JENerally Speaking: Fun.

Fun. That's how I like my running these days. Like that singing group..."Fun." and their song "We are Young." Except I'm not young. I'm definitely old.

The pandemic deleted my birthday last year, so hubby threw me a proper 40th this year!

Ahh, but I digress. So far this year, I have not run one single race, aside from a trail relay, but I can also honestly say that I've been having more fun running than I can ever remember. I'm running with an inappropriately fun (like, no convo is off the table with these peeps) group again on Thursdays, I take extra days off if my body or mind asks for it, and I'm more than willing to change up a run mid-run if I decide, yep, this just ain't happening today. No pressure. All smiles. Well, mostly. No one smiles all the time. And if they do, well that's just weird, and I probably wouldn't trust them.

Logan, my seven year old, actually brought me to an epiphany a few weeks ago. He started playing on a flag football team, and after a successful first game, he ran off the field before halftime in his second game and refused to play. The competitive ass in me could feel the heat building in my gut and cheeks that my son didn't seem to have that fire, but when I asked him why, the first thing he stated was, "Mommy, I'm no good at it." *Cue choked up tears and feeling like a mommy turd*. We've had a lot of talks since then, the most constant one being that if you choose to sit out for fear of failure, then you also don't allow yourself the opportunity to succeed and have fun. It made me think back to many races that I decided not to run for these exact insecurities, although upon making those decisions, I of course didn't admit these reasons to myself at the time. Logan has now played in the team's two games since that day, and I promised him too that I'd be more aware of why or why not I run races. Because honestly, if you run a PR or you win a race....or you don't...umm yeah... SO. WHAT.

One goal I have avoided for years is the half marathon. I ran a 1:22 in 2015 and have not run once since, and the sad reality is that I've gotten into much better shape in these past six years, so what the hell is wrong with me? The possibility of NOT running it faster or the risk of getting injured doing one en route to one of my marathons kind of freaked me out. Isn't that ironic though? I weenied out of racing a half before my OTQ marathon attempt in 2019, and oh wait, I got injured anyway. See, I should have taken my own advice to Logan and immersed myself into more races because by not doing so, I deprived myself the opportunity to bust out a fast time and have fun in the process all the while. Dumbass.

I actually signed up for a 5K in a few weeks! Again, after my chats with Logan, that was part of our deal...I'd sign up for a race. Am I in my best shape? Sure not! But ya know what, sometimes when you don't care as much, you surprise yourself, so who knows?

Mike and I took the boys on a surprise beach weekend a couple of weekends ago, and I decided to throw down a few mile repeats while there on some flat roads. I surprised myself with 5:54, 5:50, and 5:46. However, I woke up the next morning with a grossly swollen foot. What? Previously, I would have freaked out, but I kind of just laughed at myself and was like, yeppppppp, this is 40! Okay, yeah shut up, you're right, I'm actually 41. But yeah, I can still run on the foot, but it kinda maybe looks like I stuffed marshmallows under my skin. Whatever.

Looking ahead, the Chicago Marathon is on the docket, but I'm calling some possible stink on this race. Can someone address the fact that they accepted and charged every single person through their lottery on top of all those that deferred from last year (I've read that in a normal year, not even half of the applicants get in)? While many races are still canceling/postponing/limiting field size, you're telling me that Chicago, a 40,000+ runner world major marathon, is business as usual? I dunno. But ahh well. If I'm being honest, I'm enjoying my 50 miles a week and long runs of no more than 12 miles right now anyway.

Welp, so what else is going on...

Got me my vaxxxx! ...

...and then looked like this five days after my second dose. Yep, I was one of those lucky delayed-reaction-face-swells peeps! And yes, I did just post this picture.