I remember the day exactly- my 28th birthday. We decided we were going to run a marathon. I printed out a calendar, found a training schedule online, and we started running. We signed up for a half marathon in September and the full marathon in October. We ran 4 times a week. I began to enjoy running. It was my time to get out of the house and enjoy the fresh air. My times were improving. I was feeling strong and confident.
Fast forward 4 months, trainings going great. But we got the news that the full marathon was going virtual. We chose to not participate this year. Like anything you’re looking forward to that bad news can cause you to lose motivation. And I did. Training the second half of July and beginning of August was slim to none. And then I woke up. I stopped pouting. The half marathon was still taking place and I needed to get my butt in gear. It was time to start training again. Physically my body was still good. Mentally I had to battle with myself. I put my run on my to do list every day because I love crossing things off.
Here we are end of September and I can cross running a half marathon off my bucket list. I’m not saying I’ll never run another half again. But I don’t think I will run the Old Forge Half again. It was challenging. It was trail running. There were hills. There we rocks. There were stones. But at the end of the race I felt so accomplished! I finishes 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 12 minutes. I was so proud of myself. Heck I still am proud as I sit here and write this post. I accomplished something difficult. I did something most people don’t do. Moral of the story, you can do anything you desire to do. So what’s stopping you? Do you need an accountability partner? Do you need help making plan? Or do you need to just tell me you’re doing something? JUST DO IT!