My First Long Trail Run + Staying In Your Own Lane
Hi, gorgeous!
I'm currently sitting outside on the driveway while Mark upholsters a workout bench for the home gym. It's a lovely, breezy 80-ish degrees with barely any humidity here in Canada.
Real quick: Can we just acknowledge the fact that I’m able to SIT OUTSIDE and work in the summer – something I’ve never been able to do in the 20+ years I lived in Florida because it’s so dang hot there?! #blessed
This morning started off with a 4 mile run -- my longest run on this training cycle so far.
Post-run selfie. Must be the runner's high haha
I always get SO nervous for my training runs, mainly because I haven’t been running consistently (and definitely nothing over 2 miles in probably about a year), so there’s always part of my mind that says, “Wait… can you even actually even run 4 miles?”
Anyway, I set out to complete a four miler in the gorgeous 75-degree weather, along a winding trail in the woods.
I’ve never actually run on a trail before and let me tell you, I was absolutely obsessed with it! I found it to be so much more mentally engaging than just running on a sidewalk.
Because I was constantly on the lookout for roots, stones and fallen branches (plus in awe of the gorgeous greenery surrounding me), my run passed by in the blink of an eye!
I also did a leg workout in our home gym, which I recorded and posted on my Instagram. I post a lot of my workouts/meals on there, so be sure to follow me and watch my Instagram stories!
Staying In Your Own Lane
When it comes to my half marathon, I only have one goal: run the whole way without stopping.
I’m not interested in trying to beat my previous race time from 2012, nor am I interested in trying to beat people on the day of the race.
The only person I’m trying to beat is the person I was yesterday.
I know there will be ups and downs with my training and I won’t always feel amazing, but all I can do is give 100% of my best effort to every training run and I know that will naturally lend itself to a good race.
So often we get caught in the trap of comparing ourselves to others: am I slower or faster than her? How fast does she run 4 miles? Am I skinnier or bigger than her? What are her macros compared to mine? What's her diet/training like?
If we’re not careful, we can spend our whole lives trying to adopt/copy someone else's life, but never truly living our own.
One of my life mottos as of late: stay in your own lane.
Do the best you can, and let that be enough.
Don’t pay attention to the noise or influence of other people. Listen to your intuition about what’s best for YOU – because that will be different than what’s best for someone else.
Do what makes you happy, not what social media or anyone else says you "should" do. If you love running, run. If you love lifting weights, lift. If you love eating paleo, eat paleo. If you love bread, eat bread.
DO YOU GIRL.
Stay in your own lane.
The best is yet to come.
See ya tomorrow :)
xo
Julie
