Monday, 10/2/23: Talking about reflections from a half marathon

Happy Monday!

It’s a new week, which means it’s time for your next Monday motivation newsletter.

Read on below for some steps to a happier Monday, a short story and a roundup of positive thoughts to get your week started.

Three Steps to a Happier Monday

Each newsletter starts with three prompts to inspire gratitude and simple intention setting. Take a moment and jot down answers to these three questions. To give an example, I share my answers below.  

Step 1: What are three things I appreciated from the weekend? 

Step 2: What is one thing I can be excited about today?

Step 3: What is my intention for this week? 

GRATITUDE: I’m thankful for fun activities, an early start to the weekend with a day off work Friday and sunny weather. 

TODAY: Today I’m most excited for my run outside (weather looks beautiful!). 

INTENTION: My intention this week is to write down three things that are “going well” at the end of each day. 

Okay, your turn! And if you want to share your three steps, I am all ears. 🙂

Meaningful Musings: Half Marathon Reflections 

Last Sunday, I completed a big personal goal and ran my first half marathon. It was an amazing day!

Overall, I had a really great experience. I mean… there aren’t many things in life that are as straightforward as following a training plan and crossing a literal finish line .

But what made the experience all the more meaningful is that 72 hours before the race, I didn’t think I was going to do it.

Running is still somewhat new-to-me, and it was back in 2021 when I discovered I have something called IT band syndrome. Especially when running longer distances, my IT band can get irritated. If it flares up, I feel a sharp pain on the outside of my knee (only on the left side for some reason!). Luckily, I’ve found a great sports medicine chiropractor who helps me manage it through “active release technique” stretching.  It hasn’t been much of an issue the past couple years (yay!), but it was something that was in the back of mind while training.

I was worried at some point my IT band would be triggered and I wouldn’t be able to complete the half.

Unfortunately, the week of the race, I went out for one last long run and didn’t even make it halfway before feeling the familiar sharp pain.

After that run – and admittedly a few tears – I thought about not doing the race out of fear of not being able to run it “in the way I had planned” (shortsighted thinking… I know…).

Luckily, my chiropractor talked me into it, and once I decided I would do it, I adjusted my definition of success. Success would mean running as long as I could until my knee started to hurt, and then keeping a good attitude the rest of the race.  

This brings me to my first of two takeaways from my half marathon (of course there are takeaways!)…

Takeaway #1: Reframing is a very powerful tool.

With help from my chiropractor, intentional stretching up to race day and purposefully planned Advil’s throughout, I made it through the entire half marathon without my IT band flaring up/knee pain. I’m not sure how exactly this happened, but I’m SO THANKFUL!

Of course, I got tired during the half and negative thoughts started to creep in, but at the same time, I also kept thinking “I can’t believe my knee doesn’t hurt!!! This is amazing!!!”

The reframe led to me running much faster and thoroughly enjoying the experience.

It was a good reminder for myself of the power of doing things like thinking about “what’s going well” or jotting down a quick gratitude list daily.  

There are always going to be hard, tiring things around us that vie for our attention. That’s why it’s all the more important to also remind ourselves of the good.

The second takeaway from my half marathon experience is also simple…

Takeaway #2: A lot of progress can be made in three months.

It was amazing to me that over the course of three months, I could do from running 4-5 miles to running 10-11. Still, a week after my half marathon, I’m still a bit shocked that this was a goal I was able to accomplish. But truly… small, consistent actions have astounding, compounding results.

With the start of October, we’re now into the last three months of the year. This past week, I’ve found myself reflecting on what “half marathon” (not in the physical sense), I want to “train for” and complete by end of year. Maybe something around investing in the relationships in my life? A certain list of books I want to read? A creative project?

Three months might not seem like that long of time, but commitment to a plan and consistent small actions can make all the difference.

Is there anything you’re focused on for the rest of 2023? I’d love to hear about it!

On My Monday Radar

Sometimes we just aren’t ready to jump into our Monday to-do list right away. In case you want some content to procrastinate with, here is a roundup of a few positive things on my radar:  

• Can’t talk about running whiteout mentioning my favorite running gear! My favorite running shorts, arm band to hold my phone and app to program my runs and know when to push, recover, cool down, etc. 
• I finished Tom Lake by Ann Patchett recently and just loved it. I’ve heard mixed reviews and I think I’m predisposition to like anything she writes, but WOW! I loved this book. It is set on a cherry orchard farm in Michigan and is the story of a mom of three telling her grown daughters her love story of dating a famous actor (before he was famous) in her 20s. Ann Patchett has such a gift for writing about the complexities of the human experience and the magnificence of everyday life. There are so many themes that I loved in this book… of course, one about parents living their own lives before having children and also how we truly belong to ourselves. Wonderful book. 
• Big ideas for deeper thinking: podcast episode. Enjoyed listening to this one where Cal Newport re-visits eight influential, personal productivity books, identifying for each a single idea that ended up most resonating both with his own work and the culture more generally. Fun and thought provoking! 
• How do you make a house feel like a home? Interesting question to consider. I think for me, knowing where everything is and having a cozy reading nook is key. (And I absolutely love the photo door inside that kitchen cabinet featured in the article!!)

Picture of the Week

That’s all for today! I hope you found something in today’s newsletter that sparked motivation, made you smile or inspired a positive Monday thought. Don’t underestimate the power of starting small… a fulfilling week starts with just one fulfilling day. You’ve got this! 

Let’s make it a great Monday!
Megan