I realized when I was a teenager that my friends actually listened to me. When they had a problem, or something they wanted to take off their shoulders, I was the one they came to for a good talk, or for a cry.
I am usually so good at giving sound advice, to others of course.
But I’m not that great at applying that advice to my own life, I can be too hard on myself.
My 10K race yesterday didn’t go as expected, and if it had been someone else who had run it, I know I would have had such good things to tell them to make them feel better… so today I’m telling all those things to myself, and maybe I’ll even listen.
A PR is still a PR:
There are big PRs and small PRs. But even if there’s some logic on me being not happy because a 10 second PR shows no real improvement fitness wise, it’s still a PR and I better grab it, enjoy it, and be proud.
Keep running in perspective:
It’s OK to be disappointed about not getting the result I wanted, for a little while. Like 5 minutes, or maybe even a day. But that’s it, it’s just a race, and it’s just running.
Running has been an incredible addition to my life. It changed me, it made me stronger physically and mentally, it made me happy so many mornings after a good run.
And I’m planning to keep running for as long as I can.
But the past few months running has taken more mental energy from me than it should have. It wasn’t the 5 times a week I spent running, it was the thought that went into it before and after. Getting my paces right. Making the ‘perfect’ training plan. Racing and more racing and “OH NO” if the race didn’t go as planned. I lost focus at work and I lost focus at home, and I’m about to change that.
Be proud of my accomplishments:
I’ve started running more seriously about a year ago. Since then I’ve doubled my weekly running distance, and reduced my average running pace by 22 seconds per KM (37 seconds per mile), included recovery runs and slow long runs.
And in the 6 months since my first 10K and half marathon, I’ve taken a minute and a half off my 10K time and two and a half minutes of my half marathon time. It may be a lot or it may be just a little, but either way, it’s worth being happy about.
Train smart:
It’s important to me to be satisfied with the training I’ve done, and to trust I did the best to my abilities. But after a few months of training and racing, now it’s a good time to review my training and look for things I can improve. I can’t be sure how exactly things will play out, but I can try making a few changes and see how things feel.
Nothing comes without effort:
To me this means embracing a bad race, a disappointing result, a training run I couldn’t finish.
Running is hard, but it’s worth it, for my health, my fitness, my children, my life. Making an effort is a good thing, even when it hurts. No pain, no gain.
2 Cups 'N Run 