“I didn’t run a marathon this year.” Sometimes I catch myself saying this whenever I’m browsing through race photos on Instagram. Despite the grueling ultra-marathon training I did at the beginning of 2019, it didn’t feel like I’ve been running this year. Because I wasn’t racing.

Een marathon training is al moelijk om te combineren met een druk leven. Maar marathon training met een baby is hele nieuwe uitdaging. 

I have a confession to make. I’ve never run more than 17 kilometers alone. While I consistently harp on about how I could be alone with my thoughts or empty my head when I’m running, the truth is the husband always goes with me. So there’s always someone to share the frustration, to be the subject of my irritation when it gets too tough, to motivate me, to laugh with.

I don’t always listen to music when I am running. I trained for all three marathons without music blasting in my ears. But like most beginners, I had a running playlist when I started. Until I got the hang of it and decided that it’s better (and safer) to listen to my breathing, heartbeat, the sounds around me and my feet pounding the pavement.

Today I ran, my only run this week. I ran for 56 minutes, not the 2:17 I was aiming for 30 days ago. I ran slow, not a run-like-there’s-no-tomorrow kind of pace that I was planning to. I ran with the husband, and the kid in the buggy, not with other running enthusiasts. I did not race. I decided to skip the half marathon, ending my #halfin30 challenge today.

There’s a lot to be said about running through the pain, not giving up, endurance, etc. But my priorities are clear, my health and family on top, my job, running, and everything else after. I cannot take chance on my health especially now that I have a kid. If not for the painful feet and weakened immune system, I would have run. But last Wednesday, I had to leave work at lunchtime because of a splitting headache.

So I chose to rest, recuperate and go back to the basic, slow build-up.

Am I disappointed? A little. But that’s life. You can plan everything beforehand but circumstances change all the time and if you don’t want to get stressed, you’d be flexible.

It was a beautiful day today, cold but not freezing, a bit of blue sky, no wind and no rain. My feet were not as painful as I expected it would. I did proper stretching after and some core exercises. If I want to race next month, I had to pay more attention to my core. Maybe a flatter abs would not be that bad after all.