Getting back into running is HARD (and so is everything else that you don’t pay attention to)

Posted By Hup | November 22, 2009

Stephanie and I just got back from a Sunday morning 3-miler and I think that we both realized something about half-way through the ’supposed to be really easy’ a.m. skedaddle (is that even a word?). The thing that we both realized was that getting back into running is hard and getting back into the groove of running is even harder.

At this point you might be thinking to yourself:

Are we talking about the Hup who literally burned up an 8k a few months back?

and…

Are we talking about the Steph who ran a sub 4-hour marathon (and over 20 miles to prepare) not too long ago?

Well, the truth of the matter is — yes, unfortunately we are still talking about the same Hup and Steph that should be running a 3-miler in their sleep (yeah, that’s us — in the third person). The truth is, even though we should be able to run 15,840 feet literally without breaking a sweat, the fact of the matter is:

Everything that you forget about or become complacent with will eventually be harder than it should be.

I don’t care if it’s running, a relationship with your girlfriend/wife/best friend or the position that you are paid to do at work. If you let yourself become too comfortable in any type of situation and stop pushing yourself in (or even stop paying attention to) whatever you’re involved in, it’s only going to make it harder in the end.

So, what I would suggest is that you take inventory of what you currently deem valuable or a priority in your life and ask yourself a few questions about them:

Have I become too comfortable with it to the point that I am just going through the motions?
Am I taking it serious enough right now, or do I simply feel like I have it under control because I always have in the past?
Has something seemed to become much harder than it always has been for no apparent reason?

After you ask yourself these questions, it’s then time to take action on them and to make sure that you are constantly becoming a better, all around person at the things that you feel are the most important in your life. This goes way beyond running (especially for me) and includes things like work, faith and love among others.

I hope that this makes sense — I’m going to try to articulate and push out some of my more personal thoughts on here and this was my first shot. Don’t worry, they’ll only get better from here.

Thanks for listening and feel free to give me any feedback that you have. If you need me I’ll be prepping for the Turkey Trot 5-miler that’s coming up on Thanksgiving (wish us luck!).

Filed Under relationship stuff, thoughts to chew on