Today I’m taking a true rest day. No running, no strength training, no fun weddings and dancing the night away. Ironic considering my complaino last post about never having time for anything? Kind of. But from reading all of the expert rockstar blogs out there, I realize having time for real rest is just as important. Meaning there will be a lot of this:
Don’t pretend you’re not jealous of my purple socks. Last night I was planning on waking up early today and running 8 miles. But when I fell asleep at 8:30 and didn’t wake up until almost 10 this morning, I had second thoughts and decided to listen to my sleepy body. I had good workouts on Thursday and Friday, ran another lovely 1.8 miles before a leg workout on Thursday, and yesterday I ran outside for 4 miles in 39 minutes before the sun came up. And disappointingly, 4 miles felt HARD. Harder especially considering how slow I felt like I was going.
I didn’t expect getting back into running to be so challenging. It has gotten me pretty disappointed, and then I saw someone posted this on twitter:
I liked it as soon as I saw it, but it made even MORE sense after last night. Last night I watched the beginning of ‘Run for Your Life’, a documentary about Fred Lebow who started the NYC Marathon. Did you know that the first NYC marathon was 4 laps around central park & that no women were able to finish? Crazy right!? It wasn’t until 6 years later in 1976 that the marathon went through all 5 boroughs and even then everyone doubted that the event would be successful or even safe.
Now I didn’t finish watching yet (remember I fell asleep at 8:30) not because it wasn’t interesting I was just THAT tired. But between seeing that quote and watching as much as I did, I’m realizing that I have to be more realistic and have faith that everything happens for a reason. I’m not a freshman in high school cross country running 7:00 miles like it’s nothing. And I’m not 22 and able to run a half marathon in 2:00 without training anything more than 3 miles, not caring about the injuries it would cause and the months that would turn into years of me not running. I know that all of those things from the past happened to let me know that I have the potential to be a great runner (for me) but it’s going to take TIME and real training. I can’t go out there and expect to run 10 miles like it’s nothing, or train seriously (and not even that seriously since I have such little amounts of time) for a month and get disappointed that it’s still hard and I still have a long way to go.
So I’m looking forward it being hard and being grateful that I can run at all. Despite how far or fast. I mean, Fred Lebow admitted that he himself wasn’t a great runner and he started one of the world’s best marathons all because he BELIEVED in it when NO ONE else did. Pretty amazing, huh?
Even if it is not running you’re trying to accomplish or even anything physical, just don’t let yourself get discouraged if you’re not seeing the results you expected. Things take time and it’s sooooooo cliche but it’s not necessarily all about the end goal, it’s about getting there 🙂
I’m off to lounge and learn more about the NYC marathon. Have a great weekend!!! 🙂
Mo Runs Marathons 