Real David H.

View fullsize

As I thought about a 5th and final piece to Make a Pledge to Myself Week, I didn’t want to put another item that came across as being part of a checklist. Running on trails, planking, not drinking soft drinks and doing speedwork are all things that will greatly benefit my running, but they’re all things I NEED to do.

For this final day, I kept coming back to the same type of questions: What really makes me tick? What makes me feel happy about running? What worked in the past when I felt at the top of my game? 

Strangely enough, my answers had nothing to do with the physical aspect of running. Doing all the things I pledged to do this week are all great. I hope that they’ll be a part of a return to the type of runner I once was as I used to always focus on improving. But these things don’t link together until I write them out and straighten it all out in my head. 

I started writing about running long before this blog. I utilized the MySpace blog early on to capture some of my thoughts, ranging from PRs to my first injury to my first Shamrock experience (which I later documented in a “Lost files” post). 

My truly happy moments have been when I write something about running on a consistent basis. Life has been on fast-forward for 2 years since my second son was born, and I’ve had many other changes in life that puts writing on the back burner. There hasn’t been a need for it to be a priority for any reason. 

This week, though, I’m ready to change that. I’m ready to write about running again. I’m ready to be “Running Because” again and figure out what that means to me. I’m eager to do some maintenance on this blog, which includes putting more of my running highlights on here.

The final pledge in Make a Pledge to Myself Week is to write at least once a week about running. I think that making that commitment will lead to much more than that, but like everything else this week, I’m starting small and simple.

All of these things will add up to bigger changes and improvements on my quest to a half marathon PR in March … and perhaps even greater things in 2016.  

Click here for all the Make a Pledge to Myself Week posts.

photo credit.