Have you ever commited to doing something way in advance – only for life to get in your way and have a WHOLE LOT happen between the commitment and actual event? I did and I am in for a world of pain. This past week, I have been mentally preparing to be physically unprepared.
Back when I was in peak running shape, I commited to running my second six hour ultramarathon. I was running high mileage months, with motivation driven by my California soulmate, Michelle and I was feeling GOOD. Then, I came down with the ‘rona, have spent tons of time helping my Nana (BUT I wouldn’t trade that time for ANYTHING!) and my fitness progress came to a screeching halt. Since commiting, I have ran zero long distances since my 12 miler back in the beginning of November, with some 10Ks sprinkled into a whole bunch of 3-4 milers.
I am entirely physically unprepared and feel very undertrained. I’m convincing myself that I am able to do this again and relatively safely, as I’ve been working more on my physical strength through Street Parking and weight lifting. It also helps that I will be running with tons of friends and my favorite distances to run are those between 10K and 13.1. Before my first ultra, my longest distance was 14 miles and I completed just short of a marathon with that training. I know in my mind that I can do this, as long as I listen to my body during the run.
As I prepare, packing my snacks, hydration supplements, extra socks, flip flops and a change of clothes, I find myself getting very excited, even though I have no end goal in mind. I cannot wait to run with 65 of my closest running friends, in a beautiful local park, in the first IN PERSON race in over a year! And I’ll get to log my November 13.1 that was never completed! I can’t wait!
I cannot wait to share my experience after my run this weekend, no matter how it goes. I’m looking forward to completing this and getting back into running shape once the time change happens when I’m more apt to run after work.
In case you need to hear it, you CAN do hard things. And you will fucking dominate that little bitch voice in your head <3
