Thanks to everyone who has shopped so far! The shop will be open for 4 more days and then I’ll close it. I haven’t had a ton of orders, so I’m not going to offer the preorder option. Meaning, when I sell out of the current inventory…that’s it! This may mean you aren’t able to get the size you’d like…sorry about that. Also, if you just order a sticker and/or magnet and it charges you like $8 for shipping…I will reimburse you $7 because wtf that’s way too much to pay for shipping an envelope. Okay, on to what I’ve been thinking about lately…

---

For 7 years I dealt with the complexity of my relationship with running with an all-or-nothing approach. The choice was: no running, without exception. I needed, and benefited greatly from, a long break from running. However, the capacity for a moderate approach to running has opened up, so you know I’m gonna wanna talk about it here lol.

Why do I run?

This one is easy for me. Have you ever been on a jog and experienced yourself relaxing into your stride? For me, I notice my falling leg being caught by my quad/glute. My shoulders melt down my back. I notice my hands are relaxed as if to not crush an imaginary potato chip I’m holding. I tuck the bottom of my ribs so they aren’t flaring. My pelvis is shifted back slightly.

Of all the feelings, the feeling of melting into my stride is one of my very favorite. It is 100% what I adore about running and why I choose to continue year after year considering how to incorporate it into my life. If being done for the right reasons, running can be a meditative and mindful experience. When running is done out of a place of desperation and I-have-to-do-this-or-else-I-won’t-be-okay, running serves the purpose of numbing rather than relaxing.

I did an IFS session around how different parts of me feel/think/perceive/experience running. I got to know one part of me that fears being dependent on running and another part that is so playful and excited to be outside running. My brain came up with the below visual over the course of an hour. In addition to those two parts, there was a part that really needed to hear that other people may not get why I run or how I think about running, but that doesn’t change why I choose to pull on my biker shorts and lace up my Brooks.

Here are some jogging mindfulness exercises:

1. Do training plans intuitively.

Following an external training plan as it is written usually leads to injury for me. The only luck I’ve had with training plans is doing them much slower than they are slotted for. Following this last postpartum, I did The Mother Runners Postpartum Training Plan, but instead of the 8 weeks weeks it maps out I did it over 4 months. Whenever my body was up for running again, I’d do the next run that was scheduled on the training plan and the final run of the program ended up being when we were in Laguna, so I got to run it there, which was such a nice thing for me. 

2. Hundreds. 

I made this up and it is simply jogging 100 steps and then walking. Then, once I feel like it, I jog 100 steps again. Repeat for whatever is the distance of the path I’m running that day.

3. “Perfect”-form running.

This idea is borrowed from my summer swim coach. The idea is you slowwww down and become hyperaware of how your body in moving through the water. In example, for freestyle: fingers glued together, hand down center line of body, thumb brushes thigh, arm up-out-around to jut your hand back out in front, which tags the other arm to mirror the motion and a relay with your left and right arm continue. The same can be done with running form. My two older girls love doing this with me. We run a very short distance while being hyperaware of how our bodies are moving through space. Well, I do mindful form, they are running in play heels and an Elsa dress.

4. Not tracking mileage

My best runs are when I don’t track time or mileage, however when I’m following a training plan in hopes to prevent injury (especially when scaling back up after months off) then it’s necessary to track. I have noticed that after years of running I have a remarkably accurate internal pedometer. However, instead of tracking mileage, I do find it fun to pull up a picture of the map where I ran and draw on the iPad the route I took. It’s a way to reflect on the run and I like it. 

5. Running as slow as possible. 

How slow can you go? When I’m tired, I’ll slow down in the course of a run to give my legs a new rhythm to try out.

6. Awareness of limits the body sets

For me, running anything over 3 miles leads to injury, or at least noticeable wear and tear that isn’t worth it. Also, a good idea for me is to rarely run back to back days. And, I’ve found it’s safer to increase my one mile PR than run distances over 3 miles (again, this is a limit my body has set and it just is what it is). 

---

Ultimately, running is best for me when done as something to enjoy and not something to aggressively push myself at or make progress in. I try my best to not have ambitions for my running* other than wanting to maintain some strides in my life for as many years as I possibly can. Running is best when it’s not something I’m trying to improve or optimize, but just something I dabble in 0-8ish times a month.

Tune in two years from now for my next running update haha. The sage continues! Also, I have thoughts on the “runner’s high” that I’ll share soon…I try to avoid it.

(* Okay, I do have one and it’s what I’m calling my “legacy run” that I want to run one day. I imagine the stars will all align and I’ll do it and have a Forest Gump moment of, “I just kept running!” My legacy run loop would start at my house and take me by my grandma’s former house and then a couple more miles would take me past my great grandma’s lot. I’m not forcing it, so I’ll just have to wait see.)