Running Q&A 🏃‍♀️ | Blogmas Day 9

I recently received a few questions from my followers that were mostly related to running. I thought it would be great to compile them all in one place and do a bit of a running Q&A for y'all! Let me know if you like this style of blogpost. I had a ton of fun receiving and reading these questions, and hopefully you enjoy my answers! 😊

This is such an interesting question to think about because these two hobbies of mine are so different from one another! One is obviously extremely active, while the other is pretty sedentary. I find that I go through phases where I'm really into reading and I finish 10 books in a month, and then at other times I'm super into running (I'd say I'm in a running phase at the moment) and that is my main post-work activity. I would agree that I probably love them both at equal measure because they are so different and bring me different kinds of happiness.

And I'll definitely work on giving Brett more airtime in future vlogs! 😊

I love all of these questions! Let me break my answers up into sections so they're easy to digest.

How did you get into running?

I have been an athlete my entire life, and growing up I played endurance sports (soccer and lacrosse mostly). I played soccer for 12 years (all through elementary, middle, and high school), and lacrosse for 7 (3 years in high school and all 4 years in college), and when my time playing team sports came to an end, long-distance running was a natural next step in my fitness journey. I started out aiming to run the Boston Marathon (this was before I knew how difficult it was to get into Boston, lol), and eventually I just started signing up for local half and full marathons. The thing that really drew me to distance running is seeing just how far I could push my body. When I was training for my first marathon, I was so motivated to go one mile further than I ran previously. After running my first full marathon, I was hooked!

Does Brett run with you ever?

Sadly Brett does not enjoy running, lol. It's mostly due to his back pain issues. Running definitely does a number on the body and having chronic back pain is hard to pair with running long distances. I remember we ran one mile together toward the beginning of our relationship, and that was the last time we ever ran together! 😂 He is much more into Olympic weight lifting, and will play basketball for his cardio!

Did you read anything after you ran?

(This was in reference to my 15/15 Challenge vlog, which you can find here.) I don't believe I read anything during this weekend, and I actually do find it hard to settle myself down enough to read after a run, interestingly enough! Sometimes I'll read after a run, but for the most part I am more content watching something than picking up a book when I get back from putting some miles in.

Do you travel based on your running experiences?

Yes! Y'all are familiar with my 50 Marathons in 50 States challenge, which takes me around the country. I try to plan a handful of trips each year to work on that goal. I also really enjoyed my runDisney experience this year and would love to take on another runDisney event in the near future, and of course would love to travel to run in the World Major Marathons!

Is climbing a mountain a goal of yours?

I love hiking! KUDOS to your brother for climbing Mt. Everest - that is INCREDIBLE! I don't have a goal to take on a mountain like that, but I do enjoy hiking and have had the privilege of climbing a few mountains in New Hampshire when I lived up there! I would love to take Snowy on a hiking trip next summer because I think she would love it.

How many miles have you ran with Snowy?

Great question! I don't know how many total miles I've run with her, but I'll usually take her out for 3-4 miles at a time, depending on how into it she is. There are some days where she is LOVING the run and will stay right with me the entire time, and there are other days where she'll sit her butt down on the ground every few minutes because she's just not into it. She's a finicky one!

How do you stay motivated to run?

Well this is definitely a loaded question because - spoiler alert - I often don't feel motivated to run. If I'm honest, running is often the LAST thing I want to do on a given day. I mean, curl up with a cozy blanket or go run in the cold? Obviously I'd rather curl up with a cozy blanket, because who wouldn't?! I think the trick to motivation is that motivation is not a real thing. I think the important thing is to find the discipline to do it on a regular basis. If you wait around for motivation, you'd probably run like 3 times a year lol. I'll go through periods of time that while I'm being disciplined, I'm feeling super motivated and I get excited to get outside and run! And then more often than not, I'm dreading dragging myself out the door to get my miles in. You really just have to ride the wave of motivation and stay disciplined to your running schedule in order to reach your running goals. 

If you have more questions, please feel free to ask! I'm happy to talk about running, reading, or anything else. Feel free to Tweet me or leave a comment and I'll compile another Q&A post in the future!