Up and Running Posted 02nd Jun

One of my favourite things in the world is moving out of my comfort zone in any way I can. Physically, the feeling you get from moving out of the comfort zone is addictive......we all know it. It feels like a mixture of dread and excitement where your head is telling you all the reasons why you shouldn't be doing it, while at the same time your gut is telling you to go for it. 

Choose gut!

I felt I wasn't doing enough of that recently. I was facilitating others to do it but in that process I didn't tend to my own need to do it. I got lazy. Moving out of the comfort zone in the physical realm is the easiest way for me, given my history but even then I was choosing a glass of wine of en evening rather than a run etc. I decided enough was enou and entered the Sydney Half Marathon. I realised one of the things holding me back from doing this before was my inner competitor comparing myself to my times I used to get when I was a full-time athlete. Stupid I know. But I decided to venture back into the fray and go for a time but be less connected to what I used to do. After 5 years off of any kind of "sport in anger" I took the outlook that I was starting afresh. 

My time surprised me. The Diesel engine was working! Needs some dusting off but it is still there. The big thing for me though was that I have reconnected to my love of running and now I am aiming for longer distances to get me back to the kind of level where I can do expedition racing again. 

I had let my head rule the roost for too long in terms of my commitment (or lack of) to training but started listening to my gut who was telling me to man up and do what I love to do without thinking too much. So I'm loving my new comfort zone! Time to break out of this one soon and aim for longer distances. Marathon next!