Running Down A Dream

About a year ago I noticed that my body was getting extra doughy thanks to my sedentary life as a freelancer.  It's easy to skip a meal and then eat an extra portion at dinner or sit chained to my laptop all day when a deadline is looming.  Back when I was commuting into work, those little walks to the bus stop, to the subway, and around at lunch added up towards my daily step count.  Now that I'm at home working most of the time my step count to and from the bathroom isn't as mighty as it once was.

This bothered me and I knew it was time for a change. I want to be a role model to my kids, and being healthy is a part of this. I have all of this flexibility as a freelancer which is great for kid pick-up, appointments, and the numerous other errands I can fit into my day, but I wasn't spending any of it on myself.  Then I remembered how much I missed running, something I used to do all the time before I was put on bed rest when I was pregnant with Molly and Jack - which was years ago. I wrote about getting started running again earlier this year, along with my very slow building love for running here.

Image courtesy of Pinterest

Fast forward 11 months and one 5KM run completed on my birthday later and I figured it was time to begin challenging myself further with my running. I run several times a week on a very regular basis, and see progress.  I track my distances, but with no real end goal beyond debating an 8KM or 10KM in spring of 2018. While many of the changes in my body aren't noticeable to the eye, I see and feel changes every day.  I see changes in the way I'm able to run after the kids, the muscles in my calves and legs, and the energy I have to really tackle a work assignment after taking a runch (running lunch break).  As necessary in the world of freelance, I am a very deadline driven person, so I decided to apply this to my running to help make it even more of a priority in my life.  I decided that I was going to run 50 miles over the month of November, and today, a day before my deadline, (under-promise, over-deliver - is a work motto of mine) I logged 50.44 miles over a series of 17 runs.

Some runs this month were triumphant where I clocked some of my best mile times ever.  Others were painful and slow and I didn't want to get started, but I completed them and I'm happy that I did.

Image courtesy of Etsy

One of the things I love about running is the progress I can see and how my body becomes capable of things that it couldn't even dream about doing just a few weeks earlier.

Now that I'm riding high on my last challenge completed, I wanted to raise the stakes, particularly since my one year runiversary is coming up (that's a real word right?).  In the month of December I am going to run 60 miles.  I mean I have an extra day to get it done, after all and there isn't any additional temptation to drink eggnog instead, right?

So now I've done it, I've said it and no matter what happens I'm accountable virtually and to myself.

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