We booked a cute Airbnb and marked out calendars. It’s only 3 hours away but I’ve only been to Buffalo once before. That was a quick few hour trip just for the heck of it that took place a few years ago. Now I’m revisiting. The first thing I do is reach out to my friend Kayla. She lives in Buffalo (and wasn’t able to meet up last time) and we’ve been internet friends for about 11 years. Yes, 11 years!! And up until last weekend we never met in person. I make plans with her and can’t wait to turn the online friendship into a real life friendship.

I’m on the tail end of my first week of marathon training. One more run tomorrow morning and then I will check off week 1. After that 17 more.

It’s an interesting thing, marathon training.

In a lot of ways the act of training for the marathon is a bigger deal than showing up and running 26.2 miles on a designated Saturday morning. To train you have to get your ducks in a row months and weeks beforehand. And then, you have to commit. You commit to showing up each and every week for 4 days a week to do the act of running.

When I look back into my past I see a writer. When I peruse the corners of my mind that hold the memories of my pre-social media self I see someone different. I see someone more creative. Someone more fulfilled. Someone who views the world clearly and differently.

In middle school swimming class we had to tread water for a certain period of time. It was a test and factored into our grade. I can’t remember how long we had to stay afloat but I want to say it was around 15 minutes.

It seemed like a really big deal at the time and it probably was. I know that some people couldn’t hang and had to tap out early so I believe that it was challenging. I also know that I was not one of those people to seek out the comfort of clutching onto the side of the pool. I fought whatever discomfort I was experiencing and I made it to the end, passing the test with flying colors.

I’m here again to talk about running and healing because I think that this message is so important. There are so many aspects of it and each post that I share in relation to it can provide a bit more clarity on how to truly pave your own path. So often we see teachers and coaches putting out offerings that result in making you more like them instead of guiding you down the path of making you more like the true and authentic you.

Imagine this, a weekend of fun and relaxation after an overly full first 6 weeks of 2023. Ice cream and Netflix, brunch, snowboarding, bowling, and a full day of not leaving the house and doing nothing.

Mmmmm, glorious!

That’s what we had planned for last weekend.

Key word: planned.

The last few months I didn’t do much working out. Every time I did I had crazy symptoms pop up.

If you knew me in the past then you know that this is very unlike me. I don’t remember the exact age when I started running but I was pretty young. Maybe 13 ish? I’d do 2 miles with my favorite music playing on my iPod Touch. Speaking of, I will definitely have to find that little guy and see what tunes are on it.

I’ve come to recognize that I have been quite complacent over the past few years. The whole Covid lockdowns ordeal plunged me into isolation that I’ve become quite comfortable in. I won’t just blame Covid, because being poisoned by mold definitely played a role too.