Doing to Being

[Lisa Spagnolo]

I'm especially excited about my cardio strides this past week.  Last Sunday, I had a short conversation with a friend of mine who is a regular long-distance runner.  Rather than having her share her experiences, and hearing them through a veil, I was able to ask her questions about my own walking/running, and how I should go about training to run more.    We were speaking from two points on the same continuum, not from completely different realms.  She suggested a good race distance--this may just get incorporated into the year's goals.

I've been able to get outside for my cardio for 5 out of the past 8 days rather than the gym, which has been a great change.  This lets me pay more attention to pace, how long I am able to run at a stretch, etc. I even did some sprinting on one of the days--I can't remember the last time I ran at an all-out speed! It felt great! (and, very important, my joints felt fine) I am starting to eyeball that 10 minute mile pace with attainability (eventually) rather than just admiration.

Work is about to enter an especially busy stretch, so I'm anxious about managing my schedule and staying disciplined.   The early AM workouts will become even more critical to set the tone for the day before anything else happens. I do have to work to make my meditation more consistent (better this past week), but this will be an important key to staying sane during this period.

The post title comes from having selected "athlete" when I set up my profile on the RunKeeper online tool--I didn't feel like one then, but with each day of "doing" I am beginning to feel less like "definitely not one".