Okay, here is a fun fact about me that most people don’t know. You ready?
I am not adventurous. Nope, not at all. I don’t love [or really even like] trying new things. This is especially true when it comes to trying new things that are fitness related. The thought of trying new thing is absolutely terrifying to me. I mean like anxiety-ridden, might shit my pants, absolutely had rather not, terrifying. I am getting high blood pressure just thinking about trying something new that is fitness related. I am definitely one of those people who had rather just chill in my comfort zone, which are things that…you guessed…I have already tried at some point or another. Everything that I do now that I am [on my terms] good at, I wasn’t always good at. Take for example: running. I haven’t always been good at running. I mean, even now, I am not good compared to others, but I digress. I am good on my terms, and that is all that really matters.
Point: I am not a trail runner. Period. I have run a couple of trails, but that has only been recently. And if I am being frank, I have only run trails a few times, like literally four times. And all of those four times have been since I have lived in Virginia. Three times at the Noland Trail, and one time in the race I did last Saturday at Harwood Mills.
I had this crazy idea at the beginning of the year to run no less than one race per month. Here we are in January, and I have run two races this month. I have one planned [and paid for] for February, and March. I have this little sheet on the side of my fridge that lists out all the races I want to do this year. So knowing that I wasn’t a trail runner and hadn’t really even practiced on trails, I decided – last minute – to sign Bill & I up for a trail race. I mean – REALLY!? who does that? Most normal people, especially the non-adventurous kind, at least train on the terrain they plan to race on, but I didn’t. I don’t necessarily regret it, because I still did really good regardless. I mean – honestly, I had the cards stacked against me that morning because I did things I normally wouldn’t do on race day. For instance: I drank coffee that morning. I also ate an energy waffle. Also, I raced with new gear on. <– that is a huge no-no. Runners have this understanding that you don’t wear new gear on race day. It is for good reason, too – basically if you don’t train with it, you don’t start it on race day. You don’t know how your body is going to function with it, which could really worsen your race. The day before, I had bought compression sleeves for my calves, and I just had to try them on race day. Again, I would recommend trying during a training session, but yolo & they actually worked really well. Hello no chin splints!
Real quick fun fact: I cry at the start of every race. I know the work it took me to get to where I am & that makes me proud of how far I have come. Sometimes I cry during races, but not always. At Harwood, I cried when I saw the “one mile left” & “.50 miles left” signs.
Moving on: before the race & at the beginning, I told myself it was okay if I walked a few times. I reasoned it with: you are not a trail runner; you don’t know what to expect; this is mostly new terrain to you; it is okay; just walk if you feel like you need to; it is cold; your hands are cold; your feet are cold. Just walk if you need to. Blah, blah, whatever. Yeah, well I didn’t walk. I never got to a point where I felt like I needed or even wanted to walk. I was just cruising. I had a good pace. I felt good. Nothing was hurting. My breathing was on point. People weren’t crowding me. It actually ended up being a great race.
When I got to the finish line, I saw Bill & when I got to him I couldn’t wait to tell him that I walked a whole zero times. I was so excited that the very first thing I said to him was, “Guess how many times I wal…ZERO!” I was so elated that I didn’t even give him an opportunity to guess. Sidenote: that is like my thing – at the end of very race (or even weekly run) I tell him to guess how many times I walked. It is like our thing. Lol.
So I did it. I curbed my anxiety & did a trail run & had an awesome time even though it meant stepping out of my comfort zone. Here is my plea to you: tell your brain to shut up, step out of your comfort zone & just do the damn thing. Yeah, comfort zones are…comfortable, but if we stay there, we never know what we could be missing out on. It is going to be hard (nothing in life is easy!); it might suck; it might hurt. But I can assure you this: you will never regret trying something new. Even if you realize it wasn’t your thing after-all. But what if it is? You literally have nothing to lose.
Vagabond Texan 