Running lessons: Just Start

Good morning, blogger friends. Here I am checking in at last after another long silence. What can I say? It was a incredibly busy summer and I was rarely home long enough to do laundry - let alone blog. 

However, Hubbie's on the road this week and I'm determined to use some of this precious alone time to get writing again. 

As it turns out, that's easier said than done. He's been gone four days, and this is the first time I've even attempted to write. There always seems to be something more important - or at least more pressing - to do, surrounded as I am by unfinished household projects.

You'd think after 18 months of pandemic restrictions, every last project would be done by now, but no. Partly because we keep launching new ones, but mostly because it's been hard to stay focused. 

In the early days of the pandemic, I was totally obsessed with learning all I could about the virus and how to keep those I care about safe, and then there was the horrific mass killing incident that started in Portapique, and then the US election sideshow, and then a worrying outbreak and lockdown, and finally it was time to hit the road in our camper. Oh - and somewhere in there - I spent 8 months serving on the very dysfunctional board of directors for our local credit union before resigning in frustration. (As an aside, the rest of the board resigned soon after and the regulator stepped in to replace the CEO so I suppose it wasn't a complete waste of time but it sure felt like it.) So - yeah - I've been distracted. 

My fear now is that, as restrictions slowly lift, I'll be completely overwhelmed and the remaining projects will never get done. 

Which is why I'd like to get back to blogging. This was the place I used to go to figure stuff out, set priorities, and give myself the pep talks I needed to stay on track. Most importantly, it was the place I nurtured my motivation to keep running.

Running. That's another story. It's been almost 20 years since I took up running and I loved it so much I was sure  I'd never give it up and yet here I am - 10 pounds overweight and in terrible running shape, struggling to find the motivation to tackle 5 kms to town and back. 

With my 60th birthday just around the corner, it's easy to tell myself it doesn't matter - that I don't really want to run anymore - but in my heart of hearts I know that's not true. I still want to run. I'm just scared to try in case I can't. 

The answer of course is to just start. Don't think about it. Just lace up my shoes and get my butt out the door. Take walk breaks. Run slowly. Track my progress, celebrate every success and trust the process. Chances are my body's up to the challenge so long as I pace myself properly, eat sensibly, and get enough sleep. After all, it wasn't that long ago I finished a 13k leg of the 2021 Virtual Cabot Trail Relay. And I haven't been sitting around all summer - I've been walking and hiking lots, and biking occasionally. 

So, off I go. I'll be back tomorrow with a report on how it went. In the meantime, here are a few pics from our summer camper adventures. More on those in the weeks ahead. 

Morning sun at Tor Bay Provincial Park

Late afternoon at Five Islands

Sunrise at Gilbert's Cove Lighthouse

Our camping spot on Bartlett's Beach

Walking on the ocean floor at Burntcoat Head