My love affair with running

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been sentimental about running. I guess Valentine’s Day is shedding even more light on my love affair with running. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what distance running has taught me. So here it goes, in no particular order.

  1. Patience. Everyone knows that I am not a very patient person. However, running has taught me that results do not happen immediately and that I need to be patient with myself (and sometimes everyone around me!).
  2. Hard work pays off. Deep down inside, I know I’ve always known this but sometimes you doubt the time and efforts you put in to things, whether it’s with work, a friendship, or marathon training. However, hard work really pays off, it just may take time (remember, patience, see #1). 
  3. Variety is important. Just like cross training and a variety of non-running workouts is very important to any marathon training plan, variety in life is important. For a long time, I made work my focus 120% of time. I hate to admit that not only did my own fitness and health take a back seat but so did friendships. I am finally learning that I need to find the right balance, now I just need to remember to not let running take over.
  4. Me time. I love me time. I spend a lot of me time running and depending on the day, it does wonders for me. It clears my head, helps me sort through some decisions I am struggling with, and is just an all around good time to reflect. Most of my blog post ideas come to fruition while running.
  5. Slow and steady wins the race. I guess this goes back to patience but regardless the goal, a plan will always pay off. Trying to pull something off hastily doesn’t always work, maybe some of the time, not most of the time. 
  6. Giving up control. Sometimes. There are off days, no matter how much planning I do, there are days that just do not turn out the way they’re supposed to. I get to work late, a project takes longer to finish than expected, my dinner takes longer to cook than expected (that’s me now, blogging while waiting for dinner to finish cooking), or I have an off day in training or a bad race. I am not always in control, and I need to learn to let go, only sometimes though, because otherwise, I wouldn’t be my type-A self.
  7. Don’t sweat the small things. So I have an off day, but I can’t let it get to me. I used to freak out, for lack of a better word, all the time, over very small things. I think I am doing better at not letting everything get to me. If you don’t believe me, ask Josh. Hopefully he agrees, or I’m still driving him crazy!
  8. Teamwork. Running is not an individual sport and neither is life. I wouldn’t be where I am today in my running and life, personal and professional without the support of my team – my amazing friends and family. 

My teammate sent me this link to different Valentine’s Day cards for runners and in honor of my love for running and a belated Valentine’s Day, I am sharing my favorites in this post.

What has running taught you?

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