Out Of My Own Shadows

Happy Sunday and end-of-the-weekend to you!! I hope the entire weekend was a great one and that you could wrap it up with things you love to do! Given it was a Rest Day around here, I slept in a bit (awakened by the sounds of rolling thunder ... how perfectly timed was it to rest today?!) and was able to take care of some business items while also doing activities I love. I call that a great way to wrap up a weekend!

Circa 1970 making us 4 and 2. I know, my bangs are stylin'!!
In fact, it appears we have the same bangs!

So, I woke up with a great idea which is to invite my brother to run the same Half I'm running in October! I've mentioned him before -- he's the one who started running around the same time I started (completely independent of each other and discovered in a, "Well, guess what I've started doing," - "No way, because guess what I've started doing!" conversation.). He's also the one who was a speed demon runner out of the gate and has since run an Ultra and 78 miles of another until the ankle he rolled at Mile 10 wouldn't keep up with the time constraint. Yeah, I said it: 78 miles of another. 'Makes my ankles hurt to even think about ...

Anyway, this is a notable idea of mine because there was most definitely a time where I didn't want to run with anyone and, particularly, not with someone with his kind of ability. I would have been way too self conscious to even consider wanting to participate with him. Reporting my outcome after the fact is one thing; facing someone right there on the spot can be entirely another.

Aaaaaand ... 2014! With different hair.

But, I'm totally over that. And, really, if he participates, he gets to choose if he wants to blow through the course and totally not get the kind of money's worth I will, or he can have a care free time alongside me while I give it my all. And take pictures. OR he can see me off at the start then have a leisurely breakfast with the Crew while waiting. I really don't care what he does, but I couldn't help but take note of the fact that I wasn't hiding away from the idea.

There comes a point where your confidence in your ability is all that really matters, not someone else's opinion (or, more accurately, what you fear their opinion is ...). The point where your confidence should be in place is immediately from the get-go, but that's in a perfect world, and I'm not sure how to accomplish that. But, I do know a whole lot about getting in touch with who I am, what I feel (and why), and what to do with it all so as not to hold myself back.

I'm not sure at what point I'll get the verdict on his decision, but I'll keep you posted!

In the meantime, there's only about a month to go before training for that very Half starts (whuuuuuuut ?!), so it's out the door tomorrow to continue racking up the miles for the year! Have a great start to your week, and I'll see you after the morning run!