Back and Forth, Round and Round

Went on an outdoor run for the first time in a little while this evening. For the past several days, I've thought about so many different blog posts for this rabble rousing blog and most of them revolve around "starting over yet again."

My relationship with running feels like it goes around & around & around. I start... I go... I start improving... and I stop. I start... I go... I start improving... and I stop. Repeat ad nauseum for about 3.5 years. Why I stop is an issue that probably belongs in a personal diary, but what I'd like to talk about here is why I keep going and how, despite the challenges, starting over does get easier every single time. Take tonight, for instance. I'm coming off of 2 weeks minimal exercise at all (illness), but I still managed the majority of my neighborhood loop with only 2 walk breaks and 2.0 miles in less than 30 minutes, which (for me, right now) is great. It gets easier to get back on the horse every single time.

Along with my co-blogger, I work in the (same) mental health field- and with a very specialized population. That job simultaneously keeps me running and makes it hard to go. Sometimes I feel like the things I preach are not the things I practice; other times, I feel they are directly in line. Oftentimes, I remind myself that I, too, am human. I, too, am allowed to struggle with things and thought patterns that maybe, just maybe, aren't entirely effective or healthy. It doesn't actually make me a hypocrite; just a human.

Running has taught me MUCH about myself. But the first and foremost thing that it's taught me (which likely could have been recognized far earlier in my life) is that I am incredibly determined and resilient. Sometimes I may be in a "beginner" running group, sometimes an "intermediate".... but ALWAYS a runner.

I'm excited to explore what that means in this blog. Pardon the rambling (perhaps that can be a fourth "r" for this lovely alliterative blog) as I become accustomed to blogging to a wide audience!