It’s Time for a New Running Bucket List

• 4 • Motivation

You know why?  Because I’ve CHECKED MINE OFF.  That’s right.  EVERY. LAST. BUCKET. LIST. ITEM.

Check it out.

I posted in July of 2013 about some things that would be neat to accomplish with my running.  Social goals, fun goals, distance goals and time goals.

Let’s take a look:

In July, 2013 I said: I have not, but would like to:

  • Beat my current PR for a 5k (29:58) while pushing the kids in the double jogger

Done! Savage Memorial 5k, May 4th 2014 AND The Wellesley Wonder Run

Do a race with a friend where costumes are encouraged (maybe one of the Halloween races, the New Year’s Day race where people run in pj’s, tutus, etc)

Done! Ok, so the costumes were encouraged by ME, as I celebrated my first year of running by returning to my very first 5k and finishing it with two friends in tutus in under 30 minutes 🙂  The race was for a local improv comedy group… tutus were NOT a problem.  These were very funny people.

Keep up with Greg for a quarter mile at his regular running pace without having heart failure

Done! Ok, so I kept up with him for a quarter mile at his marathon pace… but I totally sprinted a quarter mile to take a photo of him at a water station after he ran by us at the halfway point for the Boston Marathon.  And I had jeans on.  One of the water station guys was impressed, so I’m going to say this counts.  I also ran track repeats in September where I maintained a sub 8 minute pace for 4 quarter mile intervals – I also think that counts!

Run the entire three miles with the mother’s forum running group at their conversational jogging pace (ie, without them slowing down a ton for me)

Done! Maintained a sub 10 minute mile pace with another mom for three miles.  We were a little behind the pack… but we were still moving!

Run the half marathon in September!

Done! Oh, and throw in another half marathon in November for good measure.  YEAH.

Run the same race two years in a row and do better the second time

Done!  Several times over!  Every repeat 5k I’ve run I have finished faster than I ran it the year before.  Still haven’t repeated a 10k or half marathon… so maybe that’ll be on my next bucket list 🙂

Run from my in-laws house in Maine to my parents house (5 miles, but hilly)

Done it… AND BACK.  And done it again.  I did this as part of a training run for my September 2013 half marathon, going to my in laws, PAST them a bit to my brother’s house, and then back to my parents for a 12 mile total run.  I also ran from my in-laws to my parents house as one of my first runs after my half-marathon.

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None of these individual items is incredibly impressive to me NOW… although many of them required a good deal of effort.  But what I love about this list is that some of them seemed like such a far reach back when I wrote it.  That I accomplished all of them, had fun doing it, and need to make a new list is just awesome.

Some of the items, like my first half marathon, I targeted diligently, planned for them, and executed them with deliberation.  Others, I haph-hazardly completed.  (Like chasing Greg down the Boston Marathon course over sidewalks to take a picture… I’m sure you think that’s cheating, but I won’t let you have it!)

I like the idea of having a bucket list that’s mixed with some goals that you work towards, and others that you gleefully cross off when you have the opportunity because it’s been in the back of your mind.

Time to work on a new bucket list.

What would be on yours?

Amy is running her first half marathon today!

• 2 • 13.1 Training, Motivation

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YIKES!  I’m so excited.  Months and months ago, while I was training for my first half marathon, I connected online with another new runner and mother named Amy.  I was a new runner and mother, she’s a new runner and mother… and she followed my journey towards my first half marathon while she worked up to running her first 5k.

Amy is a blogger too – you can read her blog about life here at “So this is me”.

On August 17th of 2013, I posted a good luck message to her before she ran her first 5k!  Read about her fabulous race experience on her blog, here: http://faith324.blogspot.com/2013/08/i-did-it.html

Today, less than a year later, she’s running her first half marathon.

If you go back through her blog and look at her running posts before her first 5k, you’ll see her post about the challenges she faced.  Motivation.  Feeling tired.  Schedule conflicts and weeks she didn’t run much.

Right… and TODAY SHE RUNS HER FIRST HALF MARATHON.

This is incredible.  She went from doing Couch to 5k, and then STUCK WITH IT, and then believed that she could dedicate the time and energy and patience it would take to get all the way up to the starting line of a HALF MARATHON.  (For new runners, this means running for over two to two and a half hours AT LEAST.  Which is crazy.)

No matter what happens today, the work is done – she DID it.  She believed in herself and put in the long hours for the long runs, and she got to the starting line with her family there to cheer her on.

I am completely in love with the process of transformation that happens when people start running and then believe in themselves that they can go the distance.  For the rest of her life, she will know that she had the courage to believe that she could accomplish something that sounded crazy, and the strength of will and dedication to follow through and run for longer and longer until 13.1 was doable.  Even though she’d run her first 5k less than a year before.  The knowledge that you have that kind of strength sticks with you when you face life’s challenges… and she’s earned it.

In November of last year, Amy wrote this:

“But 6 months ago the thought of me running at all was laughable.  So who knows.  I will keep running one step at a time and see where the road takes me.” -Amy 

Maybe it’s because I’ve had the same thoughts… traveled the same road… been transformed the same way by the dream of 13.1, but reading those words and knowing that TODAY she is at the starting line for her first half marathon… it literally brings tears to my eyes.

Amy – you are awesome.

I hope Amy has an amazing and wonderful race, and I can’t wait to read her race re-cap of how she feels after she accomplishes this new and challenging distance.

For all you new runners… think about what a beautiful gift it is that Amy can look back at her posts where she wrote about being tired (but running anyway) or taking some time off from running for the holidays (but getting back into it) or heading out in the freezing cold (and still making it a few miles).  Now she can remember all those things she overcame to still stick with running AND become a long distance runner.

If you want it… if you dream about it… if you think it would be amazing to have accomplished it… then look at your medical history for any reasons you shouldn’t, ramp up slowly, and go read some running blogs of people who are training for their first big race.

They felt the discouragement you feel, the exhaustion, the guilt from taking breaks… None of these things meant they couldn’t do it, or wouldn’t do it, or shouldn’t do it.  They just meant they felt even more accomplished when they overcame them and made it to that start line.

Amy – cheers to you.  You’re an inspiration to us all 🙂

Greg’s Running the 2014 Boston Marathon! (eek!)

• 0 • Motivation

Last year, Greg ran the 2013 Boston Marathon.  He finished before the blasts went off, hearing the explosions from the Boston apartment where he was gathered with coworkers who ran.  They assumed it was a cannon blast to announce the finish of someone special.  I wish they’d been right.  (You can read my post 2013 Boston Marathon blog post here.)

Some of his coworkers didn’t finish, last year.  If he’d gone back to see one of them cross the finish line, he would have been perilously close to where the explosions took place.

But he didn’t.  And he wasn’t.  And he got home safely.

This year he’s running again, in the biggest and most emotionally charged Boston Marathon in history.  He doesn’t have a time goal, he just wants to soak it all in.  All 26.2 miles of screaming spectators and the strongest runners ever.

He’ll share the road with giants like Shalane Flanagan, Massachusetts raised and a Boston Strong Olympic athlete.

He’ll share the road with runners who have disabilities, a pregnant woman who can do 26.2 with a 19 week baby bump, first responders from the Marathon Bombing, two runners with dwarfism, and a whole bunch of AWESOME.

He’ll share the road with a group called “4.15 Strong”, survivors injured in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing who trained to run this one.  For many, it’s their first marathon.  Some of them weren’t even runners a year ago.  They’re not just Boston Strong, they’re Boston Brave, Boston Believers, Boston INVINCIBLE.

I remember the jump in faith it took me to believe I could even begin to train for a HALF marathon, let alone a full marathon, and one where I’d been injured, and emotionally traumatized, near the finish line.

These are some incredible people who will be sharing that road with Greg.

Running the Boston Marathon has always been a huge honor.  Because of the race’s popularity, you have to either train hard enough and long enough to run fast enough to qualify at another marathon, or raise a huge amount of money (usually $5,000) for charity.  By the way, if you raise money for charity, you STILL have to be fit enough to make it those 26.2 miles!

This is an event where EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. who runs by has done something incredible.   They are incredible athletes, philanthropists, or both.  And there are thousands of them.  THOUSANDS.  And more who would have joined them if they could have.

I’m worried that standing there, watching all those incredible people running by, that I won’t be able to do anything but cry.  A few tears might be normal, but I’d really like not to traumatize my children.  (Two and three year olds don’t understand the concept of “happy tears”.)

Behind all the positive emotion, and the thrill of the magnitude with which runners and the B.A.A. and the cities of the Boston Marathon are reclaiming this event, there’s a little nagging worry that something might happen to Greg.

I don’t like it.  I don’t want to listen to it.  I don’t want terror to win.  I want to be Boston Strong, Boston Brave, Boston Ballsy.  But with all the new regulations, all the additional police force, I know I’m not the only one considering a potential threat.

Do I go in to try to see Greg towards the finish line?  Do I place both of my children’s parents in the city of Boston on Marathon day?

I love giving a giant middle finger to fear and paranoia and terrorism, I really do… but I love my children more.

I’m not sure what I’ll do… but I know this.

I’m proud of Greg for running, and I’m proud of Boston for hosting the biggest, most powerful Boston Marathon ever, and for working so hard to make sure it’s the safest, too.  If you’re spectating, please  check out the BAA guide for spectators, and let’s help them do their job to keep this race safe.

Most of all, let’s be thankful for this show of human spirit.  What a triumph to see what people are capable of.  It makes you wonder, if you could harness your own Boston Strong, what could you achieve?  Could you chase away depression, or substance abuse, or former trauma?  Change your career?  Be the person you want to in your relationships?

Ask yourself: if I could accomplish anything, I would _____________.

Maybe it’s not 26.2.  But maybe if you put in the time, energy, and prioritization that it takes to run 26.2, you could do it… whatever it is.

Good luck to all of the Boston Marathon runners – I’ll see you Monday 🙂

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Morning Workouts & Big Breakfasts Rock

• 0 • Motivation

In the week since we started trying to get up and do Focus T25 together in the morning before the kids get up, Greg and I have had a few days where circumstances or motivation (mine, not Greg’s) got in the way. The difference in my energy levels on those mornings is crazy… I’m more tired, I’m more frustrated, I feel like I’m starting the day out two steps behind and already failing.

I’m starting to realize how much better my day goes when I get up before the kids, work hard for 25 minutes, and am showered and starting breakfast by the time they wake up. We have a big meal that’s ready about when they’re out of bed, Greg stays to eat with us, and we’re done eating with an hour left before I have to leave for pre-school dropoff. Plenty of time to clean up the breakfast dishes and come home to a clean kitchen.

IT IS AMAZING.

The days that I don’t get out of bed, I wake up and run down the hall in my pajamas to get the kids out of bed, stall them while I throw clothes on without a chance to shower, go downstairs and pour cereal for a quick breakfast for them, say goodbye to Greg who now has to go buy himself a less healthy breakfast somewhere on his way to work, and am usually out the door late without cleaning up the breakfast dishes in order to get to preschool on time.

What a huge difference in the way I start my day!

I then have to try to shower during nap time, when the babysitter comes if it’s a day that I have a few hours of help, or after the kids go to bed.

I spend my morning frantically scrambling, and have a much lower quality breakfast and feeling.

All for one extra hour of sleep.

Meanwhile, if I keep getting up an hour earlier, it’ll be that much easier to fall asleep earlier. I would rather have that extra hour in the morning to work out and shower than that hour in the evening to read or watch television. I still have time to read or watch television, just not as much. But let’s face it, I’m not going to want to work out and shower after a long day with two kids… so if I keep the extra hour of time at the end of the day instead of at the beginning, it’s not going to be spent working towards a healthier, happier lifestyle.

When I first looked into the T25 videos, I was most excited about the chance to improve my strength training and work on my core muscles and tighten my abs.

Now, I’m most excited for the change it makes in my daily routine when I get up in time to exercise, shower, and start breakfast.

I am so much happier when I do it.

How can you make fitness part of your regular routine in a way that IMPROVES your day, rather than being a burden?

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Tofu scramble, ezekiel bread toast, kale, and roasted asparagus.
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Superfood smoothie!

Putting Psychology to Work: Motivate Your Running with Confirmation Bias

• 2 • Motivation
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Every time I do something really stupid, I remind myself that I have a master’s degree from Harvard. Sometimes, that makes me feel worse.

When I was in grad school at Harvard, I had a cool professor who helped us learn to apply ideas from psychology to our teaching to better motivate and educate our students. (Thank you, Hunter Gehlbach!)

I loved it. It turns out, psychology is a really great tool for understanding people’s behavior so we can influence it. While it’s fun to picture ourselves becoming psychology masterminds who can manipulate our spouses and children, as runners we can benefit from using psychology to motivate ourselves.

Motivate Yourself Using Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is our tendency to look for and pay attention to information that supports something we believe, and ignore information that challenges what we believe.

Example: You think barefoot running is the greatest trend out there. You add other barefoot runners to your twitter feed, and recommend “Born to Run” to all your friends. You search for barefoot running blogs online and add them to your feeds. You secretly believe your friend who hated her minimalist shoes just didn’t give it enough time to ease into them, and probably shouldn’t be running on so much pavement. You stop talking to running shoe specialists at your local running store. Basically, you look for people and information that supports what you believe, and stop looking for, or discredit, information that doesn’t support your belief.

How can you make confirmation bias work for your running?

Being aware of your own confirmation bias can help you overcome it. If you’re having a tough time with your running, you may feel that running isn’t working well for you. Once you start to feel that way, your brain starts looking for examples that support your negative feelings. Guess what? It’ll probably find them, and the more it finds, the more negative your thoughts about running will become.

If you start feeling discouraged and unmotivated about your running, try to remind yourself that confirmation bias is going to work against you. Try to make it work for you instead, but telling yourself you CAN do this, and looking for all the evidence that you’re capable instead. Write all the evidence that you’re capable down, and ignore all the evidence of failure. (Ok, within reason… I’m talking about keeping motivated to stick with running or a reasonable goal here, not looking for evidence that you can run a marathon despite being injured or something crazy like that.)

When you start trying to reverse your confirmation bias, you’ll notice there’s often a TON of evidence of your own capability and motivation you were ignoring.

So don’t get bogged down in the negatives you didn’t go for a run this week, it’s cold out, you’ve quit three gym memberships… running isn’t going to be any different and instead focus on the positives you’ve gone for runs when it was less than 20 degrees out, you like running more than you ever liked the gym, you have great friends who always ask how your running is going, you’re really looking forward to that race in the spring.

If you pay attention, you’ll realize that being aware of your own confirmation bias can help you be more objective. Have a friend who you feel doesn’t make time for you? Maybe you’re too quick to dismiss her texts or belated e-mails. Maybe that boss you think doesn’t like you is stressed out and busy, and you’re ignoring some evidence that she’s really happy with the work you’re doing because your insecurities are making it hard for you to accept praise.

So… remember to look for evidence that supports what you WANT to believe, and focus on it when you need some extra motivation. You’re not being delusional, you’re just stacking the deck in your favor… our brains do it to us all the time. Make it work for you 🙂