This isn’t just a blog about running. It’s a blog about life after the couch.

Me & the Gweeblet

Me & the Gweeblet

This isn’t a blog just about running. It’s a blog about life after the couch.

I fear sometimes that if you looked at me just by my favorite posts, or my Couch to 5K post it makes it sound like its easy. Like one day you just wake up and change our life. And that’s the way it is from there on out.

But if you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know it’s not. There are good days and bad days. I need to write about the bad days, because that’s the honest picture.

This was my refrigerator this morning.

The typical state of the Reaves’ refrigerator over the past few months.

 

I started a new job back in January. And it’s been awesome. I’m really excited (and lucky) to get to do what I love — help people talk to each other on the Internet all day. And with that job came new routines, new responsibilities.

My situation reminds me of the book the Power of Habit (a must read for anyone trying to make a life change). The author talks in the book about how retailers try to target people in life changes — college students and new parents, for example — because they are more likely to change their buying habits at the same time that a major life change is going on.

My new job coincided with my knee injury. So that changed my running patterns. And learning new patterns, new things, I felt like my willpower muscle was drained. So I haven’t really been cooking at home. There have been a lot of nights of beer & popcorn dinner.

I was able to start back on my goals for a PR at Race the Runways at the end of January, but I just haven’t felt the urge. I have been running, and running still feels great — but I make deals with myself. “All that matters is that you go out today. You can turn around after a mile if that’s all you want to do. You can run as slow as you want to.”

Do I still have big athletic goals? Sure. But things have changed since I first outlined my 2013 plan. My chi-balance-wheel has shifted.

Source: Serenity Healing Touch Blog

Source: Serenity Healing Touch Blog

I’m happy just going out every day, and trying to be mindful that something that makes me feel happy right now (a whopper) is not always something that will make me happy in the long term (just effin going grocery shopping!).

So it’s been hard to write lately because I can’t get excited about pushing hard in new workouts or trying new recipes or even reading books and blogs about how to make myself a better athlete. I didn’t do that strength training or speedwork to earn that PR on April 6. But you know what? I’ll show up to the start line (and hopefully, the finish line) and I’m happy about that.

I’m not sure what the rest of the year is going to bring. I know I want to swim. I want to bike. I want to be outside. I do miss marathon training, waking up at 5 in the morning and going on a mission to see beautiful places and feel the world under my feet. So I know that I will do that again — I’ve put the Bay of Fundy marathon back on my calendar and I’m going through the motions for that training plan. I picked the Novice II plan again because all I care about is showing up. I know I can do that, and I know I can do it an enjoy it, and if this is my slowest marathon yet … I’m at peace with myself because I just wanted to run because I love to run. I’m challenging myself in other ways now.

 

 

 

 

Pattie Reaves

About Pattie Reaves

I'm a new mom and renegade fitness blogger at After the Couch. I live in Brewer with my husband, Tony, our daughter Felicity, and our two pugs, Georgia and Scoop.