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Forever Starting Over

 



Lately, I haven’t been great with follow through - at least not with my running goals. The run streak went well, but that was done quite a while ago. I have been focused on other things, and the past two months have been filled with grief. Sometimes you just have to get through day by day until the storm passes.

The final blow was losing my dog, Mooner. aka Moon Dog - aka Moo

He was my buddy for almost all of my runs, and I loved our adventures together. It has been absolutely awful losing him, and I have struggled to go for a run. Every good running spot makes me miss him. Then I am either sad or angry and have no interest in running. What’s the point without him trotting along in front of me?

Now, I know there are a lot of other reasons to go for a run, and I know that I need running in my life for my own sanity. I’ve managed a couple of runs, but the motivation is severely lacking. I needed a goal.

Cue random email.

I received an email the other day from someone who has a couch to marathon plan that they offer on their site for free. The site is runnersblueprint.com, and they have a ton of great running info as well as this program for free.

A couch to marathon program seems perfect right now. It starts out super easy, which is great since I have 0 motivation at the moment. It also keeps things very simple. The non-running days are mostly labeled rest or cross train. I like variety and also feeling like I have input into my own training, and this will allow that as well as allowing me to listen to what my body needs on a day to day basis. I have no interest in getting injured this time around.

Marathon has been the plan for the first step in a larger goal, and this is perfect. Nice and easy. I am planning to run my own marathon because I know I am not ready for the anxiety of being at a crowded race start. This crossed my path at the perfect time, and I feel ready to take it on. Check out the link above to follow along - or join me if you’re chasing 26.2. We can share training tales.

In hopes of maintaining motivation, I am going to try blogging daily about my training. Today was Day 1, but this program starts with a rest/cross train day. I did a mix of rower and lifting. I love a good weights sesh, but the rower and I are not besties. I’ve never actually incorporated actual cross training before, so I am going to make an effort to do it right this time.

I feel like I am forever starting over.

It’s only recently that I’ve realized that starting over is not a bad thing. It’s not really starting over. A better term would be trying again. That’s how I try to think about it now. Because I am always starting from somewhere new. I have new experiences. New information. There is growth in every attempt. And, it slowly adds up.

So, I’ll just keep trying. I am excited about this new attempt.
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