It Still Counts

Jun 15, 2020

Do you ever feel like your run or walk doesn't count?

Do you feel like you are swimming against the tide and getting nowhere?

For the past few months, I have taken a break from running. Instead, I have been walking and I have been enjoying it. I have kept up my weekly mileage, just in a lower key kind of way by walking, rather than running. Like I said, I have enjoyed it. However, it is time to get back to it, because, for me, walking does not do for me what running does, so I am ready to start adding back in some running to my routine.

I was not sure how it was going to go, since I have not been running for a few months. I started slowly, running the 1/2 mile over to my friend's house, walking with her and then running back. The issues I was having that led me to take a break seemed gone and that was certainly good news. The next step was to go for a short morning run, which I did with good results. Here I go, back at it

Not to begin with a negative, BUT one of the downsides to running, in my opinion, can be tracking it. Now, don't get me wrong, we can learn a lot from tracking our runs, AND it can have a downside when we get so wrapped up in a certain time, pace, or distance. Sometimes, it is good to just get out there and enjoy it.

For me, my first run back was one of those days because my watch is broken. So this was a forced "free run". It reminded me of the value of moving and the freedom in not keeping track, but just going. It forced me to focus on just being out there, moving, letting my mind wander, and letting my body do what it wanted to do, rather than what I thought it needed to at the time.

Running without tracking it also reminded me that everything we do counts, even if we do not track it and even if we do not feel it went well. It is easy to discount activity when we do not like it or do not feel accomplished because it did not meet our standards in one way or another. Tough training days are part of it. They come with the territory of being active. Tough days serve us well in developing discipline. When something becomes a discipline in life, it is done no matter what. Intentional movement and activity is most certainly a discipline and is developed over time. It is often not pretty or pleasant, BUT oh, the rewards are great.

While not tracking your runs every now and then can help us ease up on the pressure we put on ourselves, tracking can encourage us, motivate us, by showing us what we have done. When we feel like we are not making progress, looking back to see those days crossed off, or the workouts stacking up, can show us what we have done, or not done and push us to move forward. Tracking also shows us that "it still counts", whether tracked or not, a good run/walk/workout and a not-so-goo run/walk/workout, STILL COUNTS!

The point is, just get out there and do it, whatever it is, at your pace, at whatever time and distance that works for you. JUST KEEP MOVING! 

Running happy, once again ;-)

Robin

_{Robin Simpson, MarathonMakeover}

Couch potato turned marathoner at 37, still running at 53! Healthy habits geek, encouraging you to get up, get moving and be your best! Click HERE to get my eBook and GET MOVING!