After being sober for several months, this was at the end of 2018, one of the voices in my head pointed out, “well if we are going to do this half-marathon thing we should do it before we turn 40”, the idea was loosely planted but I hadn’t committed yet. I decided to let it linger on hold until after Christmas and see how the new year felt. Sure enough, coming back from vacation the idea was starting to grow into a plan, that yes I can and I should rise to my challenge! But, where?
So I started searching on the various websites that keep track of where and when you can run a marathon. I had seen there was one in Vancouver in May, but I couldn’t get on board knowing I would already be 40 by then. It had to be the first week of April so that I would have at least 12 weeks to train. This narrowed it down a lot, and then sure enough there was an option in Puerto Vallarta, where 10 years before in the same month I came to Mexico for the first time. It was a sign that this plan was meant to be. April 7th, 2019, Puerta Vallarta, 1/2 Marathon 8 days before I turn 40 years old! The stars aligned and there was no turning back.
I had been inspired by a few friends who quite regularly decide they are going to train up and run one in a given year – and they run marathons! All of these friends were ‘fit’ and ‘athletic’ but not hard-core types, so they all made me feel like it was a very achievable goal. I found myself a local, highly recommended coach and I was off to the park 5 days a week to run in circles.
Here are 10+ things that I learned from my experience:
Be careful with your words, especially to little kids, especially to your kids. It kept resurfacing as I kept improving my distance and times that my high school gym teacher told me I wasn’t ‘a runner’. This always stayed with me, so that every time in the last 20 plus years I tried running and didn’t like it the first go, I remembered her saying ‘you are not a runner.’ That message stuck. So maybe consider that you don’t have any idea what anyone else is capable of, keep your doubts to yourself and spread encouragement instead.
Training is the work you have to put in to get to your end goal. It is important and easier to train if you have an end goal and should hold it present in your mind while training. However, life is what happens working up to that new goal – you have to enjoy the work. Life is the work.
Mindset is everything. From day one, I held the line of thinking that thought about how I was going to finish, and put a stop to any line of thinking that considered ‘what if I can’t or don’t finish’. Sounds obvious, but my whole training session was either an uplifting experience or a long and drawn-out if I imagined a negative outcome or focused on being tired.
Change is incremental and small, and it isn’t graphed on a straight line. Nature isn’t graphed on a straight line. We are nature, we ebb and flow.
Effort matters, be kind to yourself, celebrate your small wins.
Visualize where you want to be, then reverse engineer where you need to be week by week to get there so you can focus on bite-size goals and accomplishments all along the way.
Rest days are at least as important and potentially more important to give your body time to incorporate your effort and make changes. This is in terms of muscle mass, muscle memory but also neural connections and mindset.
Community is important. Even if it is just showing up at the same park every day and smiling and nodding at the same people, it connects you to the work, to your training on a much deeper level. It humbles you.
You can always make time for something that is a priority at the moment. Exercise is self-care. Exercise is an investment in your health and wellness. Exercise is therapy.
We are seasonal creatures, we cycle with the moon and the sun. Tap into your rhythms so you can ebb and flow with more ease. Wake with the sun, rest when it rests. Getting up early to exercise outside is one of the most rewarding changes you can make to your life today. You don’t have to run, you can walk or ride a bike. Look up, take in the sky, the trees, and the birds.
Looking back on this now, all these lessons hold true. When I first wrote this for my blog several years ago, this was a huge accomplishment for me. Your vision of what’s possible for yourself just keeps growing. Within a year of completing my first half marathon, I had run a half dozen of them to train for a full marathon that I completed just before the pandemic hit in Miami in February 2020.
Running was the container I needed to get me through those first years of sobriety, and I am sure I will always enjoy it to some degree although I no longer feel the same need to cling to my training schedules. Like anything, it can become a whole lifestyle in itself and I’m the first to admit some Sundays I just want to wake up with no need to do anything and see where the day takes me.
I think at the beginning of making a big change in our lives it can be really helpful if not essential to throw ourselves into a new structure to feel focused and safe. Once you feel like you have learned the lessons, you might want to consider loosening up on the reins of your new structure and see how you feel. You can ebb and flow between them too. Just know you are allowed to tune in and decide what works for you. Rules are made to be broken, even the ones that brought you at some point to a better place – might not work forever.
I might run another race, or I might not, but all of these lessons are things I apply to my life, my coaching, and my business every day.
Connect with Megan Swan and follow along with her on IG @meganswanwellness
ENOUGH IS A FEAST: Eat Like an Animal – Go on Girl, ROAR! Sober Curator Megan Swan aka @meganswanwellness Helps Us Kick Off a Healthy Eating 2022!
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