New Year: Living Your Personal Best

January 3, 2018

Running can be a big goal-oriented numbers game, pushing for that next PR. That certainly is how I began my training cycle leading to CIM. I did not just want a personal record, I wanted a moonshot qualifying time for Boston. I was determined, focused, and coached, … and then as the weeks passed I was diverted by travel, an injury, and a series of work deadlines that in combination left me questioning everything about the race including my motivation, commitment, and whether I even had it in me to finish. Vanished were my dreams of a massive PR, replaced instead with simple resolve to go out and just do my best, My Personal Best, given where I found myself in the moment.

Photo by Halfpoint/iStock / Getty Images

CIM Training (Week 11): Run Hard, Fall Down, Get Up, Keep Going

November 10, 2017

The boys in my life – husband, son, brother – take great and reoccurring joy in giving me grief about my fear of falling. Skiing? Bring on the bunny hill, snow plow, “ski like a mom” standup routine. Running in the dark? “I don’t know what you’re afraid of – just pick up your feet.” I have heard every version, and at this point I basically tune it out, but the last round made me pause. My son looked at me from across the kitchen island with all of the sincerity a 16-year old can muster and came out with this: “You know, Mom, if you don’t fall down once in a while, you just aren’t running hard enough.”

CIM Training (The Beginning): It's Time to Sweat Again

July 21, 2017

There are seasons in every runner’s life. For the past couple of years, mine have been defined by Fall marathons. Winter: Aspirational dreaming mixed with doubt about whether I have another marathon in me and uncertainty about which race to target. Spring: Ah spring … everything seems fresh and new and full of possibility … Push “submit” on marathon race registration but race training is mostly theoretical and workouts are guided by how I feel and how my spirit moves me (or not) on any given day. Summer: The shit is getting real. What are my goals? (Do I have goals?) How am I going to train? What have I gotten myself into (again)? Summer is the pre-marathon season when all of the doubts, all of second guessing, all of the self-pep talks to find my inner badass get sorted out, until the day arrives when it is time to finally flip the switch to training mode and really commit to sweating again.

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