“In life, we make the best decisions we can with the information we have on hand.”- Agnes Kamara-Umunna
I can’t help but feel like the quote above is exactly what we are doing in America right now. There are so many unknown variables in our future that all those in powerful positions must just make the best possible decisions based on what we know right now. I give such big kuddos to everyone who is in a decision making position throughout all of this, I cannot imagine the stress they are going through amidst the uncertainty.
With that, week 9 has been a whirlwind. With the stay at home order in full effect, to me, life feels sort of like its half-paused, anyone else? I still went to work and we had our first day of locked doors with phones ringing, it was different, but it worked. After work, I did an average 3.3 miles with about 4 stops throughout…I also then went for a walk with my mom followed by a bike ride with my little sister-so I think by the end of the day my step count was pretty dang high.
Tuesday brought some Tuesday blues. It was officially the day that the decision had been made by the powers that be to cancel Grandma’s Marathon for this summer. Definitely not what I was hoping for, but also something that I was bracing for and was beginning to expect. The health and safety of this state, nation, and world is so much more important than some random chick going from a couch potato to a wannabe runner lol. Bummed, but trying to find the light. (also, because I decided to throw myself a pitty party, Tuesday brought no workout whatsoever and a plethora of snacking after work…yikes)
Wednesday was my last day of work until who knows when because of all of this COVID-19 stuff going on, and with a higher risk sister at home it probably is a good thing. Today was supposed to be a 4 mile evening, but I was feeling emotional with the realization that I would now be sitting at home everyday, I was also feeling the weight of the Gustavus Honor’s Day weekend officially being cancelled, and the realization that the likelihood of having an actual college graduation ceremony is becoming more slim as the time ticks. Needless to say, Wednesday was filled with many tears and red, raw eyeballs by the end of the night. I was feeling so frustrated that around 9:15pm I threw on sweatpants and a sweatshirt and just ran without a destination or a distance in mind, it ended up being 2 miles and made me feel much calmer about crawling into bed. After all, I am healthy and able to exercise, so for that I am thankful.
Thursday brought an at home HIIT workout which actually kicked my butt and was great-one perk of being at home is having the time and energy right away in the morning to knock out a solid workout at my own pace after having a cup of coffee! Mom and I then tried some at home yoga which was nice and relaxing and then headed outside for a walk in the nice spring weather!
Saturday was supposed to bring 7 miles-DAMN. This is the day I decided that I would maintain my running even though the race is cancelled. At this point I am not going to strictly follow my training plan, but I am going to continue to push myself to get better at this whole one foot in front of the other thing because heck, it feels good! And I’m the type of person that absolutely NEEDS something to look forward to, and since there isn’t much else going on right now, I might as well run! Anyways, I convinced mom to bike with me Saturday since she didn’t have to work from home. We made it a little over 2 miles without stopping and then proceeded to do longer intervals of running until I hit 5 miles. At the end of 5 I was feeling quite tired and my legs felt like logs of timber, so I decided to walk the remaining 6 blocks until I could face plant into our front lawn. Just a little humor for you…around 3.5 miles, in between my puffs for air, I huffed out the words “we just hit 3.5” to my mom. Her response was “only 3.5?! holy crap I feel like we’ve gone way farther than that!!”….LOL, MOM, YOU’RE THE ONE ON TWO WHEELS HERE ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!
So moral of the story for week 9? I’m not really sure to be honest, but you’re welcome to continue sharing this experience with me as I continue to navigate what it’s like to try and become a runner.
I also want to share with you an amazing recipe my family tried this week during our quarantine-it was recommended to us by a family friend and was absolutely amazing!! Give it a try if you’re bored at home with these random ingredients!
P.S. If any of you have tips on how to STOP SNACKING LIKE A CHILD please send them my way!! By 10:00 this morning I had already made 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies and consumed nearly half of them.
I also was supposed to be landing in Florida right about now with my boyfriend for the week, but the universe has other plans, so for now zoom will have to do.
Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay positive, we’ll get through this peeps! Hugs and love, xoxo
Josie's Journey 