Tough Transition

As of late, this blog has had a heavy focus on mental health. While I enjoy writing about mental health and mental health hygiene, I feel I’ve neglected writing about running. Many of my readers started reading this blog for the running content, so I hope I haven’t left too many of them behind.

For years my running was mostly defined by pushing limits--more weekly, monthly, and yearly mileage. Faster times, higher age group finishes. And I must admit: I liked it. I liked setting new personal records. I liked pushing the limit for how many miles I could accumulate. It kept me motivated and always left me wanting to do more.

Pushing the limit left me with a feeling of never being satisfied--in a good way. Ran a new PR? Great. Now run even faster. Finished 12th in my age group? Great. Now finish even higher.

Last year was a tough change for me. I spent a lot of the year--all of the winter and some of the spring--injured, and I raced my slowest marathon ever in May. In the past when I've coached track and cross country, I've always been able to run with most of the faster runners. The past two seasons the only time I could run with them was on easy runs.

It's been hard not to get down on myself. I can't help that age will naturally slow me down, and I can't help that I have less time to train now that we have a kiddo, but it's still hard to know that PRs at most distances and pushing the envelope for how far I run in a given week, month, or year, are behind me.

It's definitely made training harder. Without a possible PR in sight, it's harder to be motivated. Before, I could tell myself: if you don't get out the door for this run, you're jeopardizing your chance at setting a PR. Now, when I'm feeling unmotivated, all I have is telling myself: it's good for you.

I wish I had more motivation to run for health reasons. I know running is good for both my physical and mental health, but those reasons are harder sells for me than getting faster.

What about you? I'd love to hear from people who have had to find new reasons to stay committed to an activity. How was the transition? What got you motivated?