After taking the last few months to slowly build up mileage and feel stronger, I have offially started training for a half marathon! This will be the first half marathon I’ve run since 2021.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve faced a few obstacles that prevented me from doing the thing I love: endurance running. I had COVID twice, I fell and fractured a bone, and I started a new job with an irregular schedule. The compilation resulted me in having to build myself back from what felt like zero. I barely scraped by a sprint triathlon this past summer. After being laid off last fall, I realized some things are out if my control. But what I can control is my well-being and fitness.

Things that helped me get back to running:

• I rejoined an online running community. I pushed myself to become more active and rejoin a running community for mothers. I get workout ideas, resources, strength training plans, and am part of an online Facebook group full of mother runners who encourage and inspire. Check out Another Mother Runner if you are looking for some inspiration.
• I gave myself months to build up my base. It can be intimidating to build back up a running base from scratch. In the past I have made the mistake of “too much, too soon” which then sets me back even further. This time around I incorporated run/walks into my routine. I found that I could get out for longer and recover faster. I started at a 50/50 split, and over the weeks increased the running until I could straight up run an entire workout.
• I set a goal. Something that held me back the last couple of years was lack of a clear goal and planning. I sat down with my husband a couple weeks ago, filled out a training calendar and set a goal. Having something on paper to work toward always helps me stay on task. Also, vocalizing these goals with my husband is important – with a young child at home we need to carve out time for training. My husband is training for a marathon, so we need to communicate and plan so that we both get the dedicated training time we need.

I am excited to be back to my “usual” self and training for a race! I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.