Hi folks—TGIF!
The week caught up to him
So today I chose to get my long run out of the way for a few reasons.
- I had a fairly light day workwise which meant I could afford to run during the day.
- It was really lovely weather….breezy and low 60s.
- My Saturday will be really jam packed and I prefer to spend time Sunday with Mr. SOTSS’ and the doggies. (I still might run a short 3ish miler though).
I only had 7 miles to cover as this is my drop back week (have I mentioned how happy I am to be training for a half marathon and not a full this Spring?!). From the first step I knew I was doomed. Each turnover felt like I was trying to pull my foot out of quicksand. But brick by brick I just kept muddling through. I wanted so bad for this run to feel effortless. I even had this wild idea that I’d tack on a few extra miles too. Yeah, nope.
Finally after 5 miles I walked a bit. I looked at my watch and realized my 11:10 pace had now slowed to 12:10 and I wanted to just walk the last 2 miles. But something made me blurt out loud “Really Sally, what difference does it make what your pace is, just go. You might be running solo but you’re part of something bigger”. What kind of philosophical mumbo jumbo did I just say?
It took me a minute to process. I was out with my girlfriends the other night and started to vent about how social media can make me feel like a failure, like I’m not dedicated enough. I see these runners in my feed who are running at 4am while their family sleeps because it’s the only time they can run. I see posts from speedy runners, super clean eaters, etc etc.
It was in the midst of my struggle to just chug through that I realized this is MY story….and this will be shared for others to read. And you know what? I think that’s really important for this large, virtual running community that I like to think of as a team. I owe it to my readers/followers to be honest and share my struggles. We are all here to support and inspire each other. Not to feel envy or to feel inferior.
I am not going to try and dissect what went wrong here. I’m going to be grateful that I was able to get those 7 miles in.
Someday I won’t be able to run anymore. Today was not that day…
I have been reading your blog for awhile and this is the first time I have commented. Thanks for the honesty. I have a lot of those same thoughts too. Every so often I have to tell myself knock it off and be happy that you can get out and move no matter the pace 🙂
Thanks for your comment. And thanks for reading. 🙂
HI Sally! I have been reading for a while (and commenting, every so often), and one of the reasons I love your blog is because you are so honest. My BRF is always telling me to stop reading all the “I just did a slow run. You know, 8:30 miles” bloggers because of the feeling of inferiority I sometimes come away with. I will remind myself of these words on my next slog of a run because it DOESN’T matter my pace! Thank you again!
Honesty is the best policy they say. Hope your runs are at your happy pace.