun my quest for my half.
In the next 10 weeks, I will learn how to run 13.1 miles, or 21.1 kms. On paper, the numbers look ridiculous. Who runs 21 kilometers for fun? Who runs 21 kilometers, period!? Well, apparently, I will. And to be quite honest, I can’t wait. And although I’ve only just started following my new training plan, it feels so good to be running with purpose again.
Curiously, the running program is 10 weeks long. And it’s no small coincidence, in my opinion, that my certificate will also be complete in 10 weeks. Perhaps this is my race to the finish lines of my schooling and the next phase of my running? Who knows.
But the race is on.
Leave a comment