Progress, Not Perfection

Welp, I’m T-minus 3 days for race day!! I mentioned a 10k I have planned for on Sunday and my intentions are to run it FAST. I’m a little scared, lol!!

Truth be told, I really want a PR. And considering I haven’t actually raced a 10k, a PR isn’t too farfetched. I last ran a 10k about two years ago when my friend Amber visited me to do an Arizona race. I recommended Lost Dutchman because of its beautiful desert scenery.

Except it was cold, cloudy, and torrential down pouring that day 😦

Fun times

Despite the awful weather, we both had decent races. She placed 5th female overall and 2nd in her age group for the half marathon and I placed 1st in my age group for the 10k (even after stopping to tie my shoe!).

Amber the Runner and me ❤

I ran a 47:14 with a 7:35 average pace.

Fast forward almost two years and I feel like I can beat that…

…but by how much?

That is the big question.

I have a number goal in mind…an ambitious one, but my hope is to run the race HARD, whatever that might produce. I know my “hard” is different than my “hard” from two years ago so I’m curious to see what I can make happen given good race juju.

I’ve had some pretty good training runs lately that has boosted my confidence. But, my diet has still been realllly bad #storyofmylife

I was invited to work with a trainer at a gym called PNP Fitness (Progress Not Perfection) and while at the beginning I thought we’d be talking more things fitness, our conversations have turned to all things diet.

You all know I’ve struggled with food/eating healthy for a looooong time. I feel like each time I try and change my habits, I fall back to the same unhealthy patterns.

Meeting with Will from PNP these past few weeks has been some good tough love I’ve needed. He’s really made me confront some of the reasons I go to fast food and convenience.

Some things I already know:

-I know fast food/take out is expensive.
-I know fast food/take out is for the most part unhealthy.
-I know I’m not teaching my kids healthy eating habits.
-I know that some home cooked meals can be quick if fast and convenient is what I’m looking for.

I know those things, but I really don’t care or as bad as it sounds, care enough to change.

And that’s pretty much the honest truth right there. I don’t care enough to change my eating.

The dreaded ‘why’ question

Will started breaking out the ‘why’ questions. And I hate them, they’re annoying, but only because they make me think about something I don’t like thinking about.

He asked me why I qualified for Boston. This was interesting because it wasn’t how.

I qualified because I worked really hard, trained really hard, wanted it really bad.

I cared.

Post Boston I don’t really have anything I care about as intensely. Will asked if I wanted to get faster or if I was satisfied with where I was.

I don’t know. Sometimes I want to get faster, and sometimes I don’t care.

Will I be bummed if I don’t PR on Sunday? Yes. But I have to realize that just focusing on running can only get me so fast. At some point, other aspects of my training will have to change.

Like my diet.

Do I care enough?

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–Is your diet an area you struggle with? Have you ever talked to someone about your diet?

–Do you struggle with caring about things?

Check out my Instagram on Sunday to see results from the 10k–wish me luck!! xoxo, helly