Running Into Joy

Happy Monday, friends! A quick content warning: this post deals with some body image issues. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my "why" for running. What keeps me lacing up my shoes and hitting the pavement or the trails week after week. The "why" is something we talk a lot about when we get into the mental aspect of running, and it can shift for each of us from day to day and year to year. For a long time, I've told my "falling in love with running" story as the day I ran my first 5K. The atmosphere of a cheering crowd, a sense of camaraderie as we ran as a pack along the closed-down streets of Evansville, Indiana. Never before had I done anything like this, where simply by putting one foot in front of the other, people cheered me on with handwritten signs, and I felt connected to strangers in friendly competition as I passed them or--more likely in those days--they passed me. And yet... 2020 is the year with no races. Without the forma...

You may have noticed we've done a little rebranding here in this corner of the internet. After a year of disliking the name of this  blog, I brainstormed with some internet friends and finally found a new name that fits. So, without further ado, cue the confetti canons as I re-introduce you to: Running into Joy via GIPHY  (Credit: @bunch_of_fans) This blog will continue to be about self-care, finding happiness, and fitness. The name change, I feel, better reflects the outlook I've grown into in this past year of writing and reflecting. Much brainstorming centered around things like "Chasing Happiness" or some variant, but ultimately I didn't like the implications of that phrasing. To "chase" something implies we're forever trying to reach it, but that it's difficult to catch. That it's a state to be gained and kept, that the chase will at some point end, be finished, concluded. I don't think happiness works that way. In fact, ...