With only a week left to go in Boss October 2024 I am once again thankful to myself for sticking with it.
This year I have done the following:
- Willpower: Give up alcohol
- Discipline: run every day with an emphasis on building speed
- Kindness: focus on more positive self talk through the runs (it can get really ugly)
For the running – my plan is:
Days 1-10: run 1 mile
Days 11-20: run 1.5 miles
Days 21-31: run 2 miles
Willpower
I am now on day 23. Twenty-three days without alcohol – which has made a noticeable difference with my sleep schedule (so much better). I do not miss it and I have been enjoying a non-alcoholic beer: Just the Haze for a “treat” at night. I only drink one and that is satisfying enough.
Discipline
I am in day three of my 2 mile a day runs. I have had 2 bad runs, and one ok run. It blows my mind that I could have trained for and ran for multiple races a few months ago that were 13.1 and 10 miles respectively but still find myself struggling with the short mileage at a slightly faster pace. I generally take at least 1-4 miles to feel comfortable and I think that is why I enjoyed the longer runs. I had time to get past the uncomfortable feeling. On the contrary, these shorter runs each day are literally the hardest runs I could do because most of them are very uncomfortable the entire time. I will say I have enjoyed running with different instructors from Peloton. Marcel Dinkins is a new favorite.
Kindness
This has been another struggle for me. I have calmed down the negative talk but find myself not having anything going through my head which is good and bad. I now just need to trade in the silence to something positive. On another note – I do have another mantra (“find a way”) which has proven to be successful on a few tough runs.
This month has flown by but with only a week left I am going to try and savor these final days and remember that all of what I am focusing on this month is a privilege and I should be so lucky to be able to do it.
