Sending vibes of love and strength to you all. As our lives as we knew them are changing on a daily basis right now, I know our heads and hearts are spinning. I was getting caught up in going down the rabbit hole of the craziness of the news cycle. With so much at stake, this is so easy to do while grasping for the bits of light. I know this isn’t productive or doing any good at all. While we are worried about our family and friends, I realize we also have to try and keep ourselves healthy and strong, both physically and mentally in order to be there for our loved ones.
I am truly blessed in that I work from home anyway, so at least that wasn’t an adjustment. One of the few things I don’t love about working from home is not having actual face to face interactions with co-workers. It does seem a little more lonely now, as I can’t meet friends for coffee. Even so, I know this is a very small sacrifice compared to so many others.
When planning out my blog posts for the first few months of 2020, I had included a series on fitness, including fitness goals, what’s in my gym bag and fashion. Well, we will save at least the gym bag post for later.
So, to finally get to the topic of this post, I had started listening to Jill Angie’s podcast, Not Your Average Runner while I was doing my barn chores (so thankful my horses are at home, but that’s another post). I had read her books, Not Your Average Runner and Not Your Average 5K back when I started training for my first 5K a few years ago. Jill totally keeps it real and I highly recommend both her books and podcast if you are even thinking you might want to start running. Cary and I had worked up to running a couple of 10K’s a couple of years ago, but I kind of have just been running on the treadmill here and there since then. Well, listening to Jill’s podcast ignited the running (slowly) fire back in me. Plus, running is a pretty perfect activity when we have to practice social distancing and aren’t able to go to the gym. So I am finally glad to live on a very long dirt road in the boonies!
Jill has also written a book, Not Your Average Half Marathon, so of course I had to read it! She has two half marathon training plans – a thirteen week plan if you have been comfortably running five miles or an eighteen week plan if 5K is where you are starting. Since I haven’t been running for a while, I am following the 5K plan.
I love that the plan includes cross training, plus a rest day! At my age, 58, I am very careful to not over train so that I don’t injure myself. I officially started the training program this week. I had started with a couple of 3 mile practice runs last week and so far, it’s been awesome – I look forward to my runs! It has gotten me off the treadmill and back outside and even better, Cary is running with me (at least six feet apart) at least once a week!
I will be sharing the next eighteen weeks with you along with my gear list, training recipes and cross training. So happy to have you here with me. Virtual hugs and stay safe!