It’s Not All About The T-Shirt

A lot of people say they do races for the t-shirt.

But did you know volunteering will get you a t-shirt too? And you don’t even have to train for months or get sweaty! You just have to be willing to get up early on a Sunday.

I’ve always wanted to do a duathlon, especially after doing my first and only triathlon a few years ago. But I’ve been forbidden from biking by my doctors because of my broken arm. That doesn’t mean I can’t be involved in the event somehow!

I have this weird relationship with races. I’ve done a tri and several running races, but haven’t done one in a while. I love the adrenaline and excitement that comes with racing. I hate the stress leading up to one and the rising cost of race fees.

I would still like to do another race in the not-so-distant future. I’d actually been thinking of a half marathon in the fall.

But then I realized my fitness is coming back very slowly after the accident. I foolishly thought I’d have maintained my 10k base while recovering from surgery. But it took me almost two months to get up to a 5k again, and right now I’m only doing 4-mile runs with walking breaks.

Part of it is because I’m not pushing myself as hard as I used to. The other part of it is that I can’t push myself as hard as I use to.

Remember when I mentioned working up to using 10lb dumbbells in a post not that long ago?

I was proud of myself at the time. I was not proud in the days that followed, where I experienced awful pain in my broken left elbow. Ten pounds may seem like nothing, but it was enough to keep me in bed with pain for the majority of the long weekend. Enough to have me reach for my painkillers again. Enough to remind me that while I may sometimes feel my body is ready to be challenged again, it’s actually still putting a lot of energy into healing itself. And I have to allow it to do that.

So in the meantime, I will still do my short runs with walking breaks, and get my free t-shirts by volunteering.

Plus, I found a new running trail this weekend. It’s in the middle of the woods. I came out smelling like dirt and grass. It was awesome.

 

Walking breaks are totally justifiable when you have to stop to climb over log bridges.