thebabyperks

As a little update for you all, my half marathon training has been going pretty well. I just finished up week 6 of my beginners plan. This week I ran 4 miles Tuesday and Thursday and on Saturday I ran 8.

I was really happy that I could do the full 8 miles with minimal walking because last week my IT band was causing some discomfort on my right knee so I stuck to the elliptical for 2/3 of the training days.

On most of my "off days" running I'm at the gym doing some kind of lifting/weights: arms, back, chest. I didn't do any leg days but those are my favorite so I'm going to try to reincorporate those in.

Wow yet another blog post where I put photos from my Hawaii trip even though it was 3 years ago. Anyway... this is a monumental spot for so many triathletes as it's the beginning of the swim and end of the run of the Kona Ironman and it was the most fitting picture I could find for this post.

Now you may be wondering how the "what I can" title fits into my update post. Well you see on Thursday of my training I was running my normal route when up going in on my second lap I saw a woman and a man way up ahead. The man had crutches so he was obviously moving pretty slow. I was able to complete the entire second lap and start the third when I finally crossed paths with them. 

When I run I put my hair in double french braids, I put my wireless headphones in my ears and then a running headband on over my ears to keep my hair out of my face and headphones in place. As I got closer to the couple I turned down my music because for some reason I anticipated him saying something to me. What he said has changed how I have gone about running this week.

The man on crutches told me that he wished he could move as well as I did and longed for the ability to run again. At the time I was caught off guard and my response was just a quick "oh" and a smile because I was still jogging past him. His words left an impact on me though. 

How many times do we take advantage of our bodies' abilities? I chose to sign up for this race so a part of that commitment is to train. I shouldn't be sulking that I have to run (x) amount of miles during the day. I have a body that can do incredible things. All that man wanted was his mobility back and here I am complaining that I have to walk more than 5 minutes to class or go out on a beautiful morning and run.

I thought about that man a lot when I was running my 8 miles yesterday because, let me tell you, it wasn't easy. But I just kept thinking back to "wow God gave me this body and I can do this." 

It's easy to make excuses. It would have been easy to give up yesterday and return to my bed before my other plans. But why waste your life laying around? Your body is capable of so many things, use it, cherish it, and make it the best it can be.

I'm thankful that I just so happened to cross paths with this man who helped me rethink my prospective. I wish I could have told him that I was grateful for his words and how they left a lasting impression on me.

Until next time,
Taylor xx