Training Update: How Life and Running Come Together
It has been a minute since I last posted an update. The last update was a Reflect/Reset post from May that you can read here. A lot has changed since that post and it feels like so much more has happened. Writing on this blog and keeping up with the monthly updates took a backseat to everything else. Read on for an update of all the life and running that’s been happening over the past few months.
Life keeps Life-ing
Life does what it does and I try my best to keep up. The last few months have been about moving with the guiding principle of “If it adds to your life, do it. If it subtracts from your life, remove it from your life.” So, what’s been added? Great question and here are the answers:
Prepping, recording, and releasing episodes for Season 3 of the Runner’s Round Table podcast. This season was themed “How To” and features 20 episodes full of so much information about running that I wish I had at my disposal when I first started in this sport. The complete episode guide can be found here. You can also listen to episodes on your favorite podcast platform here. and/or watch the YouTube video here.
Planning and prepping for Season 4’s “Conversation with Runners” of the Runner’s Round Table podcast.
Hosting Fitletic’s Miles for Smiles 6-week challenge twice.
Planning and hosting community gatherings for this September’s Great Smoking Mountains Experience. This is my third year hosting this retreat and, while I do spend a year planning the retreat, it’s those last 2 months before the retreat happens where everything ramps up.
Planning for a February 2024 retreat in Florida during the Olympic Marathon Trials weekend. Details will come out next month!
Moving! Since May we have moved twice: out of Miami for the summer and back to Miami, just in time for school. Moving sucks and this particular one was challenging because it separated our family for the summer and left me shouldering the bulk of parenting. We have one more move left, so fingers crossed we can be back in our Casita soon.
“Summer of Girls” is what my daughter called this past summer. To further what I just shared about the moves, my intention this summer was to soak up the time with my girls and find ways to do less so that I could be more present with them.
I started marathon training for Marine Corps Marathon.
Life is a marathon, so is 26.2
Yup, I’m training for another marathon. It’s not a surprise as I shared it in the May post and I’ve talked about it on the podcast and on my social media channels. What is a surprise is how much I have enjoyed the process of training for two marathons in one year (don’t recommend it for everyone though!). Truthfully, I was worried how I would handle the stress and strain of training for another marathon so soon after London in April.
Yes, I had a year when I ran the Miami, Berlin, and Chicago marathons (plus an Ultra!), but that was in my early days as a runner when everything was new, shiny, and I didn’t know how thoroughly a marathon could break my heart. London turned out to be what this reluctant marathoner needed it to be: a beautiful experience that reminded me of the power of being present, the magic of distance running, and what it means to trust myself to do hard things. You can read about my London experience in this race recap or by listening to this Runner’s Round Table episode.
The part of this current marathon story that might not be known is why I chose to run the Marine Corps Marathon in October. The answer is two-fold: I had a deferment from 2020 that expired this year and Past Me listed this race as a bucket list race. Yes, I could have let the race go, but I couldn’t walk away from the dreams of Past Me. London helped prepare me for this decision because I finished that race with a curiosity about the distance, instead of my normal “I am never doing this again!” mindset. Curiosity will always lead me to explore the edges of my comfort zone and what I think I know about myself.
Everything I learned about myself and applied to my training for London has continued with me in this training cycle, specifically:
All I really have to do is just try the workouts.
Second to that is giving my best to each run.
Third to that is not letting the runs take up more mental space than they need to.
No one run is make-or-break, however, each run does build me mentally and physically for the ultimate goal of arriving to the start line healthy, injury-free, and mentally strong.
Training for a marathon is something I am adding to my running, so make it FUN or don’t do it at all. (If it doesn’t add, it gets subtracted, per what I shared earlier in this post)
running through life
I’m not sure how frequent the training updates on the blog will be because my goal is to live in alignment with the add/subtract principle, but you can follow my happenings on Instragram @thecookierunner. I’ll end with these final thoughts:
While some projects are ending, others are waiting for me to have the creative space for them. Running has been my companion for almost 11 years and has gone from a “hobby” to my livelihood (big announcement on this coming soon!). I look forward to continuing to grow as a person and as an athlete and I look forward to doing what I can so that running continues to move through life with me. The Marine Corps Marathon is just another stop on this journey for me and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
