It's sunrise and I decided to take a departure from my usual 3:00 p.m. writing ritual because - full disclosure - I have been off my blog for a few weeks. That's is how life happens sometimes - other aspects of your life take a sudden priority and you find that some of the activities that you enjoy end up taking a back seat. I am smiling as I type because I somehow have to find an analogy about running that speaks to what is going on in life. As a runner, I know that this is how run training goes sometimes too - you have your plan laid out for the weeks ahead and life throws a curve ball into your training. You sustain an injury. Your family member dies or is ill. Your child is graduating. You are returning to regular business hours after the Covid 19 lock down. In the midst of all, we do not quit. We get up at sunrise and we resume.
It's the end of Week 10 of my #ChicagoMarathon training plan. Sweltering summer heat aside, I find myself taking a moment yesterday during my 10K group training run (which was audio guided my vocal man crush, Coach Bennett, Nike Running Global Run Coach) to find pride in how much I have been improving over this training cycle. We are still very uncertain on whether or not this race will happen as scheduled. But running never stops and in running you find these gems which completely lift and inspire.
About two Mondays ago, I was in an unusual mood. I didn't feel like getting up for my weekly endurance run (#gasp #thehorror). So on that day, I decided that a good way to get myself out of that funk was to do some hills repeats #crazy. Except that it wasn't crazy. On the last half of my run, I felt the strength in my legs. I felt my turnover. I listened to my breathing. Everything was so strong and so in concert with every other component. Coach Bennett calls it #physicalpoetry and he is right. As I ended my run and began the cool down walk to my car, I went on #facebooklive to share my thoughts on how thankful I am for strong legs and and even stronger body to carry me through running and through life. One thing we tend to pick at as runners are all of the ways that we felt our bodies have let us down. That knee we have had surgery on. That hamstring that gives us problems after every speed workout and long run. The way our feet just don't act right when our minds and wills want to pick up the pace.
I thought "Well, let's change the narrative. Let's talk about all of the ways that our bodies uplift us."
The strength in our arm swings.
That beautiful runners form.
That runners cadence and turnover.
The rise and fall in our lungs with every step.
The determination in our minds that carries us out of the door and knows that there is no better place to be at that moment.
Focus on the uplift.
#runnaturally #inspiretherunner #chicagomarathon #runcoach #runtribe #rungroup #newblogpost #uplift #positiverunners #marathontraining #running
