20 minutes is 20 minutes

 I've started into a comfortable routine of getting up around 6am and going for a 20min run 2-3 days per week. It's not much, but it's something. 

Why 20 minutes?

20 minutes allows me time to get up with my husband at 6am, get out the door, run, cool down, stretch, and shower before he leaves the house at 7am. I need to be back on time because kids. And I don't want to get up earlier at this point because lazy.

The other nice thing is I remind myself  that I'm ONLY going for 20 minutes, which gives me the motivation I need on some of those more challenging mornings. But, 20 minutes is 20 minutes. That's a full hour of running a week! I've worked up my speed so that I'm now running roughly 3km in that time, which is satisfying. And the best part is I'm not too sore after, so while I'm still only aiming for 3 days per week, this doesn't wreck me for walks or other activities I want to do with the family.

As things improve and I re-establish this running routine, I'm hoping I can increase up to 30min and maybe even 5km (a slow runner can dream, right?). Maybe I'll even start training my way back into a 10km or even a half marathon and try to relive my glory days of when I was [still slow, but] running for longer distances.

But for now, 20 minutes is 20 minutes. I'll take it.

But Did You DIE?

 My husband Russell has a shirt that has big block letters on it reading, "BUT DID YOU DIE?"

I couldn't help but think of this shirt a lot on my first run in almost 2 years. My goal in 2022 to run 50k in the year...didn't pan out. What can I say? I gave birth to kiddo #3 in 2023 and I traded out my running goals for stroller walks and lazy days playing with the kids instead.

But last night I realized: spring is finally here, and there's no better time to get back into it, right?

My A Goal to run 30min of 10:1 (10min run to a 1 min walk) quickly sputtered into a B goal of 20min of 5:1 instead. 

Total distance: 2.5km

Total time: 22min

It's going to be a long slow journey back into fitness. I'm not committing to entering any races yet. Nor am I committing to any long-term goals over the year. Right now I'm just settling for taking this one trudging step at a time.

At the end of my run, I reflected on the previously mentioned question: but did I DIE? No, I did not.

Did I literally give myself a high-five at the end because I was so proud of myself? Yes. Yes I did.