Priorities

A few weeks ago I posted about the riverbank run and how I have a hard time not joining in on the excitement of training and I had decided to start training for my 5th 25k riverbank run. However, the next few weeks were incredibly stressful and several other things took priority in my life and training was put on the back burner. A few days ago I started to feel very pressured and worried that its getting too late to start training and took some time to really think about it.

I started to think how silly it is that I feel the need to keep re-accomplishing the same thing over and over. I set out to run it once, and I somehow now think I am selling myself short and not good enough if I don't run it a 5th time. And when I train for it, everything else suffers because it becomes such a priority and I spend so much time running and thinking about running and feeling guilty if I'm not running. At one point, when I was single and didn't have many other commitments, it was a very good thing for me, but right now, I'm not really so sure.

So for now, I am choosing to say no to training for the 25k so that I can say yes to new goals and other priorities in my life. Maybe someday running and training will again be a priority, but for now it's not and I want to have the freedom to pour myself into other things. I am choosing to celebrate what I've already accomplished and not let myself feel like its not enough.

so, here's to celebrating those four amazing runs that I still sometimes can't believe I actually accomplished and enjoyed as much as I did....

2006. My mom got me a cake for finishing my first 25k.

2007. Cut almost 9 minutes off my time from 2006!

2010. It was soooooo cold that year!

2011. My mom ran the 5K & ross ran his first 10K that year. Probably not my last 25K but taking a little break I think & sticking to the shorter runs for now.