This is my 3rd official week of half marathon training, and the theme of our week is “When The Going Gets Tough”.
I’m glad I gave myself a lot of leeway in the beginning meaning I’ve basically been repeating my week 1 for the first 3 weeks. For once I realized that until school started life was going to be a bit chaotic. My husband deployed again yesterday. So our morning started off rough with another goodbye.
I wasn’t really able to get a good picture… the sun was making my phone blur everything out, and I had to wake the boys up to say goodbye and they were both cranky. This picture is our tradition. It goes back 5 years. We take one at the beginning and the end of a deployment, so I took what I could get. I wish I’d have been better about keeping all these pictures in one place to look back on. They are on Facebook somewhere, in some random albums, but we have them, and we take them, and it’s tradition.
I thought I had this deployment neatly and compactly packed up. I knew it was coming — they always do. I hadn’t cried prior to him leaving like I have in the past, but the moment he walked out the door it was like someone ripped my neatly packed deployment bag out of my hands. I wanted to sit on the couch. I wanted to sulk in the pain I was feeling inside. My boys were so crabby, and already fighting with each other and it was only 8am.
I was supposed to run 2 miles or cross train on Wednesday. I wanted to skip it. I almost did. Until I ran across a thread on Facebook from Runners World. It simply said “Having a tough time pulling yourself out of bed to run early? (It’s okay, we all do!) What do you tell yourself to get you up and at ’em?”
There were several great answers (read them here), a few stuck out at me. Like this one…
Isn’t that the truth?
And then there was this video. (Sorry wordpress isn’t allowing me to embed this for some reason… it’s worth a click if you need a kick in the pants!)
Seriously, if that isn’t enough to get you motivated, I don’t know what would. I looked down at my boys and realized I owed them more than sitting on the couch and being sad. Yes, it’s okay to be sad, but sitting in the house all day wasn’t going to be good for anyone…
You know what happened?
I had a kick butt run. I’ve been run/walking most of my miles as I’m still a newbie runner. Today I said just go until you can’t, take a breath, and do it again. 2.2 miles later I ran the whole thing and I felt good about it. I finished off my workout with some strength training.
I was feeling good. I got into my car and the following series of songs came on the radio. I was listening to 80s music for the same reason I always do… it’s like cheap therapy!
“I got something to tell you. I got something to say. I’m gonna put this dream in motion. Never let nothing stand in my way. When the going gets tough. The tough get going” <— Cheap therapy.
I laughed. “Time” by Culture Club was next. I was still jamming out in the car. The kids thought I was pretty silly. Then Bruce Springsteen came on with “Don’t Talk to Strangers” and my son yelled from the back seat “Mom, why didn’t you just tell me they had a song about this?” I laughed again. We’ve been working on that with him, so I guess he agrees with me that music is a learning tool! The rest of the day passed and it was okay.
Today I had 3 miles planned. I woke up feeling the weight of my husband being gone, and fought with our insurance to get our son’s formula covered (well their voice mail anyway…), then I tried once again to get his feeding therapy scheduled which they won’t do until someone cancels… we’ve been waiting for that cancellation for 5 weeks now. I was exhausted before I’d even taken off my pajamas.
Instead of focusing on that, I took a deep breath and moved on. I registered for 2 more races, the Red Rock 5k on Sept 20th, a race that is supposed to be beautiful and is dedicated to he memory of a high-school cross-country legend, Travis “T-Bolt” Boulton.
The second race is the Strip Poker 5k on January 31st.
Registration just opened so I got the early bird price and it sounds like a fun race. Basically you come dressed in 6 layers and your strip 5 of them to be donated to a local charity called Opportunity Village here in Las Vegas. You also collect cards along the race to use for a poker game at the finish line. Fun right?
So some days have to be go with the flow days… Thursday’s run get’s pushed to Friday, and that’s okay. I’ve already got my workout gear laid out and ready to go!
For the rest of the week I have 4 miles planned on Saturday (which will be my longest run yet) and cross training on Sunday. Next week K starts Kindergarten and I think know I will be an emotional mess, but I will be able to get into a regular training schedule and hopefully get some additional outdoor runs in as well!
What motivates you to get out the door and get your workout on?
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All the best with your half training! Distance races hurt too much when I am not sufficiently trained. That is what motivates me.
I love it when you head out for a run reluctantly and it ends up being a good one. Way to get it done! I guess my motivation is that feeling of accomplishment when all is said and done.
That’s awesome that you are pushing yourself. I need to do this because I feel so much better after runs. The feeling of accomplishment and how much happier I feel is amazing.
I love running. I use my jeans as motivation. I wear a 6 post-baby but keep the 4s around… which means all winter I’ll be working hard! Good luck in your training.
I don’t know that I get motivated but willpower keeps me going. I need a good motivational kick in the pants and your post is just what I needed to get started finding it.
I am having a hard time getting that motivation right now. I think after we get back into a schedule it will be easier.