A year ago I was — decidedly — not a runner. I was a walker. I had walked an entire marathon in fact (2008 BMO Vancouver Marathon with Team in Training). But, I had taken a year off of taking care of myself after burying myself in my new job, and I knew something had to change. AND we had just bought a condo with a gym right downstairs from us, so there was no excuse. With the co-commitment of my husband and our good friend Lesley, I started walking again. Then something weird happened. One day on the treadmill I felt like running. So I did. It was only for a couple of minutes that first day, but I didn’t die! I was ok! It actually felt good!
Fast forward a year, and along with some sage advice from the amazing instructor and personal trainer Andrea Perrino, as well as a lot of sweat along the way, Lesley, our friend Lara Aknin, & I ran the full 10k of the Sun Run today! We *ran* it! The whole time! I can hardly believe it! It was the longest distance I had ever run without stopping, and we completed it in 1:01:41. We had a hunch we might do it in an hour, but we didn’t have a watch among us so we weren’t sure. But we did it! Well, just about… and now we have our next goal: to complete in under an hour!
It feels great to complete this accomplishment and to own this new identity as a runner. This school year I feel like I have really been putting into practice what I teach so often: take care of your physical & mental health, take breaks from work, cultivate social connections, set SMARTER goals, and implementation intentions to acheive them. I’m looking forward to keeping up my progress this summer as I write my textbook and prepare for next year’s adventures. Look for me next year teaching Psyc 100 (6 credits), Psyc 217 (research methods), Psyc 218 (stats), and my custom course Psyc 208: Psychology in your life: How social psychology can help you succeed).
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