As I've mentioned previously, lately, I've been having a difficult time getting the motivation to run. Luckily, I have awesome friends and family who have managed to get me going when they see me dragging my feet. One friend in particular has really helped me to renew my passion for running by being so focused on and interested in talking about his own quest for a sustainable healthy lifestyle.
Hearing him speak about his running ups and down reminds me of where I was about a year ago: unable to think or talk about anything else but long runs, proper fueling, strength training, and aching knees. During this period in my 'process', friends and family were uber supportive, albeit bored to tears because of my lack of anything else to talk about. Instead of rolling my eyes every time my good buddy mentions how many reps of sit-ups he's completed or the need to calibrate his running watch to get a more accurate picture of his distance and pace, I get inspired...motivated to pound the pavement.
This weekend, after hearing my friend talk endlessly about pushing himself to complete 9 or so miles on his Sunday long run, I decided to get in on the action and raised the stakes. "Nine miles? Really? We ran that last week. Let's go for the gold and run 10!" ...And ten miles it was! This morning, my good buddy and I drove a bit out of town, parked the car at a random stopping point, and...ran. If you were familiar with Maseru, I'd tell you that we ran from Lithabaneng to the airport turn off. Since that probably means little to nothing to you, I'll just say that we ran five miles one way, turned around and ran back in the opposite direction. What a perfect morning to run: slightly cloudy for most of the way, long stretches of calm roads, freshly plowed fields, grazing cows and sheep, gushing rivers...beautiful!
A while ago, I was so resistant to the idea of having a running partner. Honestly, I was afraid of becoming too dependent on someone else's workout whims. I feared that if they managed to talk their self out of running or quit all together, I would lose motivation to continue as well, as evidenced in previous workout attempts. This time around, however, I'm finding that, sometimes, a running partner is just what the doctor ordered to get me back on my running game. Sometimes all I need is a little help from my (running) friend!
I hope that, as I continue to jot down my experiences with the trials of making health and fitness part of an improved lifestyle, you will be inspired (however small or great) to get yourself off of the couch...put one foot in front of the other...and keep it movin'!
Yours in (getting back in the game) training,
Dani
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