Time to Shift Priorities

Whether it’s family, career, health, running, Netflix, social media  – we all have priorities – and the list is endless! We all decide what we’re going to consider more important than another. We all decide what is going to come first in our lives. We decide what we’re going to spend the short precious time we have on this Earth doing.

Gotta say, in the past few weeks, I haven’t made this blog much of a priority. Life, ya know? Whaddya gonna do, right?

The truth is, I’m not going to make any excuses. I didn’t make my writing a priority even if I had things to say and share! I’ve made other things more of a priority and yes, that includes Netflix and Hulu. In fact, I made watching the 8-hour documentary OJ: Made in America more of a priority than reading and writing. But it was so gripping I couldn’t stop watching it!!

However, what really got me thinking about priorities is when I was talking to “Penelope” – the subject of my last post.

Where does running fit in with my own priorities? 

Since October I don’t believe I put running at the top of the daily list. I know for a fact I didn’t in November and December. Part of me feels like most of last year, I saw running more as a vehicle to train for a specific race. Take that specific race away and running became just that – just running. With no specific goal and with no focus and really no desire to put it ahead of Netflix, or family time, or napping.

Now I’m eyeing a race in the near future. Actually I haven’t officially signed up for it yet, but it’s one I’ve been thinking about.

You’d think, if I have this race in mind, I would zero in on training and focus on getting ready for it. Right?

Well, this brought me to thinking about priorities because this is what happened a few weeks ago: I decided I was going to hit the gym early the next morning. I prepared my clothes and bag so they’re easy to retrieve, but I didn’t set my alarm for the “early o’clock” time. Yup, I didn’t set my alarm. Instead, I told myself if I wake up early, I’ll go to the gym. I knew full well I wasn’t going to be able to run later, but “IF” I wake up??

First of all, yes I was hoping I’d wake up regardless, but you see, I didn’t make that precious gym time a priority! If I had, I would’ve set that alarm and got up! [Yes, there’s still a slight chance I would’ve hit snooze or shut off the alarm, but still…”]

I ended up waking up later which didn’t provide me enough time to get in my workout, and this wasn’t the first time I did this — usually when I have absolutely no race on the horizon is when I can afford to skip. I suppose you could say, I made sleep more important than a training session, which isn’t entirely a bad thing. Who wouldn’t want to sneak in a few extra minutes of sleep if their body wants it? I suppose that’s what my body did.

If something is important to us, we’ll make it a priority! We’ll move it to the top of the list and won’t pencil it in. We’ll ink it! Okay I’m not talking about tattooing it anywhere, but I’d assume are committed to it. I mean, that’s exactly what I did with Javelina Jundred. Our priorities are our non-negotiables, even though they can shift throughout the day and where we are in our lives, they’re always there.

Lately, I’ve been focusing more on making running and getting back in training mode a priority and increasing my mileage again. But it’s been difficult. I feel so sluggish and out of shape. I know deep down it’s going to take consistency and trying hard not to beat myself up over not keeping up with running and training even though I really didn’t have a race to be training for. My mind wants to believe I am where I was a few months ago, but my body knows differently.

However, a couple of weeks ago, I got together with my friend Melody for what was initially going to be 18 miles on the trails, but made it 17 miles instead. We had decided to jump up the mileage when we did 14 miles a couple of weeks prior.

Part of me thinks I was pushing the distance a tad because I haven’t hit this mileage since October, with my previous long run being 12 miles waaaay back on December 2nd. But by golly, I said I would do it and was not about to back out.

It took us a while to complete the 17, but that’s partly due to some muddy and slippery conditions due to the rain we had the day before, and even just that morning driving to the trailhead. While I packed extra towels in case of slippage, I certainly didn’t want to dive anywhere onto that mud!

My body was definitely tired and a bit sore the next day, but it was such a good feeling — a feeling I haven’t experienced in a while!

And I’ve been trying to snag in precious trail time whenever I can and taking advantage of beautiful conditions like when it actually hit 80 degrees and I wasn’t prepared for it. This was rough.

My body is starting at square one and getting to square two comes down to whether I’m going to make running and training and diet a priority. I realize I can train as hard and as long as I could muster, but if the diet isn’t on point, all that training may be all for naught. So this is all becoming more important to me because I want to get fitter and stronger this year! I want to be a better runner, especially trail runner! And head back to Javelina Jundred!

Guess it’s time for me to start shifting some priorities.

Thanks for reading!