Running Outside of my Comfort Zone

Today ended as a total success. I crossed the finish line of the Boilermaker 15K Race, having run the whole way. But the real end of the race for me was finding my 5 comrades—the ladies I had been training with for the last four months. They had seen every drop of sweat, fielded every TMI question and looped back countless times to make sure I was safe AND supported.

One year earlier all of that would have seemed inconceivable to me. See I’m sort of a loner and had always considered running the perfect sport for me—alone with my thoughts, my goals, my successes and failures. In the summer of 2010 I finished my first couch to 5K program and continued running steadily, by myself, for close to 6 months. I finished my first 5K and then stopped—completely stopped. A long winter, with very little exercise had left me right back where I had started.

But then came the simple invitation, from a mom I knew through my son’s kindergarten class. “I'm inviting you because I know you run already, or I think/know you are planning to take up running & train for a 5K. If you're ambitious, train for the 15K with me! There are 165+ days until the race... PLENTY of time to get ready!” Again, my tendency was to under commit—I could do the 5K. But on some level I knew I needed something more—both on the road and in my life.


I knew most of the women on some level, though some I didn’t know at all, but I felt like I needed to go “all in”—something of a risk for this risk-aversive person. I was committing to be part of a team, per se—running 3 times per week, for at least the next 7 or 8 months. But more important than that, I was agreeing to show up, physically and mentally, to push others and accept them pushing me. To “show up” even when I didn’t feel like it.


And I got so much more—women to inspire and motivate me—women to make me laugh and support me in my goals—both running and otherwise. I began to relax into the relationships and realize these were women I could see dancing with at our kids’ weddings, and laughing with throughout all of the ins and outs of parenting that would get us there.


So here I honor the ladies—I would have never gotten here without each of you: Megan—the person who motivated us all to take this journey. Molly and Lauren—our own personal speed demons who give us something to work towards. Ashley and Mia who “aren’t runners” but kill it every time. And Jaime, to me the most fearless of all, less than six months out from baby G—still in the throes of nursing and sleepless nights—but always willing to head out for a run.


In the course of training, I realized that my unwillingness to commit in the past was more about me. I didn’t want to fail in front of other people. I didn’t want to make a commitment to give of myself. I didn’t feel like I could keep up. But I realized that I could. And that is a very sweet feeling.