Success is Grown in The Little Things

by Jodi

On February 1st, my husband Curt and I participated in the Roaring Run in Scio, Oregon. He ran the 10k. I gave full effort for the slowest half marathon I've run in over eight years. BLECH.

Trying to pretend we were excited to go run in the rain and the wind.

Such a small event that my finish time got me second place age group and fourth overall woman. 

Dr. Stilp makes everything better.  I love him.

When I tore my meniscus in August of last year, I was over four years into my run streak.  Each of those four years, I ran an average of 2,000 miles a year or about 5.5 miles a day.  I had a broad base of mileage and speed to pull from, and I loved being strong and fast.

My exercise rhythm post-surgery has been challenging.  I can't quite seem to find a healthy balance between running, rest, and implementing other forms of exercise like yoga and walking. 

I tried an exercise streak, but only made it 73 days before I accidentally missed a day.  I was irritated, so I took two more days off just because I could. You'd think I would come off those days feeling rested and relaxed, but I just felt bloated and grouchy. 

I put the Roaring Run half marathon on my calendar hoping it would motivate me to get back in the swing of doing some hard workouts again.  I put track, tempo, and long run workouts on my calendar.  Each time they came up, I found a reason to cancel or modify the workout. I was woefully undertrained for this race and I knew it.

Race morning it was raining with 17 mph winds on an exposed course. Wind is my least favorite weather condition to race in.  Curt doesn't even like running.  He was just participating because it was something we could do together. We legitimately considered skipping the race and going back to bed.  Even worse, I was the one who suggested this.

In the car on the way to the race, I committed to stop whining about the 13.1 miles ahead of me and choose joy, be thankful, and give my best effort. 

The race was hard.  I knew it would be.

• It was a super small crowd of runners this year.  I chased a woman for the first six miles, but once I passed her, I was alone on the country roads.  It was super lonely and difficult to maintain a race mentality.
• This race was only my fifth double digit run in the last seven months.  YIKES.  My legs were tired at mile 9.  
• I had trained so little that I didn't have a realistic goal pace per mile.  I really had no idea what my body could do. I thought a 7:45 pace was attainable, and I maintained it for the first 6.82 miles.  Then I turned a corner and ran straight into that 17 mph headwind.  It obliterated me.  I kept the same effort and my pace dropped 20-30 seconds per mile.  It shows in my splits.
• The rain was persistent enough that I was soaked by the time I finished, but it could have been a lot worse.  I was thankful that the showers were scattered and not consistent.
• The water stations were limited and I was relying on them for water, so I was thirsty a lot. 
• Something in the air triggered my occasional shortness of breath so I worked hard for big chunks of the race to manage my breathing. 
• BLAH...BLAH...BLAH...

I was on the Struggle Bus.

Some days, running is just hard, even when you're well trained and prepared, which I was not.  I reminded myself of the goal I set in the car, and am very proud to say I followed through on managing my attitude, giving my best effort, and being grateful even when it was tempting to sit down on the side of the road and cry or call for a ride to the finish.   

I suspected that I had lost all my speed and a a large portion of my mileage base.  The Roaring Run race gave me a concrete number to solidify this theory.  I can work with that.

A few days after the race, I added a late spring half marathon to my calendar and downloaded a new training schedule.  The first long run was 9 miles and I lined up two friends to run some of it with me.  The morning of our run, one got sick and one got called into work. Immediately I texted, "I'll probably just skip it and do yoga instead."  For real.  This coming from the girl who didn't miss a day of running in four years.

I put down my phone and was immediately convicted.  I can't whine about being slow and out of shape if I'm not willing to put in the work to be fast and in shape.  I can't make a commitment to myself and then break my word to myself just because it's hard.  It's not right.  

It's not who I am.

I stopped what I was doing and headed out for ten lonely, but satisfying miles.  

Success is grown in the little things.  

View on my run.  It had a lot of climbing.

Those ten miles were the first of many little steps to a more successful half marathon later this spring.

What about you? Are you on the Struggle Bus, breaking promises to yourself or to others?  Do you want to join me in committing to keeping your word and growing success through the little decisions?  Let's go!