5 years later……
I am about a week late celebrating my blog’s birthday. I’ve been so focused and consumed with marathon training the last two months that nothing else has been a high priority. Training has been going really well, but it took a nagging pain in my hamstring/groin the last two days to force me to take two true rest days. I’ve learned over the years that there is a time to run and a time to rest and that part of training is knowing when each is best. Obsessively, and unhealthily I want to pound out miles even when it hurts to walk or bend my leg. Logically, I know that I should just take a few days off to rest and recover after 9 hard weeks of marathon training. Logic won out but it was a stressful, difficult internal battle. With this pain I knew that I had two choices. I could rest for a few days and be completely fine, or I could run and seriously injure myself ending my marathon dreams before even getting to the starting line. If you have followed my running journey over the last 5 years you probably know that it has been a never ending journey of personal growth and development as an athlete. My relationship with running has not always been healthy or ideal. As an athlete, I’ve spent years mentally broken.
It feels amazing to look back at old running logs and blog posts and see progress, not in my performance but with my thoughts. I’ve seen significant improvement over the years. Running is more enjoyable now than it ever has been. It doesn’t feel like an obligation, I don’t feel like I am failing [as often] when I skip a run, winning isn’t a priority, personal performance goals are a priority, I take rest days, I don’t allow myself to spiral out of control and self-sabotage my training and performance. I am much more confident as an athlete–I only wish I had this confidence when I was younger.
I am sitting here writing this post after spending the last few days thinking about what to say and all that I can come up with is this:
For 5 years I have been actively sharing my life as a distance runner [through blogging] with my little corner of the internet. Truthfully, a person could learn more about me by reading something I wrote than they could in conversation. I don’t consider myself to be a great conversationalist but I consider my writing to be very open and honest. Simply stated, this blog is who I am. I am not afraid to tell my stories and share my experiences because they have provided me with a meaningful life.
In 5 years time I learned to appreciate the risk I took when I created The Road Less Run. I have a written record of nearly everything significant that I have experienced in the last 5 years of my life, and that’s pretty amazing! Through my writing I have been able to find the courage to do things I never could have dreamt of.
In the last 5 years I have
-Started a graduate program in Sport Psychology
-Coached college cross-country
-Written a thesis addressing the underestimation of women in coaching
-Run 3 marathons
-Sold a home
-Moved from New Jersey to Colorado
-Bought a new house on the side of a mountain and remodeled it with the help of our awesome friends
-Graduated from my masters program
-I spent a summer living in California
-Went to Europe
-Started a business
-Started a running club
-Climbed mountains
-I’ve chopped off my really long hair twice
-Watched the sun rise and set in the Colorado sky
-Learned that there are rocks above the treeline
-I’ve written poems
-I started writing a book
Aside from going to graduate school and coaching cross-country, none of these things were things I EVER imagined doing. The Road Less Run Blog continues to inspire me to be more open-minded and honest with my self about my deepest desires and my personal goals.
The Road Less Run 