Being the neurotic person that I am, I was anticipating many obstacles that might come up and cause me to lose motivation during my training. At this moment, I could not be more wrong! All of the emotions and thoughts I am experiencing have been easy to put in a positive light. The words below describe how I feel at this stage of training.
Athletic: I feel stronger on every run. My body is getting leaner, my leg muscles are growing, and my waist is shrinking.
Empowered: I have a stronger sense of pride within myself. I can say I am training for the SLO Marathon, my children are proud of me, and my wife and parents are all excited for me.
Nervous: I am nervous on many levels. I worry about not achieving my goal, getting injured, having to stop during the race, disappointing my kids if I don’t cross the finish line, letting down the ShareSLO team or worse, letting myself down.
Scholarly: Training has introduced me to new ways for improving and strengthening my body. I have been researching online, talking with peers, and going through trial and error to see what works for me and my body.
Friendly: Everyone has been so helpful offering me valuable training advice, and I have met a lot of new people and formed new friends through this experience.
Guilty/Poor: New shoes, compression socks, running shorts, shirts, water bottles, energy snacks etc… yikes!
Awestruck: The more I run the more I am exposed to the back roads and beauty of this town. I have also found that San Luis Obispo has no shortage of athletes training and exercising around town.
Disciplined: I am constantly hungry and constantly eating all day every day. I want food and crave junk food, but I am exercising self-control and reigning it in… well, sort of ;).
I may just be fortunate to live and train in such a beautiful area, or maybe it’s easier with my family and other positive, supportive people within this community. Either way, it has been a blast so far!