I need to get out of this rut, I’ve been in one for a while and I’m hoping the steps that I have taken prove to be successful for pulling me out of it! This rut is all encompassing, it expands into my personal life (i.e. funtime), my fitness plans and goals and overall mental health. Yep, I said it…MENTAL HEALTH!
All of the aforementioned details of my personal state are important, they’re important to everyone and it’s really no surprise that this rut happens during this time of year either. The gloom and doom of the season is now, I think I speak for most people when I say let’s get this winter over with!
The challenge that I speak of is Operation Marathon! Yep, I’m running a marathon- THE Chicago Marathon or more specifically the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. I’m actually running for a Non-Profit Organization, Opportunity Enterprises (OE), based out of Valparaiso, IN (my hometown, woot-woot!) I hate to ask for money, but it’s for a great cause and if you would like to donate and support the special people of the community please click here!
This marathon is also very special to me as it’s the first marathon in 3 years that my older sister, Jennifer, and I are running together! She’s my all-time favorite running buddy! I don’t think I could have been the runner I am today without her. Shhh…I don’t think she knows that! 
We’re both running for OE. Jennifer will begin training immediately after her second pregnancy—Henry (the first babay) was born January 2010 and the second one is due in May. Maybe I shouldn’t be complaining…
Meet Henry…Isn’t he CUTE! My heart pumps for him! He has this thing, we call it Muscle Man. If we prompt him to do it he puts his arms up in the air, gets a HUGE smile on his face and says, “YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” He gets so excited, so excited that he makes everyone else excited too!
I must move on otherwise I will get, well, teary eyed! I miss the little peanut, what can I say?!?
Ahem…I am leaving the country on another expedition, so I will be training for the marathon while abroad and come back to run the marathon. I have very recently sought some professional help. This is the first time ever that I have employed anyone, after some self reflection and outside recommendations I went to him. His name is Alex and he is an ultra-marathoner, he’s pretty great so far! I first heard about him from Hungryrunnergirl, she’s pretty amazing herself. I DARE you to check out her blog as she a self motivated, very encouraging, positive and aspiring runner. Plus, she has great food concoctions and running advice! DO IT!
Anyhow, I really wanted out of this rut AND I wanted someone that was flexible with MY schedule AND understands running qualms. He does all of the above! I’m learning to push myself mentally and physically, so my comfort zone is being stretched a little bit. It’s just what I needed! Plus, I really want to qualify for Boston and his plan is going to help me do that!
Just the other day I had to run what I thought was a feasible run. It turns out I wasn’t ready for the speed, it could have been that I wasn’t ready for the speed on the treadmill but that’s a whole other beast I DON’T want to talk about…at least not today. So, I began my run with every intention of completing 8 miles at a pace that is slightly faster than my average pace. Well, 20 minutes in I felt exhausted. Then, in my mind, everything started to tumble down. I had to slow down. This left me with feelings of angst and failure! This was awful for me, but I didn’t want to quit. I slowed down my pace, but I continued with the run and finished it. Despite all of this, I still had feelings of guilt. I couldn’t help it.
I got back from the gym and emailed my coach, he assured me that I wasn’t a failure and that I was doing great and making progress. My response to his email snapped me out of my self-destructive phase and my self actualization is JUST what I needed! I remembered everything that I have overcome in the past year especially with my running.
Before last year I:
* Didn’t like running with others (I never felt like I was good enough to run with “good” runners…what makes runners good anyway? running with others!)
* I cut MINUTES off of my 5K and 10K
* I ran several races that I never trained for OR never intended to run but did anyway
* I cut time off of my 2-mi PT test!
My problem was that I wasn’t measuring my successes but rather I was making up my own failures. These failures that I speak of were not failures AT ALL, I made them up…they were completely imaginary! In this sense, I was cheating myself.
No one wants to beat themselves up over things that are out of our control. Our bodies react in different ways on any given day. We cannot predict this, but we can help facilitate our bodies to perform the best ways possible by learning how it reacts to training, diet and sleep. Somewhere, somehow I forgot this useful piece of information. I should make that part of my mantra…any suggestions?!
How do you get out of a rut?
When you find yourself in a rut what do you do?
How do you celebrate when you meet your personal goals?