A couple 5ks

Over the last few weeks, I've wrapped my head around my current struggle with running. For awhile there I really didn't miss it, and I began to think I may give it up entirely for the foreseeable future. But running is the only time I get to see Sarah, and I value the consistency of this little slice of socialization. I never regret a run after it's over. As I started fitting running back into my schedule, I remembered how much I love it, and then I genuinely did start to miss it. But I was still happy to cancel, secretly dancing with joy anytime Sarah had to back out, giving me an excuse to do the same. Why?

In short, timing. My last job was hybrid, the expectation being two days in office a week, but the expectation was never enforced, and often I'd only go once. I also got to the office fairly late, generally between 9:30 and 10am, which made my mornings pretty easy to navigate. At my new job, I go to the office three days a week. It's not only more strictly enforced, I actually like going in because I love my team. I also try to get there between 8:30 and 9am to score good parking, since I'm truly in the heart of downtown now and traffic and parking are trickier.

Basically, my mornings are now more rushed more of the time, which makes running before work harder to do. On top of that, we're in the cold, dark part of winter now, and getting up at 6am is just so. damn. hard.

So these days when I meet Sarah, we only do two miles (to account for time), and when I run solo, I'm much more likely to run in the afternoon.

I was an evening runner before I moved to Seattle, but it's been hard to transition back into it. After a long day at work, I don't want to change and go run in the cold, dark night (read: anytime after 4:30pm). Needless to say, my runs have been spotty, but the last few weeks they've been more consistent than they've been in the last six months.

Based on all this, I waffled quite a bit about signing up for my usual birthday race. On the one hand, my biggest struggle with running is getting up early, so part of me worries I'd ignore my alarm on race day and opt to skip it just to sleep in. Plus, this year's race is almost a full week before my birthday, which sort of defeats the purpose. I could just run on my birthday and let that be that.

But, I've kept this tradition for years now and I don't want to lose it. I really love running a race near my birthday. Since my birthday is in February, the race is a great way to start the new year on a good foot while also ending the last year on a high note. This will be the last year of my 30's, so it feels especially necessary to start it right.

Plus, I thought crossing a finish line might rekindle my excitement for running races. So, I signed up. I'll be running the My Better Half 5k on February 9. I'll be running it to run it, not to race it, and that's okay.

A few days after signing up, Nick texted me a very leading question about the Hot Chocolate Run.

It took me a minute to realize he may be asking me to run it with him, since Nick doesn't particularly like running and has never really shown interest in a race. But the Hot Chocolate Run is known for being a fun, unserious race, so I immediately agreed to run it with him. I'll run it at his pace and the focus will be to finish together and have a great time.

So, with two 5ks on my calendar, running feels purposeful again, and I feel motivated. I'm still dedicated to getting to the gym three times a week, and I'm intrigued and curious to see how lifting weights impacts my running when I've got such a short amount of time to prepare for the February race.

And I'm also curious to see if my hypothesis is correct: will crossing a couple finishes lines early in the year make 2025 a year of racing? We shall see!

Ali