Happy New Year, all!
I hope everyone had a great time celebrating in the many ways one can celebrate a new year.
Personally, I did the visit some favorite friends in Madison, Wisconsin and spend the night hanging with them. After the last few years, the idea of trying to plan anything just to see plans changes at the last minute was something none of us wanted to deal with, especially when it’s the company that counts!
So Day 1 of a new year.
Guess how many miles I did??
Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Zero.
Nope, I didn’t have a champagne hangover that stopped me. Yes, I was in a different city from Chicago. So why didn’t I run?
As basic as it sounds, it’s because Fridays are my rest day for my training program (shout out to Hal Higdon’s free training programs, what what!)
But I really struggled with not running. I justified with 1) it’s my rest day, and 2) I lived in Madison for 4 years for college and have run through it many times before.
Yet I felt like I was reneging on the promise I had just made to all of you!
But back to goal #2 in yesterday’s post, I need to take care of myself each day until and beyond Race Day. Rest is just as important as the work out.
I love how you – whoever you are – are keeping me accountable, not only to training but to the goal of running at each place I visit.
Because, especially when traveling, there are always reasons not to go run.
I have friends to see. I have a museum or place to visit. I’ve been traveling for 24 hours and am tired. It’s sunny out and I want to sit on the beach with a rum-based drink in hand. I’m hungover as all hell. So many reasons.
It all comes down to the reason you wanted to in the first place. Does that trump all of the other reasons you’re thinking of not going for a run?
The biggest reason, and one that can keep me, you, anyone going is “Because I said this was my goal. I set out to do it and I won’t quit early.”
Stick to your goal. You made it for a reason.
There will be hard days. There will be impossible days. But give it your best shot and you can go to bed at night feeling better than if you’d made excuses.
Okay, there’s my preach moment. Kind of my own pep talk for the week to come.
Call it a goal. Call it a resolution. So many people made them today. I’m one of them, maybe you are, too. Make it something more than a conversation piece in the first few weeks of the year.
Write it down. Sit down and visualize it. Then go and make it happen.
I believe in me. I know this is something I want to do.
Rest Day is over in less than 2 hours. Five miles on the docket for tomorrow. It’s gonna be a good one.
The World to Run 