Even though my running journey started in 2003, I would say that I really did not get serious until 2016 when I decided to train for my first 10k. I started with the Couch to 5k program then transitioned to the Couch to 10k program. When people found out I was running in a 10k they would remark, "I didn't know you were a runner."
My response, "Well, I am not a real runner."
At the time, I wasn't sure you could call what I was doing running. I was training using the walk/run method, gradually working my way up to be able to run for an hour without stopping.
But here's the truth - there is no such thing as a fake runner. You either run or you don't. If you think taking breaks or doing a walk/run method means you aren't somehow a "real runner," let me just go ahead and ask, "Are you running?" If the answer is yes, then you are a runner!
Whether you are just starting out, or have been running for a while now, it can be so easy to lose your confidence. You have a bad run, you get in a race to the bottom by comparing your pace to other people, you attach your success to some arbitrary pace.
When I was training for the Big Sur Marathon a couple of years ago, I had really believed that with several races under my belt, including the Dopey Challenge (a four-day, 48.6 mile race), and a strong fall running season, that I would be able to run longer with fewer walk breaks. I was pushing myself, comparing my pace to others, and doing pretty well in training....until I wasn't.
After several back to back weeks of bad runs (like really bad - in tears, phoning my husband for motivational support mid-run), I had to take a deep knee bend and regroup. Turns out that in my effort to attach myself to a goal pace, I had forgotten my strategies about finishing strong.
When I was training for the Dopey Challenge several years prior, I had figured out somewhere along the journey that I could run much stronger if I took a walk break every now and then. I was also training for a four day, 48.6 mile run. Walk breaks were necessary for me, a person who at the time had spent the first 37 years of my life identifying as a non-athlete.
So mid-way through my training for Big Sur, I decided I needed to get back to basics and I worked in walk breaks at easy to measure intervals (I did run 4 miles, walk 1 mile).
Overall, I wasn't fast because of those walk breaks. But, I finished that long run (which happened to be 17 miles) strong, happy, and with a peace that had been absent the previous few weeks. It wasn't a time that would have me finishing the marathon with my original goal pace, but sometimes you have to adjust and improvise. What I knew for certain on that day, was that I would finish the Big Sur Marathon strong, happy, at peace, having enjoyed the journey. And that is exactly what happened.
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