This fall, I decided to run my first half marathon – here’s what I learned
About two months ago, I made the fairly impulsive and uninformed decision to run a half marathon. I had been running short distances consistently for a while, and after one especially strong runner’s high inducing workout, I decided a half marathon sounded like a fun idea. I looked online, saw there was one in Madison in November and signed up. Despite how spur of the moment this decision was, the process of training and running this half marathon has taught me lessons about commitment and accountability that will stick with me for a lifetime.
I went into the training process with zero knowledge about what would be the best tactic. I had never consistently run long distances before, and I didn’t know anyone with the expertise to help me prep. I simply knew this was something I wanted to do, and I was willing to figure out the details along the way. For me, the first step I had to take was to fully and completely commit. Sure, I had signed up and initially decided what I wanted to accomplish, but I needed to be certain I would stick with it. I didn’t want the half marathon to be some spontaneous idea I would get excited about for a week, then quit when things got difficult. I needed to be mentally sure that I would see this through to the finish line.
For me, this included involving other people. I asked a friend I had known for all of three weeks if she wanted to run a half marathon with me, and she generously agreed. Now I had a partner, someone to hold me accountable to my commitment. I also told others that the half marathon was something I was going to accomplish. These people were mainly my roommate and parents, those I knew who could ask me questions and motivate me to complete my goal. I found that having a partner to work towards this challenge with and others to hold me accountable gave me the motivation I needed to commit entirely.
One of the main ways my friend and I trained was Wednesday morning long runs. We would wake up early, and week after week, increase our mileage until we neared thirteen miles. Although these were tiring and long runs, having a partner to run them with held me accountable to continuing to show up. It was on the days when I knew I needed to run or work out on my own that I increasingly struggled to show up. It’s often easy to show up for someone else but more difficult to do the same for yourself. Working to continue training even when I was on my own led me to reflect on how I will not always have a partner when working towards my goals. Some goals are simply individual. So I tried my best to emphasize the importance of continuing these solo workouts, creating personal discipline and accountability and making them enjoyable in any way that I could.
In addition, I came to understand that commitment and accountability do not mean overworking yourself. I mainly came to learn this the hard way but eventually, realized how I needed to listen to my body and how I was feeling to be successful in my goal. Especially in a physical goal like a half marathon, it is more important to understand what your body needs over any self guilt that you may feel for needing a break. Because when it comes to commitments, sometimes you just need a quick break to be able to resume and accomplish them. This is not the same as quitting.
In the end, I ran the half marathon with my friend and had a ton of fun doing it. Having fun and keeping it lighthearted was one of the most important things for me and made it an incredible experience. What I learned about staying accountable to others and to myself as well as how to fully commit to a challenge are lessons I will take from this experience and apply to many other facets of my life.