Running Into Joy

Happy Monday, internet friends!  I recently wrote about my mixed feelings regarding the postponement of the 2020 Flying Pig Half Marathon. As much as that particular goal has begun to loom menacingly in the ever-distant future, I do miss races.  That race day crowd spirit and enthusiasm is what made me fall in love with running, and even as the sport has become something larger for me, I always try to get back to that energy at least a few times a year. Usually, I run a couple of 5Ks, which is a nice, fun, manageable distance for me personally. The last race I participated in was the 2019 Turkey Trot here in Pittsburgh, and it was a lovely redemption race after a really difficult time at the Great Race 10K.  My Turkey Trot 5K getup I'm always my most motivated, my most excited to lace up my shoes, when I'm training for a race. I love the way it feels to come home from a run, particularly one of those rare blue moon runs that feels amazing  during  as well, but...

This week, I've been following a new training plan provided by the amazing Kelly Roberts of She Can & She Did and Run, Selfie, Repeat. I never, ever thought I'd be the kind of person to break outside my normal routine of "try to survive running a few miles" but here I am adding speed work and hill repeats. When i saw those two words "hill repeats" on my schedule for Thursday, I strongly considered setting the whole thing aside. Thursday was not a day built perfectly for a new kind of running workout. The First Year Writing class I teach starts at 8:30am, and I had plans to stay over at my boyfriend's place, which meant extra commute time. Not only that, but the forecast was 30 degrees and snowy. As a naturally clumsy person, I avoid running outside with even a hint of ice because I'm convinced I'll hurt myself, majorly. Running up and down a hill? Not a chance. I tried talking myself out of it. Amanda, you'd have to get up so so earl...

Last week, I got a heck of a cold. If you recall, I had a cold back in September when I ran the Great Race 10K, so I was not at all happy to wake up to a scratchy sore throat and congestion again. I can remember when I was in high school and college, how I would be the last woman standing even as various plagues swept through my classmates, taking them down one by one. Ah, the immune system of my youth. Taking a day off scares--taking an entire week off feels like tempting fate, like asking to be a quitter all over again. But the after effects of running the Great Race 10K with a cold were fresh on my mind, and I knew my immune system needed rest. So I took off Monday. And when Wednesday found me feeling worse instead of better, I took that off, too. Finally, Friday rolled around and I still could barely breathe, so I decided to make it a round week off. Something like this would have derailed me a few years ago, and I still don't fully trust myself. When I went to bed last nig...

Here we go again--I'm officially training for my next race! July 1st was supposed to be Day 1 of my training cycle for my first 10K of the year, The Great Race 10K. However, my past two weeks looked like this: Go on vacation, hike Mt. Marcy, drive 10 hours home, work three days, spend the next weekend in a cabin with 14 other humans, drive home to immediately meet up with my Dungeons and Dragons group for several hours of gameplay. I can count the hours I've had to myself over the past two weeks on one hand, which in introvert terms means I am running on E, big time. Plus, when you're on vacation or in the woods with friends or hanging out with your DnD buddies, the 9pm bedtime tends to go out the window. Needless to say, when my 5am alarm went off on Monday morning, I had zero left to give. I chose sleep instead of my first training run. And man, did I beat myself up about it for the next two days. Day one, how could I be failing at this already ?! The guilt is, ...

I've mentioned before that 2019 was originally supposed to be the year of my first half marathon. But ah, life--how often it has other plans for us instead. Now that my injury/ongoing issues with my hip/shoulder/back are (mostly) under control, I've been settling back into my fitness routine. This mainly includes doing yoga every (or almost every) morning and going for a run every other day. For the past year and a half, I've pretty much always been following a training plan for one race or another. But, since my half marathon plans fell through and my next race isn't until September, I'm in an in-between, a lull. It feels weird. I'm so much better about running consistently when I have a schedule, a plan, to stick to. Yet, I think it's important to take a little time to remember why I fell in love with running in the first place, let my body call the shots for a little while.  So, I've been running again, usually for about 30 minutes three t...