Yoga Pants Life

2018 was a lackluster year in many ways. Don’t get me wrong – it wasn’t a terrible year and I’ve been through much worse, but it wasn’t the best year in terms of things I accomplished. It especially was not a good year for me running-wise.

I have no reasons or excuses for why my running was inconsistent. Though, I had multiple sinus infections in winter and spring that put a damper on my half marathon training. I let the sinus infections derail me to the point where I just sort of gave up. I stopped running all together from February though mid April.  I didn’t pick it back up again until late April and by then I basically had 4.5 weeks to figure out how to finish a half the first weekend in June.

Needless to say, I not only bombed the half marathon and got my worst time yet. I lost steam after that and by the time it was time to start training for my fall half, I just gave up (for the second time in 2018.) The writing was on the wall and while I know I could have finished, I was done slogging across finish lines with embarrassing finish times. While I was upset, I was also proud of myself for letting it go, because at the end of the day, there will ALWAYS be more races.

Determined to get back into the swing of things, I spent most of fall and early winter on the treadmill once or twice a week, up until last week when I decided to get back on the roads. I’ll be honest, it’s been tough, but also amazing. I forgot just how good those endorphins make me feel (and while you absolutely can get an endorphin high from a treadmill, it’s not quite the same for me.) It didn’t matter that I was slow, it didn’t matter that my lungs burned, all that mattered was that I was getting outside and doing it.

And you know what? I get faster and better with each run. I have no doubts that if I keep this up, I will be more than ready to cross the starting lines of two half marathons later this spring. Assuming those go well, I will toe the line at my third Chicago Marathon in October. I’ve got goals and a lot to prove to myself, and for the first time in a really long time, I feel ready to tackle everything.

Bring on the cold runs (like today) the hot runs (summer) the good runs and the inevitable bad (but character building) runs. I want it all.

I’ve totally got this. I can feel it.