It’s already April and I should have had this posted by now, but I have still been considering what my word is. Then it was confirmed to me yesterday as I wrote my blog post about the races I did with my family.
My one word resolution word of the year is Challenge. I am going to participate in several races which are challenged races. I just completed the dopey challenge in January. That’s probably the biggest challenge of them all that I am participating in. The other challenge I am registered for is the Hartford Marathon Foundation Triple Half Challenge. I have to run the Middletown Half Marathon on April 12, the Mystic Half Marathon on May 31 and the Hartford Half Marathon on October 10. I will earn the HMF Trip Half Challenge jacket and finisher’s medal.
Having a registration booked and on the calendar will enforce me to work on my training. I have been taking it easy since I got back from the Princess Glass Slipper Challenge because I have a strain in my ankle that is slowly recovering. But now that April 12 is just 3 weeks away it’s time to sit down with my calendar and come up with a game plan. The Middletown Half is a hilly race so I have to put some effort into getting a decent time. I haven’t had a great half marathon time since the Cheshire Half in 2013! All of my other half marathons have been the Disney races which I began to run for “fun” and not for time.
The other Challenges in my life come in the form of learning new things. I am working harder at learning as much as I can with my job. I have always enjoyed learning and I have been learning something new just about every day. I crave learning new things and also learn when I teach. I have to teach more classes in the upcoming weeks so I know that I will also pick up new skills while teaching.
I was listening to the “Another Mother Runner” pod cast today and their subject was spot on in regards to what has been on my mind the past few days. They were interviewing Margaret Webb who wrote the book Older Faster Stronger. I have to check out the book. As I was listening to it on my way to work, Margaret said was “Whatever limit you encounter, keep pushing yourself.”
I experienced that last week when I had to give a presentation that someone else wrote. I thought I knew the content but I was feeling unsure of my delivery. I had to suck it up and just dig into it and I did as I always do. I faced the challenge and applied my best to it and the end result was great. I also had to teach a Level 2 class which I have never taught before and that was another morning when I felt like I was walking across a tight wire with no harness or net to catch me! I had to listen to my own advice that I give my kids. When you think you can’t do something, just believe in yourself and you can do it if you try.
What I also took out of that episode was stepping up my running game. I have been focusing on longer races in the past years. Yesterday when I ran the 5K with my husband I liked the feel and the energy of pushing hard during a short race. I want to focus on getting some decent times again in a 5K race. I ran a 35 minute 5K when I used to run a 27 minute 5K. I am injured now, but I still need to get my speed back up in those races. Margaret Webb also said “Women are distance athletes, we run long and slow. We don’t test ourselves running shorter distances.” That’s where I have been in the past 2 years.
I also want to step up my game with my blog. I have been immersed in my new job since last fall and my blogging has fallen to the bottom of the list. I want to keep up with it because I always thought that in my every day life, there was something that circled back to something else that was a thought that was bouncing around in my brain. The perfect example is above where I was facing new challenges and was feeling scared of them…. then three to four days later I listened to a running podcast not even related to what I was thinking about and the topic was exactly what I was feeling!
So to Gomer1 and Gomer2 of the Two Gomers Run For Their Lives pod cast and the Another Mother Runner podcast, this blog post is because of you. Dimity and Sarah, the topic was an ah-ha moment for me! Anthony and Steven, here’s my one word of the year finally!
Love this!!! Challenge is such a great word. We have so many things that come up in life and are, ahem, challenging…it makes such a difference when we look at the big picture and all the way things come together in life!