Part 4 “Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else.”

Fred Rogers said, “Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else."

Just when I felt like I was in a groove running on the treadmill, the world came to a sudden halt at the beginning of 2020. I no longer had access to a treadmill as my local gym closed. Stress increased and there was no longer my running outlet. It felt as though I was at the end of my running journey when it had barely started. Dramatic, right? Thankfully my husband is level headed and asked me, “Why don’t you just run outside?” Wait, what? You can do that? I had only ever run regularly on a treadmill following intervals and a plan. I had never just walked out the front door and run. With no room in our home for a treadmill, running outside was really the only option. So I laced up and ventured out into my neighborhood.

Again I felt out of place and like I didn’t know what to do with my body. I was so used to the intervals, I wasn’t really sure of my endurance to maintain a pace for a certain distance. So I decided to just enjoy the new views, not stress too much and see how I felt at different speeds. I tried to recall what my jog pace felt like and went with it. Surprisingly, I found that I enjoyed going longer distances. I easily added an additional 1.5 miles to what I had been running at the gym. When I felt the need for inclines, I was able to run up the 4 story parking garage along my route. The views were much more enjoyable and the fresh air was nice. Could it be I enjoyed running outside even more than the treadmill runs I had grown to love so much? It looked like I was indeed at the beginning of something else: my outdoor running journey.

Part 5 coming... “How I made the most of running outdoors”

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