Monday, January 20, 2014

Undecided

Holy turmoil, Batman! I am seriously struggling with making decisions these days. My husband says it's because I am perpetually, irrationally disappointed in my accomplishments. He's probably right, but I am still having a hard time listening to him and everyone else who has advised me over the past week. My brother Joe told me to focus on one goal for this year with my running. My boss, and super-runner, Terry told me to focus in on which goal is most important to me. Two of my co-workers, Sheila and Mark, both told me to chalk the streaking up as a win and move my focus to my other goals. I am just so stubborn...and perpetually, irrationally disappointed in myself, that I am finding it hard to let go.

So, how did the streaking start, and what are my goals for this year? The streaking started as a friendly competition between the staff members at my work. I work for a running specialty store, so you can imagine that I took the challenge on full-force. According to the guidelines of the competition, I officially won today. I completed day 41 streaking, but that is not enough for me for some reason. Probably because I decided last minute that I would also make that my New Year's resolution. I have all kinds of ankle, knee, and Achilles pain with the streaking I am doing, but I am so torn up over the prospect of quitting. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of days when I don't want to run, it's not necessarily the anticipated loss of my coveted daily run. And let's be clear, I love running, but I am just really starting to feel drained.

Since deciding that I would streak this year, I decided to try to meet the initial (Neptune) qualifications for the Half Fanatics club. So I am now trying to get everything lined up to run three half marathons in 90 days this spring. Along with running those three half marathons, I am trying to set a ridiculously impossible new half PR. Keep in mind that I am only on the second week of training for the first of three half marathons, and I am feeling like these new goals on top of streaking is seriously going to be detrimental overall. I have never attempted streaking before, and I have never run more than one major race in a racing season before either, so I can't help but feel like I have taken on too many things at once in true Michelle style. On the other hand, I just keep feeling like quitting the streak would be failing.

Well, I'm not sure where to go from here because I really thought that writing it all out would lead to a clear conclusion. It seems that I was wrong because I still feel just as torn as I was when I started writing this. I guess I will be posting an update at the end of the week!

3 comments:

  1. My two cents:

    I think your streak has been great, and it's been awesome motivation for you to continue running, but since your body is feeling pain from it, it may be time to focus on your races, which you seem far more excited about anyway.

    It'll be better for you in the long run if you train for those races following a schedule (that includes rest for your body!!!) rather than running every single day just because.

    The streak is super awesome (and I'm jealous of it - I wish I had the guts to commit to running every single day), but I think it got you where you needed to be, so now you should focus on staying injury free and working on that half marathon PR you want so badly!

    Those are just my thoughts, so take them for what they're worth... but in the end, whatever you decide to do will be best for you because you'll go with what you want/need deep down! Happy running, friend!! :)

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    1. Thanks so much for your input, Janelle! I am just now getting the chance to reply, but your opinion really helped me gain some perspective!! I really do appreciate it!

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  2. I agree with Janelle. You need to switch your focus, while allowing your body to rest. If you keep going at this pace, you could potentially wind up with much more serious injuries which will keep you from doing those races in the long run. I think you have been pretty successful! I mean just think about where you were a few years ago, and now you won a streaking contest at a running store. I'd say you are a big running winner, so don't get too down on yourself. And for what it's worth, your running is really inspiring to me!

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