If we aren’t Facebook friends and you don’t follow me on Instagram, you might not know that I’m training for my FIRST half marathon. Yeah, you read that right…I’m in the middle of training for my first real race during my busiest time of year. AND…it just so happens I’ll be running my race the day before I leave to head to Rehoboth to co-host my first ever workshop. I feel crazy for taking on so much this year, but part of me is also loving it…I’ve always been the type of person who loves to take on as much as I think I can handle and do my best to juggle it all. For example,  I once worked a 23 hour shift when I was a visual coordinator at Old Navy!

(That last thing…no one ever believes me when I say that, but I actually really did it…)

I decided I wanted to run this race because for one thing, I’ve saying I’d love to run a marathon for years and have yet to really run any races at all. This is my first step towards seeing if that’s something I’d be capable of in the future. Technically I did run a race this spring (the Hardywood 4 miler back in April), but let’s be real…I did that all just for the beer and the Boka takos. I didn’t put nearly as much effort into that…and training? No training really happened.

Why running? Why a half marathon? Because, well, I’ve never been athletic. Never. Not even a little. I can’t throw, can’t catch, am too small to really tackle anyone, have no aim, can’t kick. You name it, I have zero sports acuity. ZERO. Anyone remember the President’s Physical Fitness tests in elementary school? The ones you would do in school? I failed those like every single year. Like so hard. One year I actually came close to completing…and that was actually the year that I discovered that running could be not so bad…I could do it. No, running is not easy and I’ll never be at the top of a podium for it, but it’s a “sport” where it doesn’t matter as much if you suck at anything athletic like me…really anybody can run as long as they just continue to put one foot in front of the other and set their mind to doing it.

Anyway, as I’ve been training for this race, I’ve learned some really important things that I thought I would share with you guys. I didn’t expect training for a race to be such a journey (in more ways than one!), but it’s been surprisingly eye-opening. Several times I’ve wanted to quit. I mean, it’s my busy season for crying out loud. I have a jillion other things going on that require more attention and priority. Since I started training I’ve shot 9 weddings in 7 weeks, a rehearsal dinner, five portrait sessions, had a ton of client meetings, and then there’s all the editing. And started a blog, Marry & Bright. And then there’s Envision. I have struggled to keep up with everything and to try to maintain some semblance of a life…but it hasn’t been bad. Just hectic. There were weeks when I really only did my long run and then couldn’t commit any other time to run. But when I would get out there and actually do it, I heard myself telling myself “Just keep moving. One foot in front of the other. Breathe”. Somehow this is the greatest metaphor for this hectic fall as well!

Yesterday I started a run feeling super defeated. I had set out to run my longest run so far (10 miles) and somehow ended up running through some sort of Navy training exercises. I won’t lie…I was getting close to tears right there during my run when the entire group of runners passed me by…even the slowest runners were ahead of me. One of the girls stopped to WALK. I didn’t quit even though most of me desperately wanted to.  I just put my head down and listened to my music and kept moving forward. Eventually, I actually PASSED those two girls (though not any of the other runners, unfortunately) and went on to run 10.37 miles at a decent pace (for me!). The biggest lesson I have learned from running so far is that just like in life, you have to move at your own pace and learn to celebrate your OWN victories and milestones. Worry less about what other people are doing and focus on yourself. So what if I run my half marathon and I finish last? I RAN A HALF MARATHON. And it was all me that did it. So what if I was the slowest runner yesterday (again, I’m comparing myself to people who have been through a lot more than me, including BOOT CAMP), I ran 10.37 miles and lived to tell about it. That my friends, is a victory in my book.

Life is funny like this…you might technically be behind other people, but as long as you’re moving forward in your own life, you’re actually doing pretty well 🙂