Pull myself together.
As of two days ago, that’s officially what I’m focusing on! You see, every year our business ramps up for the craziness that the month of May brings. We hire extra employees; we take on extra work; and we set about accomplishing every single installation before early June. It’s fun, it’s hectic and it’s stressful!
It should come as no surprise to me, especially considering this is my 10th year in our business. This year, however, was the first year my parents relinquished the reigns to me, relying on me to completely run our annual installs. It all worked out– we had the second best season in the history of the company!–but it meant absolutely zero free time for me.
About halfway into May, I made the realization that my Skirt Sports half marathon was quickly approaching, and I was not ready at all! I panicked for a bit and started pressuring myself to get some runs in. But then, I realized: what was the point? No one was making me run the 13 miles and if it was going to add more stress to my already-hectic month, why bother? So, I emailed the Skirt Sports team and requested to drop down to the 10k. They were gracious and did it without complaints. Problem solved. And even better? Unbeknownst to me, Marissa had dropped down to the 10k also. I’d still have a running buddy!
This past Sunday snuck up on me and race day was here before I had time to think about it. My fall gear guide articles for the magazine are due now, so I basically hopped from deadlines at our family business to deadlines for Backpacker. Needless to say, I didn’t have time to pick up my race packet. Instead, I woke up extra early on Sunday to head to the race, grab my bib and meet Marissa by 6:15.
Do you ever have those moments where your mind is racing in a zillion directions? That’s how I felt prior to our race starting. The half marathon began at 6:15 with the 5 and 10ks starting at 6:45. Marissa and I were standing around chatting, and I felt like my brain was all over the place. How much writing did I have today? When was the tent piece due? How about that post for Liftopia? And did I place the order at our supplier for Monday? I told Marissa how manic I was feeling and she laughed; apparently she is in the same busy situation at work. In the end, we agreed we’d just start running and see how we felt.
As it would turn out, we were barely five minutes into the run when Marissa turned to me and goes, “Let’s just run the 5k, ok?” DONE!
Pressure gone, we enjoyed our reverse half marathon. I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve run a 5k in a sanctioned event, so it was nice to know that I would only be out there for a half hour or so….not a couple hours. It’s a refreshing feeling!
Marissa and I talked a ton, filling each other in on our life events. We hit a rather large hill about half mile from the turnaround and rather than push it to hurt, we just opted to walk the monstrosity. It didn’t hurt, we weren’t stressed and it was actually fun!
We hit the turnaround and snapped some photos. I mean, why not?! Clearly we weren’t going for speed and the scenery was beautiful. Lack of training aside, it was a gorgeous Sunday for a run and I was glad to enjoy every bit of sunshine.
The return 1.5 miles was largely downhill and Marissa and I cruised through it. We grabbed a quick cup of water from an aide station before trotting to the finish line. I never looked up our official time, but I think it was 36:XX. And you know? I’m fine with that. We walked a third of the race, we talked a whole bunch, and we both made it home by 8:30am to begin our day of chores. By turning the Skirt Sports event into a fun frolic rather than an undertrained, pressure-filled half marathon, I set myself up for a productive Sunday….and even got all my writing done!
Side note: My entry was comped thanks to a partnership with Skirt Sports and Sweat Pink. If y’all are interested in running this event next year, I highly recommend it! It’s small–a few hundred people–and very welcoming to beginners. I’d say over half of the runners were attempting their first-ever race, which was awesome to see! Plus, did I mention that they had CAKE as a post-race snack?!
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5 Comments
Good for you two for not putting too much pressure on yourselves! Life gets so hectic and beating yourself up over having to skip a workout or run a shorter race is pointless. Looks like it was a good race!
aww! yay! i did that race last year as a kick-start buddy. skirt’s kick-start program is really inspiring; they partner newbie runners with more experienced runners to provide a buddy system to help the newbie runner prep for their first race – my awesome partner jen ran her first ever running race and it was so awesome to be with her and cross the finish line together!
anyway, glad you both could get out and enjoy it, pressure free!
I love that realization when you are able to say, “Wait, nobody is MAKING me run this many miles!!” It takes so much of the pressure off. Any race with cake at the post race celebration is good in my book. It sounds like a great race. Thanks for sharing!
I love that you listened to what you were feeling at the time and didnt feel guilty about cutting back. Kudos to a good time well spent with a friend.
Talk about going with the flow, nice job on enjoying it rather than having it add to your other stressors 🙂