Finding the Time Part 4: Never Too Late

The picture this week showcases my mom and mom-in-law, two rockstar and inspirational athletes, after completing our first half marathon in 2016. We had been running shorter distance races for a few years, and eventually had the bright idea to run a half marathon. I managed to convince the moms to join me in this endeavor, because the race was held in Walt Disney World. To be honest, we weren’t sure what we had gotten ourselves into, but we trained for it, and had so much fun on race day that we all became hooked on running! 

So for the last installment in my Finding the Time series, I’d like to focus on the thought: “It’s never too late.” Your brain might offer a lot of thoughts about your age, your size, your current fitness level, your eating habits, your on again/off again history with running or exercise? And maybe because of these thoughts, you start to doubt yourself. But, I want to offer that it’s never too late to get started on your fitness journey or to RESTART it.

I’ve mentioned before that I was an on and off runner for several years before it stuck. When I ask my athletes what their biggest struggle is with running, many of them point to the same feelings of discomfort I had when I started: getting short of breath, tiring out, aches and pains. Often, this general discomfort of running leads to feelings of discouragement or failure, and many of us give up and retreat back to the couch. We think, “Why bother? It will never get easier. I can’t imagine actually enjoying this.” Sound familiar? 

I am here to offer some hope! These general feelings of discomfort when running are often caused by training too fast. Many of us are training at paces that are way too fast for our current level of fitness. The good news is that we can run without shortness of breath! We don’t have to zap all of our energy in a run, such that we need a nap and two days to recover. For more on finding your easy pace, hop on back a few posts and have a look. https://mindful-marathon.com/blog/start-somewhere

To set ourselves up for success, we start low and go slow. We set reasonable and achievable goals. If we slow our pace down, we prevent all that huffing and puffing. We eliminate the beet red face! All of a sudden, running becomes easier, and our fitness increases. We become stronger, and then we tackle the faster paces. 

This month, we’ve covered a lot of ground. We talked about starting small by taking five minutes for ourselves every day and working up from there. We worked on scheduling our exercise into our planner. We discussed some common thought barriers that keep us from finding the time. To round this series out, let’s be kind to ourselves. We are going to embrace right where we are and realize that it’s never too late to become a runner, never too late for lifestyle change, never too late to try again. Making meaningful and lasting lifestyle change is a marathon and not a sprint, and the great news is that we can start today!