running these days

i really appreciate everyone who took the time to comment on my last post! It’s nice to feel supported and to hear your thoughts. I’m sure I’ll write more about the topics of disordered eating, being a non-diet dietitian and nutrition myth-busting in general as I’m super passionate about these and there is just so much misinformation out there.

taking a break from nutrition-talk for a little bit of running talk, though, since I don’t talk about that nearly as much in my daily life. Running and I are in a weird place right now – I’m still enjoying getting out to the park regularly for some miles, but my desire to race is very up and down and my race times reflect that. In fact, I just ran a 10K at a pace slower than my marathon PR pace and felt like total crap.

race in which I felt like total crap. 

up until then I had been on the fence about a fall marathon, but took it as a sign that maybe this called for a hard no on the whole 26.2 thing this year. 2017 will be the first year I haven’t run a marathon since 2009 and honestly, it feels weird. Like, what is summer without an early Saturday morning 16-20 miler, or the fall without a marathon to look forward to as the temps cool down? Am I going to have so much FOMO during NYC Marathon week?

is this an existential crisis?

so dramatic, I know. But for a long time, I seem to have defined my seasons and scheduled life things around marathon training and everything that goes along with it. And thrived on it, really. I’ve always been an athlete and running marathons has been a way to fulfill that need to push physical limits and work towards new goals. It feels so strange to purposefully not do something that I have so enjoyed in the past, but I have to admit now that it also feels pretty darn good both physically and mentally. I have been loving waking up on weekend mornings and taking Peanut for a nice walk without worrying about getting in a crazy amount of miles before it gets too warm out or the park too crowded. And I love not being exhausted after said crazy amount of miles with little motivation to do much or make plans to go out. It’s also nice to go to yoga, take a barre class or day off without worry about how that affects weekly mileage, workout performance, etc. It is, dare I say, liberating.

it took me a little bit to realize that I’m still a runner, even if I don’t run a marathon this year, and that aside from all of the workouts, long runs, races and paces, I love the simple act of running and how it makes me feel. I think I lost touch with that a bit. So the non-plan plan for right now is to just run. If I feel like speeding up on some days, I’ll speed up. But if I don’t, that’s fine too. I’d like to do some shorter races in a few months – maybe a 10 miler and a half marathon – but not if it adds unnecessary stress or I start to feel burnt out again. Enjoying the fact that I can run is the only real goal for this year, and I think that’s a pretty good one.

peanut agrees.