Not About Me

Happy Friday!! Happy Rest Day!! Wow, I think I perfectly scheduled this Rest Day because I didn't even get up until after 9:30 a.m.!! I think I was tired ...

I spent part of this morning refiguring the miles I need per week to hit my year-end goal of 1,000, and I think I finally figured it out accurately! The verdict is: 22 miles per week which factors in the Half Marathon training schedule (which is less than that for most weeks), a Rest Week post-Half and the last days of December which don't amount to a full week. TA. DA. I finally feel like I know what I'm doing! That only took a few tries ...

It also means that I only need a 2-miler tomorrow to stay completely on track. Two miles? Booyah !!

During this recent rest, running was not entirely off my radar as I got to experience it from the other side! Our nephew entered a 7-mile run, so I hitched myself up as the 4th member of our Pit Crew and went to cheer! My brother was all, "You should totally do it with him," and I was all, "No."

There he taking off at the start (in black)!

As you know, while I run, the Pit Crew finds something else to do (usually involving having breakfast!). On this day, we shopped! That's when I found my fabulous, new hedgehog, and I saw some other fun things like this ...

... and, this ...

... and, quite possibly my favorite ...

It's a good thing they don't have this along race routes ... I'd be screwed
around Mile 9 of a Half ...

Okay, I didn't buy any of that, but I did get this:

At a running event, OF COURSE I'm thinking about my dog!!

Anyway, we didn't have a lot of time to shop because the neph is a speed demon. For Real.

There's Uncle Aaron perfectly positioned for cheering and
for incoming runner pictures!!

He ran 7 miles in 48 minutes. Whuuuuuuuuuut ?!? He placed first in his age group. With that kind of time, can I get a, "Duh, he did!!" Here he is with his dad at the finish:

I hate to admit this about myself, but I'm going to anyway: There was a time (quite a while ago) when seeing him run like that would have made me feel inferior in my own efforts. But, that's because I would have been stupid insecure enough to compare myself to that of a 16-year-old natural athlete (seriously, he rocks at everything he's tried). I don't know that I would have been able to step back and see that there are obvious differences in every way, and I don't know that I would have been smart enough to realize such a comparison was destructive to me and joy-sucking to the experience of watching and cheering him.

Never, ever compare yourself to anyone else. Do your thing the very best way you can, and enjoy cheering the efforts of others. On this day, I loved that I have evolved to the point that that race was all about him and not any part of my own self-doubt/pity/stupidity.

Besides. I got to shop.

So, here's the day's SHOUT OUT to our nephew for being a beast over those miles and giving every part of it everything he had!! (Oh, yes, he had the noodle legs later on ... hey!!! THAT we have in common!!)

With that, we slip on into the weekend!! Start it off the best way you know how, and I'll see you after the morning run!